We’ve had a bunch of great features go up this week, and as always, it’s hard to pinpoint five. But, we have a deep dive into the man who invented video games, Jerry Lawson, for Black History Month, the pros and cons of creators maintaining control amidst discussions of Hogwarts Legacy, and fans being weird about women in The Last of Us - it’s been a week of meaningful discussions, tapping into important topics, and raising necessary points.
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Avatar And Hogwarts Legacy Show The Pros And Cons Of Creator’s Maintaining Control
Wanting an artist to keep control over their creations is a good thing, rather than handing it off to corporations that suck the life out of interesting ideas. But JK Rowling is a unique case. She is now the figurehead of the modern transphobioc movement and she continues to write more and more blatantly problematic work, most recently describing a Polish woman as having “Slavic eyes”, whatever that means. As Features Editor Andrew King writes, the only way that some Harry Potter fans see any chance of returning to the fandom and series as a wholeis if JK Rowling steps back completely.
That’s because supporting Harry Potter in any form supports her, continuing to platform her so she can spout her views and continue her hatred. This is far different to something like Star Wars which is also baked in antisemetism and racist stereotypes, as it is now separate from George Lucas and supporting it does not line his pockets. He cashed out already. As Andrew points out, this is a stark contrast to Avatar, which without James Cameron, runs the risk of becoming IP slop like the MCU, and in supporting Avatar, we’re not propping up a bigot.
Black History Month: Celebrating Jerry Lawson, The Man Who Invented Video Games
It’s Black History Month, so Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henleylooked back to the man who created video games- Jerry Lawson. He made the first video game cartridge while working on Fairchild Channel F (AKA Channel Fun). If you’ve ever held a cartridge, disc, or physical game in any capacity - you have Lawson to thank. This is the same man who put together his own radio station with scraps at only 13, later being dubbed ‘the Black Leonardo Da Vinci’ by Time Magazine.
Many might claim to have created video games, many might hold weight - like the creators of Pong and Pac-Man, or the programmers who got inputs to make little sprites move on the screen - but nothing is more literal and thematically fitting than putting together the very thing we hold in our hands, the tangible proof of a game.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Has A Distinct Lack Of Dong
Over the last week, CD Projekt Red has been entangled in a strange controversy - let’s call it The Witcher 3 Vaginagate. It all started with an update that accidentally added detailed vaginas, a hangover of a mod (which the creator claimed was used without their permission) that CD Projekt Red had accidentally enabled. It then removed it, but also claimed that in doing so, it wasn’t making any statement on including detailed vaginas in-game. You’re caught up, that’s Vaginagate.
But as Lead Features Editor Jade King writes, the whole scandal only highlightedthe distinct lack of dong in The Witcher 3. That’s due to it being framed through the male and heteronormative gaze (such as all women seemingly having one body type), and so whenever a man is on screen, they’re obscured or covered up. We see Geralt from behind, but there’s no detail, and when we see him in the tub, the water hides everything. It’s a juvenile view of sex, one that shows how little CD Projekt Red has matured in the past five years. Rather than this being just a funny little headline, it’s a springboard to examine how games view sex and romance.
Stop Being Weird About The Women In The Last Of Us
The Last of Us introduced Kathleen, a rebel leader residing in Kansas City, and people on the internet were expectedly weird about Melanie Lynskey’s casting. She was accused of looking like she lived a “life of luxury” rather than being an “apocalyptic warlord”, while Ellie actor Bella Ramsey has been criticised for being “too ugly” - the actor playing a 14-year-old girl isn’t sexy enough, apparently.
As new Features Editor Tessa Aneet Kaur writes in their debut article,this isn’t exactly unexpected. We saw it with The Last of Us Part 2 after Abby was insulted for being too muscular, supposedly unrealistic for a woman. Aloy in Forbidden West was also older, sunburnt, and had a rounder face than in the original, so the internet called her ugly and, again, unrealistic. The people saying all of this need to realise that not every under-sexualized female character is unrealistic, and importantly, they need to touch grass. They might even see a real woman while they’re outside.
Every Game Needs A Version Of Apex Legends’ Lore Hub
Apex Legends, like Fortnite, is chock full of lore. Every character has an intricate backstory and ongoing story, told through comics and voice lines, while the world is built off the back of Titanfall. But getting into it can be difficult, so it put together a lore hub, containing every comic panel, conversation, and tidbit in chronological order. Features Editor Ben Sledge argues thatmore games need to do this, letting people more intuitively navigate the stories and lore of their favourite games, like piecing together all the texts on The Witcher 3’s Novigrad or Horizon’s dystopic collapse. There are fans that do this via wikis, but tapping into primary sources would be even better, and only serve to improve the preservation of video games and their worlds.
