GW's stance towards diversity (official)

[MRTurnips]

The Imperium Is Driven by Hate. Warhammer Is Not.
There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

None.

Especially not the Imperium of Man.

Warhammer 40,000 isn’t just grimdark. It’s the grimmest, darkest.

The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.

That said, 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.

We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:

“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. 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.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ (2021)

Also Warhammer is for everyone

https://x.com/warhammer/status/1268665798467432449 (2020)

If you have an ideological problem with this statement or those who support it, reconsider your position within the community.

This community has a problem with widespread manipulative rhetoric where everyone who speaks for, neutral or against, feeds it.

A fake problem is being created, inflating it with a biased narrative and fracturing the community.

In the end, an extremely toxic and hostile environment is created for everyone, as those who do not follow the rhetoric look down on those who do, regardless of which "side" they have taken.

the wokespotters and politicspotters also feed it.

[MRTurnips]

Originally posted by Naamtar:

Originally posted by MRTurnips:

Well, in this case since nothing was really concrete at that time (both sororitas and space marines were very early concepts, maybe they were truly equivalent).

There is definitely room for debate.

I don't like to appeal to authority, but in this case the first-hand source is the interview, and it is quite conclusive. (Still I'm not using it as an actual argument)

I wasn't using it as an argument against what he's saying. Just giving some backstory on how it's been established within the lore and some cool tidbits about it.

In my mind it doesn't matter that they created lore such as Space Marines being male only due to a logistics issue. The lore has been established and there's no solid reason to change it.

Adepta Sororitas wouldn't exist if female Space Marines existed. They've got really cool lore and aesthetic overall. I'd rather more content around them be released if greater female representation is what the community wants to see. There is a lot to be explored there.

Yeah ik, you seem like a reasonable person

Debate as a constructive activity and not the disaster that is seen in these forums with people who don't know what to say but still say whatever they feel like.

[Naamtar]

Originally posted by MRTurnips:

Originally posted by Naamtar:

I wasn't using it as an argument against what he's saying. Just giving some backstory on how it's been established within the lore and some cool tidbits about it.

In my mind it doesn't matter that they created lore such as Space Marines being male only due to a logistics issue. The lore has been established and there's no solid reason to change it.

Adepta Sororitas wouldn't exist if female Space Marines existed. They've got really cool lore and aesthetic overall. I'd rather more content around them be released if greater female representation is what the community wants to see. There is a lot to be explored there.

Yeah ik, you seem like a reasonable person

Debate as a constructive activity and not the disaster that is seen in these forums with people who don't know what to say but still say whatever they feel like.

Yah well, they're mostly trolls or kids/adult children. No point in screaming back and forth with unreasonable people, no matter their beliefs.

[Lupercal]

Also Warhammer is for everyone,....fortunately it is not.

[SP]

You people realize that Warhammer has traditionally been a 'White male space' for the majority of its lifespan right? It was created by White people and is a stylized hyperbolic parody of Europe (aka White people). The vast, overwhelming majority of imperials are White. Most of the Primarchs are White. The emperor is Anatolian and still stylized as a tanned White man. You can't find a Black space marine in any of the old rulebooks. 90% or more of the consumerbase are White men. You people are high to pretend this is a 'diverse' setting LOL. The cope is real.

[Naamtar]

Originally posted by Brother Prime:

You people realize that Warhammer has traditionally been a 'White male space' for the majority of its lifespan right? It was created by White people and is a stylized hyperbolic parody of Europe (aka White people). The vast, overwhelming majority of imperials are White. Most of the Primarchs are White. The emperor is Anatolian and still stylized as a tanned White man. You can't find a Black space marine in any of the old rulebooks. 90% or more of the consumerbase are White men. You people are high to pretend this is a 'diverse' setting LOL. The cope is real.

I'm pretty sure they're referring to the playerbase being diverse, not the in game universe.

[ÐeŁiciousMeat§]

I'm amazed by all of your factual knowledge. Not a bit of hearsay.

[Iron Horse]

"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"

Can't stop people. And 3D printing makes entry into the hobby cheaper and easier than ever. No need to pay GW anything. So they can feel free to do whatever they wish.

[Evo]

"40k is satire" is getting really old. Immediate tip-off that the person saying it doesn't get 40k or the concept of satire.

[Moonlight Knight]

Originally posted by Evo:

"40k is satire" is getting really old. Immediate tip-off that the person saying it doesn't get 40k or the concept of satire.

Tell GW. It's their statement.

[spruss929]

Originally posted by MRTurnips:

"Anti-woke" people are falling for such stupid and obvious bait that it is starting to be painful to watch, their own manipulability and the need to feed their narrative is working against them.

