One of the sad things about a blog like The Border House is how much of our time we have to spend criticizing. If we’re not careful, that can lead to a negative atmosphere or to people labelling us as nothing more than whiners who like complaining for complaining’s sake. This isn’t true. The reason that so many of our posts are negative and critical is that many more games get issues of social inclusivity wrong than get them right.
It’s a pleasure, then, to be able to report upon a game that gets many things spectacularly right: Echo Bazaar by Failbetter Games. This is a web-based game which uses Twitter and Facebook for authentication and to populate lists of friends, but which otherwise operates largely independently. In it, you play a character newly arrived in Fallen London: an alternate version of Victorian London in which the city has “fallen” and is now stuck below ground, due to a deal struck between the Traitor Empress (Victoria) and the enigmatic Masters of the Bazaar. This leads to a combination of Victorian mores, Lovecraftian creatures and a deep sense of mystery, which ensures a top-notch narrative which keeps the game entertaining long after its simple mechanics would otherwise warrant.
So far so good, but not really something that warrants a post here. However, you only have to get as far as character creation to see some of the game’s attitude towards inclusivity, as you’re presented with this:
Echo Bazaar gets off to a good start by allowing a third gender option, "it is my own business, sir, and I bid you good day."
After this, the game continues to impress. Fairly early on in the game, you get an option to pursue a relationship with either a struggling artist (male) or his also-struggling artist’s model (female) and you’re in no way restricted in your choice based on your gender. Later on, you have another choice of romances, either with a barbed wit or an acclaimed beauty. When I first saw this, I was disappointed. I’m a lesbian and would much rather pursue a relationship with a woman in game, but at the same time, I’m much more interested in someone who gets by on their brains rather than their looks. As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. The barbed wit is a woman, and the acclaimed beauty is a man, and a person of colour to go with it.
Many important and incidental NPCs are female. Men are able to wear dresses if they so choose. The secular and the religious are presented as alternatives with neither one being inherently superior to the other. I could go on, but what it boils down to is this: in this game, I can imagine my character as being who I want to be and not who the game designer thought I wanted to be. This enables me to connect better with my character, and keeps the game interesting to me for longer.
The thing that I’ve really noticed, though, is how amazingly simple all of this is. Allowing crossdressing or same-sex relationships only requires not explicitly forbidding them. Making an incidental NPC female instead of male just means writing “her” instead of “him” in a line of text. These things are not at all difficult, but are still far too rare, so it’s a delight to see a game that gets it right.
Well I’m going to have to go and play this aren’t I? Especially after reading that wonderful answer to question of what gender you are, it made me laugh.
Thank you!
Excellent article on an excellent game… I’m a straight(ish) male and have had a great time playing Echo Bazaar; my character wears stockings under his workman’s outfit, seduces anyone he finds regardless of gender and freely consorts with both demons and clergy. It’s really very refreshing to find a game where sexuality is truly up to the player and not the programmers (DragonAge got part of the way there, but there wasn’t much freedom of choice).
These things are not at all difficult, but are still far too rare, so it’s a delight to see a game that gets it right.
Seriously!! This game sounds neat, I’ll have to check it out.
And I just thought I’d mention I’m now horribly addicted to this game.
Damn You!
“This leads to a combination of Victorian mores, Lovecraftian creatures and a deep sense of mystery”
Well, I’m sold. Nice to see a company reaching out and making things inclusive for people. Well done, Failbetter.
I love Echo Bazaar and I love seeing articles which constructively recommend how to spend my time/money, expanding my list of games rather than always adding to my blacklist
Okay, this game is awesome and I totally love it.
Something else that was cool that I noticed: I drew the card “Avenge a struggling artist’s broken heart”–the artist is a man and the heartbreaker is also referred to as “him.” So not only are you allowed to choose what you wear or who you love regardless of gender, there are also same-sex relationships in the text itself. Rad.
Something problematic though: you can become connected to “Orientals” >< Fits the setting, I guess, but something that should have been updated, regardless.
I just started playing EchoBazaar a few days ago (due to the awesome gender choice message being quoted in chat). Yeah. I mean, gameplay mechanics-wise there are things I’d love to be able to tweak, but gender-wise it is awesome. I can be connected to the police, the criminals, the church, and hell all at the same time while wearing a suit and a bonnet and being a person of mysterious and indistinct gender.
I’m with Alex on the “Orientals” terminology though. It makes me wince a little every time I see it. I like the “Tomb Colonists” (mummies) and “Rubbery Men” (Lovecraftian monsters). Why can’t we have a better term for the “Orientals”?
I started playing this after reading this post. I’m really enjoying it.
But I encountered something problematic tonight. This is something that happened after I failed a storylet:
“You spend a few minutes trying to brainstorm what’s actually worth celebrating about the Empress. Ancient, deaf, probably half-insane… and there’s the treachery thing.”
Old age, deafness, and mental illness (what does ‘half-insane’ mean anyway) are in a list of bad traits along with treachery? Are problems and not things you can celebrate?
I sent them an email about this. I have a mental disorder and this sort of thing hurts.
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