People need to say "listen this isn't about woke" when they make criticisms because they know they're not allowed to make any without being called some name or discounted as a chud. But fact is, as unfortunate as it sounds it absolutely is about woke, from top to bottom. It's not complicated, it's being woke that lead them to gatekeep the hiring process from anyone right of Stalin. It's woke that characters look the way they do now, not technology limitations or whatever other reasons people imagine up. It's not time limited (they have over a decade now to make games) that causes that type of writing. The people making these games are extremely self declared "woke" until it's time to fail then suddenly it had no effect on how they make things. And it has a knock on effect on everything they do, in the office, their hiring process, everything they think, what they allow their coworkers to think, to write and design. You're not the ones who made "woke" a big deal, they are. Take aesthetics for example. It absolutely has taken a huge hit these past 15 or more years because despite the old industry being made up of mainly dudes with creased shirts, who have never gone near moisturiser. They still had an understanding and appreciation of aesthetics, they knew what an idealised hot women looks like, they were designing female characters to not just be cool but super hot for dudes. And the big secret they don't want you to know is, women also like playing as characters men find attractive, because hot is hot. But now you have people who are completely anti beauty. Who have sat through the YouTube essays and company seminars about objectification and the more rugged and masculine, the more respectable, solely because it's anti feminine and therefor not seen as weak and objectified. And it has absolutely had a knock on effect on design in gaming. It's why despite being made now by far more women, who should know more about makeup and aesthetics of female characters, it's now worse. Because they refuse to 'doll' up the characters in anyway. When was the last time you saw any thought put into what type of makeup a character is wearing and how she's wearing it. Shit, when was the last time in an American game did you see a woman with properly applied makeup that enhances her looks in an attractive way, purely to appear more attractive. Once you begin to notice the lack of any attempts at makeup, no eyeliner, no lashes, no lipstick, unflattering blank faces and severe crease lines, over and over. You never stop noticing it and it has zero to do with technical limitations.