Just when you thought we were winning this war...
Those of us buried in the sands of internet time know that the gaming industry has been no stranger to cultural battles... and for years now, the community has fought back hard to preserve the creative freedom that made gaming a groundbreaking artistic and entertainment medium. But just when the tide seemed to be turning—when woke games pushing divisive ideologies took massive losses after MASSIVE LOSSES and gamers rallied together to celebrate freedom of choice in gaming—a seemingly new faction emerges to try and take the reigns, the religious side - determined to play moral arbiter over what the community "should" and "should not" be allowed to enjoy.
Sound familiar?
While I morally typically tend to lean into the moral values of religion far more than that of wokism, I'm by no stretch a very religious person - There is value in it. The problem? Going too far with any ideology historically always seems to end up in the same exact place.
Enter: GoonerGate.
This latest controversy centers around content creator DreadRoberts (@SicklyTheNinJa on X), whose critiques I’ve typically always respected ever since I first heard of them a few months ago, but who has seemingly gone off the deep end with his take here.
It all began when Pirat_Nation shared a GIF of Hailey (above), the protagonist from the game The First Descendant, showing off her... well... scantily clad figure we'll just say - with a 'cheeky' animation (sorry, I had to). Pirat_Nation simply captioned it: “Is this what gamers want?”
A fair question, at least or so I thought on the surface...
However, things quickly spiraled when John F. Trent, MelonieMac and Dreadroberts (among many other seemingly strong religious folks) responded, launching into quite the... tirade against the community at large.
While I respect and get along with all of these folks on a daily basis, just like them, we're all entitled to our own opinions on the situation.
Dreadroberts wrote:
“Any person with a modicum of decency would say ‘No.’ This is not where the future of gaming should be headed. The constant promotion of half-naked women as the ‘greener side’ of gaming is getting ridiculous, and I’m beginning to think that these people who say they want to ‘save’ gaming don’t actually want to save it. This is why I say that we need real adults, with real ambitions/aspirations and a mature outlook on the future to lead the charge in this industry; people who have their priorities straight, and their arousal in check.”
It’s a strong statement, but it crosses a line and blurs the issue. While his points might resonate with some folks out there (and a few I've seen applauding), the community at large wasn't the biggest fan of his take. This kind of "moral grandstanding" comes across as super condescending, and ultimately mirrors the same exact behavior of those he supposedly was claiming to oppose.
Gaming Is Not About Morality Police
Gaming is about escapism, creativity, and enjoyment. It thrives when developers are free to create art that connects with players. Whether it’s gritty horror, stylized violence, or even characters designed to appeal to more... primal sensibilities. Any time someone comes to the game industry advocating to 'be the adult' in the room, always seems to have ulterior motives. The gaming’s diversity of content is a strength and variety. Yet, when individuals like Dreadroberts step up to try and dictate what “adults” should find acceptable, they ironically echo the woke voices they so passionately decry.
I called him out on this hypocrisy in a reply:
“When you are becoming exactly what you’re fighting against, you are no better than those you are trying to stop.”
His response? A bizarre personal attack on my family and a justification of his moral high ground:
“Smash, who is apparently a married man with children of his own, seems to think that another married man with children of his own setting boundaries and having morals/values is ‘becoming exactly what you're fighting against.’ Hilarious!”
Let me make this clear: gaming is not about setting moral boundaries for others. It is about empowering the YOU to decide what you enjoy. I replied:
Weird take, but whatevs. IMHO, gaming is not about 'morals' and 'setting boundaries'. Its about escapism and enjoyment. If a game comes out that isn't for you, don't support it. That's your right as a customer. What you are doing here with this stance is purposefully antagonizing people fighting against censorship for a reaction. I will ALWAYS call for LESS regulation in an artistic space, not more. Telling developers how they should be able to make a game and how they shouldn't makes you no better than the challenges we are facing right now.
If a game isn’t for you, don’t buy it. If a piece of art offends your sensibilities, just walk away. But telling developers what they “should” or “shouldn’t” make? Nah bro. That puts you on the same slippery slope as the forces of censorship we’ve been battling for years.
The Problem With “Drawing the Line”
When DreadRoberts tried to equate “drawing a line” against revealing outfits with stopping a tide of nudity in gaming, I pressed further:
“Curious about these squiggly lines of morality you keep drawing here. How do you feel about horror games with chainsaws and gore? Or FPS with piles of bodies being stacked up? Apparently those are cool with your ‘adult’ beliefs, but hot girls? Get ‘em out!?”
