Earlier today, Twitter user Erika Imperial (@icequeenerika) posted a screenshot of Pillars of Eternity, calling creators Obsidian Entertainment out for the inclusion of a Kickstarter-backer’s paid message, a message about the “horror” of discovering a lover was in fact transgender. Erika pulled in noted critic Katherine Cross, and the screenshot began to spread. Cross wrote extensively, and is still responding as I write this; commentator and critic John Bain, aka TotalBiscuit, also stepped into the fray with a recorded message defending the inclusion of the memorial.
Cross and others referenced real-world scenarios and fallout from such situations, situations that can too often end with transwomen victims of violent episodes. In an effort to investigate, Gameranx editor Ian Miles Cheong tagged an Obsidian employee who offered to look into the inclusion, stating “It’s hard to catch everything.” Others on social media speculated that developers may have had filters in place to easily catch common slurs and other problematic language, but this kind of message is more difficult to catch.
Others said the memorial was “just a joke” and should be ignored; some stated this attitude was acceptable in “history” and so should be ignored. Bain/TB took the defense further, attempting to write the statement off because it’s part of the world of Pillars, a terrible world, he says, in which innocents are killed and difference is unwelcome, and because the joke is about a nameless person — obviously, people only matter when they have names. He then equated sex with a transwoman without disclosure to rape, a statement that caused a great deal of backlash, a backlash that continues to dominate the ongoing discussion. I’d attempt to Storify some of the discussion, but already, there’s too much, and the situation is escalating, regardless of Josh Sawyer’s indication that Obsidian might look into the included message.
I’m not here to critique the game. I haven’t played the game, and probably won’t, because the top-down isometric approach doesn’t appeal to me much. Personal preference. But I want to make it clear that I’m not engaging with the story, the universe, the mechanics, with any idea of what is or isn’t historically defensible, or anything else — and this inclusion isn’t either. This is outside the narrative; a simple look at this name and the others around it on the memorial, errors and weird characters and numerous naming conventions and all, is all it takes to see that this is something outside of the narrative design of the world.
Kotaku’s Jason Schreir already spoke to the distraction of this kind of inclusion, the way the names and messages on the backer memorial break the narrative. There’s nothing then here to defend or protect that’s part of the Pillars universe; this was the product not of the design team, but a person or group who, either through malice or sheer ignorance spent money to insert a “joke” about something that can and does lead to very real violence in a very real world. The only design element affected is that the team chose to reward backers in this way either without completely vetting contributions, or without careful consideration of the messages of those contributions, and sometimes, that happens. Beyond that, this is nothing to do with the game and everything to do with transphobia, and what’s there to defend about that?
UPDATE, April 3: Looks like the content has been removed from the game. Several sites had reported Obsidian stated they wanted to first talk to their backers; if we find out the details, if there are any relevant details, we’ll update further.
The transmisogynistic joke is deleted from #PillarsofEternity now. Thank you @Obsidian @jesawyer for listening to us. pic.twitter.com/MxSSbHalQ1
— Erika Imperial (@icequeenerika) April 3, 2015
SECOND UPDATE, April 3: Obsidian did issue a statement about the removal via patch notes posted today, and it was likely as speculated: the content was not vetted, because the offense was rather more difficult to catch than a common slur would be. The message itself is very considered:
It’s come to our attention that a piece of backer-created content has made it into Pillars of Eternity that was not vetted. Once it was brought to our attention, it followed the same vetting process as all of our other content. Prior to release, we worked with many of our backers to iterate on content they asked to be put into the game that didn’t strike the right tone.
In the case of this specific content, we checked with the backer who wrote it and asked them about changing it. We respect our backers greatly, and felt it was our duty to include them in the process. They gave us new content which we have used to replace what is in the game. To be clear, we followed the process we would have followed had this content been vetted prior to the release of the product.
We appreciate the faith you have all given us into making Pillars of Eternity the great game that it has become, and we appreciate the strength of conviction all of you bring to every conversation we have together.
This was a difficult situation for Obsidian, with heated opinions spreading through social media, but it’s also a good lesson in how carefully fan- and backer-contributions should be vetted prior to inclusion in games.
UPDATE, April 3 (still, forever): The backer posted on the Obsidian forums, detailing what happened:
And here is the new text on the memorial:
There’s been a very mixed reaction to the reveal of both the new text and the creator’s remarks; many feel Obsidian should have removed it completely and people are arguing about who’s “won,” as though anyone can win in a situation like this. The new text is seen here by the creator (and by others) as a snap back at detractors, but it’s cut from very old cloth — the whole “but it was a joke, no one got it, why so serious” schtick is tired, but with so many people crying censorship, it’s fascinating that Firedorn remarks that there are plenty of other venues, even had this one been lost, which is something I’ve talked about before.
Obsidian had few viable options here, I think; they had a backer who’d paid a great deal of money and a slip-up that allowed damaging content through their gates. No solution to the problem was perfect, but they acted quickly, and, I think, resolved as best they could.
(This is a developing story; please direct important updates and/or corrections to us via our contact page. Thanks to everyone who’s tipped us!)
