On 'Hogwarts Legacy' And Toxic Gaming Environments
Image Source: TechRadar
Over the last few years, we’ve seen the gaming community becoming more and more toxic towards its more marginalized members, especially in the cases of games that are largely shrouded in antagonism towards certain minority groups. There have been problems at all levels from creators and studios all the way down to the gamers themselves.
Since its initial announcement, Hogwarts Legacy has been surrounded by controversy. Game developers Avalanche software even went as far as adding to their FAQ to explain that the well-known creator of the Wizarding World franchise had no direct involvement with the game.
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Unfortunately, some trans gamers have faced increasingly prolific online harassment upon asking other gamers to please not support the Hogwarts Legacy game or give money to those contentious entities that stand to benefit from its success. The community is split on this one with some insisting that the game should be blacklisted while others are happy to separate the art from the artist, especially since the FAQ addition by the studio. The net result is usually a mess of increasingly inflammatory comments swinging back and forth. Sadly, this is far from the only case of such toxicity surrounding a game.
Image Source: WCCFTech
Roughly a year ago, we saw a similar situation play out with Star Wars: Eclipse. Despite initially being met with excitement, the buzz around Eclipse quickly turned sour when multiple allegations against its developer, Quantic Dream were brought to light, including various accounts of racist, misogynist, and homophobic harassment reported by the company’s employees. Since then, the game has been delayed and, given Star Wars’ previous track record of unreleased games, is unlikely to emerge anytime soon. The criticisms of the studio have in turn led to harassment from gamers and Star Wars fans who don’t want the allegations to be dealt with or even acknowledged.
Another backlash happened when Five Nights At Freddy’s creator Scott Cawthon began platforming openly racist, homophobic and transphobic hate speech before finally leaving social media. Though his behavior being called out was warranted, the anti-progressive members of the game series’ fandom began harassing non-white and LGBTQ+ fans in the community, who were already rightfully hurt by the maker of their favorite series suddenly spewing hatred towards them. It was disappointing to hear that those that wanted to defend those that were being harassed also started using violent language in response which doesn’t help either. Situations like this can bring out the worst on both sides of the fence and shows there are toxic elements everywhere.
Image Source: Movie Daily News
While not created by toxic people, The Last of Us Part II faced a large amount of sexist and transphobic backlash online due to the presence of new protagonists Abby and Lev. The former and her fans faced harassment due to the character’s muscular physique and unique look in the realm of feminine character designs, and the latter and his fans faced harassment due to the character’s openly trans identity and storyline focusing on his relationship with his transness.
This could also be seen with God of War: Ragnarok, which faced toxic backlash due to the appearances of Angrboda, one of the game series’ few black characters, and Thor, a character whose fatness isn’t demeaned or used to treat him less seriously than the rest of the cast. Santa Monica Studios did at least take time to address the toxic element which culminated in the following statement: “You do know Jötunn aren’t real right? They can be anyone or anything. Some are even giant serpents? But I get it. You were only okay with Jörmungandr because his scales were white, right? Well, good luck to you. Hope you can find a game that better fits your sensibilities.”
Fortunately, there are significantly more people in these fandoms who oppose the toxic behaviors seen here. For example, the reveal of who would be developing Star Wars: Eclipse was accompanied by the hashtag #BlackOutStarWarsEclipse, which called for the game to either be cancelled or taken over by a studio that wasn’t embroiled in allegations. The explosion of harassment from the Five Nights At Freddy’s fandom was met by thousands of fans who condemned Cawthon’s hate speech and attempted to make the fandom safer for its LGBTQ+ members. The misogyny and transphobia directed toward Abby and Lev was countered by thousands of muscular women and transgender kids posting selfies to show their pride in who they are and show how many people the characters are important to. Likewise, Angrboda and Thor received widespread support from black and fat fans who were thrilled to see themselves represented in their favorite games.
Image Source: VGamerz
As one of the biggest entertainment communities in the world, gaming is bound to have more than a few trolls and grifters who want gaming to only pander to the least marginalized demographics. But as the gaming community continues to grow and evolve, so too must its treatment and regard for its more vulnerable members. Until major gaming platforms such as Twitch and Steam implement more policies that prevent bigoted harassment and toxicity from spreading, I recommend that the gamers most at risk from said toxicity take good care of themselves and carve out spaces for themselves where they are unlikely to see such behavior flourish.
Aside from blocking and reporting, it’s also important that more privileged gamers speak up against hate speech and harassment wherever they see it happening. Unfortunately, most companies will only listen to gamers and streamers with the biggest audiences. So they must use their privilege to elevate those that need to be listened to. In addition, those using sites like Twitch should be sure to speak with their chat mods and inform them of specific terms, phrases and euphemisms that lead to further harassment. This extends to the gamers on YouTube as well, who should make sure that their comments sections are without any bigoted hate speech or direct targeting of marginalized users on the platform.
Toxicity in gaming is an issue that won’t go away on its own. Marginalized gamers should be able to participate in communities they care about without having to constantly worry about being doxxed or threatened over who they are. This does work both ways though and using the same tactics in response to the trolls is not the best response as it just ignites the situation further. Fixing this issue is going to take a lot of time and work. But if the gaming community can come together to support and amplify those who most need it, then gaming might start becoming a little more fun. The good news is that there are people prepared to make a stand across the board and this needs to be encouraged and promoted wherever possible.
If you’d like to support one of the communities being targeted right now, please consider clicking one of the links below and making a donation:
Rainbow Arcade
It Gets Better
Qweerty Gamers
ESA Foundation
GaymerX
Sparkle - The National Transgender Charity
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Sources: Playstation Lifestyle
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