Game On: Ethics and Morals; The Hogwarts Legacy controversy

Dissecting issues surrounding the game on Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hyderabad: Hogwarts Legacy is the most popular game of 2023 as thousands of players from across the world have experienced the joy of receiving their coveted letter to Hogwarts.

Despite the game’s critical and financial success, it is important to acknowledge the many calls for boycott that the game has received. As both players of the game and fans of the ‘wizarding world’ franchise try and justify how by purchasing and playing the game they do not endorse the beliefs of JK Rowling — the ensuing interactions have in a nutshell showcased how the global gaming community engages with ongoing issues of gender and sexuality.

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What makes the Hogwarts Legacy controversy such an interesting one to examine is the fact that most of us were aware of the many issues the game’s success would unleash. Even the game’s makers were prepared for the fallout and their creation of Sirona Ryan — the first trans character in the ‘Wizarding World’ — was as much a move to welcome prospective LGBTQ players as much as it was a corporation strategically trying to nip potential backlash in the bud.

While we may all wonder how the creation of Sirona is not ‘tokenism’, it is important to note that they (the character) are evidence of a corporation taking a step to shield and create wiggle room for itself from existing issues stoked by the franchise’s creator. This territory is no longer new as working in PR today requires not just the handling of the odd faux pas but also acts of self-destruction what with Kanye.

Hogwarts Legacy lands people like me — those who grew up cherishing Harry’s magical journey and have watched its creator both ‘retcon’ the stories that we once loved (Maledictus anyone?) and struggle to come to terms with not just representation but also ideas of gender and race — in a tough spot as we are often at a loss to explain our constant queuing up to buy the latest offering from the ‘Wizarding World’.

As a reviewer and someone who studies video games for a living, it was important for me to analyze Hogwarts Legacy and I did that last week (in my review) by examining it as a game from Avalanche and WB while separating it from Rowling’s aura.

However, the more I play Hogwarts Legacy, the more nostalgic it makes me as I draw parallels with Harry Potter and Rowling’s books. I find it nearly impossible to separate the game from the books that detail its world and I can’t help but wonder who owns Hogwarts, its grounds, and its many mysteries — is it us the readers who spent our childhoods imagining our lives there or the creator who as her foundation will tell you owns it all, for probably eternity?

If it is the readers and the fan community, then the ‘Wizarding World’ is ours and playing Hogwarts Legacy is justified. But if it isn’t, we are, as the rest of the world says, sponsoring a very rich person’s attack on the marginalised.