In recent days, well beyond the terms imposed by the embargo indicated by Warner Bros., a rather important international publication has published the review Of Hogwarts Legacyawarding the title of Avalanche Software a 1/10 and turning the spotlight on what the writer believes it is the wrong way to do this job.
The problem, needless to say, is JK Rowlingthe disputed author of the saga of Harry Potter, who as we know has been accused of transphobia for a series of rather controversial statements made in recent years. This situation has triggered a multitude of calls to boycott any product related to the English writer, including Hogwarts Legacy.
It is appropriate to clarify it immediately: the writer has absolutely nothing against a boycott of Rowling’s works, or any other product. God forbid: we are still talking about extremely personal issues, sensitivity and individual choices.
If in my heart I think an author is a bad person and I don’t want to contribute to their income, I legitimately can avoid buying the products from which it derives any profit. More: I can legitimately call for other people to participate in the boycott.
What I really shouldn’t do though is evaluate one of these products based on my biaswhich is exactly what happened with the famous Wired review, written by a transsexual journalist who projected all her unease and resentment towards JK Rowling into her article.
It is completely understandable to have such feelings and no longer be able to see the narrative universe that one had so far adored in a positive light; and, we repeat, it is entirely legitimate to implement a systematic boycott where it is thought to be the morally right thing to do.
A review, however, should be theunbiased analysis of an experience, which is described and told in the most detailed way possible to the reader. The latter will form his own opinion on the basis of that report and decide whether or not to invest his time and money.
So no, it’s not good to give 1/10 to a game because the person who invented the lore on which it’s based (and who in this specific case didn’t even have any role in the development) turned out to be an individual horrible in our eyes, because it hurt our feelings deeply.
It is for the writer of a improper and arbitrary use of a tool that is all the more powerful the more widespread the magazine hosting it is, and which over the years has had a concretely negative impact on titles that might have deserved better treatment. You remember the Days Gone 2 issue, yes?
So, in conclusion, the boycott is perfectly fine, the calls for the boycott and all the insights of this world on how embarrassing and stupid Rowling’s utterances were and why, but it is certainly not giving 1/10 to Hogwarts Legacy that one contributes to the discussion: the only result is to throw further mud on videogame criticism.
How do you think? Let’s talk about.
Let’s talk about it is a daily opinion column that offers a starting point for discussion around the news of the day, a small editorial written by a member of the editorial staff but which is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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