The Ravens Nest

Baldur’s Gate III’s Bestiality Is Only One of Many Problems…

If you’re not familiar, Baldur’s Gate III is part of a line of Dungeons & Dragons video games that have been absolutely loved by fans. I had a copy of the first one I bought at a Walmart years ago and I got to play it a bit, it was fun before someone took off with my discs and from that point forward, I was just kinda out of luck.

The reason I really haven’t gone back to that well is that, to me, D&D will always be a tabletop game whether I play over Skype, Guilded, StreamYard or at an actual table. Video games just really do not immerse me the way books, dice, pencils and paper do. Hell, if you want to immerse me just that touch more, some minis, standees and a battle mat with lines drawn on them will do. Not necessary but fun for me.

So when BG3 was announced, I just kinda nodded and moved on. No hate but no interest either. As it was released in early access, and people began playing it, it seemed like there was trouble brewing. Articles were released about developers claiming that players were “boring as fuck” began to surface because players were choosing human characters over every other bell and whistle that the developers had installed.

Wait…what?

This is the part where I could ask where developers get to spy on player accounts but maybe they just noticed the overall demographic of the characters and went crazy. Comments like the following garnered my ire immediately:

That’s the quick, not-entirely-polite takeaway from a recent blog post from role-playing game developer Larian Studios, which just released (on early access) the long-anticipated third game in the Baldur’s Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons-based virtual adventures. Like most games of its ilk, Baldur’s Gate 3 has a (pretty robust, per our colleagues at Kotaku) character creation system that allows players to create just about any sort of D&D character they could possibly want, allowing a generous mixing-and-matching of races, classes, physical features, and more. As it happens, though, Larian also used its analytics tools to track what the most popular choices taken in each category were, and, wouldn’t you know it: When presented with a vast panoply of potential avatars to pick to experience a rich fantasy world in, a plurality of players chose the most generic white dude possible.

I would respond with the fact that if I wanted to make my character “generic,” that there’s precious fuck-all you will be doing about it. Then they followed up with this:

Not even a white elf or anything; the average Baldur’s Gate 3 character is apparently a pasty, dull-as-dishwater human cleric operating in the Life Domain—truly, the “Josh” or “Bradley” of the magical arts. Larian poked fun at its own player base in the post, too, noting that, “You’ve basically made the default Vault Dweller.” (I.e., the base playable character from the Fallout series of games.) “What the hell guys. We gave you demon eyes, horns, and even tails. We are sorely disappointed. Go crazy. We worked hard on this!” Hilariously, the studio also notes, “We thought our analytics system wasn’t working! We checked. It is.” That’s how boring these choices are: They looked like a bug, rather than an apparently unavoidable defect in the human programming itself.

Counting on you being a human being as a negative because you didn’t choose something they included? These truly racist statements made in 2020 only continue to reflect the current attitude, not just at Larian Studios but game creators and developers at places like WoTC, owner of the Baldur’s Gate IP. Hey, Wizards, what if I wanted to see myself in the game? Is that something that only a select group can now do? How about you, Larian Studios? How do you weigh in on that thought?

If, at any point, I make a decision regarding my character, that decision is mine, and it’s final. From that point forward, any consideration of playing this game, no matter how minute and fleeting was gone. I may select a human fighter at times but, even if it’s not to see myself as I am in the game, it’s how I’d like to be seen in the game. Player preference will absolutely trump all that you have put in, developers. Not sorry.

Then, recently, fast forward to today and we have this…

Polyamory, bestiality, and blood sacrifice.

Let’s get something straight, I’m not really all that averse to the blood sacrifice portion of things because a villain willing to spill the blood of innocents or even a cult around that detail to possibly resurrect what they believe to be some sort of deity, that would make my hero character want to end that threat once and for all, even if only by reputation.

The Polyamory and Bestiality, it just goes to show how hard these people will go at straight up ruining something beloved by millions. The message is clear, it’s now a pulpit for their own perversions.

