The Hatred towards Sweet Baby Inc. and the vocal minority with old views

Over the recent release of Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 a subsection of gamers has been raising their voice against these games for being “woke” which has led to an online hate campaign towards a company called Sweet Baby Inc. 

To understand this issue, we must turn back time towards 2014 at the beginning of Gamergate. Gamergate was the term used to define the online harassment campaign towards game journalists who were criticizing video games for lack of diversity, progressive views and having subtle misogyny in their narrative. With the major game journalist being Anita Sarkeesian who was most the prominent figure for raising these issues in the video game industry using games like Mass Effect, Uncharted, and Assassin's Creed as an example. This led gamers to rally up and start a vicious harassment campaign using death threats, rape threats, hacking into their social media accounts and doxing as a way to defend their beloved games.

Gamergate highlighted the rise of radical right-wing viewpoints which wanted to push back against feminism and progressive values. This has significantly impacted the online and political landscape during 2014 – 2016 as it led more gamers to adopt these ideologies to gain a sense of status as evident in a study conducted by Garrison Wells and his colleagues (2023) 

Fast forward to the present time, the once vocal majority has now become a vocal minority with the target being a company. Sweet Baby Inc. is a narrative consultant firm that helps writers and game developers create characters and stories that would be relatable to the players. An example would be in Spider-Man 2 where they have a deaf character in which the consultant can provide either a test audience who is deaf to check if the narrative is accurate to them or an expert in deaf people's livelihood to guide them.

Unfortunately, these types of gamers have been fueled with hatred towards “woke” has effectively been marred with discrimination as evidenced by the outcry of Alan Wake 2 protagonist Saga Anderson being a Black Woman which led to speculations as to why they made the protagonist black to which the Game director himself addressed the issue by stating that these speculations are false (Switzer, 2024)

The reason for these types of gamers to be a minority is that the current gaming landscape has effectively changed over the decade with the fact gaming has grown so large that it has created several niche genres that many gamers could play ranging from survival horror to card strategy-based games with no issues. And the current generation of gamers comes from various backgrounds which has pushed game development to be more inclusive mainly due to the increase in the size of gamers rather than pressure from individuals or organizations. These gamers who consider themselves as "hardcore gamers" represent a bygone era of gaming culture that used to be niche and mostly dominated by males (Wells, et al., 2023) and are slowly becoming more irrelevant.

In conclusion, the hatred towards Sweet Baby Inc. and Anita Sarkeesian was unjustified and borderline criminal, especially with Anita. The gaming industry has over the years slowly reformed away from its problematic past and has adapted from its criticism to be able to make games relatable for everyone with regards to their race, background and gender. Which in return has generated more profits and awards with both Alan Wake 2 and Spider-Man 2 winning awards at The Game Awards (The Game Awards, 2023) and The Annie Awards (Annie Awards, 2024). 

References

Annie Awards. (2024, February 17). Fifty-One Annie Awards. Retrieved from Annie Awards: https://annieawards.org/winners

Switzer, E. (2024, March 5). Going After Alan Wake 2 For Being "Woke" Really Gives The Game Away. Retrieved from The Gamer: https://www.thegamer.com/going-after-alan-wake-2-for-being-woke-really-gives-the-game-away/

The Game Awards. (2023, December 7). Best Narrative. Retrieved from The Game Awards: https://thegameawards.com/nominees/best-narrative

Wells, G., Romhanyi, A., Reitman, J. G., Gardner, R., Squire, K., & Steinkuehler, C. (2023, April 11). Right-Wing Extremism in Mainstream Games: A Review of the Literature. Games and Culture. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231167214

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Anita Sarkeesian. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Sarkeesian