Why I’m not buying the Harry Potter game
Hogwarts Legacy is tainted by J.K. Rowling’s transphobic views
www.polygon.com
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[Polygon- Opinion] Why I’m not buying the Harry Potter game
- Thread starter Carmelozi
- Start date
www.polygon.com
Excerpt:
Completely agree. Fuck giving that waste of oxygen anything.
My worry is that there are a lot of people saying all this about a HP game that they weren't ever going to play in the first place because it's an easy win against a bigot, and then this will all be forgotten about when CDPR drop Cyberpunk.
My worry is that there are a lot of people saying all this about a HP game that they weren't ever going to play in the first place because it's an easy win against a bigot, and then this will all be forgotten about when CDPR drop Cyberpunk.
I have a friend who started transitioning last fall and years ago they got a Dumbledore quote tattoo just before JK...JKed for the first time on Twitter
It is hella awkward but hey, speaking as someone who dislikes the harry potter media, I think it's just fine to hang onto those formative works for as long as you like.
We really can't separate art from the artist. But neither can we separate the meaning of a particular work to us prior to learning new information.
For me, I don't fuck with anything HP or JK. But I feel so bad for the trans fans who grew up believing in magic and tolerance. JK absolutely should sit down a listen to how the hell she makes people feel about themselves.
I agree.
Let me break it down. Rowling has become such a figurehead for transphobia in the U.K. "legitimizing" what was an underbelly to the point where legislation was rolled back. She uses her presence, time and money to actively hurt trans people.
If you buy anything Harry Potter, including this game it profits her both with money and mindshare, which she is actively using to support and spread transphobia.
So if you buy this game you are supporting transphobia, full stop, no mental gymnastics changes that. And if you buy it used you may not be giving money but you are still helping the mind share of the property which gives her the platform, so your fooling yourself if you think it absolves you.
Let me break it down. Rowling has become such a figurehead for transphobia in the U.K. "legitimizing" what was an underbelly to the point where legislation was rolled back. She uses her presence, time and money to actively hurt trans people.
If you buy anything Harry Potter, including this game it profits her both with money and mindshare, which she is actively using to support and spread transphobia.
So if you buy this game you are supporting transphobia, full stop, no mental gymnastics changes that. And if you buy it used you may not be giving money but you are still helping the mind share of the property which gives her the platform, so your fooling yourself if you think it absolves you.
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Really well thought out explanation that addresses a lot of common talking points. It also exposes why most people are unlikely to care. There's no personal meaning to this if you don't have any trans people in your life that you're taking a stand for.
It feels like just talking about the existence of the game signalboosts Rowling and hurts the trans community "on a micro level." I thought that buying the game used to minimize my monetary impact was enough, but I hadn't considered that just talking about the game would have a possible negative impact as well. Should discussion of the game be banned outright, if discussing it could be harmful?
Probably the most important point to make. Diminuitives are frequently deployed about the scope of the social media/enthusiast media backlash against Rowling's continued time in the spotlight, but that doesn't mean it has to stop there. Rowling deserves opprobrium in every sphere and the longer people look away at it as 'twitter drama' the worse it gets. It should never be viewed as abnormal or insignificant to speak up for the sake of trans people who receive routine reminders of how small their functioning circle of support can feel.
Yup, not like the franchise has been treated too well since the books finished (I like FB1 fine, but everything other than that's been pretty mediocre at best), but I'd still be out even if had kept its quality high.
At least I have the old LEGO HP games, those are pretty solid.
Why? JKR is a massive shit but HP is still a huge IP. It's not massively different from MS getting Keanu on stage.
I don't want to give money to Rowling, so if I buy it I will buy it used either from GameStop or online sellers. That way no money goes to her. Hopefully she gives up the IP like Lucas gave up Star Wars (tho of course that would mean she'd get paid)
Agree with this. Really hope to see some other outlets and streamers put this messaging out as Polygon has.
The same reason aint getting near from anything made by pedophile Nobuhiro Watsuki. And Rurouni Kenshin is one of my favorites manga/anime ever. Fuck him.
User Banned (2 Weeks): Concern Trolling; Whataboutism
I get it and fair enough.
But if we draw a line at JK Rowling comments, why aren't we also drawing lines with Nintendo, Sony, etc's being complicit in using China's concentration camps?
It's difficult to have hardline stances with this type of stuff, theirs no right answer. Like the last line of the article I can very easily flip it back to the author and say are you okay with a holocaust going on, with any other video game purchase? So yea I don't think theirs an easy answer but it's worth pointing this out.
But if we draw a line at JK Rowling comments, why aren't we also drawing lines with Nintendo, Sony, etc's being complicit in using China's concentration camps?
It's difficult to have hardline stances with this type of stuff, theirs no right answer. Like the last line of the article I can very easily flip it back to the author and say are you okay with a holocaust going on, with any other video game purchase? So yea I don't think theirs an easy answer but it's worth pointing this out.
Good article. I'm glad she addresses the social capital aspect of all of this. Rowling is richer than God at this point. Whatever money she may or may not be acquiring as a direct, or even indirect, result of this game is quite negligible in the grand scheme(though still important in a moral sense), but what isn't is the continued and expanding social relevancy of Harry Potter and thus Rowling herself. Rowling is HP and as long as she's alive, if not long long after, there's no separating the two. As long as HP remains relevant and a juggernaut of the entertainment world she too will remain a constant and major figure within and without. And that kind of social capital and legitimacy is far greater than any money she might be making off of the series.
