This is not what I expected to wake up to today. As I pulled open my Twitter feed, I saw thatBungie, developer of fabled series like Halo and Destiny, is trending. There are only two reasons a video game developer starts to trend. The first is that hype is building for an upcoming release. The second is that they’ve said or done something to upset the Internet. Since you’ve read the headline, you know which one we’re dealing with.
Bungie places a cultural landmine with Latinx and then proceeds to step on it
Yesterday, theofficial Twitter account made a postat 12:46pm ET stating “Being Latin/a/e/o/x is more than just a location on a map, just as being Hispanic is more than the language we might speak.”
The community was quick to jump down the developer’s throat, but also politely added the context that Latino people don’t use the terms “Latinx” or “Latine.” From there, it quickly escalated as the @Bungie account began hiding replies that called it out or explained that the terms are often considered a slur. This appears to have only kicked the hornet’s nest as now the post nearly has 12 million views.
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The terms made an appearance in the English (primarily American) lexicon over the past several months, if not longer. In an, at best, well-intentioned or, at worst, malicious gesture, people (primarily white Americans) began using the term to bring a gender-neutral way of describing Hispanic people. The problem is that Spanish, like many other Romantic Languages, is gendered. It’s not to imply that things or places are meant for masculine or feminine people, it’s simply how the languages evolved.
Even if the intentions were pure, the Hispanic community has taken a dislike to the terms due to another reason: they didn’t come up with them. It’s a term coined by those outside of the community that whitewashes entire cultures and a language. It is nothing short of mind-boggling in terms of overstepping boundaries and being offended for other people.
While the @Bungie account tries to control the narrative on Twitter/X, the Reddit communities have startedmaking their own postsfilled with equal parts confusion, anger, and vicious mockery. Overall, it’s not a good look for a company that genuinely does attempt to be inclusive and supportvariouscommunities. It will be interesting to see how the developer handles the situation.
For more Bungie info that isn’t the company shooting itself in the foot, check outHow does Gunsmith Focusing work in Destiny 2?on Pro Game Guides!
