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The moderators of the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit have reinstated a ban on discussion of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
In a post last night, the subreddit's moderators said that they had recently been trialling a decision to ease restrictions placed on the topic of Rowling three years ago. Back then, the mod team said that "we would like to keep discussion on this subreddit focused on the game and away from political arguments," and that "we are all in favour of accepting everyone, no matter the sexuality, race, origin, or anything else."
In last night's update, however, the easing of those restrictions was said to "no longer feel possible." The team explains that "allowing conversation about JKR quickly spirals into bigoted language towards LGBTQ+ individuals," and that for both the "dignity" of those users and the state of the subreddit in the longer term, "we cannot provide any kind of opportunity for this language to start in the first place."
The post goes on to say that "users who rally behind JKR under the guise of 'keeping things about the game' are still taking conversations off topic from the actual game," and that users who claim to enjoy winding up those people who have taken a stance against the game are "still trolling" those people, in breach of the subreddit rules.
The mod team say that a megathread dedicated to the ethics of purchasing the game will remain available for "good faith" conversation, and that it "firmly believes LGBTQ+ individuals are deserving of dignity, respect, and inclusion."
The announcement echoes another significant forum's decision to ban all discussion of the game last month and marks another stage in a peculiar run-up to the game's release. Multiple user protests have bubbled up, with members of the voice cast also speaking up about their involvement with the game. For more information, we've attempted to outline the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.
Although she is not involved in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, GamesRadar+ acknowledges the role of J.K. Rowling in the creation of the Wizarding World, as well as her publicly-stated, harmful views regarding the rights of transgender people. If you'd like to offer your support to the communities affected by Rowling's rhetoric, consider donating to the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, or Mermaids in the UK.
