Mod in Hogwarts Legacy Discord Reportedly Instructing Players to Cease Discussion of Trans Rights
Recently, the Hogwarts Legacy Discord server has been the center of attention due to allegations that moderators have been silencing conversations about trans rights. The game has recently released in early access and some streamers have even called for a boycott due to its association with JK Rowling, who has publicly made offensive remarks about trans people in the past.
Avalanche Software created Hogwarts Legacy, a single-player action video game that allows gamers to live out life as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Set in the Wizarding World, the game does not contain any of J.K. Rowling’s original Harry Potter characters because the game is set in a different era. Rowling was not connected with the development of the game or its storyline. Despite this, many players remain uncertain about buying and playing the game.
In the days leading up to the release of Hogwarts Legacy, an official Discord server was created to provide a space for fans to come together and discuss the game. However, some reports have surfaced on social media that moderators have requested users not to talk about trans rights. As reported by TheGamer, a Discord mod called M3GAN~ apparently responded to a post about trans rights, asking people to “cool it” with the topic. Screenshots from Twitter user sillygal42 showed the same mod claiming to be actively blocking the word “transphobic” from being used in chat. In addition, chaoticgaythey on Twitter claims that moderators have started to ban posts with the trans flag, and referring to it as “hateful”.
Recently, the Discord server for Hogwarts Legacy has banned certain users who have deliberately posted trans flag emojis or made derogatory statements in an effort to mock the game and the writer, J.K. Rowling, which are all against the rules. Despite this, numerous people still accused the moderators of attempting to silence trans supporters. A similar issue occurred on the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit, where they prohibited any discussions involving Rowling, urging players to only talk about the game itself.
The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been mired in controversy, yet Avalanche Software still incorporated inclusive features into the game, such as the inclusion of transgender character Sirona Ryan and the availability for players to create transgender characters. There have been expectations that the game might be one of the top sellers of 2021. Nevertheless, the reputation of Hogwarts Legacy may have been irreversibly affected by the actions of J.K. Rowling.
Hogwarts Legacy is set to hit shelves on February 10 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions available on April 4, and the Nintendo Switch version on July 25.