Exactly!!
They destroyed the art.
No forgiveness. https://t.co/EbOHupFdsh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025
You can make a case that contemporary politics is downstream from Gamergate. If you think that is too strong a claim, back in 2014, I said that Gamergate showed that what we thought of as organic developments in a niche industry — which games were considered good, which developers succeeded, what got high ratings from video-game magazines — was largely artificial. They were the result of video-game journalists working together or in close networks with people they knew, either out of personal connections, political sympathies, or both. Journalists covered games differently according to their politics, attacking traditional games and promoting “socially conscious” ones. Most of these new projects opposed masculinity, traditional white themes and settings, and the political Right.
I think gaming is at least as legitimate an art form as modern cinema. In any case, it has great cultural power, with a market capitalization bigger than that of movies and sports combined. Steve Bannon made gamers a powerful force in the 2016 election. Gamers and anti-SJW (Social Justice Warrior) YouTubers were an important subculture (along with race realists, white nationalists, and pick-up artists) that gave rise to the 2014–2016 Alt-Right. Many of the most important channels on the old, uncensored YouTube were gamers criticizing the media during Gamergate.
The party line on the Right during Gamergate was that it was about “ethics in video-game journalism,” which became a laugh line for progressives who criticized it. They claimed it was about sexism, racism, and reactionary politics. Both sides were right. Those criticizing the media were right that it was, in some sense, a “conspiracy,” with journalists working as a bloc. Those criticizing gamers were also right: many games did have reactionary messages, from “saving the princess” to male power fantasies such as territorial conquest.
Some would argue that gaming is “apolitical,” and this is what (mostly male) gamers want. However, Critical Theory is right to call everything political. There are political assumptions even in basic game concepts, such as “winning” through conquest or getting the girl only after achieving victory. Where critics of traditional gaming and Critical Theorists went wrong was in claiming that the Right has most or even all of the political power. The reaction to SJW’s was extreme because the typical gamer is powerless and politically unrepresented, a young (often white) man told he is evil and worthless by the educational, political, and entertainment industries. Increasingly, young men aren’t even dating, and now, they can’t even escape into a world of fantasy without being scolded.
Some say wokeness is dying. Defunding many pro-DEI projects is a great victory, albeit a defensive one. All we are doing is not paying as many of the salaries of our enemies as we did before. In many ways, the damage is done. The staffs that built some of the classic games have been replaced by “diverse” personnel who write their politics into the games. Even classic franchises have been subverted. In at least one case, a developer who looked like he might oppose what is happening has defected to the other side.
The most disappointing case is that of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. The publication Kotaku called Daniel Vavara, who developed the initial version, “pro-Gamergate,” and that seemed right. He mocked calls to put racial diversity into the setting of 15th century Bohemia, and called political correctness nothing but an excuse for censorship. Reviewers then froze out the game from coverage, but it was still a hit. Despite a few bugs, it was genuinely innovative, especially in its sophisticated treatment of historical European martial arts. Players had to learn to fight like people in the Middle Ages, not just push buttons effortlessly to mow down enemies. It was a triumph.
It is therefore disappointing to see the new version of the game pioneering what will probably be the “woke” strategy going forward: hide leftist elements until a game releases. Developers claim they did not want to be dragged into the culture war and just want to make good games. However, in the new game, the protagonist Henry can choose to have a homosexual relationship with his best friend, who was his companion-in-arms in the first game. It makes no sense in the historical context of the game, and it helps destroy male camaraderie. Such a “relationship” in medieval Bohemia is theoretically possible but so is converting to Zoroastrianism. The publisher posted a how-to guide for virtual sodomy shortly after the game’s release. You have to confirm your age to watch it.
There is also a black character, “Musa of Mali,” who looks and acts like something out of Afrocentric accounts on X and TikTok. He lectures the main character about Europeans’ lack of education, their mistreatment of women, their bad sanitation, and even their dull cooking. The game player is also sent on a mission to infiltrate a meeting of “antisemites” and defend a synagogue from Christian zealots. While the politics of the first game was dynastic struggle, ethnic tensions between Czechs and other Europeans, and the Hussite Wars, politics in this game are what you would get from Teen Vogue. Yet, going woke does not necessarily mean going broke. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has had positive reviews from both players and media, and has sold one million copies. Some negative reviews are reportedly being deleted.
Civilization is another classic brand that has been subverted. In this series, the player takes a God’s-eye view of a civilization and guides it from prehistory into the future. Along the way, the player expands his civilization through technological development, trade, and conquest. The player does not wage war against his own civilization or try to destroy it in the name of equality.
There have been attempts to subvert or weaken this in more recent versions, with “global warming” becoming a major threat to the player. The venerable brand mostly featured strong civilizations and empires. However, this too has changed, with marginal Third-World cultures now getting a chance to be world conquerors. The newest game, Civilization 7, seems the most subversive. A potential leader of the “American Civilization” is Harriet Tubman. She is a typical girlboss who lectures other protagonists.
