Fans Clap Back as Trolls Bemoan ‘MLB: The Show’ Adding Women to Video Game
The beauty of video games is, ostensibly, the ability to imagine and create better worlds than our own. It’s a phenomenon especially germane to sports video games, where with a little bit of luck, you can, for instance, lead Plymouth Argyle to the Champions League title.
In recent years, several sports video games have embraced the opportunity to rectify real-world inequities within their universes. The WNBA appeared in NBA 2K20, and female players have been part of the FIFA franchise since FIFA 16. On Tuesday, MLB: The Show went a step further, creating a mode through which women can forge a career in professional baseball.
Predictable misogynistic backlash followed, but fans of all genders stepped in to respond to fans who decried the mode as unrealistic.
The consensus: realism has never been a huge concern in sports video games—and especially in MLB: The Show‘s Road to the Show mode.
This is, after all, a world where the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics can win ...
... players can take to the air ...
... Honus Wagner can play against Mookie Betts ...
... and the extraordinary becomes routine.
The moral of the story: if you can construct any sports world you want, why not build a more inclusive one?
