Games Workshop has addressed hate groups in a statement following a controversy at a Warhammer 40K tournament in Spain that centred on a player who was wearing Nazi symbols on their clothing.
Dicebreaker reported that this player entered under the name “Pintor Austriaco” (“Austrian Painter”) and was seen wearing a shirt and jacket that showed swastikas and other Nazi symbols. After players complained that this person was promoting hate and refused to continue play, the GT Talavera staff apparently said “there were no recognisable iconography on the player” and that “they could not expel the player just for political opinions.”
“At this point we want to emphasize that in Spain it is not a crime to display Nazi symbols as long as it is not accompanied by criminal conduct,” explained the organisers of the Warhammer 40K club who held the tournament. “Instead if the organization expels to this person for his deplorable ideas (Nazism), it is the organization that is committing a crime of ideological discrimination and it could perfectly denounce us and would have the law on its side.”
Imaginably, this has not gone down well with the Warhammer 40K community as a whole, who feel that extreme right-wing opinions and neo-Nazis have been given a wide berth in games of this genre. While this statement from Games Workshop does not refer to the events at GT Talavera, it reminds players that hate of any sort is not permissible in its spaces.
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"We believe in and support a community united by shared values of mutual kindness and respect. Our fantasy settings are grim and dark, but that is not a reflection of who we are or how we feel the real world should be,” read the post to its website. “We will never accept nor condone any form of prejudice, hatred, or abuse in our company, or in the Warhammer hobby.
"If you come to a Games Workshop event or store and behave to the contrary, including wearing the symbols of real-world hate groups, you will be asked to leave. We won't let you participate. We don't want your money. We don't want you in the Warhammer community.”
Using the Imperium of Man as an example, the developer added that “certain real-world hate groups – and adherents of historical ideologies better left in the past – sometimes seek to claim intellectual properties for their own enjoyment, and to co-opt them for their own agendas.” Last year, Vice interviewed Warhammer 40K players who were becoming concerned over the possibility that these groups could radicalise young players.
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Should an event organiser encounter something like the events of GT Talavera, Games Workshop invited them to contact the Events Team so that they are able to “offer any support [they] can.” Lastly, it has called on other event organisers to ally with its stance against hate in tabletop games.
Featured Image Credit: Games Workshop