TOPIC: SMITE - Cthulhu

Hey, everyone.

First of all, if the admins choose to do so, I won't be offended if they elect to delete/drama hole this thread, as there is a possibility this could be quite incendiary. Please note I mean no harm when creating this topic.

Not sure if there are many SMITE players on here, I've seen one or two, but they released Cthulhu today. Their first god from the Lovecraftian mythos and the only one from last century, making it the youngest god in terms of when it was first created.

It generated a lot of controversy for two main reasons - One being the fact that it had its origins in a horror story from last century and wasn't the product/deity of an actual religion (though, apparently there are actually Lovecraftian religious types out there), some argued that this takes away from SMITE being about historical pantheons clashing (though King Arthur, Mulan and Merlin are definite oddities among the bunch).

The other reason was actually due to Lovecraft's personal beliefs. Lovecraft was a socially awkward, painfully shy and anxious person with a lot of strong opinions that were likely the product of his environment, but that doesn't begin to excuse racism. Lovecraft was a known racist, to the point where he actually feared black people. He was a brilliantly imaginative, creative mind who was one of, if not the pioneer of Cosmic/Weird Horror, but his beliefs and ideologies were upsetting at best, and downright horrible at worst.

Lovecraft died alone, poor, and it was only after his death that more people noticed and took his work seriously. Hi Rez elected to distance themselves from Lovecraft when featuring Cthulhu. To the point where they outright dismiss him entirely, and call his pantheon The Great Old Ones instead of Lovecraftian.
This caused some tension between certain members of the community who believed his work shouldn't even be featured as he was a racist, and others who believed that Hi Rez dismissing him was incredibly unfair to him as the creator.

All that aside, I tried him, and got my butt kicked. Sad times.

If anyone has any thoughts about the topic, feel free to share. Even if it's just gameplay stuff.

It's a game

Lewis_is_java wrote:
Honestly, that's why this intrigued me so much. People are so sensitive nowadays, and wanna get picky and whiny over the smallest things. I think the fact that it is just a game, and the way they're reacting shows that the game means something to these people. But then you've got people who don't even play the game coming in and being outraged about it, anyway. Which personally, doesn't feel very helpful.

Father Watson wrote: People love taking the oppurtunity to virtue signal and seem like a good person on the internet

Lewis_is_java wrote:
Beautifully said.

Especially on things like Twitter and Tumblr where everyone has to be the center of attention, and the second someone says something remotely "triggering", a thousand virtue-signalling junkies jump down their throat to try and make themselves out to be the amazing person who has such a big heart, defender of the weak. It's sad, but eh. Life nowadays.

Yes he was racist but that shouldn't stop me from reading his mythos. We can acknowledge an artist's vices and still enjoy what that artist produced.

That was the developer's decision. I don't see any problem if they want to call it that as it fits with the Lovecraftian mythos. I don't see it as complete dismissive of the creator.

I don't play Smite but I think it's cool that you can play as Cthulhu, to each their own.

A very good point.

Honestly, I think that was more my personal gripe with it - but you've got a point. Great Old Ones sounds better than Lovecraftian, just as Arthurian sounds better than inserting the original author of the legend.

If you're interested, this is what they did that basically suggests they "dismiss" Lovecraft - in retrospect, I feel I may have mispoke a tad, but I hope you can see what I mean:

One final note: Just as we reject the ancient Mayan tradition of ritual human sacrifice, we reject the racist and homophobic ideas espoused by H.P. Lovecraft. We believe that Cthulhu has grown beyond its creator over the past 100 years. We welcome Cthulhu to SMITE, not Lovecraft; racism and homophobia have no place in SMITE, period.

Father Watson wrote: I don't know something about the statement just feels so off lmao, "we'll take this guys creation to make our game grow because cthulu is popular but also fuck that guy because we're good people"
Bloodborne managed to use the old gods and pay homage to this mans legacy without having to show off about how anti racist and good they were

I'm a great admirer of everything Lovecraft created, and I think you're exactly on point - Bloodborne is an amazing game with some incredible worldbuilding, and you're damn right. They showed exactly what they needed to without needing to spout some virtue signalling bullshit.