Once again, Hogwarts Legacy has come under fire, as Discord moderators reportedly ban people who talk about trans rights.

Amid the controversy surrounding Hogwarts Legacy, the game’s official Discord server has also come under fire. Some players have claimed that moderators told them not to talk about trans rights. The game is currently in early access, but there have already been calls from streamers to boycott the game. They say the game is equivalent to supporting Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has made anti-trans comments in the past.

Although the game is set in the wizarding world, it does not feature the original Harry Potter characters, as the game is set in a different century to Rowling’s novels, and the author was not involved in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, nor did she write the story.

A few days before Hogwarts Legacy’s release date, an official Discord server was set up for fans to discuss the game. But this seems to have gone wrong, as many players on social media have reported that moderators told them or others on the server not to talk about trans rights. Allegedly because there is a rule on the server that forbids talking about politics or religion.

As reported by TheGamer, a Discord mod named M3GAN~ responded to a post about trans rights, asking people to “cool it” on the topic. In a series of screenshots taken by Twitter user sillygal42, the same moderator said they were working to prevent using the word “transphobic” in chat. Meanwhile, chaoticgaythey claimed on Twitter that mods had started banning posts containing the trans flag, “calling it hateful”.

Some netizens appeared to have been banned for purposefully spamming the Hogwarts Legacy Discord server with trans flag emojis or going so far as to post derogatory statements to mock the game and Rowling (both spamming and posting inappropriate content are against the rules).

Yet many accused the moderators of allegedly silencing trans supporters. There was a similar situation recently when the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit banned all discussions of Rowling, explicitly stressing that players should stick to talking about the game.

Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Hogwarts Legacy, Avalanche Software still ensured that the game had inclusive options. For example, they introduced a transgender character, Sirona Ryan, and gave players transgender character creation options. There have also been predictions that the game has a chance to be one of the best-selling games of this year. But regardless of its potential success, the game’s reputation may already be tarnished for good by Rowling’s actions.

Source: TheGamer