Helldivers 2’ Community Manager Declares Game Is “Pretty Woke” And Reveals Game Was Banning Individuals She Deemed “Bigots, Transphobes, Homophobes...

[Gamernyc78]

@Syndr0mePK Thanks for checking in with us before wanting post. We appreciate it.

@Sircaw

‘Helldivers 2’ Community Manager Declares Game Is “Pretty Woke” And Reveals Game Was Banning Individuals She Deemed “Bigots, Transphobes, Homophobes, Racists”

Helldivers 2 Community Manager Katherine Baskin declares the game is "pretty woke" and reveals the game was banning individuals she and the developer Arrowhead

thatparkplace.com

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‘Helldivers 2’ Community Manager Declares Game Is “Pretty Woke” And Reveals Game Was Banning Individuals She Deemed “Bigots, Transphobes, Homophobes, Racists”​

By John F. TrentPublished On: April 5, 2024

Helldivers 2 Community Manager Katherine Baskin declares the game is “pretty woke” and reveals the game was banning individuals she and the developer Arrowhead Game Studios deemed bigots, transphobes, homophobes, and racists.

A screenshot from Helldivers II (2024), Arrowhead Game Studios
As brought to public attention by Mark Kern aka Grummz on X, last month, Baskin replied to a Steam curator list that recommended Helldivers 2 and claimed the game was not woke. She initially just wrote, “lmao.”
However, in a response later in the thread she wrote, “plus helldivers is pretty woke dog. game was made by a lot of lgbtq and brown people and black people and women and it’s a big satire of jingoism.”
She added, “it amuses me they don’t know that super earth is bad! it also explains a lot about the world at present.”

Katherine Baskin on X
READ: LGBTQ+ Activists Accuse ‘Helldivers 2’ Developers Of Silencing Them After They Attempted To Push Propaganda Into Game
In the same thread, Baskin revealed she and developer Arrowhead Game Studios were banning individuals from the game’s discord that they deemed as bigots.
She wrote, “we only ban the bigots – transphobes, homophobes, racists, etc. are not welcome in our community.”
“We had to restrict the topics in the HD2 general chats for a while because it was triggering massive waves of hatespeech which our staff was struggling with emotionally,” she added.

Katherine Baskin on X
Baskin’s has locked down her profile on X, but Kern shared a number of other posts she had made in the last four years. In June 2020 she she posted, “I’m not talking much because it’s not my turn to talk. It’s time for black people to be heard and for white people to listen. I want to continue to do everything I can to help, including passing the mic.”
In another post she wrote, “I also don’t like the terms ‘casual’ and ‘hardcore’ because they come with the implication that skill = passion.”
“Those words are something gamers cling to, but they are being rendered meaningless as games become more accessible, inclusive, and experimental,” she added.


READ: Former Team Lead For World Of Warcraft Mark Kern Explains How ESG Influences Video Game Developers And How It Will Kill Them
According to her LinkedIn, Baskin has been a Social Media and Community Manager at Arrowhead Game Studios since December 2021. She is also a Narrative Designer at Shotspark Studios and has been since September 2020. She is also a Community Manager for Voidpoint LLC and has been since May 2020.
She previously worked in academia being an adjunct faculty at Mineral Area College from August 2015 to August 2019. Before that her profile states she was an English Teacher at Perry County School District 32 in Perryville, Missouri. She was a teacher between August 2009 and March 2018.

A screenshot of Katherine Baskin’s LinkedIn profile
What do you make of Baskin describing the game as woke? What do you make of the fact that she claimed the company was banning people they deemed bigots from its discord?
NEXT: ‘Helldivers 2’ Developer Explains Why The Company Will Not Turn Off Friendly Fire: “The Most Important Thing When We Make Games Is Believability”

 

[TubzGaming]

 

[Syndr0mePK]

What a way to bring an unnecessary shitstorm your way.

 

[Gamernyc78]

What a way to bring an unnecessary shitstorm your way.

Ahhh idk why she is even talking about tht. She should have left tht alone certain things don't need to be spoken on.

 

[anonpuffs]

nice

 

[Sunrise Ninja]

Unfortunately Society is letting the support become the front lines and because of that Society is Falling Down.

 

[Old Gamer]

Say goodbye to your record breaking player count.

 

[KvallyX]

 

[Sircaw]

I personally feel people are reading to much into this.

First, on the topic of Banning Racists, Transphobes, bigots, etc, if I see any of that hate here, I will do the same; banter and jokes are fine, but if it's full of hate, they are out.

We also do that on our Discord.

As for her saying the company is woke, I don't care about that at all; what I care about is if they try to force that into the game, as an agenda to force their opinions down my throat, i.e., Pride flag capes, that sort of rubbish, they are not doing that.

I think common sense and a slight step back is needed in this instance; remember that saying "a hammer sees everything as a nail; we need to be careful not to fall into that trap.

 

[gokuss4]

Nvm

 

[Gamernyc78]

I personally feel people are reading to much into this.

First, on the topic of Banning Racists, Transphobes, bigots, etc, if I see any of that hate here, I will do the same; banter and jokes are fine, but if it's full of hate, they are out.

We also do that on our Discord.

As for her saying the company is woke, I don't care about that at all; what I care about is if they try to force that into the game, as an agenda to force their opinions down my throat, i.e., Pride flag capes, that sort of rubbish, they are not doing that.

I think common sense and a slight step back is needed in this instance; remember that saying "a hammer sees everything as a nail; we need to be careful not to fall into that trap.

