Hogwarts Legacy Will Allow For Transgender Characters

[Dwarvenhobble]

On the topic of this Hogwarts situation with Troy Leavitt. I probably have the unpopular opinion that this guy was treated VERY unfairly by the press. I've watched the videos they've linked and he's definitely got some choice opinions, but the fact that outlets have given him every label from "alt-right" to "bigot" without much of any quotes or evidence from co-workers or anything is demonstrably terrible reporting. Especially given that I've seen multiple people in media comment on this, and in the next tweet admit they hadn't even watched the videos...

The journalism made a TON of assumptions about this guy on how he acts at work too. His cringy clickbait videos aside, he definitely didn't direct hate or harassment at anyone that I saw in any of his stuff. In fact, his videos were about as level-headed as you can get on the topics he was covering which surprised me based on how it was initially reported.

I think this whole situation was handled extremely poorly by both WB Games and the media and the lack of any sort of research or critical thought on this was a bit much to stomach as a member of the media.

Not an unpopular opinion, at least I hope not.
I'm actually quite glad you're calling this narrative out because I hate to say it but this kind of thing is worryingly becoming more common again. Then again it's not like it didn't exist in the past (See the stuff round Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) but it's seemingly on the rise again. It's a push based on relying on people not checking stuff because people are busy and often don't have the time to check things while throwing an emotionally weighted term on it or phrase gets an emotional reaction and can get people to think or believe certain things it's kind of how biases begin and some people then act to try and justify them. E.G. Comments from certain journalists or people in regards to the Escapist reboot at one point.
I hate to say it but what's going on isn't new as such and it's kind of spread somewhat to other media too.

I dunno about WB games handling it poorly as there was no win here. They either stood buy him publicly (which would cause backlash and more rage form people believing he's a monster) or kicked him out (which wouldn't be a good move either and would encourage people to look into more people on the game and try to have them fired). WB had nothing to gain and so was likely hoping to weather the storm, as they have done in the past with other controversies (sexy Shelob caused a bit of a stir in the past I seem to recall). Troy has said a video is coming which will detail more but apparently he left of his own accord rather than being pushed. As much as personally I'd have liked WB games to stick up two fingers and tell people where to go and call all this out it would just have caused people to look deeper and try to find more dirt on the game or people connected to it to try and paint a certain pattern about the game or studio.

To paraphrase something I think it was Liana Kerzner said in one of her videos "It's what would have been called the entertainment gossip press approach bleeding into other reporting and that method of doing things, give people heroes and villains. Create stories of massive falls from grace for people or redemption arcs for them by choosing to cover certain things and leaving other stuff not mentioned."

To go all Metal Gear Solid 2 for a moment


The Patriot A.I. points about what is going on is pretty on point and that's why you calling out the narrative against Troy here is kind of important because it's the way forward. To call out this kind stuff and show people can recognise this stuff and hopefully push more people to question things.

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[Nick Calandra]

I mostly point the video out because of the commentary on yet another "cancelling".

Which you seem to agree with in your very next paragraph. And I think you and I both know what I think of most games journalists considering previous threads, the fact that he doesn't have any links to the industry directly is a good thing imo.

Not to mention you don't need to be have any direct contact with the industry to have opinions on it, otherwise this entire forum would be pointless as it is a bunch of gamers who are just talking about what they see going on within the industry from an outside perspective.

The difference between all of you just talking in this forum, and making a YouTube video, is that you aren't influencers. That guy tries to portray himself as an industry watchdog / insider when he just isn't. That's my problem with YouTubers like that. They try to come off as having a ton of knowledge about the inner workings of the industry without ever talking to anyone that's in it, and that's how I lot of misinformation gets spread around.

I learned A LOT about the industry over the years, especially during my documentary shoots and getting to just speak to people off the record about certain things. It gives you a much needed perspective about the industry that people like UEG just do not have.

