if the game looks fun, im gonna get it.

this video about sums it up

Okay, yeah, this was actually well-done. And I appreciate that it's only four minutes and doesn't outstay its welcome.

I dunno, sure seems like 4 minutes drawing out the same sentiment as "Posted from your iPhone? Monster."

I can never tell if people with messages like ”I just bought 10 copies of this game to OWN YOU!!” are serious (I assume not, especially when they make a burner account) because if they are and I’d work in marketing, I would suggest to purposefully make threads like this to get people to spend $700 on a video game.

Also can’t tell if that above video is suppose to be a parody or not. Discussions on Twitter aside, I’m pretty sure not one store over here (or anywhere) is going to give a single shit about selling you Hogwarts Legacy, except for the part where you give them money for it.

@bsyshe: The site isn't very useful for finding streamers since you need to type their name in, it would be easier to search the game on Twitch so you can easily see the popular streams, the composer of the game set it up to promote the game and i'm surprised he didn't realise it looks like a tool for finding and hurting people, i mean...

Wording it like that just looks like he's trying to provoke people, anyway he's locked replies on his twitter and taken the site down now.

Instead of watching a 4-minute masterclass in calling someone "woke" without using the word "woke", I would suggest anyone take the time to actually listen to any trans person who might be feeling hurt on the matter.

People will go to any length to justify it. Honestly at this point i've seen far more people arguing about their justifications for playing the game then people actually calling them out on their shit.

In the end for people that plan to get it, play the game, pay the TERF troll tax, but stop whining when people call you out for it. At the end of the day your still gonna have your game and the world is just gonna get worse and worse for us, you "win".

@panfoot: As someone who is cisgender, my own frustrations with this topic pales in comparison to anything trans people have to deal with. The thing I fall back on is to just listen to the people who actually matter here. If someone is actually worried about the ethical consumption of this game, go take some time to truly listen to what trans people have to say on the issue. If you still want to play your dumb video game afterwards, then fine. Just understand that there are people out there worried about far more important issues here than you playing your dumb video game.

@brian_: Agreed, that's the bare minimum which a lot of people disappointingly don't even want to do that.

I’ve never heard of Mightykeef but that video was great. Thanks for posting.

Not sure what is all being discussed here but is the game any good?

@jarp12: Yes, if you like harry potter its like a dream come true, the castle itself is INSANELY detailed and large, really feels like your exploring hogwarts really incredible how much detail there is

@panfoot: plenty of people who just don't care or actually agree with rowling, twitter is its own bubble

Not a hard decision considering what that piece of trash author has done to hurt both friends and family of mine. I can't fix everything wrong with the world but sometimes it's very easy not to add to it. Some of they were huge fans and visited the London exhibition multiple times, but then it turns out she would rather have them disappear. Fuck her.

Uh-oh, looks like someone shook the shithead tree and people are back for another round of "celebrate me for being transphobic, please!"

This hobby fucking sucks.

My bus ride home involved a guy talking over the phone to someone about the early parts of this game. This game is probably going to do fine.

Unfortunately, as expected.

*Pssst*

Octopath Traveler 2

@jarp12: have you thought about doing some research into why the Harry Potter author is controversial?

Thank you! I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Wasn't really a huge fan of the previous games, they were enjoyable but THIS is what I've been waiting for.

Part of this should be clarified.

Rowling has one hell of a platform. What she created is massively popular and beloved and thus people pay attention to her. What she says doesn't reverberate in an echo chamber; instead, it reaches ears, and people listen, and hate groups grow, and Rowling's Twitter account perpetuates lies and twists truth. And people get hurt, sometimes physically, but frequently what people like Rowling have to say makes its way into politics and courtrooms and there is where the transgender community sees abuse and hatred get codified into law.

Rowling isn't the only person doing this. If she said "sorry" tomorrow and completely changed her mind and never said anything against transgendered people again, these issues would still exist and transgendered people and their allies would still have much to contend with. Still, that doesn't mean she isn't a significant part of the problem. She's not just some bitch on Twitter. People hear what she has to say, and sometimes they listen.

As I said before, I'm not going to judge anyone for buying this game. You do you. Everyone participates in capitalism and everyone decides what products they can and cannot stomach the ethics of. That's an unfortunate truth and I hope we can change it someday, but until then blaming someone for buying a video game they were looking forward to and then going out to buy any number of other entertainment products that have problematic people tied to them sounds a bit hypocritical to me, so I won't do it. We can all agree that the real villain here is JK Rowling, and we can all collectively wish she would just shut the fuck up.

But also let's not go about considering this boycott an overreaction, because it certainly isn't.

Personally, I think the best thing to do, right now, for everyone, is to participate more in this thread, where Sparky_Buzzsaw is trying to get people to talk about more inclusive authors. Buying or not buying Hogwarts Legacy, quite frankly, isn't going to make any difference whatsoever to Rowling or WB or anyone, and actively calling someone an asshole for choosing to buy it might make the problem worse. But spending your money on and talking about inclusive authors and/or donating to trusted charities that help the transgender community is something that will make a difference.

