On May 16th, games and entertainment news site Dexerto tweeted an image of the upcoming game. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows One of the main characters, a black samurai named Yasuke, is in a fighting pose. Among the many replies, some were optimistic, while others were assassin’s creedA very small minority expressed frustration and anger that black people were at the center of the story during the NBA’s 14-game run.
“I pass the DEI game,” wrote one Blue Check X user, referencing the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion. “Why Wokeism?” asked another. Comments filled with racist and sexist language filled the thread.
The more obvious reactionary undercurrent in many online forums contained a more specific set of grievances: some claimed that Yasuke’s real race was unknown, others that he was a vassal rather than a samurai, and still others that he never took part in combat.
These were all rather elaborate conclusions drawn about a man from 1581 who has been depicted as a samurai many times in Japanese media, including a 2017 video game. Nioh and Samurai Warriors 5 He is also set to have his own animated series released on Netflix in 2021.
And that might have been the last we knew about Yasuke, if the conversation hadn’t been fueled by a series of accounts attempting to forge a new front in the online culture wars, fueling what’s been called Gamergate 2.0. Whereas 2014’s Gamergate was focused on drowning out feminist voices and the voices of women of color in gaming culture, this second instalment of Gamergate seems focused on resisting diversity in games of all kinds. Yasuke has stepped right into that path.
The Gamergate moniker resurfaced earlier this year in response to the Sweet Baby activism: Staff at the small consulting firm faced a wave of harassment this spring, fueled by misinformation and conspiracy theories that the company was a Blackrock-backed organization trying to force diversity into games. (The firm is not affiliated with Blackrock, and only advises on characters and storylines.) Assassin’s Creed: Shadows As the situation escalated, “Sweet Baby” was mentioned in several posts, even though the company’s CEO, Kim Bellaire, said the company had no involvement with the game.
“I think this is simply something that comes with the post-Gamergate (late Gamergate?) space,” Bellaire told WIRED in an email. “To certain people, mainly trolls, we are synonymous with their idea of ’woke in gaming’ or some vague idea of ’DEI,’ but ultimately it’s a reflection of the overall misinformation that’s fueling this campaign.”
GamerGate is This was the first harassment campaign conceived in the recesses of 4chan and its associated websites, but it was perhaps their finest. Attacks against developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu, media critic Anita Sarkeesian, and others ranged from doxxing to rape and death threats. Its beliefs and tactics eventually proved effective in drawing people into the burgeoning alt-right movement. Even Pizzagate and QAnon can in some ways be traced back to what was happening among online gamers in 2014.
“GamerGate was a recruiting ground and a pipeline for exploiting the loneliness, frustration, and alienation of young men (often young white men) into alt-right politics, radical misogyny, and overt white supremacy and Nazism.” Thirsty Suitor Story lead Meghna Jayanth told WIRED.
