Aerannis – #GamerGate’s true anti-feminist colours

The ‘gamers’ that have assembled under the Gamergate banner have found a new veil to hide behind, and it is called Aerannis. It’s a retro game featuring a male-to-female trans woman, who lives in a disturbing vision of a “post-feminist dystopia” — as the developers call it. The game gives a great impression of being inclusionary and progressive, but all that is just a cover to hide the true message of the game: The game equates feminism with fascism.

Of course Gamergate supporters immediately latched on to that game. After all, it might trick a few people into believing they are actually all about including trans women, and that it’s really about ethics in games journalism. The truth, however, is that the game simply cashes in on a misogynistic message.

The game also has a very hateful view on feminism. Feminism isn’t about “whole” or “true women” – trans women are just as welcome! Unlike Gamergate, we actually want to push for more diversity in games, and allow people of all kinds of gender identities and sexual preferences into gaming. Aerannis instead claims that a feminist-ruled society would soon exploit the powers given to it and become corrupted – even assassinating people simply for disagreeing! This, while being an often-mentioned misogynistic point against feminism, is far from the truth.

Developer Ektomarch has not responded to any of my requests for comments about the support they receive from Gamergate on their Kickstarter campaign. It’s a shameful sight to see a game that misrepresents feminism receive support from a hate mob to put it well on its way to be funded – the campaign has 17 days left as of writing, and has already passed $4,500k of its planned $6,000 goal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ektomarch members and many Kickstarter backers frequent MRA sites.

Once more, Gamergate has shown its true colours with this. The hate mob continues to further misogyny by supporting a radical anti-feminist video game, and it still goes unopposed. We need the help of all of you to end this. Show them that they are not welcome here. Real players don’t need to accept these people.