What happened to Godot 3 weeks ago is just sad... 😰

Three weeks ago, a controversial tweet from Godot’s official X account ironically referenced “woke” games, sparking major backlash, bans, and discussions across the community. Now, with tensions easing, I feel it's the right moment to share a balanced perspective, particularly given the channel’s focus on Godot, aiming for an objective, respectful discussion that reflects my genuine thoughts on the matter.

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- Godot Engine Mobile Games Showcase | November 2021

[nickreblex]

im not switching game engines just because of a stupid little argument on twitter.

[bvgross]

1 - Nothing changed in a bad way in the development after the fact. Still the same project.
2 - It's FOSS, anyone can fork the project and do it their own way.
3 - Being FOSS doesn't mean it has to accept every opinion neither it should have professional community managers.
4 - FOSS projects have people who make decisions, can be one or many.
5 - Community driven doesn't mean everyone in the "community" can do what they want.

[bondi_]

The CM was making fun of someone tweeting that Unreal Engine is woke. It was an out of context joke

[HumanGamer]

Space Cutter (shown at 1:58) seems to have been delisted but it looks really fun. Does anyone have a copy?

[patoastral]

Why would you change the engine? Its open source, nobody can force you to anything, you can do this brother, the word open source means that its up to us the comunity than anything

[cmdrDiscoCat]

To sum things up, this was a big nothing burger :

1. All the unbanning that needed to happen on twitter happened if the folks actually didn't breach the code of conduct of the Godot community.
2. Only 5 people were blocked on Github as far as we know, and they were trolls using issues to write slurs and hateful stuff. That block doesn't prevent them from accessing Godot's source, they can basically do everything except posting new issues or comment on existing issues on godot's repository.
3. Noone who actually contributes to Godot (monetarily or with code) was blocked on Github, and if they were banned on Twitter, they were unbanned (see 1)

In the end, Godot actually *gained* donators (more than +2k€ monthly donations).

The only thing that whole event showed, it's that there's people in the community that will get all angry at the slightest pique at the people using "woke" literally (even if it's humourous and light-hearted). But that's the internet for you.

[Blender.Quebec]

Come on, there is no "free speech" or "everyone has the right to..." here...

People has created false commit and bugs to insult the community manager with slurs and very aggresive words.

Those insult have NO place in any community.

Hence these people got banned.

Check some screenshot online.

[hqTheToaster]

The only 'woke' games I make count as 'woke' because and only because I don't involve myself in that political utensil melter. Also, I respect your objectivity; I wouldn't be able to handle and/or deflect the 'wokeness' that happens like you can. You have skill.

[gfnekro]

The problem are twofold:
First, the "community" (X, Discord, etc.), is not only for social interaction. Is a tool that devs need to make games. If the CM banned them from every platform, the devs loose the tools they need to get help, plug-ins and code to solve the problems they have.
Second, the creators of Godot (mainly Juan Linietsky) said nothing and did nothing. A CM whose purpose is to maintain and take care of the community can't have a melt down banning people right and left and suffer no consequence. And then, they try to take distance from the Discord moderator saying "it was not an official channel" when it was.
I begun using Godot almost two years ago. And I loved it! But with this situation I don't know what to do. I'm trying Redot now, but it's under attack since day zero. I won't point fingers, but I have an idea who is behind those attacks. And that make things worse.
Godot is "FOSS", so there shouldn't be any kind of restriction in the community (beyond the obvious). But if I don't adhere to what they say I'm banned? And if somebody fork it, that new community is under attack? What kind of freedom is that?
I want an engine to make games and if I have some difficulties and search for help, I don't want to be a hostage that needs to kiss the rainbow flag to get it.

[divingradish]

1. Someone make nonsensical attack to the woke on twitter. "only woke studio use game engine", something along that line. I don't think comment like that worth response from any organization. It was a comment to a tweet that have no direct connection to Godot.
2. Godot community manager make a retaliation tweet to that comment.The tweet about Wokot that everyone know about. I know this because I saw someone asked the community manager "what's the context" and the community manager replied with (I think, iirc) screenshot of the tweet I mentioned on #1.

I think it was not professional to use an organization account for that. It's exactly what people call "Karen behavior". Get offended for little things and have urge to retaliate. That kind of behavior is what people associate to the pejorative meaning of "woke". That kind of behavior is the behavior of extremist, be it in BLM, LGBTQ, veganism, climate activism. The movements with noble ideas, but some people, sadly usually the loud ones, take it to the extreme. In result, the ideas are tainted. People no longer focus on the noble ideas, but distracted by the bad behaviors of those people who claim to represent the noble ideas.

