Political correctness is now present in videogames. It is 2019 and we should get offended by everything. If you’re white, heterosexual, and male then you’re an entitled bigot who needs to check his privilege. How dare your race takes the spotlight for what should be rightfully reserved for minorities?
I never really understood how a person could think like this. The sheer hypocrisy of saying that color doesn’t matter than going on to attack someone for simply being black or white is astonishing. Case in point, nobody should really be attacked because of the color in itself. To not give a character a chance to show what they’ve got to offer because of one physical attribute seems extremely shallow.
These kinds of topics always lead to heated debates. And I honestly don’t see a winning angle against arguing with people who feel personally offended on a game that they feel lacks representation. Which honestly says more about their priorities than anything else. As someone who enjoys gaming as a hobby, it pains me to see people forcing their agendas on me. To these people, color comes before character. Representation comes before plot. Politics comes before gameplay. And unfortunately, developers are forced to pander to these demands.
Take CD Projekt Red for example. They got some critique online for a “boring white male” lead on the cover. Even other games journalists accused them of racism for showing V–the game’s main protagonist–killing a predominantly black gang who call themselves “The Animals.” The same group of people who also forget to mention that V also kills almost exclusively white people in a different trailer. I didn’t see anyone take offense to that.
The fact that these people took a look at color first and immediately assumed that it was racism in play is pure hypocrisy at its finest. Is it impossible to portray a man in a negative manner and not attribute it to his color? Because everything has to be about politics nowadays right?.
Earlier, CD Projekt Red also got in trouble for making a joke about “assuming my gender” meme. With offended parties even threatening not to buy Cyberpunk 2077 because of it. It’s tough to see them navigate through every little thing they say because some snowflake is going to use it as a chance to stir up trouble. Said game developers issued an apology not too later after backlash.
Now I believe gaming is a hobby that should welcome anyone regardless of personal beliefs, physical attributes, and agenda. But nowadays, we’re becoming a more toxic community lately and it shows. It’s honestly difficult for newcomers to get into great games when they’re guilt-tripped by over-sensitive moral guardians for playing a game they don’t agree with. From my observations, it’s always those who force tolerance on others who are severely lacking tolerance themselves.
People need to learn the difference between fiction and reality. Looking for representation in a video game is pure idiocy. Diversity is great and all, but should never be forced nor used to prove a point. If developers want to portray diversity to fill in a narrative, it should be because of artistic vision and not to pander to snowflakes who throw a temper tantrum whenever a minority is portrayed negatively. The fact that I have to say this shows the state our gaming industry is in.
It’s bad enough we have to worry about scummy practices of gaming monetization. But we also have to keep fighting to make sure creative vision stays alive without PC interference.