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[Jason Schreier] Harry Potter Video Game Will Allow for Transgender Characters

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i like big butts

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Oct 28, 2017
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This is like the most meaningless inclusion that you do to try and get people off your backs.

It doesn't stop people from being transphobic and being a shitlord. It also doesn't stop transphobic groups from using this as an example of overreach.

Ironically I'd prefer them to either go full on trans inclusion or not even bother with this. This is just muddying the waters in so many ways. It's not true inclusion, as it's such a small part of the game that only people really looking for it will notice, the guy still likely got his job even with WB knowing his shitlordness and JK Rowling is still making mad bank from this to still be transphobic and fund transphobic things.

It's still overwhelmingly net negative at best and more negative at worse as it gives even more ammo to transphobic individuals and groups.
 
wars

wars

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Apr 26, 2020
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This seems a PR move but I agree with Rotobit, they need to speak out about these issues and not just throw dust into our eyes.

Anyway fuck J.K Rowling.
 
Budi

Budi

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Oct 25, 2017
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So did Cyberpunk. Yet they fumbled even with that and it didn't do anything to fix their other issues with transphobia. I don't see this fixing things either, it's still of course a welcomed feature for any game. And I'm proud of the devs pushing for this.
 
Callibretto

Callibretto

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Oct 25, 2017
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Klyka said:
"look at the news about our game. we need some positive buzz, not *gestures wildly* THIS"
"oh ok how about we give them what they want? We can still hate it behind locked doors?"
"yeah ok sounds good"

Gaming headlines: "Harry Potter game sells most copies of any game ever, heralded for it's inclusion of all customization options"
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It may be for profit, but I'm okay with that. At least it still show that movies and games still need to at least pretend they stand on the morally right side of thing to make money.

Can you imagine if companies deem catering to the morally wrong group is making them more money. That would be nightmare
 
Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,126
So is this thread going to be locked?

Great news either way (even though it's mad convenient for it to leak right now).
 
Catshade

Catshade

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Oct 26, 2017
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It would be amusing if this game ends up being more trans accepting than Cyberpunk 2077.

Nope, still not buying this game.
 

slothrop

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Aug 28, 2019
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This is good of course, but also pretty clearly a strategic leak to try to contain the bad buzz around the game. Extremely transparent
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

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Oct 27, 2017
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Fat4all said:
honestly, i imagine JK won't react to this

she probably won't rock this boat knowing the money that can come in from it

plus contracts with WB, she has a working business relationship going with um

as long as she gets paid her percent, she likely won't care
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This does seem possible, but at this point JK seems so far gone down her rabbit hole that she could go scorched earth on it. She's already a millionaire (potentially a billionaire) and I could see her feeling some righteous fury, damn the consequences.
 
jschreier

jschreier

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Oct 25, 2017
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1) lol @ people thinking that any studio would do a controlled leak, and double lol @ people thinking they'd do it with me of all reporters

2) Troy Leavitt is a producer not a lead designer. I think his Linkedin had originally said lead designer which is where people got that from, but he's since changed it
 
Razmos

Razmos

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Lord Fanny said:
Hmm, I was always under the impression that Rowling had veto power as part of her contract for any media under the Harry Potter umbrella. Maybe that was never true, because it's really hard for me to believe she would allow this if she had that power.
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She probably cares about money more than her "principles" (as shit as they are)
The only reason she is able to spout the crap she does is because of her wealth and influence
 
Arcana Wiz

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Marcus Aurelius said:
This definitely seems like an attempt to smooth things over for the sake of sales. They're probably seeing very low preorder trends.
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Sadly, I don't think that JK Rowling controversies are affecting the game that much salewise. On YouTube it's the ps5 game with the biggest view count and the comments and reactions tend to be positive.

But even if it's selling well, the game reputation IS being affected. Avalanche and WB clearly don't want their image to suffer because of a crazy woman, so it makes a lot of sense to allow this and clean up a little the mess

IMO even if it's a business decision, its a good thing. Even if it's too little too late for the transgender community
 

Deleted member 5865

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Oct 25, 2017
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Last summer Rowling made several comments that were widely viewed as demeaning toward transgender people and denounced by many, including Harry Potter film stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. The comments also rattled some people working on the game, Bloomberg reported. As a result, some members of the Hogwarts Legacy development team have fought to make the game as inclusive as possible, pushing for the character customization and even for a transgender character to be added.
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Yeah I can fully believe that, assuming that a good number of devs are fans of HP, because there was a pretty strong reaction to JK losing her mind on Twitter. The question is how much pro-trans content is in the game if something as simple as a character creator got push-back from management
 

Vector

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Feb 28, 2018
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Honestly, if I were a dev on the team, I'd be pissed at Rowling and the lead designer torpedoing the reputation of the game after years of hard work on it.

