I’ve been a gamer since I was 6 years old. I love gaming. But one thing I can’t stand in recent games is the “wokeness” that has been driving the narrative of many modern titles. For those that don’t know, Urban Dictionary describes being “woke” as “The act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue.” This will not be a page that disparages real issues that need discussion. It will not be a page that mocks any kind of diversity in gaming. It will, however, mock forced diversity for the sake of “wokeness” in gaming.
A good example of wokeness is the recent Lord of the Rings: Shadow of War. Among the NPCs who help you in your quest to free Gondor is a black man and a woman. As we know, Gondor is based off medieval Europe, who were not known for their black soldiers or putting women in the field of battle. If this game were in a modern setting or a different fantasy world (such as Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft), I wouldn’t really care. But Tolkien had a clear point of reference for his work and the game developers ignored it for the sake of diversity.
If my pointing this out pisses you off, then before you call me a racist, consider this: If a series was based off an African story or an African legend that involved only Africans, would you put Asians in it? If you don’t see the difference between this and what I’ve described above, you are a hypocrite and also probably a secret racist. I don’t care what your college professor told you about “white privilege” or some other modern philosophical BS that was made up just to give people another group it was okay to hate.
Introducing the Elder Wokeness Scale:
Now let’s get on with this. Wokeness will be measured in five categories:
Sexuality: Gay? Straight? Something else?
Gender: Male, female, or whatever else might be applicable.
Race: Does it matter if you’re black or white?
Anachronism: Does the above fit in the game world?
Overall: Is the overall experience “Woke”? Is it so woke it gets in the way of enjoying the final product?
Each score will have a 0-5 rating.
0 is a null rating, usually means non applicable in this particular game.
1 means the subject doesn’t matter much in the overall game experience.
2 means the subject matters a little but is not in your face about it.
3 means the subject is present but can be easily ignored.
4 Very woke and in your face about the subject
5 EXTREME wokeness. The game is clearly just a vehicle for this subject and not much else.
For the overall score:
1-5: Not woke at all.
6-10: Somewhat woke, usually not enough to prevent enjoyment of the game.
11-15: Pretty woke. Social justice issues are a major subject of this game.
16-20: Pretty much a Social Justice Warrior’s dream game.
Playing with Wokeness 