The digital game retailer has not clearly explained how the hate symbols made it into an email, but apologized for the "unfortunate visual association."
It’s not the intent of your post and I know I’m on a bit of a tangent, but the middle article about the oversexualization in the ad doesn’t feel transphobic to me as a trans person. Or like, it does, but it does in a way that it makes perfect sense for the world that the game takes place in.
There are lots of examples of commodification of people’s bodies in game, so leaning into that with a trans person feels like a very real version of what a company might do in that universe.
Not trying to nitpick or anything, I just heard about this controversy waaaaaay after the fact and never got a chance to chime in anywhere with anyone.
The point is, the game portraits a terrible world. The game contains people killing each other, that doesn’t mean the developers condone people killing each other in real life. The game contains megacorporations misusing images of trans people for advertising, that doesn’t mean the developers condone that either.
I think it’s usually well understood that something being in a work of media doesn’t mean it’s representative of the views of the authors, in fact it’s very common for media to contain themes like violence and abuse, not because the author is condoning it, but because the author is building a dark world for their piece of fiction.
Link 1: They made a pun using a trending hashtag without checking what the hashtag meant. They apologized when it was explained to them. This is an example of cluelessness or laziness on the part of whoever was running the Twitter account, not of transphobia.
Link 2: In their video game, containing themes like murder, rape, torture, and the abuse of society by megacorporations, they included a megacorporation misusing an image of a trans person for advertising. When asked about it, they confirmed it’s part of the evil fictional world that they have created, and obviously they don’t condone it, just like they don’t condone murder even though the game features a lot of murder. Is it transphobic to include themes of transphobia in a game, even though it’s shown as a bad thing?
Link 3: They didn’t like a fan’s assumption that only men work for the company, and used the “Did you just assume their gender” meme. They apologized when they were told it can be offensive.
I don’t see a single example here of them being transphobic on purpose. And speaking of Cyberpunk, it features a major trans character whose struggle you are supposed to emphatise with, so they clearly care about the community.
I agree they should be more careful about what their post, but I think there is a big difference between being transphobic, and accidentally posting something transphobic without meaning it 8 years ago and then apologizing for the mistake.
Lemmy and the twittosphere lose their hive-mind when the trans topics come up. What they don’t understand is, when everything is outrageous, nothing is.
Co-opting a hashtag that was used for trans solidarity:
“Classic PC Games #WontBeErased on our watch. Yeah, how’s that for some use of hashtags.”
Suggestive in-game ad:
The female figure in one of those advertisements very clearly has a penis. The ad is for a soft drink called ChroManticore that tastes of “16 flavours you’d love to mix.” The copy encourages you to “mix it up,” an apparent reference to the trans model in the poster.
Assume gender ‘joke’:
“Did you just assume their gender,” the tweet said. The account was responding to a fan saying that they wanted more from the “guys” at Gamescom.
To me these seem much tamer than sending nazi symbols via email tbh
Just wanted to make the info more readily available. Transphobia can get much worse than out of touch pr so what they precisely did is important context (at least to me)
There was also a period where transphobic comments in their forums seemed to take longer for mods to delete but I can’t find anyone talking about that.
Also of note, GOGs sister company, CD Project RED, makers of Cyberpunk 2077, have been criticized for their handling of Trans people and response to trans critics as well covered some here
How many layers of people did this go through? Between their history of transphobia and now this, they are painting a pretty bad picture of themselves
I’m not aware of their history of transphobia, could you share an article talking about it?
Of course! https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/23/18015434/gog-twitter-wontbeerased-hashtag/
https://www.polygon.com/e3/2019/6/12/18662443/cyberpunk-2077-trans-advertisement-cd-projekt-red-e3-2019/
https://kotaku.com/cyberpunk-2077-tweets-transphobic-joke-studio-apologiz-1828502562
I included CD Projekt in there since GoG is owned by them
It’s not the intent of your post and I know I’m on a bit of a tangent, but the middle article about the oversexualization in the ad doesn’t feel transphobic to me as a trans person. Or like, it does, but it does in a way that it makes perfect sense for the world that the game takes place in.
There are lots of examples of commodification of people’s bodies in game, so leaning into that with a trans person feels like a very real version of what a company might do in that universe.
Not trying to nitpick or anything, I just heard about this controversy waaaaaay after the fact and never got a chance to chime in anywhere with anyone.
No worries at all. To me it felt more like fetishization but that is a totally fair take.
The point is, the game portraits a terrible world. The game contains people killing each other, that doesn’t mean the developers condone people killing each other in real life. The game contains megacorporations misusing images of trans people for advertising, that doesn’t mean the developers condone that either.
I think it’s usually well understood that something being in a work of media doesn’t mean it’s representative of the views of the authors, in fact it’s very common for media to contain themes like violence and abuse, not because the author is condoning it, but because the author is building a dark world for their piece of fiction.
Apologia much? 🤷🏽
If you disagree, feel free to discuss, no need to be dismissive for no reason.
How is this a history of transphobia?
Link 1: They made a pun using a trending hashtag without checking what the hashtag meant. They apologized when it was explained to them. This is an example of cluelessness or laziness on the part of whoever was running the Twitter account, not of transphobia.
Link 2: In their video game, containing themes like murder, rape, torture, and the abuse of society by megacorporations, they included a megacorporation misusing an image of a trans person for advertising. When asked about it, they confirmed it’s part of the evil fictional world that they have created, and obviously they don’t condone it, just like they don’t condone murder even though the game features a lot of murder. Is it transphobic to include themes of transphobia in a game, even though it’s shown as a bad thing?
Link 3: They didn’t like a fan’s assumption that only men work for the company, and used the “Did you just assume their gender” meme. They apologized when they were told it can be offensive.
I don’t see a single example here of them being transphobic on purpose. And speaking of Cyberpunk, it features a major trans character whose struggle you are supposed to emphatise with, so they clearly care about the community.
I agree they should be more careful about what their post, but I think there is a big difference between being transphobic, and accidentally posting something transphobic without meaning it 8 years ago and then apologizing for the mistake.
Lemmy and the twittosphere lose their hive-mind when the trans topics come up. What they don’t understand is, when everything is outrageous, nothing is.
To me these seem much tamer than sending nazi symbols via email tbh
The second one is the opposite of transphobic
ok? It was not about which is a worse offense, it was about a history of being shit asses
Just wanted to make the info more readily available. Transphobia can get much worse than out of touch pr so what they precisely did is important context (at least to me)
Technically it isn’t anymore it’s owned by one of the founders, though he’s a chair at cdpr
Good to know!
I guess I’ll have to buy my games from itch now sigh
Not as extensive as GOG but zoom platform does drm free as well.
https://www.zoom-platform.com/
I’ll look into it, thanks
Here you go
There was also a period where transphobic comments in their forums seemed to take longer for mods to delete but I can’t find anyone talking about that.
Also of note, GOGs sister company, CD Project RED, makers of Cyberpunk 2077, have been criticized for their handling of Trans people and response to trans critics as well covered some here