Nintendo is right, politics has no place in gaming
We’ve talked quite a bit about the growing encroachment of politics in video games in the past year. It seems every gaming company has decided to jump on the bandwagon to push one agenda or another. Alright, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the same agenda. Though there are a few that are starting to push back. The largest of which being Nintendo.
Smash Bros. Ultimate recently received an update that allows players to design their own custom stages. One user, going by the name Warm Saffina, decided to create one that looked like the transgender flag, titling it “Trans Rights Now”. Nintendo subsequently removed the stage and gave the user a nine hour account suspension. They claimed the content violated the terms of service, as it could be construed as “inappropriate and/or harmful”.
A company representative later clarified that they would be removing all user generated Smash stages that were political in nature.
Now, you can say what you want about Nintendo, but at least they have always been consistent in their message. They believe that games should be a fun and inclusive experience for kids and adults alike. And by inclusive, they don’t mean the way in which the word is so often misused today. Rather, everyone is welcome to come, forget about the real world for a bit, and join the party. By injecting politics in that, well, everyone stops having fun. And if everyone stops having fun, what’s the point? Politics is inherently divisive in nature. As such, the company goes out of their way to avoid involving itself in any controversies.
This particular user crafted a stage that was obviously meant to be provocative. As usual, they tried to act all coy and innocent so the Twitter outrage mob and games media would leap to their defense. Which usually works, most of the time. However, Nintendo is so far refusing to be bullied. They have managed to successfully defuse the situation professionally and without giving in. Effectively putting an end to this troll’s childish shit disturbing career. Which should serve as a lesson to other gaming companies.
It also gives SJWs a dose of true equality, as Nintendo continues to actively remove any and all stages with political messaging. It doesn’t matter whether they’re for queer rights or designed to look like a MAGA hat. They’ve made it loud and clear that they will not be playing sides. It’s a very mature response to the whole culture war, which feels genuinely refreshing in the current atmosphere. Especially when so many other companies are folding like a deck chair to the SJWs’ demands, or even jumping in on their toxic bandwagoning.
To wrap up, I just want to point out the little slice of irony here, by trying to stir up shit with Nintendo over trans rights. As alluded to in this article’s top image, the company featured the very first transvestite character in a video game. Birdo continues to make regular appearances in the Mario universe, with its gender still not completely clear. Obviously the Twitter trolls were trying to bark up the wrong turnip in this case. Though I’m willing to bet most of these so called “gamers” know very little about what they’re criticizing.
