Games Workshop notes that space fascism would be bad

[Ancalagon]

Warhammer 40K Tells Idiot Fascists Having a God Emperor Is Bad, Actually

“The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in."

www.vice.com

It's astounding that this had to be said but... here we are.

 

[Scribe]

Hilarious (terrible?) that they actually felt the need to specifically call this out!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/

The number of time's I've had to point out that the Imperium is actually the bad guy, is mind boggling, but as you say, here we are.

 

[Morrus]

In a similar vein, Shadowrun is a warning, not a template!

 

[J.Quondam]

It's always strange to me that so many people view dystopian fiction as aspirational.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

For those who don't know, they probably spoke out on this because two people dressed as Nazis showed up in a gaming tournament. This was in Spain, where wearing Nazi imagery is not illegal, so the tournament didn't really do anything about it.

 

[Scribe]

For those who don't know, they probably spoke out on this because two people dressed as Nazis showed up in a gaming tournament. This was in Spain, where wearing Nazi imagery is not illegal, so the tournament didn't really do anything about it.

I've said for years that GW would need to have a reckoning on garbage like this. Way too long have they let people just run with the idea that the Imperium, and its behaviors, were 'good and justified'.

I hardly pay attention to it at this point because you could see it drifting in the wrong direction for so long.

 

[Parmandur]

It's always strange to me that so many people view dystopian fiction as aspirational.

Well, I mean, the dystopia wouldn't have teeth unless it was depicting a society that somebody would actually want to build.

 

[J.Quondam]

Well, I mean, the dystopia wouldn't have teeth unless it was depicting a society that somebody would actually want to build.

Heh, yeah. I guess it's not all that surprising that dystopias often seem to appeal to exactly the sort of folks they'd be meant to exploit.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

It's always strange to me that so many people view dystopian fiction as aspirational.

It sadly shouldn't.... there have been some very real dystopias built in history, and they are usually built by many hands. Though to be fair, not everyone knew what they were building until it was finished.

 

[MGibster]

It's astounding that this had to be said but... here we are.

I thought it astounding a few years back when people complained about a Wolfenstein game being too "political" because the Nazis were the bad guys.

Heh, yeah. I guess it's not all that surprising that dystopias often seem to appeal to exactly the sort of folks they'd be meant to exploit.

Warhammer 40k is notable for being one of the few science fiction settings I know of where fans almost universally say they wouldn't want to live there. Even a notable fascist sympathizer who covers 40k on Youtube said he wouldn't want to live in the setting.

Back when 40k was known as Rogue Trader back in 1987, the lore, or fluff as we used to call it, simply existed in order to give us a thin veneer of reason for why my little metal figures were trying to murder your little metal figures. Nobody at Games Workshop had any inkling that the company and setting would not only dominate their industry but also branch out to having its own line of fiction, computer games, comic books, etc., etc. And the big problem is that what works as a reason for why our armies are fighting doesn't translate very well when you delve too deeply into the world building.

And don't get me wrong, one of the things I like most about Warhammer 40k is that it's patently ridiculous. I enjoy reading a bit of the fluff in the game books but I'm not too keen on their novels. But if you're just looking at the setting from the surface, it's very easy to walk away thinking the Space Marines are the good guys. It's very easy to miss that the Space Marines are child soldiers taken from their homes at an early age, brainwashed, and sent to fight an enemy until the day they die.