OH nah some of the things she saying I absolutely agree with and don't consider that woke. No discrimination, racism or hate based on gender, sex, religion, etc should be condoned. She's using the term woke and some will take tht out of context.

 

[Sircaw]

OH nah some of the things she saying I absolutely agree with and don't consider that woke. No discrimination, racism or hate based on gender, sex, religion, etc should be condoned. She's using the term woke and some will take tht out of context.

I just think we need to be a bit careful, it's starting to feel like a victim looking for a crime kind of scenario.

Helldivers 2 from all accounts, is an amazing game, i don't think I have seen one person mention anything woke or "politically pc in the game since they have been playing over the last month or so"

We should concentrate on the games and call out the bullshit if we see it.

There are a lot of nutjobs on Twitter/x like @TubzGaming and @Danja1187 for instance and @Satoru and @Swift_Star on Trump's network @Truth.

We can never allow these deviants to dictate events.

 

[Gamernyc78]

I just think we need to be a bit careful, it's starting to feel like a victim looking for a crime kind of scenario.

Helldivers 2 from all accounts, is an amazing game, i don't think I have seen one person mention anything woke or "politically pc in the game since they have been playing over the last month or so"

We should concentrate on the games and call out the bullshit if we see it.

There are a lot of nutjobs on Twitter/x like @TubzGaming and @Danja1187 for instance and @Satoru and @Swift_Star on Trump's network @Truth.

We can now allow these deviants to dictate events.

Absolutely.

 

[anonpuffs]

I mean people are looking to be outraged at this point. It's like the people who played FF7 Rebirth and are like "wait a minute, when did they turn FF7 into a woke commie propaganda against capitalism and for treehugging" smh it's always been that, helldivers has always been a parody of what some forms of government would look like (exactly like starship troopers) if it was taken to the extremes

 

[Sircaw]

I mean people are looking to be outraged at this point. It's like the people who played FF7 Rebirth and are like "wait a minute, when did they turn FF7 into a woke commie propaganda against capitalism and for treehugging" smh it's always been that, helldivers has always been a parody of what some forms of government would look like (exactly like starship troopers) if it was taken to the extremes

Now you tell me, FS.

@Dr Bass is the one who recommended me the game, Commie Bastard.

 

[Gediminas]

I personally feel people are reading to much into this.

First, on the topic of Banning Racists, Transphobes, bigots, etc, if I see any of that hate here, I will do the same; banter and jokes are fine, but if it's full of hate, they are out.

We also do that on our Discord.

As for her saying the company is woke, I don't care about that at all; what I care about is if they try to force that into the game, as an agenda to force their opinions down my throat, i.e., Pride flag capes, that sort of rubbish, they are not doing that.

I think common sense and a slight step back is needed in this instance; remember that saying "a hammer sees everything as a nail; we need to be careful not to fall into that trap.

Yeah, but how and where you draw the line?
We already see how these people rate these things.
You can see, they can make most innocent comment and they can weaponise it.
If they disagree with you, it is a warrant for a ban.
Tendencies are that they have no fairness.

We should highlight them, that companies force them to cut their bullshit out, because gamers aren't there to pander political views, especially when gaming is global.

 

[Sircaw]

Yeah, but how and where you draw the line?
We already see how these people rate these things.
You can see, they can make most innocent comment and they can weaponise it.
If they disagree with you, it is a warrant for a ban.
Tendencies are that they have no fairness.

We should highlight them, that companies force them to cut their bullshit out, because gamers aren't there to pander political views, especially when gaming is global.

Highlight them to do what, though; I can guarantee you that after the SBI bullshit, companies and specifically their Pr and Hr divisions, are telling their employees to cover their tracks and delete some of their tweets and hide their profiles.

If said companies need to be told by the public that tweeting racist shit is bad, and they will only act once the public knows about said tweets, well, those companies are rotten to the core too.

This is nothing new, I am afraid to say, it's all over the media, Academia and entertainment.

This stuff goes miles deeper than just some scum bags, and their racist tweets, the whole damn thing is rotten to the core.

 

[Gediminas]

Highlight them to do what, though; I can guarantee you that after the SBI bullshit, companies and specifically their Pr and Hr divisions, are telling their employees to cover their tracks and delete some of their tweets and hide their profiles.

If said companies need to be told by the public that tweeting racist shit is bad, and they will only act once the public knows about said tweets, well, those companies are rotten to the core too.

This is nothing new, I am afraid to say, it's all over the media, Academia and entertainment.

This stuff goes miles deeper than just some scum bags, and their racist tweets, the whole damn thing is rotten to the core.

yeah, we can see, look at m$. blockrock or whatever that firm called, also do that, most anti-humane, evil shit.

 

[ksdixon]

Oh Wtf... Let the other dude handle it, who pushes out patch notes and mission instructions in character.

I (will be, when I can afford the game) shooting bugs. I don't care about any of this stuff being at the forefront of the game or a part of it's bts decision making. Just stop beating everyone over the head with it already. It's a video game, I come here to escape from the bs of society, not have it crammed down my throat in rainbow colors through a loud mega-phone funnell.

You know what really grinds my gears? You're not marginalised just cause you happen like the same parts you have. You're not a victim fgs. Try having an actual disability which would do more to hinder someone, in a way more realistic sense of the real world.

Why don't disabled people have their own flag? Because "someone" took all the colors and letters for themselves. And yeah, Google even disagrees what the disabled flag is, so I don't count either ffs.