Polygon Activist Desperately Tries to Hijack GTA VI to Push Woke Narrative

Activist Maddy Myers Desperately Attempts to Hijack GTA VI, Push Woke Feminist Narrative

You might recall how Polygon was recently hit with a wave of layoffs following its acquisition by Valnet, the same company behind Screen Rant and some of those other 'clickbait-heavy' outlets. While that move signaled a course correction, it was also proof that the rot at Polygon runs pretty damn deep—and clearly, so deep that there’s more of it festering. Case in point: Maddy Myers, Deputy Games Editor and long-time activist masquerading as a journalist, who continues to use her position to push divisive ideology under the guise of “criticism.”

Here we go again...

In an embarrassing (yet, lets be honest... unsurprising) display of ideological projection, Polygon’s Deputy Games Editor, Maddy Myers, has taken it upon herself to interpret the GTA VI trailers not as what they are—marketing for a crime-based open-world video game, no... as a feminist manifesto, riddled full with anti-American, anti-police messaging. In her breakdown of the second trailer, Myers doesn’t just read between the lines, she scribbles over them, wildly trying to force her own narrative where none exists.

Constantly dropping the red flags throughout, like capitalizing "Black" but not "white", and many other such angles to frame and skew the entire narrative that she attempts to runs with here. For instance:

As Jason drives slowly down a city street, we can see a huge arrest going down in the background, with multiple Black suspects being detained and several police cars pulled over at the site. We see a white police officer shoving one of these men; another officer has a Black man pushed up against a brick wall.

Myers claims the background police activity in one scene is proof of Rockstar’s “systemic racism” commentary. She goes on to portray the police as these 'racist' aggressors and positions the entire game as a critique of American law enforcement and gun culture. This is based on... yeah... a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shots lol. Hardly the foundation for the sweeping sociopolitical claims she’s making, but hey, don't let the truth get in the way of activism!

Let’s be clear: GTA VI is shaping up to be an incredible action-packed sandbox game in the same chaotic spirit Rockstar is known for. It features crime, satire, violence, and exaggerated characters. But in Myers’ eyes here, it becomes something else entirely: a vessel to further her long-running ideological agenda under the guise of games journalism. Nah. Actual gamers aren't having that anymore.

An Activist in Journalist’s Clothing

Maddy Myers isn't new to this playbook. Her resume reads like a tour of progressive propaganda mills - get this: from The Mary Sue to Kotaku, and now ...Polygon. Since 2007, she's positioned herself not just as a journalist, but as a gatekeeper of what video games “should” be. Her fixation on injecting identity politics into every piece of media she touches has defined her career.

She’s also co-host of a podcast called Triple Click... that all-too-often, one could argue, leans into socially charged readings of video game culture, and The Mutant Ages, where she overlays modern progressive politics onto old X-Men media. Her body of work is consistent: take entertainment... and twist it into a lecture about gender, race, or perceived injustice. There is no fun to be found from her perspective. This is all ideology waiting to be pushed in a certain direction.

Her awards and recognition? Of course she has those - but they are all for social issue writing—not actual criticism of the medium, nor any technical analysis, or innovation in game coverage.

She doesn’t elevate the medium. She moralizes it.

Creating Meaning Where There Is None

Now, she’s zeroed in on GTA VI—a game that isn’t even close to being out yet, and declared that Rockstar’s trailers have now somehow confirmed to her that they are moving the game into a new woke direction.

According to her, the game’s Latina protagonist, Lucia, isn’t just a character—she’s a symbol of feminist struggle.

She goes so far as to interpret Lucia’s quote about “bad luck” landing her in prison as a sincere, sympathy-grabbing social commentary, not character development or narrative flavor. She sounds like the type of person to be sympathetic to someone who burns a Tesla dealership with this kind of rhetoric... but I digress.

She contrasts Lucia with Jason, the male lead, and of course goes on to paint him as less sympathetic, based entirely on a few out-of-context moments spliced into a one-minute trailer. You've GOT to be kidding me here, Maddy. She insists we’re supposed to root for Lucia and despise Jason, even though this is a series built on flawed antiheroes. She doesn't just report; she tells you how you should feel... And based on this article she wrote, I'm convinced she's never actually played a GTA game in her life.

The Real Agenda Here

Myers isn’t analyzing the trailer at all; she’s rewriting it in her own image. There’s no evidence anywhere in the trailer 2 itself that GTA VI is a woke game. If anything, Rockstar has been known over the years for satirizing all sides—left, right, and everything in between. But Myers sees an opportunity to shape the public’s perception early, to lay the groundwork for a narrative that positions Rockstar as finally “evolving” into a feminist-friendly studio. Again... this article was painful to try and get through.

It’s clear to me what’s happening here. She’s trying desperately to manufacture cultural significance where none exists. This isn’t journalism. It’s straight up PR for an ideology.

I'd argue that with this piece, she's hoping that by crafting a narrative that GTA VI is a "progressive" game, one led by a Latina woman wronged by the system and fighting back, it will drown out the game's inevitable chaos, crime, and politically incorrect satire. She wants so hard to reframe it as a story about female empowerment, about social justice, about reforming toxic masculinity.

We See Through It

The gaming community has grown wise to this grift that for so many years was working so well. These activists masquerading as journalists don’t speak for players, ever. They speak at them. They scold, shame, and inject their politics to you with every pixel and line of code. And when we push back, they play the victim. Sometimes, they even try and sue you for daring to call their asses out.

Maddy Myers is the latest in an insanely long line of self-appointed media watchdogs who care more about narrative control than the actual games themselves. Her take on GTA VI is not just laughable, it’s disingenuous. She’s desperately trying to turn a chaotic, satirical sandbox into a TED Talk. Get real.

We aren’t stupid. We don’t need her ideological lens to enjoy—or understand—a Grand Theft Auto game. And the more these so-called "journalists" try to twist trailers into thinkpieces, the more obvious their agenda has become.

...No one is buying their crap ideology.

~Smash