Bungie has admitted that the design of a pair of gauntlets in Destiny 2 that referenced a neo-nazi flag was based mostly on real-world artwork however wasn’t highlighted as inappropriate by inside checks.
The authentic design for the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets was based mostly on the web “kek” meme, which has since been appropriated by white supremacists based mostly on a Nazi battle flag.
The developer extended downtime this week to take away the offending gear because it shared similarities to what it referred to as a “hate symbol”.
“Although the design wasn’t emulative of the meme in question, the armor piece was eventually flagged by another team responsible for reviewing content for cultural, geographical, and other sensitive issues,” stated Bungie.
“Unfortunately, that review was conducted to explore whether or not we were comfortable with the connection to the original, innocuous ‘kek’ internet meme. The more contemporary, vile derivation that has been repurposed by hate groups was not surfaced through this process, and therefore, the armor was approved for ship.”
Bungie added: “The design in query was initially created as a part of gear foundry explorations in June of 2015. Graphic designers routinely reference actual world artwork, iconography, typeface, and different design parts to tell the alternatives they make.
“In this case, some of the reference imagery featured the simple mirrored chevron shapes found in the finished piece. Some graphic design that belongs to sports teams provided some inspiration as well, along with some primitive shapes and chevrons that were used to permeate our Guardian class iconography.”
Bungie has stated that intends to clear Destiny 2 of any and all symboles associated to the meme, and “will be following up next week with another patch to remove the same element from the UI icon and preview screens, scrubbing it from the game altogether.”
The intention was by no means to offend, stated Bungie, and it desires Destiny 2 to be a recreation welcoming to all gamers.
“We are digging in to find out how we are able to extra deeply vet our recreation content material to protect us, and our group, from inappropriate imagery. Though we’re nonetheless investigating our artistic course of in full, we all know there was no diploma of malicious intent from anybody on our staff. That stated, we do acknowledge that the design in query is shut sufficient to warrant elimination from the sport.
“We want everyone to know their identity is welcome in our studio and in the worlds we create. This isn’t merely a platitude, but an official pillar we hold ourselves, and our work to. It is also a clarion call for the type of people we want to bring into our studio to help us make better games.”
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