I wouldn’t give Rowling money after the shit she has said and posted online. The game may be decent and unoffensive; but she receives royalties from purchases, so I ain’t buying it. Although, before it came out and the devs were talking about the story, it hella sounded like you, being a wizard, are helping to put down a rebellion of some fantasy race that is essentially slave labor for the wizards and that also turned me off.

Pirate it if you want but I heard it’s pretty boring, minimal gameplay and more of a walking tour of the world that you slowly unlock by more infodump convos. I’m just playing my old stuff and waiting for BG3 to drop a bit more. Oh yeah fuck the Facista.

I certainly don’t advocate for giving her money and would support anyone choosing not to. I don’t go out of my way to negatively engage anyone who does buy HP franchise things, but I do quietly think less of them for it and snicker behind their back. That’s mostly just because I try to avoid confrontation though.

I did, however, play Hogwarts Legacy, enough at least to get a good read on the game. If I can save someone the trouble of playing it themselves, and especially save them from paying money to do so, then it was time… spent. Maybe not well spent, but since I can’t get a refund on time and I’m not out a dime anyway, let’s just… move on, shall we?

Hogwarts Legacy definitely has it’s problematic elements, most of which are more a result of the Harry Potter setting lore. The most egregious I recall is the connection of Goblins and some of the ugliest old stories of Jewish people. I’m of the opinion that Rowling didn’t do that intentionally, so much as she’s just kind of a shitty writer who didn’t actually think about what she was doing at all, but that doesn’t excuse it’s inclusion in the books, and certainly doesn’t excuse the proliferation in the game. That’s an ugly mark against the game that shouldn’t be overlooked, but when I played I was specifically on a mission to try to evaluate the game on it’s own merits, so… moving on.

As it relates to the trans community, I seem to recall the character creation was actually one of the more progressive I’d encountered. The game also didn’t do anything to try to enforce a gender identity on the player, beyond making you choose whether you call yourself a Witch or a Wizard, with you choice determining which side of the common room your bed is in. This was entirely unconnected to body type or voice chosen, and it didn’t do anything so crass as scold you for which bathrooms you went into. While I suspect that was specifically in an effort to counter some of the ugly things Rowling has said before, I still felt like it was worth recognizing that the creators of the game itself went out of their way to be more open about gender identity than most games.

As far as gameplay goes, it was pretty… okay? Not great, not terrible. It felt generic, a few kinda high points like the free roaming on a broomstick was fun, but countered with the lows of a pretty bland open world that was quickly not worth exploring. The RPG mechanics were functional enough, but not exactly engaging. Mediocre feels like a pretty solid description of the game, if it hadn’t been for the setting, and the controversy surrounding the setting, the game itself would have been completely forgotten in no time.

So, what about the setting? I still remember back when I was a child, growing up reading the HP books, it was a more innocent time that allowed the setting to garner some nostalgia credit with me, which Rowling’s later actions, and a helping of more mature hindsight, tarnished considerably. So, did the game serve to at least feed that craving for nostalgic old warmth?

Eh, not really. Sure it was kinda neat to explore the castle, there were a couple of locations that were memorable enough that finding them myself was… something, at least. Mostly though, it was just… bland. And not just the locations, but other elements of the setting. The game is set well before any of the books, so the only characters anyone is familiar with would be the ghosts, so that’s just boring. The whole world just feels… Dull. Just an example, you can learn the Unforgivable Curses in game, but using them in front of a professor just gets a pathetic little “I’d better not see you doing that again” line, no matter how many times you keep doing it. It’s pathetic, and of course never addresses things like why using a fire spell to light someone on fire until they burn to death is fine, but just zapping them with a green death ray isn’t. Boring, lifeless, uninspired. But surely, the sorting hat, that most memorable of- Nope nevermind, even that sucks. It asks you a single question akin to “How would you best describe yourself?” And they might as well have color coded the four answers, because it just picks your house based on that alone. If that wasn’t lame enough, it even gives you the chance to just change your mind and manually pick your house immediately after.

All in all, I’m sure the most avid fans of the Harry Potter world could find something to like in Hogwarts Legacy. The rest of us, though, have few reasons to try it, and far more reasons to avoid it and it’s Author entirely.

I’m a cis man. I won’t buy anything from HP because of JK’s views. I don’t really think there’s a “stance.” You’re either ok with what she says or you aren’t. And the only way to affect change is with how you spend your money.

