Tabletop Simulator donates $10,000 to a trans activism non-profit
Tabletop Simulator has posted another apology on Twitter and has told their community that they plan to donate $10,000 to a trans activism non-profit, The National Center for Transgender Equality. They have also permanently removed global chat.
This apology follows last week, where Tabletop Simulator from Berserk Games came under fire after a user (XoeAllred) was banned for talking about them being gay in the game’s global chat. The user in question compiled numerous interactions between them and the Tabletop Simulator moderators via a word document, detailing each response.
One moderator, CHRY, stated to the user (who is trans and gay) that Tabletop Simulator was about playing board games and “not a place to discuss sexuality, fetishes, politics.” Afterwards, the same moderator continued to talk about how the discussion about sexuality falls under prohibited categories banned in the global chat, such as politics.
“All we ask is that you chat about boardgames [sic], rather than touchy subjects not relevant to what tabletop simulator is about,” the moderator is noted to have said in the Discord server. “Some topics just don’t belong in the context, much like you probably wouldn’t be received well bringing up your sexual preferences in a knitting club or in the middle of math class.”
It has since been confirmed via Xoe that the moderator in question has been removed.
Berserk Games and Tabletop Simulator had originally posted an apology before on January 8 about not supporting censorship, the developer followed up with the next on January 9, with the latest being on January 14 after the previous apologies were met with players angry at the conduct that has been shown towards LGBTQ+ players. It should also be noted that there were, of course, more than a few that celebrated the way moderators had spoken to LGBTQ+ players.
Negative reviews of the game have piled in since the anti-trans and gay chat bans first were brought up, mostly from upset LGBTQ+ players. However, since the apology from Tabletop Simulator, most negative reviews are upset that the game and its developers have ‘given in’ to the ‘woke mob.’
The same negative homophobic and transphobic attitude can be found on the game’s Steam page, which paints a bleak picture for queer fans of the game.
Whether Tabletop Simulator will recover from this and build a better, more accepting place for marginalized players all around the world, or whether it’ll always be known as being an anti LGBTQ+ platform, remains to be seen.
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