This week, we discussed the consequences of the current climate of gaming culture and how it correlates to the increase of alt-right ideas within the gaming community. As Condis states in her opinion article, the proliferation of alt-right ideas may be because of the premise of many of the popular games within the sphere itself. Many popular games, particularly online games, feature a narrative “invasion” from the “other” and a heavy “us vs. them” mentality. Many of these games portray a black and white morality where there is a clear good guy and bad guy, with games such as Call of Duty or Counter Strike: Global Offensive, simplifying the premise of war to repelling the explicitly foreign enemies and invaders.. Another consequence of competitive video games is that the emphasis on player skill as a key element in achieving victory in games breeds a mentality where players want to be the one who is “better” than other players in terms of skills. This creates a desire for superiority for other players that can easily start to leak into ideas outside of gaming. 

The results of this is seen in controversies such as #GamerGate where many members of the gaming community see the increased presence of social justice ideas in games and minority groups within the gaming community as elements that are “taking away” their games. 

Some people may claim that this is just a reaction against the presence of politics in their games, seeing games as an escapist medium where politics shouldn’t be allowed. However, I see this argument can be used in some games where there is simply an LBGTQ character and is open about their sexuality. One example I can think of is when Riot introduced Neeko in League of Legends, and she had in-game character interactions and external statements from developers that Neeko is a lesbian. There was some backlash that happened where players claimed that LGBTQ themes were “being shoved in their faces,” and that Neeko’s sexuality does not need to be openly expressed. However, this same backlash is not applied to heterosexual displays of romance in the game and in external media. Examples include Xayah and Rakan’s interactions, showing their love as a couple, in the game, and Senna’s character trailer where the love between Senna and Lucian is openly displayed. When looked through this lens, there seems to be a double standard between portraying openness of LGBTQ themes and openness of heterosexual themes, where people of the LGBTQ group are expected to refrain from open displays of their sexuality. I think the desire to not see politics in a game can be a valid reason for disliking a game, but I do not agree that open displays of LGBTQ themes count as “politics” if heteronormative themes in games are still generally accepted in the gaming community.

I think this pushback against inclusion of marginalized groups and narratives within the gaming community show that developers should put some consideration into how certain narratives in their games are portrayed. 

Sources:Condis, Megan. “From Fortnite to Alt-Right.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Mar. 2019, http://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/opinion/gaming-new-zealand-shooter.html.