Warhammer Community Team Releases Statement Promoting Inclusion. Some Fans React Negatively.

Warhammer, created by Games Workshop, is one of the best franchises in the geek world. Known for having grim-dark storytelling, fantastic factions, and various games for fans to sink their teeth into to ensure they can get as much content as they need in order to satisfy them. I’ve been a fan of Warhammer since 2008 when I got my very first army which was the Chaos Space Marines. I immediately fell in love with the series because it had been so unique and niche as many mainstream geeks had never heard of the wargaming hobby.

As time went on, I realized that a majority of the lore featured fair-skinned characters. I’ve already written a piece on this and the short of it was that in the year 2020 more diversity is a must, especially for a company that was established in 1983. To my surprise and appreciation, Games Workshop via their Warhammer Community Twitter account released a powerful statement showcasing their support for a more diverse community and would not tolerate discrimination or anyone who is in support of it.

pic.twitter.com/LA9Wt9TXmf

— WarhammerCommunity (@WarComTeam) June 4, 2020

I was shocked and so proud of the Warhammer Community team for openly taking a strong stance in a time when there is so much hurt and hard-fought battles for equality between essential people of color and society. The Black Lives Matter movement is strong and many are rallying in support so that we might be able to create a better community. We are in full support of the movement and doing whatever we can to assist.

But then I checked the comment section of the post.

I think that writing such messages is easy. It is a low-hanging fruit. Just say something good that right now is trendy.
“Hitler, if you read this – unsubscribe, we hate you, and not miss.” 🙂 boom, Million likes.

I dislike such behavior of big companies it is sklent

— Pradaz (@volchokred) June 4, 2020

I know… I saw that shit few days ago. pic.twitter.com/cKHKb6NcCu

— Guy McPerson (@thatoneguy8901) June 8, 2020

It then led me to a YouTuber whose content mainly focuses on Warhammer called Arch Warhammer. He made a video about the statement and almost every second hit me like a ton of bricks.

Arch Warhammer used the 10 minutes and thirty-six seconds to essentially criticize Games Workshop for posting the statement advising that their post was shallow because they never made a political statement prior. He also claimed that Warhammer was now no longer for everyone since Game Workshop had said that anyone who accepts any form of prejudice, hatred or abuse etc. the company will not miss them. He then took time to talk about how silly it was that because of “the left-wing with their diverse cast of characters and um, what…what was it? Representation. At no point until the entrance of that has games Workshop wanted to exclude any group of people.”.

With the most cringy laugh I have ever seen in my entire life, he went on to talk about the concept of “You can’t be tolerant to the intolerant”. That it is backward to exclude a group of people just because they might be racist, misogynistic, prejudice, etc. He tries to downplay the post saying that it is piss poor deep due to preaching what everyone else has said. Arch Warhammer goes on to explain that he believes it is wrong to add characters of various skin tones, sexual orientations, and genders just to add them. He claimed that to do so would be racist.

Here are some quotes from his video:

“It is not like race is a big thing in 40k, is it? Everything is meat for the grinder, is it not?”

 

“It is always the left these days, isn’t it? It is always the ‘Oh we will strive for inclusivity. For representation. But not for you.’ 

 

“They are confirming that, yes, they are going to…continue to force diversity into their stories and this is also them admitting that they are doing it. this is why, when suddenly there is a black Ultra smurf(Ultramarine) on a cover when People start asking the question: ‘Hold on, is there a good reason for that? Or is that just SJW nonsense?”

 

So, there are a lot of issues with his video and I was shocked that someone would even take the time to speak about such things. First, let’s address the ‘Paradox of Tolerance’ via this piece of art which already explains the concept quite well.

Second, I could not believe that Arch Warhammer was preaching that it was wrong that people who are prejudice are not welcome into the community as though it was socially acceptable to be a bigot. You can’t claim that you are for kindness and respect and then think it is okay to have people in the community who would willingly disrespect others based solely on gender/race/sexual orientation.  Third, only incels and neckbeards use terms like “Left” and “SJWs” so this further showcases that he very well harbors uncomfortable points of views on minorities, women, and different sexual orientations than his own. If he did not, then why is it so hard for him to be okay with Games Workshop preaching kindness and good vibes?

Yes, a lot of companies are taking a stance of inclusivity but this isn’t a bad thing. Their silence in times of such turmoil and hardship would have been far worse as it would have spoken volumes about their opinions on what is happening in the world.

Looking through the comments was heartbreaking as a lot of his supporters came out in droves to back his opinion. Thankfully I did see mention of another YouTuber named Loremaster_of_Sotek who addressed this topic as well and Arch Warhammer.

Alright everyone, it’s out. I ask that you please grab a cup of tea or whatever and lend me your attention for 40 minutes. This is important https://t.co/urTFw2E1TT

— Loremaster_of_Sotek (@LSotek) June 6, 2020

Loremaster-of-Sotek took the time, click here to jump straight to the discussion, to apologize for staying silent, explaining why he held off, stated his stance, and then called out Arch Warhammer for his conservative points of view. He also took the time to explain the Black Lives Matter movement so that his followers could become more educated on the matter. This meant a lot to me, as well as a lot of others who are in the minority because finally some content creators within the Warhammer community were actually taking a hard stance in support of inclusion.

Another content creator I want to shout out is Major Kill for his video on the evolution of Warhammer. He took the time to explain what Warhammer used to be, what it is now, and why this isn’t a bad thing. Helping others understand what Grimdark is and how Warhammer still holds true to its core while also becoming more available for others regardless of background.

A number of the community also came together to showcase how terrible Arch Warhammer is. Which helped ease the pain of his words since so many others also disliked him for his radical views and content.

Crosspost from another community. I think it’s really important for Warhammer and Total War fans to know the truth behind the well known youtuber ‘ArchWarhammer’ and also to know why that Warhammer statement was so important. Be warned some of Arch’s and his MOD’s comments are genuinely sickening. from r/totalwar

 

As a minority, I fear the day when someone advises that I’m not welcome in the hobby because of the color of my skin instead of the content of my character. When I walk into local game stores I don’t see them filled with my particular skin tone or even any other darker ones, I don’t see women, I see hardly anything on the shelves with characters representing my skin tone. How can I, and others not harbor my own concerns about what the company and community feel about people who are not white males who are straight?

Admittedly, my experience over these 12 years with the Warhammer community has been mostly positive and light-hearted but there have been some odd encounters that planted the seeds of fear. Seeing that there is a section of the community that does have these horrible stances hurts because it validates my concerns. We can not, for even a single second, allow such disrespect into our community. I am so proud of Loremaster of Sotek and Major Kill for coming out in support of such progressive changes. They are the people who we need to rally behind because they will help bring us to a better community overall. When it comes to Arch Warhammer and his followers, no one can truly force him to change his views but we can make the effort to call him out on his closed-minded points of view to show that we will never stand for that kind of ignorance.