 

[Nick Calandra]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking the industry core bubble is all there is. I remember not that long ago on twitter you yourself were on about how certain people in the games journalism sphere were getting mad at you and The Escapist site for not acting a certain way. Yet I'd hope The site isn't failing and this is one of the few sites I think is still pretty respectable and trying to do good work because unlike many other site you are covering indie games and title I've not heard of sometimes and not merely the AAA SEO optimised algorithmically determined optimal thing. You're leading the way not following some expected trend.

That first line there is pretty much what I'm getting at. YouTubers like UEG have not talked to enough people. If you want to be a "watchdog" and challenge narratives, you HAVE to talk to people to do it. It's not about gatekeeping people like UEG out, I just wish instead of commentating on these things, saying the same bits as everyone else, they'd use that platform to do the actual journalism that they continue to say isn't there.

But instead they waste their platform, getting in Twitter spats with people and giving themselves a negative stigma in the industry and then nobody is willing to talk to them on the record.

It's beyond annoying to watch them build up their own platforms of literal echo chambers instead of putting the work in to challenge narratives instead of just complaining about the same people in media over and over and over again.

Everyone wants to call out how crappy the press is all the time, but they never put in the work to make it better.

As for us, like I've said before, as much as I'd like to do that work, The Escapist as a brand probably isn't ready for it, and we're more focused these days on commentary, critique and storytelling via the documentaries. That being said, I have often challenged these narratives in The Escapist Show and am working to try and bring some nuance back to these conversations.

The Spec Ops The Line video was received extremely well, so it's a starting point. If I was independent I'd have no issue calling more things out, but I have a team to take care of, and this brand more than likely isn't the right place to do it.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Yeah, but wasn't the mom a wizard too though? I've only ever seen the movies, but there never seemed to be any sort of real overlap between the magic world and the normal world. And that's always bugged me for multiple reasons, both thematic and practical. There's the notion that one section of humanity can just apparently run everything and leave out everyone else, because 'eh, they're just a bunch of weak normies who can't contribute anything to our cool magic world'. Which would be an engaging hook if this was the bad guys' philosophy, or a societal injustice, but the good guys seemingly harbor the same sentiments.

And this then also makes this magic world come across as terribly outdated. I mean, there's areas that look like they're straight out of the middle-ages. Would you really just ignore all the modern conveniences ontop of having magic? And I don't think this ever gets adressed as an issue that maybe they need to move past. We're just supposed to go 'these are the magic people who live in magicland, and these are the normies who live in normieland, and never the two shall meet' as a rule for buying into this world, I guess.

And I suspect Rowling only set this universe up like that so that the magic world can feel extra special in comparison to the normal world. Because the only reason the normal world seems to ever get in involved in the Potterverse is when it shows characters going from that setting into the magical setting. As if to say 'yeah, fuck that world and all the people in it; THIS is where all the cool shit happens'. And I'm sure that to little kids this is extremely inticing. And while I liked the spirited away sort of stories even long into my twenties, the way Harry Potter did it always rubbed me the wrong way.

There are a bunch of reasons to keep the magic world separate from the muggle world, in universe as well as out. Probably the main one is that there are just not very many wizards in comparison to muggles. There are a couple thousand wizards in the UK compared to 60 million muggles. If muggles knew about magic the wizards would be doing nothing but magic for muggles their entire lives. It's selfish, but the alternative would be being perpetually swamped with work and constantly getting pestered for magical favors. You'd likely get all sorts of incidents with wizards stressed out of their minds lashing out at muggles, it might even turn into a war eventually.

The fact that the wizarding world looks like it's from the middle ages is because for most of human history muggles haven't done much worth paying attention to and haven't had any technology worth having. Wizards haven't needed to change because they already had all the magical convenience they have now, back then. It's only the past couple hundred years that tremendous progress has been made in the muggle world and wizards are so used to ignoring muggles in general they just haven't noticed. There are a couple wizards who are very interested in muggles, like Arthur Weasley, and feel that wizards might have some things to learn from them, but wizards like that are, by far, the exception. You don't get it in the movies (because for some reason all the wizards dress like muggles), but wizards have tremendous trouble even dressing up like muggles because they pay so little attention to that part of the world.

Also, the wizarding world doesn't run the muggle world, they just keep it separate and ignore it.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Who says this? And what does it even mean?

