Of course it's time for Ciri to be The Witcher
By Brian Allen
When The Game Awards Witcher 4 reveal happened, there were two types of reactions. Longtime fans of the RPG franchise were excited. Ciri has been one of the most important characters in the games for a while now, this is a natural "Robin becomes Batman" moment. Then there was the sadly predictable reaction from a certain corner of the gaming space.- you know the ones.
Every time a game trailer dared to put anyone other than a White male or Lara Croft-esque female character front and center, the chat erupted with cries that a game was "woke" or "DEI." The actual definition of racism is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized."
Let's be clear: marginalized communities and game companies have gotten this message, and soundly rejected it. We are not content for minorities and marginalized people to just be sidekicks, side quests, or love interests to the main character.
Despite the revisionist history by gaming's worst supporters, the hobby hasn't been that way for a long time. Tomb Raider came out in 1996, after all. Samus Aran has been kicking Metroid ass since 1986.
GamerGate happened in 2014 and was outdated as soon as it began. In the real world, people do not all look the same. We do not all have the same experiences or the same reaction to obstacles, whether those obstacles are a racist Twitch chat or an alien invasion.
Maybe none of that matters to you. But as somebody who has covered entirely too many game company layoffs the past couple of years, let me explain. More people playing games is better. The more people there are enjoying our hobby, the more games we get. We get games that don't fit into any established boxes.
Heroines such as Ciri inspire new people to go on these adventures with us. Some will be players and cosplayers. Some will be content creators, and some will go on to create their own games. That's how this industry grows, and surely that's what we all want, right?