This feels like an organic effort by the devs who are sensible to smooth things over a little bit and maybe not feel as shitty about their work.
 
Shingi_70

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Oct 25, 2017
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Rowling sucks but why do people say don't let this blind you into this supporting this game like Harry Potter isn't some ridiculous huge IP people like anyway.

I went to 3 stores the other day while with my GF and all 3 had dedicated Harry Potter sections
 
enzo_gt

enzo_gt

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Oct 25, 2017
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Definitely a PR move to announce this *now* but this means more for what this game is than a lead's personal opinions, and a reminder that what is or isn't in a game is the sum of contributions of many, many people and we cannot treat these things like they're unitary.

I give it a week before J.K.Rowling weighs in.
 
Sinkfloridasink

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Schlorgan said:
How did the lead designer let this happen?.

Did they sneak it past him?
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Don't be so surprised when someone who is the head of an effort signs off on something like this.

Have people never worked at a liberal organization that had right wing leadership? They generally go with the flow and just push their agenda on the edges of they know they are wildly outnumbered.
 
Wallace Wells

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This doesn't excuse the fact that the creator of this world/franchise is transphobic and that the lead creator in this game is a piece of shit as well
 
Gradon

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that's nice.

anyway.


in all seriousness its likely Jason's contact was a dev that was happy and pushed for this but chances are this is just doing good PR for WB and HP

also can we please stop with the "JK's comments can be seen as transphobic", they just are.
 
Richter1887

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Oct 27, 2017
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Sounds good but at the end of the day you are supporting awful people like Joke Rowling and the lead designer. It feels more like a PR move than anything.
 

i like big butts

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Razmos said:
She probably cares about money more than her "principles" (as shit as they are)
The only reason she is able to spout the crap she does is because of her wealth and influence
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This change is so insignificant that most people will not notice it while playing the game.

It's like how conservative groups might tolerate lip service to LGBTI groups in more conservative media and sports because it gets people off their backs, makes them more money that they then can shovel into conservative politics and is so really meaningless and unnoticeable that people will forget about that lip service the minute they start consuming the media.
 
Kongroo

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Oct 31, 2017
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Shingi_70 said:
Rowling sucks but why do people say don't let this blind you into this supporting this game like Harry Potter isn't some ridiculous huge IP people like anyway.

I went to 3 stores the other day while with my GF and all 3 had dedicated Harry Potter sections
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This is where I feel conflicted. When does it become morally wrong to purchase something. Is it simply because Rowling is a high profile public figure? Because i guarantee that most video game executives are boomers with regressive and problematic politics.

I'm not trying to stir the pot or anything. I just feel weird about this anger towards Rowling when most of the media I consume profits bigots and racists no matter what I do. Why is this treated so differently? It has to be because of how public she is, right?

EDIT: just want to make it very clear that Rowling is an absolute bigot that does not deserve to make any profit.
 
MatrixMan.exe

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Marcus Aurelius said:
This definitely seems like an attempt to smooth things over for the sake of sales. They're probably seeing very low preorder trends.
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Too early to tell re: pre-orders. I doubt they're expecting any significant pre-sales yet given the main marketing push hasn't started yet, nor digital pre-orders. I imagine there's been pressure internally from somewhere most likely, and rightly so.
 
Fiksi

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It's nice that the devs are trying given their situation, but it's still a hard sell when it's tied to her :s

I wonder if Rowling will shut this down when/if she learns about this.
 

i like big butts

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Kongroo said:
This is where I feel conflicted. When does it become morally wrong to purchase something. Is it simply because Rowling is a high profile public figure? Because i guarantee that most video game executives are boomers with regressive and problematic politics.

I'm not trying to stir the pot or anything. I just feel weird about this anger towards Rowling when most of the media I consume profits bigots and racists no matter what I do. Why is this treated so differently? It has to be because of how public she is, right?
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Obviously. Your parents might be bigots but they're not actively campaigning and funding anti-trans messaging or groups.
 
hey it's that dog

hey it's that dog

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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't see that they had any other choice really. Nobody wants their megabudget, mega-IP project to be undermined by this kind of heat. It doesn't change how horrible Rowling and the lead guy are, but at least for people who don't have any idea about all that (read: many, many people) the game will present inclusiveness to a massive audience and that's at least a small victory.
 
HMD

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Considering the people person behind the game, and the person behind the IP... Not interested.
 
Razmos

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Gradon said:
that's nice.

anyway.


in all seriousness its likely Jason's contact was a dev that was happy and pushed for this but chances are this is just doing good PR for WB and HP

also can we please stop with the "JK's comments can be seen as transphobic", they just are.
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I took issue with this as well but I'm pretty sure she will file a defamation lawsuit if they actually call her a transphobe.
Its definitely a common thing though, others just say "due to her opinions" or some shit and that is just... eurghh
 
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