‘Anti-woke’ Real Game Awards honours trans developer – her reaction is priceless
The Real Game Awards honoured a game developed by a trans woman. (Bluesky)
An independent anti-woke alternative to the Game Awards has awarded one of its best games titles to a trans and self-professed “woke” games developer.
The Real Game Awards, which has no affiliation to The Game Awards, presents itself as an alternative to the annual awards ceremony. The project was first announced in a YouTube video entitled It’s Time To Take Games Back, from an account calling itself Side Scrollers, last March.
“There is a disdain towards gamers from media and even developers, it’s insane,” said Craig Skistimas, who planned the livestream. “Join me as we ‘take games back’ to gamers from all this insanity.”
While Skistimas said the show was “simply meant to be an alternative to the access media/industry show,” he often spouts anti-woke rhetoric, including saying a few days after Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory: “Woke is dead, pass it on.”
One of the event’s “board members”, Jeremy Griggs, recently labelled anyone who opposed Trump “legitimately r***rderd”, and has previously used the “groomer” slur. Another member, who goes by the online name Kabrutus, owns a site dedicated to detecting “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) in video games.
The livestream took place last week and featured categories such as worst video game journalist, sh*tty a** game of the year, and best jiggle physics. It has received 57,800 views.
The best racing game was awarded to Nightmare Kart, developed by Lilith Walther.
“So honoured to have won the coveted anti-woke game awards’ best racing game category. As a trans woman, it’s so comforting to see them prioritise diversity, equality and inclusion,” she wrote on Bluesky.
“To celebrate, I’m going to have gay sex with my f****t transgender dog girl.”
Posting on X/Twitter, where her account has since been made private, Walther then demanded that the award be rescinded, claiming she did “not give [you] permission” for the game to be nominated.
“You never asked for permission like every other awards show that [have] approached me. This is true for other dev’s games [you] put in [your] show,” she continued. “[You] did not ask. Remove it now.”
Skistimas replied: “You won because our voting members felt your game was the best in its category and they didn’t care about your politics or how you identify. You made a game they enjoyed. That’s it, you won. Congrats.”
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