Catalyst Games Says Battletech Is For Everyone After Homophobic Mods Nuke Their Subreddit In Protest
Five days ago there was one Battletech subreddit. Now there are two and Catalyst Game Labs has come out saying “Battletech Is For Everyone.”
Sorry chuds, Battletech is woke now. Always has been, if you believe authors Michael Stackpole, Russell Zimmerman, and of course Catalyst Game Labs, current makers of Battletech.
If you are waking in the morning and stepping outside to take a deep breath and get real high, wondering, “heyyeyaaeyaaaeyaeyaa, what’s going on?“, we’ve got you covered. This is the story of how a Battletech Pride Anthology briefly took out one subreddit and led to the birth of a new, official Battletech community where “Battletech is for Everyone.”
The Battletech Pride Anthology Highlights An Old Issue
It all starts with the Battletech Pride Anthology, “a fanzine celebrating the diversity and inclusiveness of Battletech.” Featuring five short stories “from LGBTQ folks for LGBTQ folks” as well as people interested in the queerer stories in Battletech, the new anthology launched at the beginning of Pride month.
What’s more, it features an intro by none other than Michael Stackpole, author of the Warrior trilogy and several other classic Battletech stories, and was endorsed by Catalyst Game Labs. Naturally, when it came out, many wanted to celebrate the release and shared it to the Battletech subreddit, r/battletech.
And that was when users noticed that their posts of the Anthology were getting deleted. Which then brought to light the fact that mods of r/battletech had been deleting a number of posts featuring mech miniatures with Pride-themed paint jobs, and other related ephemera. A new rule was instituted, banning “real world politics more recent than 1988”.
Naturally, the community responded by posting more pride-related posts, and the mods took the subreddit private. Which lasted for about a day. During that time, a new subreddit opened, endorsed by Catalyst itself. They’re the current IP holders for Battletech, so their endorsement carries no small amount of weight.
The new subreddit, r/officialbattletech, launched complete with a mod team, and an announcement from Catalyst that the sub would be an open, safe space for the community as a whole because Battletech is for Everyone.
“The need for a safe space on reddit was brought to my attention today. While reddit was far down on my list to get to, I feel that our community had an urgent need for our presence, and our support.
Let me be clear: BattleTech is for EVERYONE.”
That was posted by Rem Alternis, Community and Marketing Director for Catalyst Game Labs. Once the new Official Battletech subreddit launched, the community flocked to celebrate:
Work in progress on the new ‘Pride-star’ im making, a celebration of Battletech’s inclusivity across the ages, starting with an Original box Thunderbolt and a Clan Invasion Mad Cat!
by u/SneakyZaku in OfficialBattleTech
Duncan Fisher says Trans Rights! (Any MW4:Merc fans in the audience?)
by u/enbykaiju in OfficialBattleTech
It’s been 5 days but so far things are great!
by u/GlitteringBarracuda9 in OfficialBattleTech
And while all that was happening, the original owner of the r/battletech subreddit returned from a long period of inactivity to reinstate the original subreddit, ousted the previous mods, and echoed Catalyst Game Labs’ statement that Battletech is for EVERYONE.
A hot take from the venerable Stackpole himself on the state of Battletech story telling.
by u/unwilling_redditor in battletech
The rules have already changed to reflect this new stance.
But How Is That Anthology Though?
It’s great. You should check it out. The stories are a ton of fun, and you can check ’em out below.
Check out the Battletech Pride Anthology
Now, with two subreddits, the community is figuring out what comes next as the moderators take things slow.