It's and unfortunately growing trend among some or so I heard.

E.G. People upset about Mike Pondsmith (Cyberpunk the TTRPG creator) over depictions of Asian people in it. Or people upset that Sucker Punch weren't a Japanese studio yet made Ghost of Tsushima (though the Japanese loved it).

Being more rich or less rich does not effect a person's ability to be creative. Poor children can still draw chalk on the sidewalks, sticks through dirt, can sing, invent games. In fact children can draw, color, and do art before they develop any concepts of their financial situations. All it takes to be creative is a mind with creative ideas. Some people are not creative, but that has nothing to do with their social standing.

Again yes and no.

You can create but to put it in context wealth can allow time and access to resources that make things eaiser.

As an example digital painting can be done with a mouse and keyboard and using a free program like Paint.net but you'll tend to find a number of artists use photoshop and drawing tablets. To get noticed you need to be consistent in output and if you don't have time because you're having to work on stuff and sleep then you can't be as consistent in output or get as much time to create or practice.

Yes anyone can draw but not everything in creativity in inherent some of it is about practice and development of the skills or the ease of use of some things. Also the less expensive options such as programs etc generally tend to require more time or be more fiddly to use to achieve the same results using up more time.

Most of the arguments from the left I've seen want the outcome, not the opportunity. Hell this very conversation about creativity and the access to the world is that very thing.

"We need more women and people of color in big tech!" Why? What if there aren't a lot of women interested in that field? You going to force them into those roles because the outcome needs to be equal? That's not a good plan either.

Agreed (and I know a woman who did take a computer Science course and would have done that as a career if her other interests hadn't lead her elsewhere to another quite male dominated field)

Instead the outcry should be, "We should encourage women and people of color to take INTEREST in tech fields." Because then you might actually yield positive results.

Problem is it's being tried. Trust me in the teacher training course I was on (don't worry world I left teaching) the emphasis of pushing girls towards STEM was huge. Funnily enough the best result I managed to get to get some of the girls in the class to be interested in STEM and engage with it was to prove as a dude I wasn't some dusty relic by managing to show I had knowledge about Supernatural, Game of Thrones and My Chemical Romance and that yes people in STEM do enjoy those things too. All the "Talking about how women should consider STEM careers" or "Try to help persuade them towards STEM and try to make STEM look cool by showing the cool stuff you can do" yeh that was far less effective because it relies on people already being interested in STEM or thinking it's cool while finding you can like some stuff and enjoy STEM seemed to work to engage people far more into them looking at STEM a bit more or engaging with it more.

The game's about the fantasy of being a student of Hogwart's. Not Harry Potter this time, a random student. The students are aged 11-18, which coincides(who would've thunk?) with the target age demographic of the whole series. An age where one usually, to use a tired expression, "discovers self". Another coincidence: People who are aged 11-18 right now belong to a gen that in general is very open about gender expression.

In other words, it'd make less sense to not include those optional ways of customizing a PC if it's possible. The Inclusivity Criqitique Crew might've pick one of the worst hills to die on so far.

Problem is that aspect of Harry Potter was never really that major Harry was the Chosen one and didn't really get a choice in not being it. There's some stuff about developing feelings etc and the failures or follies of teenage love in the books (which was cut down a lot in the films with a major part missing) but self discovery? yeh not really other than Ron suddenly discovering he finds Hermione attractive and vice versa.

If you want a series more about teenage self discovery you want Skins or if you want College Teen / Early 20s magic themed self discovery then you want The Magicians.


Harry Potter as a series was more about quite old themes. Friendship, courage, learning about judging other people and the follies of that.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Media ethics doesn't have to be tied to that stupid and dead movement. Let it stay dead. If you wanna discuss media ethics, discuss media ethics.

It doesn't have to be and shouldn't be. But certain lets say more morally flexible people have a very definite stake in it being so because it makes it far easier to paint people as monsters because their extra earnings are reliant on it via various things they operate, or it means they can't just promote their friends work all the time if people look into it or are believed on it.

It's funny because I remember a time when Jim Sterling used to point out poor reporting etc. There was a a time when the press held one another accountable to an extent far more.