I see that some non-aligned people and LGBT+ friendly people are also falling for the bait simply because of the size of these low-level troll threads.

The true "anti-woke" withdrew a few days ago (when the female custodes appeared in Warhammer+), they were very despicable people with poorly founded but very horrifying ideas that justified Nazism, white supremacy, sexism, hatred for LGBT+ and religious imposition.

So let's see the official and current position of GW on the "issue":

The Imperium Is Driven by Hate. Warhammer Is Not.
There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

None.

Especially not the Imperium of Man.

Warhammer 40,000 isn’t just grimdark. It’s the grimmest, darkest.

The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.

That said, 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.

We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:

“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. 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.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ (2021)

Also Warhammer is for everyone

https://x.com/warhammer/status/1268665798467432449 (2020)

who defines what a hate group is? who defines what is hatred or abuse or prejudice.

[MRTurnips]

Originally posted by Evo:

"40k is satire" is getting really old. Immediate tip-off that the person saying it doesn't get 40k or the concept of satire.

GW themselves, please read and verify if you doubt.

[Robrecht]

I've seen some people say that female representation in 40K outside the Sisters of Battle and a bunch of skimpily dressed Dark Eldar units goes against what the 'core' fan base of 40K wants.

They cite the fact that GW used to 'sell female space marines' and stopped because they didn't sell well enough to show that 'real' 40K fans have never wanted that kind of representation.

Except that's not what happened. There were never female Space Marine models, there were female models for characters for the original Rogue Trader who wore Power Armour, just like Space Marines (there were also female character models in Flak Armour and in body gloves),

These models sold for the entire run of the original Rogue Trader game and the popularity of the female models in particular lead to the creation of the Sisters of Battle as a playable army.

40K players as a group have always wanted representation.

[Naamtar]

Originally posted by spruss929:

Originally posted by MRTurnips:

"Anti-woke" people are falling for such stupid and obvious bait that it is starting to be painful to watch, their own manipulability and the need to feed their narrative is working against them.

I see that some non-aligned people and LGBT+ friendly people are also falling for the bait simply because of the size of these low-level troll threads.

The true "anti-woke" withdrew a few days ago (when the female custodes appeared in Warhammer+), they were very despicable people with poorly founded but very horrifying ideas that justified Nazism, white supremacy, sexism, hatred for LGBT+ and religious imposition.

So let's see the official and current position of GW on the "issue":

The Imperium Is Driven by Hate. Warhammer Is Not.
There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

None.

Especially not the Imperium of Man.

Warhammer 40,000 isn’t just grimdark. It’s the grimmest, darkest.

The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.

That said, 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.

We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:

“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. 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.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ (2021)

Also Warhammer is for everyone

https://x.com/warhammer/status/1268665798467432449 (2020)

who defines what a hate group is? who defines what is hatred or abuse or prejudice.

Games Workshop.

[MRTurnips]

Originally posted by Robrecht:

I've seen some people say that female representation in 40K outside the Sisters of Battle and a bunch of skimpily dressed Dark Eldar units goes against what the 'core' fan base of 40K wants.

They cite the fact that GW used to 'sell female space marines' and stopped because they didn't sell well enough to show that 'real' 40K fans have never wanted that kind of representation.

Except that's not what happened. There were never female Space Marine models, there were female models for characters for the original Rogue Trader who wore Power Armour, just like Space Marines (there were also female character models in Flak Armour and in body gloves),

These models sold for the entire run of the original Rogue Trader game and the popularity of the female models in particular lead to the creation of the Sisters of Battle as a playable army.

40K players as a group have always wanted representation.

The Potential Market is now bigger than ever.

GW knows this, denying it is just stupid.

[j27]

Originally posted by Robrecht:

I've seen some people say that female representation in 40K outside the Sisters of Battle and a bunch of skimpily dressed Dark Eldar units goes against what the 'core' fan base of 40K wants.

They cite the fact that GW used to 'sell female space marines' and stopped because they didn't sell well enough to show that 'real' 40K fans have never wanted that kind of representation.

Except that's not what happened. There were never female Space Marine models, there were female models for characters for the original Rogue Trader who wore Power Armour, just like Space Marines (there were also female character models in Flak Armour and in body gloves),

These models sold for the entire run of the original Rogue Trader game and the popularity of the female models in particular lead to the creation of the Sisters of Battle as a playable army.

40K players as a group have always wanted representation.

You are welcome to your opinion. Though Games Workshop themselves said something rather different. Perhaps you should look into that. Their statements on this issue contradict yours.