No response. Silence speaks volumes.
The truth is, when you begin drawing moral lines for others, a precedent is set that ultimately stifles creativity and limits the market’s ability to decide what succeeds freely. And yeah, of course - some people will always prefer games with gritty realism, while others enjoy vibrant fantasy worlds or even risqué designs. That’s the beauty of gaming—it’s for everyone. Always has been. Let the market dictate success, not some arbitrary moral compass. If a game company wants to make a sex-heavy, nude model, raging party game... ok? They'll have to deal with the ESRB first - and as much as I can't stand the ESRB, there ARE protocols in place already in the game industry to ensure games don't just slip into the sex abyss.
Moreover, I'd argue while hot chicks in games are always welcome (especially these days), what actually draws gamers to a game is the experience itself. Not just the design of a character. Can it help? I guess.. But then again, I also loved a game starring a monkey this year, and I'm not into that sort of thing if you catch my drift so....
Why GoonerGate Matters
The most ironic and troubling part of this debacle is how it mirrors the tactics of the ideological factions that gamers have spent years fighting against. Now that we’re winning the cultural war against censorship, another faction emerges, religion - seeking to replace one form of control with another.
In all honesty, I should have seen it coming. We all should have.
The lesson here? The more we argue over what others should be allowed to enjoy, the more restrictive the environment becomes for game developers to push innovation and creativity. This is the same exact path to hell is laid with good intentions thing - Let gamers decide with their wallets. Historically, it’s always worked. The golden years of gaming came from risk-taking and unbridled creativity, not from moral regulation. I'd argue the more 'moral' regulation that comes in, the worse the games end up being.
This situation is blowing up on social media today - and likely won’t go away unless the gaming community collectively remembers one thing: freedom of expression in art is paramount. If we let anyone—be it the woke crowd or these moral 'religious' grandstanders—take control of that, the future of gaming becomes as bleak as they claim to fear.
I never want to lose sight of what made gaming great in the first place... and hope I'm not alone on that.
~Smash
John F. Trent seems to have a history of moving on when he starts to inject his moral beliefs into articles he writes.
I stopped reading anything from him when he did a weird rant in a That Park Place article and used Bible quotes to do it and called people degenerate.
A few days ago, he was promoting Crimson Dawn, a game where you fly around as the literal embodiment of Satan as a dragon, and he blocked me for it when I pointed out that he was OK with literally Satan, but T&A aren't OK?
I'm waiting to hear back from Dreadroberts and Jon Del Arroz, but so far they have all ignored this.
They're hypocrites.
So sayeth The…
As both a hardcore gamer and biblical worldview Christian, I see both sides. Gaming for me has always boiled down to discernment—what I feel led or not led to play on a game-by-game basis, depending on what I am or am not comfortable with seeing or experiencing onscreen. But that's a personal decision, and not something I would force on or try to referee for another person. But I do "get" this Dreadroberts' point about going to massive extremes in the opposite direction. After all, whether it's out of balance to the right or out of balance to the left, you still wind up in a ditch.
As a Christian gamer who also loves these "gooner" type games I'm torn on this dispute. I don't think we should be fighting when victory is so close at hand. I think the games are immoral for sure but I still play them and I'm not a perfect person by any means. I respect both Melanie and Smash for the things they do for our community, while at the same time I feel attacked personally for my beliefs by Smash's side and also don't think on the John and Melanie side of things that we should be calling out people for enjoying what they like sinful or not.
Sex sells, but it also limits the market a bit. Just like violence and swearing. They are both right. I don't want men dressed as women, and I don't want bare asses hanging in my face either. If that's what people want, that's perfectly fine with me. But it's not something I am going to play openly in my home, with my family around. I don't play games like Cyberpunk or Witcher 3 anymore, simply because I have kids and a wife in the house. I'm not going to play Hentai and tell the kids it's a just a normal cartoon, I'm not going to watch Guyver and tell the kids it's a super hero movie.
So I won't buy it...…
I don't think that our religious brothers and sisters in arms will have to worry that mainstream games will become overly sexualised. Once gamergate has been won. As publishers will still want to sell their products at retail venues.
But I do get somewhat annoyed by the 'holier than thou' attitude. Where some try to push their religious morals as the new norm. Most notably by John F. Trent.