During the Satanic Panic, players like myself had to endure all manner of stupid and insipid claims from evangelicals concerning a game where good fought evil. They made claims that it would lead us into drugs, depravity, suicide, crime and the worship of all things evil.

Congratulations on giving them ammo, Larian Studios!

Congratulations also to WoTC for giving Larian Studios carte blanche to just go out there and undo all that many of us actually fought, bled and, in some cases died for in the fight against this type of ignorance.

These socially-inept people have come in and thrown their weight around, hiding behind virtue and you’ve allowed it. Great job!

Despite what I’ve said, I’m not outraged by it. Pissed off at what they’ve done? Yeah but not outraged. I still won’t be buying it, then again I’ve been on a solid boycott of Wizards of The Coast for quite awhile and the current behavior they are displaying has done nothing to move that needle in the opposite direction.

Some people who bought the game on day one are now going to request their money back on the game, others have expressed some of the same sentiments I have. Honestly, this is why D&D as a whole is in the state it’s currently in. This is why there are people out there right now attempting to revive The Panic.

I’ve pointed out the consequences and repercussions of The Panic in the past, it’s not alarmism. With the polarization happening today, Panic 2.0 will be much, much worse.

We need to face a serious fact, Wizards of The Coast and Hasbro dare to put content warnings on older material such as the material I’ve shown in photos in past articles.

While Basic Fantasy, OSRIC, White Box: FMAG, Old-School Essentials, Swords & Wizardry: White Box Rules may not be subject to this warning you’re seeing here, AD&D 1st & 2nd Editions and all other rule sets back will absolutely include the warning. Which is rich considering that that the bestiality and polyamory just got a tacit green-light from WoTC to Larian Studios.

Just to let you know, TikTok did ban Larian Studios’ account over the video you’ve seen in the article.

So now, I have to ask, to whom is WoTC welcoming and including these days?

These days, I as a DM/GM/Referee/Judge can’t seem to be trusted to run a game in a way that’s fun and tasteful and doesn’t turn someone’s stomach or further traumatize people. New “optional” rules concerning Safety Tools, Lines & Veils and even X-Cards (all of which are given a presentation in my post Greater Expectations) are presented and, if not used, then I’ll be declared an “Unsafe” DM.

In that case, I can honestly say that, as a long-time fan of D&D as a game, regardless of edition, I can declare this an Unsafe Video Game. I think the defenders of Safety Tools, Lines & Veils and X-Cards should be up in arms against this. If not, then my message to them is super-clear: You Do Not Get To Lecture Me In Any Way Ever Again And Your Opinions Will Be Very Actively Opposed From This Day Moving Forward. No discussions, negotiations or exceptions.

I doubt any of them will possess neither the spinal nor intestinal fortitude to stand with that statement. As always, I am open to being wrong and the last two paragraphs are ones that I look forward to retracting in the future, however, I believe firmly that they shall stand, given the Rules For Thee, Not For Me tactics we’ve seen employed over and over and over again ad nauseum.

Given that shit IP Ideas like this thrive on manufactured outrage, my tactic is simple: Do not buy. In fact, let’s not give Baldur’s Gate III any further publicity, scorn, ridicule or, most importantly, money. Keep in mind, I will not shame or ridicule anyone for purchasing and playing the game. That will not happen. I, however, will never be convinced that this game will be worth neither my time nor my money and thus, Larian Studios will have to make due with what they have thus far. I’m hoping to see more drop out, more people give it no attention or due and for Larian Studios to feel the pain, financially, while realizing too late that we, as players and DMs will no longer tolerate this nonsense.

Instead, I’d like to draw your attention to a game of a different sort that does back the sentiment of “Your Table, Your Rules, Your Game, Your Way” and I thank you all for helping Elf Lair Games get over halfway there with your backing efforts. This game will prove to be far greater in my opinion.

Also, why not find me on social media and come hang out with me? It’s gonna be a great time.