Fuck JK Rowling and everything associated with her

Granted, I never cared for Harry Potter to begin with, and by the time I finally tried to watch it, it didn’t interest me in the slightest

Also have a bad taste in my mouth because my ex “friend”’s wife rubbed it in my face that she’d gotten Hogwarts Legacy to try to get a reaction after seeing the conflict over it online

Huh. Surprising that the poster thinks this community would defend Joanne and the actions she has taken against our community.

Long and short of it, no. I do not support giving her money under really any circumstances. I used to be a die-hard fan of Harry Potter but I haven’t engaged with it in many years and probably never will again. I dont even want to give her intellectual properties my time and attention. I don’t begrudge anyone doing so, but if they asked me, “What do you think about me buying the HP game?” I’d tell them how they’re supporting someone openly aligned with trans hatred, fascists like Kelly Jay Keen, misogynists, anti-abortion organizations, and homophobic people and anti gay rights organizations. She appropriates the voice of lesbian and queer cis women as a weapon against trans people, despite being a categorically straight woman herself. She’s a fascist, not openly, but you’re not best friends with fascists supporting fascist causes if you yourself aren’t a fascist. She is a threat not just to the rights of trans people but also to gay people and women.

Support of her, her actions, or her statements in any capacity is categorically unacceptable in this community. I won’t ban someone for saying they bought the game, but attempting to suggest that she isn’t an active threat to the rights of trans people everywhere is unacceptable. This is a supportive community for transfeminine people, and debate/denial of the trans hate movement is bannable here.

Honestly, she’s insanely rich already, the main entity that would get money from buying hogwarts legacy is the dev studio and publisher. So for that reason I believe a boycott to be pretty pointless - she’s richer than anyone should ever be anyway, and that won’t change whether or not people buy whatever else is made with the IP.

I respect anyones decision to not buy it, because fuck jkr, but imo there’s also great reasons not to care in spite of her being a terf, and I don’t think anyone should be judged for buying it.

I think there’s a lot of backlash bc of the few lunatics that went and harrassed people for streaming the game, which of course gets reported on by sensationalist right wing media as “all trans people ever are doxxing everyone who they see play hogwarts legacy” and people believe that horseshit.

As someone who never cared all that much about HP anyway, it’s just one more reason to spend my money on something else instead. But if the same studio made hogwarts legacy 2 and it’s somehow the greatest game ever made instead of another slightly above average open world rpg, I’d probably buy it.

A lot of things I could buy end up giving some money to rich assholes that I’d rather not give anything to, after all. If anything, someone saying hateful things on twitter seems middle of the field, even if I’m part of the group being targeted.

I don’t support nazis financially. She is one and it’s not even a question anymore.

Truth be told? As a former fan of the books but a reluctant enjoyer of the universe, I would love to try the game.

But as a trans person, I cannot in good faith give additional attention to anything Harry Potter. Many of the fans may be good people, but the books are problematic, the author is a piece of shit, and anything that gives either of these things more exposure should be shunned. (Sadly, this means the movies are a no-go, even though Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson are gems; I can’t remember how Rupert Grint feels.)

Not censored, just shunned. I’m not going to be an asshole to someone who likes HP but is a nice person otherwise. If they ask me my opinion, I’ll tell them, but I’ll stay away personally from the official content, if not all content (fan content is on a somewhat case-by-case basis, but mostly that too if only just to make staying away easier).

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Yah, nah JK has gone right off the deep end like Kanye and musk. Fell for the same shit teenagers on tumbler, twitter and Reddit were falling for 7 years ago.

Honestly, don’t think anyone should be giving her money at this point, but the franchise is kind of bigger than her at this point. I won’t pay for anything that would end up giving a cent to her because I know what she’ll do with it. She’s a dead weight on the community at this point.

I can’t engage with the properties in good conscience anymore. I was never as in to it as some other people were, and if that’s a big part of your online identify and community it’d be hard to break from it. I get why people get defensive about it, but like, maybe they shouldn’t take it personally when people criticize giving money to one of the biggest names funding transphobic rhetoric?

So, as a question, do you agree with giving money in any way to JK Rowling?

Fuck that FART. 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Do you agree with supporting Harry Potter as a franchise? 🤓

Oh, you mean her British Empire fan-fiction? The one where elves LIKE to be slaves? The one with anti-semite, racist, imperialist, transphobic and fatphobic subtext?

No, lol.

I’ll love the people who buy Hogwarts Legacy, but I won’t support their lifestyle. 🙃

Yeah, no, I’ll never spend money on anything HP ever again. JKR can go and kick rocks.

I can enjoy the art and support my trans friends while cuntpunting a piece of shit.