Gamers are not in any way a uniform community: I would argue that, like a lot of ‘geek’ pastimes, one of the key characteristics of the gaming community is acceptance of differences. But sometimes I have to wave my fist at elements of the gaming fandom that I just think don’t belong. Today is one of those times.
There is a small group of loud and obnoxious ‘gamers’ who seem to be having a moment lately. These are the toxic cousins to the unpleasant gatekeepers who pose purity tests for anyone who wants to call themselves a fan. I’m talking now about the bigots and haters who don’t want people different than them represented in games. They often shout “Woke!” at any game that tries to be inclusive, and frankly I’m sick and tired of them.
One of their latest targets is an upcoming game called Dragon Age: the Veilguard. The game hasn’t even shipped yet, and a certain group is dumping hatred on it for the fact it doesn’t strictly represent straight white men in the role of ‘hero’. The ‘controversy’ is so loud that a developer often credited with creating the original series, David Gaider, has felt compelled to call the noisy weirdos out. In a world with fewer asshats, he wouldn’t feel a response was necessary.
The complaint
To be clear, there are certainly reasons that people might be unhappy about what has been shown around Veilguard so far. Some fans are displeased by the graphical style, the change to a more action oriented combat system, and the more ‘focused’ and potentially somewhat linear design of the narrative. These are reasonable takeaways, although I disagree with them, from what has been revealed about the unreleased game. But that kind of reasonable opinion is not what I’m talking about here.
What is of concern is that some people are up in arms about the fact that Dragon Age Veilguard’s romanceable party members are effectively pansexual. These characters do not care whether player character is male or female: if they are deemed suitable for other reasons (presumably the choices the player makes about various situations in the game) they will be equally approachable regardless of gender. It is also true that the party members aka companions include people of identifiable racial appearances.
There are also mechanisms in the character creator for the player character that allow you to represent non-binary genders. So instead of a ‘male’ or ‘female’ avatar, you can create your character as someone who has transitioned, or who is otherwise neither male nor female in the traditional sense. Or you can go with the usual male or female: your choice.
For a certain type of ‘gamer’ (the quotes here are intentional) being anything other cisgender is a travesty that demonstrates the developers are pandering woke libtards. Heaven forfend that some of the female characters may be strong and independent women as well. And it is even worse in these circles for some of the party members to not be white people. Some of these people wrap their bigotry with statements about demographic or historical accuracy: they claim that most people aren’t bisexual, and historically heroes have mostly been white people.
A brief rebuttal
Gender-neutral romance
There is a sound reason for a game designer to make romanceable NPCs effectively gender-blind: it makes the game far easier to design without excluding certain members of the player base. If a developer restricts NPCs based on gender preferences it effectively locks certain characters off from players that might find them desirable. A gay person might be attracted to a character of the same gender, but if that character is programmed to be straight then they are off limits.
It is absolutely true that making all the characters bisexual is unrealistic. In the real world, something like 90% of the population is cisgender, so an entire group of half a dozen picked from random walks of life where everyone is bisexual would be highly unusual. And I am sure that every gay person has encountered a real-life situation where someone they are attracted to is unavailable due to their gender preferences. As a heterosexual male I’ve been politely shut down by a woman who turned out to only be attracted to other women, so that can also be a real life scenario.
As for the character creator, my lived experience is as a heterosexual male. I have no need or interest in creating an avatar that is anything other than traditionally male or female. But It causes me no consternation that there are choices and settings for people who have different or transitional genders. Why should it? It could be argued again that the ability to create a character transitioning from female to male is ‘unrealistic’ in a fantasy setting. But really the fantasy setting should just make that easier- why can’t people be transitioning in such a world when they can turn into wolves or dragons? And if it bothers you, don’t use that character option.
But here is a simple fact- games like Dragon Age are not ‘real world’ simulators: they have dragons and magic. Dragon Age: the Veilguard is clearly a game, not a simulation of statistical reality. Games like this are entertainments intended to give players a sense of agency, to tell a story, and to hopefully to be enjoyable for all kinds of gamers. It is a reasonable design choice to eliminate gender preferences as a factor for the small part of the game that relates to player romance.
I should say that I’m okay with a game where NPCs have gender preferences. Firstly, I can skip interacting with them in that way if I don’t want to. However, I don’t find playing through a scenario where I discover that an NPC my character is interested in does not return that interest to be distasteful or upsetting so long as they are well-designed narratively. But I definitely understand why this might be hurtful to other gamers with different gender preferences, especially when their preferences are under-represented in games. Simply making all the NPCs bisexual makes the situation ‘equal for all’ and, although arguably unrealistic, it is a decent way to undo past unfairness.
Finding ways to make differences in gender be less of an obstacle to players enjoying a game is a net goodness. “Gamers” who have a problem with this kind of game design choice aren’t really talking about demographics: they are just being homophobic bigots.
Historical conditions of race
If you squint really hard you might believe that Dragon Age: the Veilguard is set in a fantasized medieval Europe. And it was uncommon in Europe of the middle ages to come across Black or Asian people in positions of authority or as a part of a group of heroic warriors. But Dragon Age isn’t a historical simulator, and nothing about it claims to be a historically accurate representation of that time or place.
I like seeing different kinds of people in my fantasy games. Short, tall, black, white, asian, or outright alien: it all adds interest and differences of perspective to the narrative. If a ‘gamer’ has a problem with a character in the game because they are non-white or non-male, they aren’t really talking about historical accuracy: they are just racists or sexists.
A strong desire
I have a truly overwhelming desire to not feel obligated to write this kind of post again. I just got finished writing about the controversy surrounding Star Wars Outlaws as part of my review of that game. Yet here I am, a couple of days later, feeling compelled to make another statement on the topic.
Here’s how I feel in a nutshell: the ‘gamers’ who protest and review bomb titles because of gender or racial representation in those games are not part of a community I want to participate in. They have no place in computer gaming fandom and don’t represent any aspect of the hobby that I care to see persist.
None of this pertains to the gameplay mechanics, the story, the visuals, or anything else relevant to the core of what makes a game ‘good’ or ‘bad’: it is just righteous indignation over aspects of representation that don’t fit with certain players’ very narrow world views. I would like to say harsher things against this subculture of hatred, racism, and fear: but I don’t think that leads anywhere constructive.
I’ll end this with a video from a reviewer that got to actually play half a dozen hours of Veilguard before release and seems to have some reasoned opinions. I’m more interested in talking about the actual game as this video does- hopefully I can push the hateful misfits out of my mind now.