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.
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.