It’s been five years and three years since Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales respectively fell into our hands. Insomniac Games allowed us to once again fulfill a dream that many Marvel fans share: swinging around New York as one of the best superheroes in history.
Now, Insomniac Games is back at it with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, a sequel that continues the story and includes both heroes, Venom himself, a huge cast of Villains and an obscene number of nods to the Marvel Universe. You might think that all this, added to Peter and Miles’ trademark incredible good vibes, is enough to unite us in collective joy… but no.
The controversy has returned, an increasingly common custom in notable releases, and this time the main issue is inclusive language. Before telling you why San Quentin has been set up on social networks, we are going to review what this type of language is and why it usually creates these conflicts.
Inclusive language. Beyond video games
Inclusive language usually has several aspects within it and tries to cover the great variety of conditions that human beings present. In the case of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, we talk about inclusive language regarding the person’s gender. According to the United Nations website:
“Gender-inclusive language” means the way of expressing oneself orally and in writing without discriminating against a particular ___, social gender or gender identity and without perpetuating gender stereotypes. Since language is one of the key factors that determine cultural and social attitudes, using gender-inclusive language is an extremely important way to promote gender equality and combat gender bias.
These uses are not limited to our language, as indicated by the United Nations, and apply to others such as English, Latin Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese and others. Each one has its own linguistic solutions to cover the great variety we are talking about. It is not a whim, but a way to create “a work (and living) environment that embraces equality, eradicates prejudice and is inclusive for all staff”, as indicated in the United Nations Strategy document. United Nations on Gender Parity.
The most well-known and veteran examples of this type of controversy are the use of E and Its use today is not mandatory, but it is becoming more widespread… and video games are no exception. This is where our friends and neighbors come in.
What’s happening with inclusive language in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?
Now that we have laid the foundations of the topic to be discussed, let’s get to the heart of the matter: what is happening with inclusive language and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2? Insomniac Games decided to include inclusive language in certain conversations in its video game. The most famous fragment, the axis of all the current controversy, is in Danika’s Podcast and in the presentation of “Doctore Young”.
It all started when content creator ElRubius listened to an episode of Danika’s podcast dedicated to the Emely May Foundation and Young. His reaction was the spark that made him explore the powder keg of inclusive language once again: he accessed the options menu and deactivated “Danika’s Podcast” in the Podcast
Continuing with the clarifications, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 It has a few more interactions with inclusive language, but they are absurdly few compared to the enormous amount of lines of dialogue that the entire video game has.
Varied opinions of all types
The clip of ElRubius’ live reaction soon reached Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and in turn has provoked a reaction from both those who support inclusive language and all kinds of detractors. And when the wave seemed unstoppable, the reaction of Vegetta (another content creator) and hundreds of opinion videos have ended up turning it into a huge tsunami. Everyone has an opinion about it.
It doesn’t matter to me at all. I see it absurd. To a doctor, if he is an uncle, he is a doctor and if he is an aunt, he is a doctor. He is already there. Welcome to the world. (…) For me, doctor or doctor. (…) There is a male nutritionist and there is a female nutritionist. There is no nutritionist. – Vegeta
The debate on inclusive language has heated up a little more (if it was possible) and many places on social networks have become real battlefields. While detractors applaud the deactivation of the podcast and the words of the aforementioned creators, others justify the use of this language and remember clips from AlexElCapo, another content creator.
Like someone who is very bothered by saying the correct pronoun to someone who tells it to you, I say: “Hey, I would like you to call me by this pronoun.” That worries you a lot, but your colleague’s name is UltraSniper69, and when you play Conter or whatever you call him Ultra, and nothing happens. (…) They are destroying Spanish, Castilian. The one who says it… It would be to see your Whatsapp. Let’s see how you destroy Spanish every day you pick up your cell phone.
And it doesn’t just affect Marvel’s Spider-Man 2…
The controversy over inclusive language is not the exclusive fiefdom of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Other deliveries have had problems when including it. Without going too far, Bethesda’s Starfield allows us to select our character’s pronoun. It didn’t take long for a mod to be released that eliminated this option, although the NexusMod website did not hesitate to eliminate it with the following message:
We champion diversity and inclusion in our community and eliminating diversity, while appealing to many, does not promote a positive modding community.
The arrival of inclusive language in video games goes far beyond a whim or preserving Spanish. Its background is very deep and leads us to social and ethical debates of great importance: the acceptance and inclusion of a broader gender diversity than was popularly accepted until recent times.
And precisely Insomniac Games and Marvel’s Spider-Man They are veterans in this matter. The PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered featured a mod that replaced all Pride flags with US flags. The resolution was similar to what happened in starfield: NexusMods deleted the mod and banned the author. In addition, he released a statement that says:
We are in favor of inclusion, we are in favor of diversity. If we believe that someone is uploading a mod to our site with the intention of being deliberately against inclusion and/or diversity, then we will take action against them. (…) For our part, we will strive to improve moderation on our website in this spirit.
In summary: the reaction of some content creators to inclusive language in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has caused the debate around it to heat up on social networks. For its part, Insomniac Games has not made any statement and it is likely that it will not do so… unless the matter emerges in the coming days. This is what has happened, the opinions that are on the table and some past events to understand that this issue has been going on for a long time.
