Have you read my explanation on why exactly Minsc’s now-infamous #GamerGate dig was needlessly inflammatory, regardless of your stance on the hashtag? It seems that Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear developer Beamdog has.
In a post to the official Beamdog forums, the developers of Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear have decided to eliminate Minsc’s cringe-inducing slight toward a section of the gaming community.
I think this response is as classy and appropriate as the oft-derided group could have hoped for. Some may have already been irreversibly turned away from the game by the controversy, but at least Beamdog is willing to admit when they’re wrong.
In the statement, CEO Trent Oster praised the Dragonspear team despite the troubled release, and reiterated their lack of tolerance for personal attacks and harassment. Additionally, the team will focus on fixing multiplayer difficulties in the next patch.
Oster has also responded to the transsexual merchant “Mizhena,” promising to use complaints against the one-dimensional “token” nature of the character to inform future character design choices. Mizhena will benefit from some of that deeper characterization in a future update.
All in all, it’s a solid step forward for Beamdog, and gratifying to see a developer with a hard “social justice” bent respond with maturity to a broad concern among their customers. With any luck, other members of the community will take notes from this lesson in civil disagreement.
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