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Inkopolis In Splatoon 2 Is Drowning Out Hate With Trans-Positivity
In Splatoon 2, if you have a finger, you have a megaphone.
In the central hub area of the game, players are sprinkled in from all regions to show off their fresh styles and equipment. Players can also choose to add a small little picture, aided by the Switch touchscreen, about whatever is on their mind, as long as it's not lewd or harassing. Most people use this space for memes, funny jokes, cute pictures of dogs, whatever. It is, theoretically, what the internet would be like if everyone were nice.
Recently, Splatoon's Inkopolis has become about the topic of trans men and women. It started off small, with a few messages of trans positivity, celebrating that people are people and a game like Splatoon can reinforce that. Predictably, this also lead to people stating the opposite, often in harassing and aggressive ways complaining that mentioning trans pride is inappropriate, sometimes with slurs slipping through. While a lot of the counter-messages were quickly deleted, many still filtered in, leading to an actual turf war within the streets of Inkopolis.
"I think I'm done with this community," said one Splatoon 2 player. "I enjoyed Splatoon 2, but there are too many people who think I'm not a person that my enthusiasm has kind of fallen out."
It is decidedly difficult to change the culture of a game, but despite the hate, Splatoon 2 players have been trying to drown it out with positivity.
I CAN'T DRAW
Trans squids
are squids too
STOP SPREADING HATE
People aren't politics!
Nor are LBGT people "inappropriate!"
Let squids be proud!
Help make Splatoon a safe
space for LBGTQ players!
Report all anti-LBGTQ posts
as Harmful/Bullying!
Thanks!
PUBLIC SQUID ANNOUNCEMENT
YOU CAN JUST BE A GIRL
OR BOY
OR NEITHER
OR ANYTHING
After checking Inkopolis off and on for a few hours, it seems like the positive messages are far more prevalent than any other kind. Splatoon is no stranger to trends, as the game is designed to get people talking about events, preferences, and make dumb jokes about sequels to PlayStation 4 launch games before moving on to new jokes, like any kind of social media. This may be the first time Splatoon's community is using that ability to reinforce a message of positivity to steer messaging away from hate.
Our Take
It won't last forever, but in this one moment, Splatoon's community is using the game's tools to have their own pride parade and state that they won't be driven off by an increasingly irrelevant voice.
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