Anyway, all of the above has been stewing in my head since this thread got bumped. I'm thrilled to get it out of my head and, honestly, I have nothing more to say on the matter.

It may not matter to her, but I'm sure trans people would probably appreciate a show of support.

@justin258: Thanks. You put a better voice to the intent of my thread than I did. High five!

I'm nonbinary and I'll probably, maybe, play this at some point. Or rather, I own a metric ton of licensed games and this is that genre. I own 4 Harry Potter games and at least two of those early games are really good!

What I don't understand is why people are so torn on playing it right NOW? For €70? Publicly? That's more telling to me than anything else, because I will literally never see that for any other licensed bullshit, whether it's fucking Paw Patrol or Lord of the Rings.

To me, that says more about identity wars and having a compulsive need to show that you're still in that relevant group. I think that's fucking trash. There is no way to me, a huge nerd, that someone thinks liking Harry Potter is more important than supporting trans people. All for some licensed cashgrab that's gonna be just okay. There isn't a property on this planet that will make me froth at the mouth hard enough. You could release Half-Life 3 tomorrow and if Gabe says there are only two genders, they can shove it up their valve.

Anyway, the game will still be available six months from now, when no one gives a shit anymore and you don't have to announce that you feel soooo bad for playing it.

Also: buying it secondhand is an option. I buy a lot of garbage I don't want to support secondhand. They still do that. Or do play it, but then also stop kicking your feet. You don't actually give a fuck about Avalanche Soft; they were making Disney Infinity before this. Come on now.

Edit: whoa hey, that came out more screed-y long than I thought. Sorry about that.

@justin258: Thanks, good post, I agree with every bit of it.

Ehhhh but also not necessarily. This is 2023 and not everyone has a machine to play this on that will take physical copies. There are more PS5s without a disc drive out there than with one. A disc drive hasn't been standard for a PC for a while, either. Ten years ago it probably wouldn't have been a problem, but these days physical copies actually aren't viable for everyone anymore, nor will there be nearly as many used copies floating around.

@atheistpreacher: Hogwarts will release on Switch, which easily outsells every platform, is also on PS4 and Xbox One. I can guarantee you, without a doubt, there will be pleeeenty of physical copies of it there for grandma to get little Laura for Easter. These self-made problems have easy solutions. The group that has AND only a PS5 AND got the digital version AND absolutely must play Hogwarts is likely incredibly small. My heart goes out to those 2% of people. I hope they find the will to go on.

Yeah, that feels pretty defeatist. Did anyone think the game wouldn't succeed because people boycotted it? No, absolutely not, even if every single person in the world explicitly knew about how vile JKR really is, it would still be successful, after all look how many bigots we've had in this thread already. It's not about "winning" though, it's about slowly chipping away at her power and popularity, and the success of this game just helps the brand and by extension JKR's influence remain.

I'm not under any delusions that my not eating meat has any tangible impact on the meat industry, but it's important to me so I stick with it. I would argue that in a world where we are all doomed to engage in an exploitative system, making a stand for what matters to us has never been more important, even if, in this case, it might not impact JKR's bottom line.

@justin258: I would just say, there are a lot of people who agree with Rowling, you act like everyone thinks she is wrong but that is just sadly not the case. Online the discourse does seem to agree with your opinion that "everyone wishes she would shut the fuck up" but that is not the real world.

It's wild that people still think "Oh you don't like something? Well rather than try to make me feel bad about my singular purchasing decision, why aren't you dedicating your whole existence to protesting 24/7 on all fronts!" We aren't children here. Someone can criticize your purchasing choice without having to fulfill some prerequisite of protest.

That video that was shared earlier presupposes that the people who criticize people buying Hogwarts Legacy are all phonies who don't actually care about JK and her stances because if they did, why aren't they doing a bunch of other things that don't involve talking to you? First off, most of the people who I know who feel strongly that Harry Potter stuff should be boycotted, do in fact boycott Harry Potter licensed content in all its forms. The video just implies that the person talking about a boycott of Hogwarts Legacy is a fair weather idiot (you can tell that the video is disingenuous because it basically has the character backing the boycott shut up for 3 minutes of its runtime as they are endlessly owned by the "reasonable buyer". It's just dunking on a straw man). Just because you don't actively see people protesting and boycotting this very second, doesn't mean they didn't happen or won't happen. People of good faith don't need to protest all Harry Potter things at all times to earn the right to tell you that you buying this game is shitty.

Secondly, choosing to try to make a small impact on a game boycott can mean something even if it doesn't fix anything. As @sethmode said, a single person being vegetarian doesn't break the meat industry, but it can mean something to them and it can influence other people to question their meat consumption. This is a long-term fight and small actions add up over time. Making this universe and its properties uncool is the way you actually take it down in the long term and protests like a game boycott accompanied by a big stink can help make the property less prevalent over time.

The thing that always frustrates me about "boycotting won't change anything" is the view that it's done exclusively to fight against something, as opposed to fighting in support of someone. That if the thing you're fighting against isn't immediately and irreparably damaged, there's no point, while the humans on the other end that could benefit just from knowing someone has there back on something, are usually forgotten about, and left to watch as people, consciously or unconsciously, treat their existence with complete apathy.