Harry Potter (Wizarding World Universe) Book • Page 19

I just want to add my piece and not much more because every angles about this discourse has been discussed to death. My personal transitioning journey coupled with the realization that the bar for allyship is suboptimal may have made me cynical and disillusioned, but I do want to get the focus back on something.

If anyone wants to play it so bad and is willing to pay for it in the first place, can't they pirate it and at least pair this with a donation to a charity like the UK based Mermaids, or one of the thousands and thousands of fundraisers set up by trans folks? At least! I'm not coming at anyone here, but genuinely asking because I don't know how feasible piracy is with modern games and I'd rather see that money being saved for helpful uses.

I'm aware there are people who may actually do both but I keep seeing, not necessarily on here, the argument that entirely boycotting the game or not buying it won't change anything. Of all the mental gymnastics used so far, this one bugs me so much. Sure, I'm not naive to believe that such a wealthy ghoul is going to feel any material harm. However, the impact a donation would have on a financially crippled trans person instead is something to be considered here.

I get that the problem with this suggestion is that would only help trans folks individually. This doesn't really connect the discourse about the game to the larger picture, ie. abysmal state of trans healthcare in the UK + increasing amount of anti-trans legislations in other parts of the world + other circumstances that matter much more than the discourse, and doesn't address the roots of these issues either. I feel like, between the current political climate and the bar for activism or allyship like I said earlier being so low, one such action would be the bare minimum. In my experience, asking for more seems inconvenient for way too many peeps, and the whole discourse has been a sad and way too familiar reminder of that.

On a side note, it's been annoying witnessing so many cis people seeking validation from trans people, sometimes in their own spaces, that it's fine to play the game, and also how often that then leads to endless debates about the morals and ethics of all this and ironically, trans people being spoken over more often than not. Not saying this happens on here, but it's been my observation elsewhere and has made me want to leave some online trans and lgbt communities until the discourse cools off, for my own sanity. Just a small rant.

 

(For what it’s worth the game as it stands right now is not really piratable - it’s protected by Denuvo)

 

But you can buy a used copy (on consoles at least), probably on like day two

 

Thanks for your input. It seems like when issues involving things like addiction (except sophos), lgbt, or race are discussed voices are not heard or not even present.

 

honestly the way this thread is going I can't really blame trans people for not making their voices heard here.

 

Any recommendations of trans charities?

 

Mermaids UK to make her really mad

 

This is most likely what I’m doing if I get it. I’ll be honest I really want to play it but I can’t give WB or JK money in good faith

 

Zero interest in playing this game, she’s trash and HP never grabbed me (thing I aged out of the target demo when it debuted).

However, it’s mighty rich with a lot of people in here saying they’ll never play the game, but don’t have an issue sharing tweets which come from a platform, where the owner is just as dangerous to trans folks as JK.

Just an observation.

 

Yeah, I see that side, but at the same time people are very hypocritical.

 

Not even remotely the same thing.

 

I think we can all agree that we should avoid the thing that happens so often on this site where a bunch of cis white dudes who aren't affected by the topic suck up all the oxygen in the room with toxic bullshit. Seems like things have been teetering in that direction.

 

Both products that generate revenue for their owner…both owned by anti trans figures…

 

When hyperbolic, inflammatory remarks about being responsible for the slaughter of trans people are made, it's kind of hard to not respond? When a good chunk of the topic is 'you do this seemingly small thing and you're a shitty bigoted person with blood on your hands' no one wants to sit there and accept that that's the whole truth. I'm happy to listen and be aware of the consequences of my decision, but it has to have validity to it for me to do nothing but listen and reflect, especially if its character attacking language. It's human nature to get defensive to call outs that extreme, and at that point, discourse falls apart. I'd respond a whole lot better to, 'I don't know if you're aware, but in addition to the tweets, JK Rowling has donated money to these anti-trans organizations, and she takes any purchase of her IP, whether directly involved or not, as back up for her beliefs and will continue to double down and do more damage if this game sells well'. Some people have said exactly that, and I have not purchased this game, and am beginning to gain an understanding of what me buying the game would mean.

It's like the comments to just google it. I did, and many people have, but the majority of the articles about it when you google it, are just recaps of essays and tweets, that to be honest, for a lot of people, they may not be that controversial? I don't think the average person even knows what TERF is, or would recognize the underlying message behind a lot of what she said. It's surprisingly hard to get to anything more substantial than a recap out of her tweets when you google this topic.

Her initial tweet that started it all, needed to be explained to me about how it was anti trans. It seemed more like an ill advised attack on the grammar of the article and the use of pronouns. It didn't initially read as anything anti trans or contrary to trans women are women. More like a joke that fell flat.

“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she wrote.

(It has been explained to me - Just saying that I was ignorant on exactly what was so controversial about it to begin with. I don't feel bad about admitting that my opinion changed with education).

People who aren't affected get involved in the conversation as a reaction to attacks against them and to gain an understanding of why they're being attacked. It's often unneeded and noisy, but it'd happen less if education and not shaming was the approach taken first. Believe it or not, a lot of people just don't understand it and won't understand it on their own research. If you're going to type a paragraph chastising someone, you can just as easily type something with more substance to help them understand.

A lot of people out there are still going to be buy this game because they think the reason that they shouldn't buy it is because of some tweeted opinions. If it's more than that, and you want to convince people to make the right choice and see the grander consequences, (and feel good that you tried as one person put it), maybe don't go right to 'you're a transphobe' or worse. That's not trying.

 

I think we're on the same page in feeling that it's important to engage in good faith if people are actually trying to learn and make an educated decision. My point was mostly, that many times on this site people who feel like they have the moral high ground engage in toxic behavior that takes the light from the voices that matter most when discussing these topics. It's happened time and time again here and usually takes someone who is affected or who is a victim to say, "hey even if I agree with you, your behavior is detrimental and is overshadowing those that we should really be listening to."

 

I’m just sick of people bending over backwards to justify their playing of the game. I also don’t think it’s hyperbolic when I know people who have attempted suicide because of this shit. That’s people plural. This is real life.

 

people expecting us not to get emotional and upset and angry when this is the level of dialogue being thrown at us. give me a fucking break.

 

And I’m not gonna stop posting tweets that very clearly outline all the problems with playing this game, which I haven’t seen a single rebuttal to any tweet I’ve posted thus far so I’ll just keep at it.

 

Ok

 

By all means continue, but it’s quite hypocritical to come for people playing a video game created from a transphobe’s work, but then continue to share things from a transphobe’s social media platform.

Fuck the stupid game, JK, and Twitter.

 

Twitter is a social media platform that is a huge part of the public consciousness and is impossible to get away from if you want to discuss what's happening in the world in any meaningful way.

If you seriously think that's comparable to a video game, you're a lunatic.

 

I quit using twitter when they killed tweetbot. I’ve been on my phone way less, and it’s been great. I don’t think twitter is comparable to a video game, but you can discuss the world and be informed without twitter.

 

If you think Twitter is impossible to get away from then I'd also say... you're a lunatic. Trust me, it's not that necessary to use Twitter.

 

I wasn't looking for examples to my point about sucking up the oxygen in the room, obfuscating the actual important conversations, and engaging in bad faith, but thanks.