That first line there is pretty much what I'm getting at. YouTubers like UEG have not talked to enough people. If you want to be a "watchdog" and challenge narratives, you HAVE to talk to people to do it. It's not about gatekeeping people like UEG out, I just wish instead of commentating on these things, saying the same bits as everyone else, they'd use that platform to do the actual journalism that they continue to say isn't there.

But instead they waste their platform, getting in Twitter spats with people and giving themselves a negative stigma in the industry and then nobody is willing to talk to them on the record.

To again paraphrase something Liana Kerzner has aid in a video based on her talking to people in the industry
"People are scared, developers are scared to say much so they will reach out privately on the stipulation they get some level of anonymity because they are scared to talk publicly"

I don't think Liana Kerzner regularly is publicly speaking to devs on twitter but she has talked to them and likely talked a lot via more private avenues. The industry has always been weird to different degrees about talking to people. Only a few years ago Jim Sterling was on about been deemed a "wild card". Then there's been pressure to stop leaks like the Kotaku vs Bethesda stuff.

Doing actual journalism can be quite hard to do for established people in the games journalism industry to an greater or lesser extent simply due to publishers and bigger development studios trying to make sure the only contact with journalists is via the PR department. Many devs (from my understanding) are scared to go on record about stuff because it can and will harm their career in the industry.

In terms of UEG doing something closer to actual journalism. Well his Regal Reserve coverage was pretty close to actual investigation and digging.


This is the 2nd part the Saga went on for a bout 4 videos with more and more coming up, I'm linking the 2nd one as it's the one with more detail and sources where he talked to a number of people connected with the organisation and it went beyond just his initial information and start of digging up stuff in the first one.

The thing being sometimes perceptions about how different content creators do spread and sometimes the other stuff they do isn't what gets wide attention or comes to be something they're more known for whether rightly or wrongly.

As for us, like I've said before, as much as I'd like to do that work, The Escapist as a brand probably isn't ready for it, and we're more focused these days on commentary, critique and storytelling via the documentaries. That being said, I have often challenged these narratives in The Escapist Show and am working to try and bring some nuance back to these conversations.

Honestly it's good to see and even just commentary and critique stuff is good to see come back as it means covering films and games I've sometimes now heard of. It's something that has also been missing from the games industry to a greater or lesser extent as indie game coverage these days on other sites has been somewhat only happening when a game was blowing up not merely when it was first coming out.

The Spec Ops The Line video was received extremely well, so it's a starting point. If I was independent I'd have no issue calling more things out, but I have a team to take care of, and this brand more than likely isn't the right place to do it.

I can understand the position. It kind of says how much things have shifted that calling out other outlets is now somewhat controversial when in the past it was quite common to see. It's a cultural shift as such but even what you're doing already with covering indie games and focussing on commentary and critique is quite a difference stance to many sites and what I'd see as a good one. You're already leading to change in the industry as is I'd say.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Or people upset that Sucker Punch weren't a Japanese studio yet made Ghost of Tsushima (though the Japanese loved it).

This is funny as hell to me too. Because it just signified how the shit people complain about in the media in the West is utterly stupid most of the time.

Ghosts is a good example, this also goes to the way Eastern Devs depict women (sexy and showcasing it) because thats simply what they like. There is no objectification to it, and if you asked most manga artist about how why they showcase women in such ways they likely answer would be, "I thought she would look really cool."

Seriously Japan is a culture of honor and respect, does anyone really think they are trying to push any deragatory messages on women? Or culturally appropriating when they create western style games?

Problem is it's being tried. Trust me in the teacher training course I was on (don't worry world I left teaching) the emphasis of pushing girls towards STEM was huge.

If it is being tried and girls just dont give a shit, then why are people acting like its a problem? Girls dont care, if they did they would being going for those jobs and the girls that DO care are in those fields. So there isnt a problem then right?

Men and women tend to take different life paths and it isnt based of some sexist fucking agenda. And the evidence is in the careers and choices that each gender makes of its own accord. If anything the most career path pressure would come from an individual's family not society itself. Which is why you see a lot of doctors pestering their kids to also be doctors and shit like that.

