Black Myth: Wukong Tells Us That Politics in Video Games Is Okay, But Only If It’s Authoritarian

In the last few hours a document has emerged that is causing a lot of discussion, but not as much as it should. It is about the guidelines provided by the software house Game Science to influencers for the coverage of Black Myth: Wukongin which we can read:

• DO NOT insult other influencers or players.
• DO NOT use offensive language/humor.
• DO NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, or other content that encourages negative discourse.
• DO NOT use keywords like “quarantine”, “isolation” or “Covid-19”.
• DO NOT discuss content related to Chinese game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.

This is a truly exceptional document, because it not only gives an account of the attempt by a development studio/publisher to heavily influence coverage of its gameexcluding certain themes and topics, but also of the value system of the target market itself.

When politics goes well

It also helps to understand the strength of the Chinese government on some “artistic” choices of local studios, considering that the “policies, opinions, news” of the Chinese video game industry are cited as taboo and considering how careful Black Myth: Wukong is to please the dictates of the Xi Jinping government on the representation of genders within local products.

It must be said that most of the influencers have shown that they have a straight back and have been very careful to respect these dictates (even if fortunately someone has bent his back and has leaked the document). After all, they had other things to think about, namely to the only review on the planet that referenced the lack of female characters in the game (that of Screen Rantto be precise). Against that one, there was the urge to tear one’s clothes and make video after video scandalized against politics in video games and the death of Western culture, inciting crowds of troublemakers against a poor wretch who had to have her name removed from the article, in order not to suffer who knows what consequences from the enraged masses.

In short, we learned that politics in video games is fine, as long as it is complacent towards authoritarian governments (by omission, in this case). After all, we know, authoritarian governments know how video games should be made for true gamers. Goethe would even call them elective affinities.