To be fair, this piece probably wouldn't have existed if Gamergate hadn't happened. I've been writing a lot about inclusiveness in game over the past couple of weeks, because it's been a big topic. I felt that the news that the latest Final Fantasy, a generally diverse franchise with some excellent female leads and supporting characters, was going to centre around an all-male party was particularly interesting when the timing was considered.
One of the popular ideas pushed in recent weeks is that critique somehow equals censorship. It's a pretty ridiculous notion; if it were even vaguely true, we wouldn't have any entertainment media left by now. Another one is the idea that people are calling for some kind of mandatory diversity check list. Again, it's utterly untrue.
I was surprised when I read about FFXV's cast, and also disappointed. I can't say that I wouldn't prefer a more diverse party. However, I wasn't bothered by it on a pro-diversity level. When I realised that, I had to spend some time thinking about why that was the case and I felt that writing it down was worthwhile. I feel that there has been a lot of negativity over the past few weeks and I tend towards negativity in my own writing sometimes, so I wrote something with a more positive spin.