[hamzahajji]

I'm not a Godot guy myself, but I don't see how "open source values" has anything to do with banning on social media, no one is banned from using the engine, and also just use another account to tweet at them, this was blown waaay outta porportions by right wing channels saying Godot is doomed after this incident lol

[ladyville]

Guess it’s good sometimes to keep your ideology to yourself or speak and see how science works.

[NerdOfTheMountain]

And after all this time no updates are released.... that's worrying point!
I always think Godot like a phenomenon like Blender, but Blender Foundation aways stay close with their community. A bad raction to critices can denote a bad administration

[ashwinrawat]

If anyone is making a 2d game and is interested in learning programming, he should make his own engine. Its a good learning experience. Its not extremely hard. Just use sdl or raylib for low level stuff.

[twelve]

This was a beautiful video and captured the feelings i had over the whole situation perfectly.
It's crazy how people handwave the situation so easily, as if we didn't just go through the whole Unity drama. It's sad to see gamers make a product popular, and then suddenly get stabbed in the back by the managers of said product. It has happened too many times, and i'm frankly tired of it.

[ScoutOW]

I would honestly suggest looking at the 2 part short videos by PirateSoftware. The situation was kinda warped and made to seem worse than it actually was. Only people were were blocked was trolls trying to get blocked, just so they can point at it and be like "see, people getting blocked". Infact Redot, the supposed non-political replacement blocked more people than Godot did during the whole situation. I wouldnt worry about the situation tbh, theyre not enforcing their beliefs or trying to censor anyone, they were just blocking toxic trolls and people blow it out of proportion. At first i believed the same, but the more i looked into it, the more i realised Godot kinda didnt do anything but make a cringey tweet, in response to someone saying pre-built engines were woke (which they shoulda quote retweeted because a lot of people didnt know it was a response).

[foldupgames]

It's troubling to have someone say "We are open to everyone and if you don't agree, we'll throw you out."
Um....

[horpdorb]

Because just ruining popular games isn't woke enough now they're coming for the engines.

Outstanding tactics.

[paulmidas]

People who claim this issue is just about “anti-woke” agendas or Twitter drama are often either extreme activists or unfamiliar with the long-standing issues within the Godot community. I've been part of the godot community for years and have seen every piece of “drama” unfold, so I know it goes deeper than recent events.

First, for those saying “it’s open source, so it doesn’t matter for development” — unfortunately, it does matter. Decisions on development, along with moderation of the community and repositories, are controlled by the Godot founder. This means they have the power to ignore, ban, or block members by their feeling.

In Godot community, you can be blocked with little or no explanation. And it becomes your responsibility to prove that you're in line with the expectations of the founder. You have to prove that you are a good little godot boy. Many people leave Godot because of how the community is managed and how people feel treated.

The recent “woke” controversy was just a spark that ignited a larger issue: an accumulation of disappointment and frustration that’s been building for years. Godot’s code of conduct can be applied broadly to any space the founder deems fit, and it often seems subject to their personal feelings or political views, rather than standard principles of respect and fairness. When disagreements arise, it’s easy to find yourself labeled as not following the “code of conduct.”

The management of godot can be distracting you, especially if you’re a developer focused on building a project and just waiting for Godot’s updates.
The drama is created by the godot founder's management. Other open-source project does not make a noise like this loud. Only godot kinds do make their political/feeling noise loud.

[aethix]

The problem is that FOSS is driven by its community, and this incident paints a very bleak picture about the future of the Godot community.

The community manager engaged in a mass blocking spree on ideological grounds and the Godot foundation refused to acknowledge this fact, instead trying to handwave it as an honest mistake. This tells me they don't actually have a problem with the CM's abusive actions, but had to put out a statement of corpo-speak to quell the backlash.

If Godot's community is going to be managed like an ideologically driven cult rather than an actual development community, with abuse only being swept under the rug in response to a big enough backlash, then it's hard to have any faith in that community. And by extension, it's hard to have any faith in the future of the engine itself as it is developed by that community.

This is why I hope that forks like Redot find success. If they can take the good of the engine that currently exists and rally a true development community to push further contributions, then that's the best hope for Godot's future.