Imo its people inventing a problem where none exists, and when they try to force solutions onto their made-up problem it doesnt work because the problem was never there to begin with.

 

[Nick Calandra]

To again paraphrase something Liana Kerzner has aid in a video based on her talking to people in the industry
"People are scared, developers are scared to say much so they will reach out privately on the stipulation they get some level of anonymity because they are scared to talk publicly"

Can confirm this to be true, and many are afraid of even voicing that because the usual people will twist it and make a story about people have "something to hide".

It's a mess and it's a shame.

 

[CriticalGaming]

If I was independent I'd have no issue calling more things out, but I have a team to take care of, and this brand more than likely isn't the right place to do it.

This statement is rather striking. Because that whole freedom of the press thing that used to hold people accountable is gone because now if someone doesnt like your opinion or doesnt agree with the truth they just shut you down. How can real reporting ever happen if you are scared of your own shadows?

Nobody should lose their job for having an opinion. So long as that opinion doesnt affect your job performance. For example if a mechanic is a hardcore racist at home, but treats everyone with equal service and respect on the job then so what?

Telling a bad joke online can get your entire life obliterated and i dont understand how anyone can have a moral high horse about ruining someones lofe because they told a joke or made a comment you dont like.

To me that is evil.

 

[Nick Calandra]

This statement is rather striking. Because that whole freedom of the press thing that used to hold people accountable is gone because now if someone doesnt like your opinion or doesnt agree with the truth they just shut you down. How can real reporting ever happen if you are scared of your own shadows?

Nobody should lose their job for having an opinion. So long as that opinion doesnt affect your job performance. For example if a mechanic is a hardcore racist at home, but treats everyone with equal service and respect on the job then so what?

Telling a bad joke online can get your entire life obliterated and i dont understand how anyone can have a moral high horse about ruining someones lofe because they told a joke or made a comment you dont like.

To me that is evil.

Well, it's a unique situation because of the brand history here.

In general though, yes, it's a weird time to be in media. I think there's a lot better work being done when it comes to reporting on working situations at studios, especially when it comes to abuse, crunch, etc. But too much of it is tied to media personalities on Twitter and that sours all that reporting when the reporter themselves gets involved in the story and creates biases.

As for the opinion stuff, I think it's more than fine to criticize or disagree with someone for having an opinion that you don't agree with, but Twitter takes it a step further and bypasses the discussion part and just goes right into the mob mentality echo chambers, and that's what I want to see stop, no matter whose doing it.

The other problem is the absolute state of hypocrisy from the people that advocate for mental health, responsible use of platforms etc. Just today, someone that I CONSTANTLY see trying to be the good guy 100% of the time on social media, I saw literal receipts of him abusing someone and firing them from a podcast because they didn't believe him about how he was handling his money and his disabilities.

That makes me rage to no end and I know if the guy that shared those receipts made a bigger public deal about it, the abuser's circle would rush in to defend him.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Well, it's a unique situation because of the brand history here.

In general though, yes, it's a weird time to be in media. I think there's a lot better work being done when it comes to reporting on working situations at studios, especially when it comes to abuse, crunch, etc. But too much of it is tied to media personalities on Twitter and that sours all that reporting when the reporter themselves gets involved in the story and creates biases.

As for the opinion stuff, I think it's more than fine to criticize or disagree with someone for having an opinion that you don't agree with, but Twitter takes it a step further and bypasses the discussion part and just goes right into the mob mentality echo chambers, and that's what I want to see stop, no matter whose doing it.

The other problem is the absolute state of hypocrisy from the people that advocate for mental health, responsible use of platforms etc. Just today, someone that I CONSTANTLY see trying to be the good guy 100% of the time on social media, I saw literal receipts of him abusing someone and firing them from a podcast because they didn't believe him about how he was handling his money and his disabilities.

That makes me rage to no end and I know if the guy that shared those receipts made a bigger public deal about it, the abuser's circle would rush in to defend him.

Exactly. And thats kind of the thing isnt it.