It gives her, her hatred and her bigotry clout and relevancy that money can't simply buy on its own. And it gives her both a shield and an entry point to far too many people as they only wish to engage with her works and not her actions and views. And this is why I have an issue with people who say they'll pirate or buy the game second hand, because despite not contributing to her financially they are still contributing to her social capital. Perpetuating the relevancy of HP and Rowling herself. The approach has to be all or nothing, because the relationship between the two is great and so intertwined.
In the end boycotts and public displays like this should never be weighed against the likelihood of their success, but the merit of their cause. It may not work today, but as more people become aware and exposed to why her actions and beliefs are so harmful and hateful then maybe somewhere down the line the next time things will succeed and make a larger change.
It gives her, her hatred and her bigotry clout and relevancy that money can't simply buy on its own. And it gives her both a shield and an entry point to far too many people as they only wish to engage with her works and not her actions and views. And this is why I have an issue with people who say they'll pirate or buy the game second hand, because despite not contributing to her financially they are still contributing to her social capital. Perpetuating the relevancy of HP and Rowling herself. The approach has to be all or nothing, because the relationship between the two is great and so intertwined.
In the end boycotts and public displays like this should never be weighed against the likelihood of their success, but the merit of their cause. It may not work today, but as more people become aware and exposed to why her actions and beliefs are so harmful and hateful then maybe somewhere down the line the next time things will succeed and make a larger change.
Hope more people write about this and it gets more mainstream media attention. Rowling is awful and has tainted the series with her bs.
Great twitter thread
Okay so related tangent here...
Our guest room is called "the Harry Potter room" by our sons. See we painted it dark blue, then we framed these old letters my wife had that her dad wrote to her mom when he was in the Navy, and then we got this black metal bed frame and this funky black metal candle holder thing, and all those together started to make us think of Hogwarts. So then we had added this weird silver antler thing, then we put the HP books on a shelf...and I added a framed drawing of Hermoine from an artist I love, and before we knew it the room had a low key HP magical vibe, complete with wands and a marauders map we picked up at Universal five years ago. We totally look like THOSE elder millennials. You know, the ones who look like they can't let the series go, despite each of us only reading it once like a decade ago.
It's just that it's a room we don't even really use. Except now we have someone coming to stay at our home to watch our dog while we're out and we're like crap...how do we quickly transform this to something else? We got this black metal bed frame and this cool magical looking candle holder, so something vaguely fantasy would be cool.
Our guest room is called "the Harry Potter room" by our sons. See we painted it dark blue, then we framed these old letters my wife had that her dad wrote to her mom when he was in the Navy, and then we got this black metal bed frame and this funky black metal candle holder thing, and all those together started to make us think of Hogwarts. So then we had added this weird silver antler thing, then we put the HP books on a shelf...and I added a framed drawing of Hermoine from an artist I love, and before we knew it the room had a low key HP magical vibe, complete with wands and a marauders map we picked up at Universal five years ago. We totally look like THOSE elder millennials. You know, the ones who look like they can't let the series go, despite each of us only reading it once like a decade ago.
It's just that it's a room we don't even really use. Except now we have someone coming to stay at our home to watch our dog while we're out and we're like crap...how do we quickly transform this to something else? We got this black metal bed frame and this cool magical looking candle holder, so something vaguely fantasy would be cool.
Yeah it's a pretty complex issue for fans. It's easy not to play the game but it doesn't make
the non stop transphobia from JK easier to digest. She's a piece of shit, no doubt.
I've been seeing those "this is home" memes on twitter.
It's about the imaginary and virtual places we spent our childhoods.
Having a hard cut from (let's be real here) the most important children's franchise
of the past 20 years has to induce some sort of trauma. Sorry :/
Justify yourself supporting a transphobe any way you like dude.
Oooooo you guys should write a story for the room. For real. That sounds perfect.
no problems, i appreciate the worry. it's really a hard time passing this game because it seems litteraly to be Witcher 3: Hogwarts but i will be strong and not give a fuck to this piece of garbage human and her legacy. she can shove it up there until she significantly changes her mind and prove it via actions, but that really ain't happening given her new book synopsys.
at least i take solace in my favorite writer ever, Le Guin, absolutely trashing Rowling - HP has been accused several times of ripping off Earthsea:
via https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin
I'm not buying it because I couldn't care less about Harry Potter. 🤣
I was "too old" to be interested in it when it came out I guess. I was all about girls/cars/sports/video games when it hit.
I was "too old" to be interested in it when it came out I guess. I was all about girls/cars/sports/video games when it hit.
Very good article and at the end it may not move too many people but willing to at least make people aware of what going on behind this game.
I really wish they would commit to donating a portion of the sales to Mermaids or a similar charity.
You make the best decisions you can with the information and resources you have, you don't avoid good decisions because of the relative difficulty of ethical consumption in the modern age. You can't stop buying petroleum-based products and it's almost impossible to avoid palm oil from slave-labor, too. But you still try to make the best decisions you can. From my perspective it doesn't seem that difficult to skip a harry potter video game.