Edmund McMillen is one of the creators behind the new cat-breeding roguelike game, Mewgenics. The game has been a tremendous success in its first few days. Now, McMillen is addressing an issue affecting some players, some problematic personalities that have voiced some of the in-game cats.
McMillen, in a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun, explained that in some cases, the names included were listed years ago, such as Ethan and Hila Klein from h3h3, who have recently received criticism for their views on the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
McMillen noted that he wanted the game to feature iconic voices from most of his time online. He also argued that “The inclusion of Ethan and Hila was counterbalanced by iDubbbz and Anisa.” iDubbbz is another long-time internet personality who was once friendly with h3h3 but has since called them out for their views.
McMillen Says Inclusion of Those With Differing Ideologies Felt Appropriate for Mewgenics
Edmund McMillen told Rock Paper Shotgun that he contacted both parties to let them know about the other’s inclusion and said everyone was “very adult about it.”
Furthermore, he believes it was appropriate to have people with clashing ideologies in the game, saying that if the game simply included people with whom he shared the same opinions, he’d probably be the only one meowing in the game.
“I understand we live in a time where a meow from someone who has different beliefs as you is scary and frustrating, confusing and controversial…” McMillen continued, “But it felt interesting, so I decided to explore it.”
Still, the game has received tremendous critical acclaim, and it’s currently sitting at 89 on Metacritic with an overall user score of 8.1
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“Difference of opinion”. I don’t give a damn about difference of opinion. I do care about the fact that Ed knowingly gave chris-chan a role in the game. A person who was known for a fact to have raped their own mother, who likely has dementia.
(The only reason they’re not in jail is due to a gap in the law regarding competency to stand trial vs competency to not be a ward of the state).