The Pillars of the Earth Developer Daedalic Entertainment Advocates for Refugee Migration Into Europe
Daedalic Entertainment, the German-based video game company behind Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, The Pillars of the Earth, State of Mind, Blackguards, and Machinarium, took to Facebook to express support for refugees migrating to Europe.
In the post seen above on the official Facebook Page of Daedalic Entertainment they shared a piece of “cute & meaningful fan art.”
The fan art includes a number of political messages that read, “Refugees welcome,” “Say no to refugeephobia,” and “stop refugeephobia.”
Not only did Daedalic Entertainment post the highly political image, but they also made it clear their stance on the political issue writing, “#RefugeesWelcome.”
After facing criticism from a number of fans, Daedalic Entertainment would initially indicate they weren’t trying to push a political message.
They wrote on Facebook:
“This is a fan art. If you interpret more into it than it says, to be honest that’s not our fault. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but we’re definitely not responsible for what happens on this world and we will always support people who had a hard time in life and are trying to find a place to live. It’s called empathy.
Have a nice rest of the week.”
However, this would quickly change as they responded to other individuals making it perfectly clear they intended to make a political point with the fan art.
“Sorry, we do not agree with you on this matter at all. Not all refugees are the same. Not all humans are the same. Some are bad, some are good, some are stuck in a horrable situation in life and try to find happiness. Not everybody is a criminal, just because they are not from your country. That’s pretty superficial, generalizing a huge group of people is irrational.
We shared this art since we agree & appreciate the politics on it. Even a younger person is able to see the difference between individuals, then maybe you can, too.
Ironically, Daedelic would then reply to another fan indicating people need to be careful when generalizing.
“Of course. We’re not denying this in any way, please don’t get us wrong. We do NOT discredit anybody’s experience with certain people, BUT we want to highlight that people are individuals. Not everybody’s the same and we should stop or at least be careful when generalizing a group of people.”
Daedalic generalized by blankly stating, “#RefugeesWelcome” without taking into account the individuals.
Following the criticism from a number of their fans and customers, Daedalic would take to Facebook again to address their community.
They would write:
“Hello dear community. We want to speak up about a very important issue that occurred when we posted the Edna fan art yesterday, including some political views of the artist which – in our very own opinion – reflect our views as well. We do not expect everybody to agree with our views, but to respect them.
The tweets seen below are the complete opposite of respecting each other, especially women who weren’t even the topic of the displayed fan art. We want to have a loving & understanding community that doesn’t spread hate towards a certain group of people, in this case both refugees and women. This is not what we stand for & we do not agree with such a behaviour, neither do we tolerate it.
So we ask of you to respect each other, to try to get to know each other before judging and experience empathy.
Thank you for your attention, everyone! #SpreadLoveNotHate“
Politics are a hot topic in the video game industry. Indie video game developer Dragonpunk recently warned about the hiring practices of AAA publishers noting they take into account one’s politics when hiring.
Last year Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rising’s Narrative Director John Epler indicated he will incorporate his own left-learning politics into the game saying, “All art is politics. It’s just a hell of a lot easier to ignore it when those politics match up with yours.” He added, “I wear my heart, and beliefs, on my sleeve. And I always will.”
We’ve also seen a Ubisoft producer advocate a blacklisting of popular YouTuber PewDiePie because he disagreed with him.
What do you make of Daedalic Entertainment’s political activism? Do you agree with their message? Do you think they should be advocating specific policies as an entertainment company?
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