Bret Devereaux

That's not to say you can't have a good game from the standpoint of a TIE-pilot. TIE-Fighter (1994) did exactly that...but without losing the fundamental inhumanity of an empire. It both captured the law-and-order framing of the empire's propaganda, but also... 2/12

...pointedly hammered home that the player was functionally trapped in their role as an imperial pilot. It did not sugercoat the genocidal fascism of the empire. The organization your character was in were clearly bad guys doing some war crimes. 3/12

But at the same time, the game made it clear that you didn't have a choice .You get sent, very deliberately, on missions designed to get you killed but which you cannot refuse. You don't have a choice, which softens the framing problem. 4/12

But it seems like no one in the EA writer's room realized the implications of a character who *chose* to keep fighting for the genocidal fascists after the opportunity presented itself not to. Does this hero tie-fighter pilot believe in the genocidal fascism? 5/12

And if he *does* believe in the genocidal fascism, why does he get the stirring music when he decides to keep fighting the [checks notes] rebellion against the genocidal fascism. There are not two morally equivalent factions! This is not a morally neutral choice! 6/12

But then, I think the folks at Lucasfilm/EA/Disney etc. have forgotten that too, because we keep seeing people of color in positions of importance in the imperial remnant. But the Empire was racist! That was a big part of the theming of Star Wars! 7/12

It wasn't an accident that all of the aliens, women and people of color in the original Star Wars were rebels while the imperials were uniformly white guys with posh accents! This was made explicit in the expanded stuff, but it was very clear in the original films! 8/12

And I feel like we should be clear just how obvious this framing is: the all-white, all-human Nazi-cosplay faction that brags about disestablishing the democracy and does some planet-wide genocide all in first hour of the first film... Probably, these are the bad guys! 8/12