Gamers.
I know it’s February. Black History Month in some circles.
But Harriet Tubman bossing Augustus around?
No wonder why Civilization VII is flopping. pic.twitter.com/4R8wCnXXTr
— Yorch Torch Games (@YorchTorchGames) February 13, 2025
The Freedom Fighter. 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐚𝐧 leads unstoppable movements in #Civ7!
Get a First Look at her unique abilities: https://t.co/StEinT7OfS pic.twitter.com/zQRtjZ1QZf
— Sid Meier’s Civilization VII (@CivGame) December 17, 2024
There are changes to the rules of the game. Instead of guiding one civilization over the course of millennia, the game now forces you to “switch” civilizations when certain historical eras end. Leaders can also take the helm of alien civilizations. Presumably, Tubman could lead the Germans. Civilizations and their leaders are interchangeable. With the right leader, any group can achieve total victory; populations are infinitely malleable.
This was coming even in previous editions, but rather than leading a coherent civilization, players become technocratic managers of anonymous groups of (socially conscious) resource extractors. Civilization is no longer a living entity, with generations joined together in a shared tradition, experience, and identity.
A recent report showed that more people were playing Civilization 6 rather than the new game.
#DEVELOPING: Civilization VII Developers Under Fire After Viral Footage
(What Happened)
• Footage of the Sid Meier’s Civilization VII developers thanking their fans has gone viral, but viewers noticed something in common with all of them—they appear to share a very specific… pic.twitter.com/pniY69NQ7L— Shred Newz (@shrednewz) February 11, 2025
For many people, video games are escapism. A powerless young man playing at being a powerful warrior may help him cope with disappointing reality. A new game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, seems to be a fantasy for confused people struggling with their identity. Non-binary or “trans” characters are a major part of the game.
“We know how much it means to players that want to choose these options to feel seen and have that experience actually celebrate and reflect that joy they feel in their own authenticity,” said game director Corinne Busche. She also said she has often “cried” because of the storytelling this supposedly unlocks. “Dragon Age: The Veilguard tries to bring about a revolution in the industry that focuses on more inclusivity,” said Fandomwire. Todd Harper at Polygon said that if anything, the game’s treatment of transgenderism was “too safe,” reflecting on his own experience in an academic workshop on gaming, with the project of “mak[ing] a game with a queer resonant theme.”
The dialogue can be painful. If there is wish fulfillment, it is for those who dream of a career in human relations. In fact, much of the dialogue actually sounds like a obligatory HR workshop.
Audiences are not happy. Electronic Arts reported that the game attracted only half the players executives expected, and concluded it did not “resonate with a broad enough audience in a highly competitive market.” It is especially striking because the game was in development for a reported 10 years. EA may not be the last major company to suffer. The upcoming Assassin’s Creed — set in Japan, with a black samurai and a female sumo wrestler as playable characters — may be a serious blow to Ubisoft if it flops.
Will companies change? Feminist Frequency founder Anita Sarkeesian, whose crusade against the “male gaze” in gaming helped launch Gamergate, spoke at the Game Developers Conference in 2023. She said DEI programs were not good enough because they had been “co-opted by the powerful,” and called for a revolt against “systems of oppression” inside companies. This message may be more popular than we think. Years of efforts to “diversify” the staff at gaming companies mean that many will resist the death of DEI.
There is progress. Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler is feuding with gaming journalist Alyssa Mercante of Kotaku, who attacked his company for a lack of diversity. He called efforts to put Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in gaming “perverted.” CI Studios, which made Lords of the Fallen, said it would not “embed social or political agendas” in games, and said it hurts sales. Perhaps most significantly, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen openly mocked DEI while promoting the sale of its operations in France and Canada: “High taxes, Liberalism, Socialism, Progressivism, Wokeness, and DEI included at no additional cost if you buy today.”
It will be a long fight. Many consulting companies, activists, and journalists have built a career on video-game DEI. They don’t want to see their racket die, and declining sales may not end destructive practices. The gaming market is so big that even lackluster sales do not necessarily doom a company. The death blow will be successful games explicitly ignoring DEI — though some might argue this would be a bad thing. Sun Tzu famously advised that one should always allow an enemy an escape, so he does not fight to the death. The Left denied this to young white men. That was why right-wing gamers have been a powerful force for a decade, and as “wokeness” persists, their radicalism will increase.
You could have just left us alone, but now we’re going to continue until people scoff at the idea of liberalism in the same way you scoff at the idea of God. https://t.co/sZYa6XM9j6 pic.twitter.com/pzFxvpN9oe
— Carl Benjamin (@Sargon_of_Akkad) February 9, 2025