Bringing this back around to the Hogwarts game, i can the feeling that the devs are literally just trying to make a good game for people in a popular universe and the hate mob is trying to shut everything they try down.

They came out and said Rowling has nothing to do with the game. Not good enough.

The creator apologized for his old videos. Not good enough.

They offer up trans options to show that they are not making this with transphobic ideas in anyway. Not good enough.

Now the lead guy has left the game, literally losing his job and livelihood. Will that be good enough?

Probably not.

I kiss the days in which you could not like a thing and simply not buy it.

Saying Harry Potter promotes transphobic hatecrime is the same thing as saying GTA causes school shootings. It is fearmongering and nothing more, but the dangerous thing is that these companies are so fucking afraid of the outrage mob that they backpedal every time the mob glances their way.

The more companies visibly react to these groups, the more power those groups will get and the more outrageous their claims will become.

Im not saying you can express a concern, post tweets, have discussions as to why something may or may not be harmful. And ultimately be free to consume the products you want without trying to ruin people who disagree.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

We are in a period of time when the idea that lineage, ancestry and genes are what defines you as special and heroic is becoming increasingly strong again (Rise of Skywalker, Wandavision, Potterverse etc.), which is kind of sad. As far as I remember even OG Potter was a rally cry against that eugenic shit seeing as how Harry was a half-blood and what made him special was not his dad's awesome wizardry but his muggle mother's self-sacrificing love for him which made Voldemort's curse fail. As Rowling kept writing, the idea of really strong wizard lines seems to have become increasingly entrenched though, which sort of runs counter to the original message of Harry Potter.

As much as the Marvel movies catch flak, I at least like them because out of all the heroes in them there's only one (Thor, being a God, and maybe Star Lord, though I'd argue that he's a subversion) who is explicitly special because of lineage. All the others, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Panther etc., are all people who are heroes because of either their personality or things they've worked hard to learn and master. Even as Iron Man and Black Panther have inherited fortunes that's not what makes them heroes, but rather that they are ready to put their wealth or royal privilege towards helping others and the greater good.

I mean there was a bit of commentary in the fact that Filch being a squib (for those not familiar a Squib is a person from a magical family or has minimal to no actual magical powers).

Also while there's a lot of magical lineage families in the books it's those that aren't about blood purity that tend to be the heroes. E.G. Ron's dad is really happy to meet Hermione to learn more about the muggle world and how things work, Harry is a half blood, Snape is a half blood. In the expanded ending stuff Cho Chang marries a muggle.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Yeah, but wasn't the mom a wizard too though? I've only ever seen the movies, but there never seemed to be any sort of real overlap between the magic world and the normal world. And that's always bugged me for multiple reasons, both thematic and practical. There's the notion that one section of humanity can just apparently run everything and leave out everyone else, because 'eh, they're just a bunch of weak normies who can't contribute anything to our cool magic world'. Which would be an engaging hook if this was the bad guys' philosophy, or a societal injustice, but the good guys seemingly harbor the same sentiments.

And this then also makes this magic world come across as terribly outdated. I mean, there's areas that look like they're straight out of the middle-ages. Would you really just ignore all the modern conveniences ontop of having magic? And I don't think this ever gets adressed as an issue that maybe they need to move past. We're just supposed to go 'these are the magic people who live in magicland, and these are the normies who live in normieland, and never the two shall meet' as a rule for buying into this world, I guess.

And I suspect Rowling only set this universe up like that so that the magic world can feel extra special in comparison to the normal world. Because the only reason the normal world seems to ever get in involved in the Potterverse is when it shows characters going from that setting into the magical setting. As if to say 'yeah, fuck that world and all the people in it; THIS is where all the cool shit happens'. And I'm sure that to little kids this is extremely inticing. And while I liked the spirited away sort of stories even long into my twenties, the way Harry Potter did it always rubbed me the wrong way.

There is a mention in the books of the Ministry having informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the situation when Voldermort is coming back to power. It's more a case of the Wizarding world operates mostly independently to the Muggle one. Some wizarding families not using Muggle money or muggle anything else for that matter really. Part of it seems to be mostly separate worlds where in some cases (Ron's dad) Magical folks see the Muggle world as mysterious and special.

