Content Warning: Discussion of Bigotry, Racism, Violence – Please make sure you are in a good mental state before reading this post. Look after yourselves, lovelies.

Listen. We have to talk. There is a problem in the world. It’s nothing new, we’ve all seen it, we’re all exhausted by it and afraid. But I really need to talk about this here as I never have, and Victor’s fantastic post about the “controversy” surrounding the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has just brought the rage pouring out of me.

Yes, I’m talking about racism. Namely, the racism that has been pervading our culture for more than a decade, forever simmering beneath the surface under the guise of “casual racism”, as though it’s a harmless thing that some people just are, rather than calling it what it is: racism. Plain and simple. If on any level, you look at a group of people, be they black, mixed race, Indian, asylum seekers and feel superior to them, that’s racism. Hell… that’s White Supremacy. And it’s everywhere. The fact that these hateful beliefs have continued to sit among the populace is how we got Donald Trump as a president, and running for a second term despite being a convicted criminal (how is that allowed??). How we’ve got these terrifying and disgusting riots happening in the UK right now. Because we stayed silent, we didn’t know what to say, how to convince people that it’s not right. Nigel Farage could just go into the jungle to garner himself a whole new following and make a glorious return to politics, gaining Reform UK (UKIP 2.0) 4 seats in the recent General Election. Thankfully not quite enough to make a difference, but that is significant.

Racism in Gaming

Anyway, I truly believe a lot of where our culture’s bigotry originated was in fact gaming. Yes, of course, racism has always been there, it never went away and the older population certainly sit with an awful lot of fear that fans the flames of hate. Not just within racism, of course. Hearing a single story and connecting that to an entire group is their way. It’s sickening. But the younger generations, boys who grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons and video games through the 80s, 90s, and early 00s suddenly saw their “safe space” invaded by women! And people of colour, and queer people! Was nothing sacred? (sarcasm) Once again, fear. These people felt threatened that they were being replaced.

Here’s the thing that bigots just cannot grasp: there is space at the table for everybody. The asylum seekers that the British racists are so scared of? The things they have to go through just to get here… nobody would do that if their lives were not already terrifying. If they had somewhere else to go. If there is any problem in this area, it’s that they are not receiving the help they need at the first step. In their home countries. The bullshit bigots come out with, the mental hurdles they jump to illustrate their daydreams of being a marginalised people (won’t somebody think of the white men?!)… it’s all so draining. And it forever takes me back to GamerGate.

A time when I realised that being a woman on the internet who plays video games and writes about them, am not in fact safe. Thankfully touch wood I’ve not personally come under threat so far, but that’s not to say I never will. Magi actually shared a decent video on his Discord server about being a woman creator online. It missed quite a few things I would have liked it to touch upon (such as why Amouranth and Pokimane are not destroying Twitch and, in fact, men have never been in a better position on the platform, but I disgress) and ultimately made me feel pretty sad that it needed to be said by a man at all when these are the things that women have been saying for years, but it’s a good video. Basically, the “edgier” you are, the more likely you are to hit popularity. It’s that whole “rage sells” thing.

But I digress. GamerGate was the point in online culture where I noticed a visible shift. These angry bigots suddenly felt a lot more vocal, it felt like a great hole had opened up, the voices from within amplified. They had a cause to rally behind now. That gave them power. And you cannot tell me that the people who took part in GamerGate did not become the poster-boys for electing Trump, for marching on Charlottesville, and that God forsaken insurrection.

There are connections all over and I am definitely doing a messy job of explaining myself, but ultimately, they bond over their hate and fear. Of people of colour. Immigrants and asylum seekers. Women. Transgender people. Gay people. Disabled people. Anybody who isn’t an able-bodied cis-gender straight white male, basically.

Assassin’s Creeds Historical Inaccuracy

So when I read Victor’s post on the racist outcry over Assassin’s Creed choosing to run with a black samurai and a female ninja as their protagonists, it all just spilled out of me. Ubisoft have attempted to call it out but I’m tired of the corporate pussyfooting. They call it “criticism”. I’m sorry, but no. Sure there may be “debate and discussion” surrounding whether or not Yasuke was a samurai or not, history usually isn’t that clear (written by the victors and all that) but as they say, Assassin’s Creed has NEVER been about historical accuracy. They have always taken interesting historical figures and periods of time, done their research to represent things as well as they can, and filled in the rest.

Just like we don’t know for sure whether Yasuke was indeed a black samurai (again linking to this on that point…), let’s take a look at Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which covered the Vikings and even the Celts, in a DLC. These cultures are historically interesting to me, as a British pagan, right? I’ve done a lot of research. And I know that we just don’t have much information from this time. There are artifacts, and writings written by Romans and Christian Monks, so all we can do is puzzle together ideas that make sense.

So an Assassin’s Creed game could not claim historical accuracy, to make an interesting game they can use what we know, and fill in the rest. And if they wish to tell interesting stories, which by God I hope they do, then yes, choosing historical figures that we may not know much about is a great idea. It lets them tell diverse stories and really craft something solid, potentially. So where people shout “it’s not historically accurate to have a black samurai and woman ninja!” Nah. As Victor so eloquently put it:

“Engagement on the issue allows those railing against the idea of a black samurai (or a female shinobi) to move the goalposts of the discussion in whatever way feeds the the idea that gaming is no longer what it used to be.

This “debate and discussion,” as the Shadows development team might put it, is a smokescreen for racism and hate to fester within the community of gamers.”

And if it can fester within the gaming community, that emboldens them. They learned long ago they can get away with spouting hateful rhetorics under the guise of something seemingly innocent, whether it’s “historical accuracy” or “ethics in games journalism”, and then we get sickeningly gleeful riots under the guise of “asylum seekers killed kids” – the death of those 3 young girls is also a horrendous act that should not have happened, and it’s disgusting that these people are using it as an excuse to attack the country and the people within it – and suddenly we’re afraid to go outside. I’m so tired.

Now, to be clear, I am not claiming that video games are the cause of any of this. Video games are a beautiful artform that allows for immersive and interactive storytelling. They are a place where people from all backgrounds can absorb themselves within other worlds, connect with people, and empathise with characters. We can express ourselves in gaming. We can share in the joy we feel. Connect with communities! I would not be the woman I am today without video games and the conversations around them. And I for one am excited at the prospect of an Assassin’s Creed game set within Feudal Japan. I just wish those with more power would do more to put a stop to the festering hate, because this can’t keep going on. It just can’t.