 

[Hawki]

Well, there's the issue that this isn't really addressed. Kill Voldemort, go back to the status quo drag them further left afterwards and everything is fine.

Actually, no, in the beginning of one book (I think the third) it's said that witchburnings didn't get real witches as protection from fire is a really easy spell apparently. And that at least one witch allowed themselves to be burned multiple times under different names because they were kinky, which given she's talking about horrific murder, doesn't come across as funny.

It says that in book 3, but in one of the spinoff ones (the e-book exclusives) it goes into more detail. Adult witches/wizards didn't have much to fear from witch burning, but children did, as they couldn't always control their magic, nor use it. So if they were found out, they couldn't do a freeze charm.

I'm not singling out the witch burning thing, just that in-universe, wizards disliking Muggles has roots that go back centuries by the time period of the books.

Well, there's the issue that this isn't really addressed. Kill Voldemort, go back to the status quo drag them further left afterwards and everything is fine.

Hermione being minister of magic does help the Wizarding World somewhat, such as helping the house elves.

I'm not sure I follow the idea that an imperfect world in fiction has to be made perfect by the end of its story.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Ah, ok, not familiar with the EU stuff.

I'm not sure I follow the idea that an imperfect world in fiction has to be made perfect by the end of its story.

Not saying that it has to be made perfect, but despite the massive flaws in society, the only one supposed really worth doing anything about (in the books/films at least) was removing Voldemort and going back to the status quo, which the author acknowledged was bad (but is also bad in ways they didn't acknowledge). Everyone gets their happy ending when this happens.

Now, I'm not saying that this ruins the series or anything, but am saying it's notable and something of a flaw.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Exactly. And thats kind of the thing isnt it.

Bringing this back around to the Hogwarts game, i can the feeling that the devs are literally just trying to make a good game for people in a popular universe and the hate mob is trying to shut everything they try down.

They came out and said Rowling has nothing to do with the game. Not good enough.

The creator apologized for his old videos. Not good enough.

They offer up trans options to show that they are not making this with transphobic ideas in anyway. Not good enough.

Now the lead guy has left the game, literally losing his job and livelihood. Will that be good enough?

Probably not.

I kiss the days in which you could not like a thing and simply not buy it.

Saying Harry Potter promotes transphobic hatecrime is the same thing as saying GTA causes school shootings.

Literally nobody is saying that last part (at least, not with any following. You can find anybody saying anything if you look hard enough)

Sure. The devs are just trying to make a good game. It really, really sucks that it's been in development for long enough that the creator of the property decided to very publicly suck an entire ass.

But it is what it is. This isn't the first nor the last media property that will be blown to bits due to events outside of its control. Rowling might not be part of the development of the game but she's still getting paid by it, and for a good chunk of people that's enough to not buy the game. Wishing people just wouldn't talk about it is just wanting an echo chamber.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Literally nobody is saying that last part (at least, not with any following. You can find anybody saying anything if you look hard enough)

Sure. The devs are just trying to make a good game. It really, really sucks that it's been in development for long enough that the creator of the property decided to very publicly suck an entire ass.

But it is what it is. This isn't the first nor the last media property that will be blown to bits due to events outside of its control. Rowling might not be part of the development of the game but she's still getting paid by it, and for a good chunk of people that's enough to not buy the game. Wishing people just wouldn't talk about it is just wanting an echo chamber.

and if you're worried about "Bad people" getting paid.

Well you're not going to have a lot of entertainment left by the present standards of what makes some-one a bad person being said some things on twitter people didn't like.

 

[Silvanus]

Exactly. And thats kind of the thing isnt it.

Bringing this back around to the Hogwarts game, i can the feeling that the devs are literally just trying to make a good game for people in a popular universe and the hate mob is trying to shut everything they try down.

They came out and said Rowling has nothing to do with the game. Not good enough.

The creator apologized for his old videos. Not good enough.

They offer up trans options to show that they are not making this with transphobic ideas in anyway. Not good enough.

Now the lead guy has left the game, literally losing his job and livelihood. Will that be good enough?

Probably not.

I kiss the days in which you could not like a thing and simply not buy it.

OK, but what are people actually doing in response to Leavitt's involvement? They're just... complaining. Sometimes loudly.

So what? I mean, he made videos specifically to make his points known; the right to reply exists. There's no power being leveraged other than that. And if the studio sees that as a PR nightmare, isn't that just a consequence of making highly opinionated videos?

We can't say he can say whatever he wants and then people can't respond in kind. And actions have consequences.

 

[CriticalGaming]

OK, but what are people actually doing in response to Leavitt's involvement? They're just... complaining. Sometimes loudly.

So what? I mean, he made videos specifically to make his points known; the right to reply exists. There's no power being leveraged other than that. And if the studio sees that as a PR nightmare, isn't that just a consequence of making highly opinionated videos?

We can't say he can say whatever he wants and then people can't respond in kind. And actions have consequences.

The right to disagree sure.

But sending messages to the company and tweeting the company demanding he lose his job is not. Its through public pressure that he stepped down as happens all over the place.

Disagreement is perfectly fine so long as it is relevant to the matter at hand.

I mean if people can just demand companies and projects and people get shutdown for things that happened years ago, then why arent people cancelling Disney? After all it was the happiest place on Earth so long as you werent black or jewish.

Or do people understand that times and opinions can change and grow over time? And perhaps this guys opinions have nothing to do with his desire to just make a fun video game.

And dont say that people dont try to destroy the lives of people for ling past things because people got mad and tried to shutdown Jimmy Kimmel because of a blackface skit he did over 20 years ago. But because the company backing him didnt flinch, he didnt get shutdown.

I dont agree that all this progressiveness is for some great social change for the better. I dont want what has driven this movement to become so over sensitive, to not take a joke, to not even be able to let your kids dress as their favorite characters unless they match that character's ethnicity...i have to believe that at some point people will realize this is all over the top ridiculous and back pedal on some stuff.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Not an unpopular opinion, at least I hope not.
I'm actually quite glad you're calling this narrative out because I hate to say it but this kind of thing is worryingly becoming more common again. Then again it's not like it didn't exist in the past (See the stuff round Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) but it's seemingly on the rise again. It's a push based on relying on people not checking stuff because people are busy and often don't have the time to check things while throwing an emotionally weighted term on it or phrase gets an emotional reaction and can get people to think or believe certain things it's kind of how biases begin and some people then act to try and justify them. E.G. Comments from certain journalists or people in regards to the Escapist reboot at one point.
I hate to say it but what's going on isn't new as such and it's kind of spread somewhat to other media too.

I dunno about WB games handling it poorly as there was no win here. They either stood buy him publicly (which would cause backlash and more rage form people believing he's a monster) or kicked him out (which wouldn't be a good move either and would encourage people to look into more people on the game and try to have them fired). WB had nothing to gain and so was likely hoping to weather the storm, as they have done in the past with other controversies (sexy Shelob caused a bit of a stir in the past I seem to recall). Troy has said a video is coming which will detail more but apparently he left of his own accord rather than being pushed. As much as personally I'd have liked WB games to stick up two fingers and tell people where to go and call all this out it would just have caused people to look deeper and try to find more dirt on the game or people connected to it to try and paint a certain pattern about the game or studio.

To paraphrase something I think it was Liana Kerzner said in one of her videos "It's what would have been called the entertainment gossip press approach bleeding into other reporting and that method of doing things, give people heroes and villains. Create stories of massive falls from grace for people or redemption arcs for them by choosing to cover certain things and leaving other stuff not mentioned."

To go all Metal Gear Solid 2 for a moment


The Patriot A.I. points about what is going on is pretty on point and that's why you calling out the narrative against Troy here is kind of important because it's the way forward. To call out this kind stuff and show people can recognise this stuff and hopefully push more people to question things.

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Its highly unlikely that codec exchange would fly past inspections in today’s entertainment world. Or if it did it would probably at least need to be as cryptic about it as a FROMSOFT game’s lore. Kinda says something about what stage we’re in.