The BBC gushes over the Muslim Ms. Marvel's foray into videogames

The BBC's written one of their awful fluff-coated entertainment reports on how Islam is portrayed in videogames as much as comics, and this one is about the new Avengers game where the propaganda vehicle in the form of Kamala Khan is forced into the character roster:

Marvel's Avengers are assembling once again, not on the big screen, but for a blockbuster video game.

It features many of the superheroes you might expect, including Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America. But they are joined by a new addition: Kamala Khan.

The Muslim-American teenager of Pakistani heritage, who has shape-shifting abilities, is the latest character to adopt the Ms Marvel moniker.

When the game's publisher Square Enix announced that Marvel Avengers would include Kamala Khan as one of its main playable characters and make her central to the plot, it garnered praise from both fans and industry insiders.

[...] Kamala Khan was co-created by Marvel editor and director Sana Amanat in 2014.

A Muslim-American herself, Sana Amanat wanted to create a character young girls of similar background could identify with and look up to.

"I think it's absolutely insane that Kamala is in one of the biggest Marvel games that we've done," she said during the promotion of the game.

"The fact that she's the entry point character in this game makes so much sense. People from all backgrounds can relate to her."

As expected, Amanat shoves and shoves that propaganda narrative full force, milking it for all it's [not] worth. No serious questions asked why this particular character has to be put front and center of such a video game either. Yet there are a few elements in the comic, more on which anon, that actually run contrary to the censorious mindset of the Religion of Peace, despite what she's saying, one of the reason why not everyone can "relate" to her politically influenced creation.

This propaganda piece also cites other sugarcoated portrayals of Islam in more video games of recent:

Muslim characters in video games have appeared in significant roles in recent years, so this is far from the first time you can play as a Muslim character.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, a spinoff of the top-selling franchise, had us playing as Arbaaz Mir, a Kashmiri assassin.

Fighting game franchise Tekken 7 recently introduced a character from Saudi Arabia called Shaheen as the latest entry to its roster.

And Street Fighter V saw the inclusion of Rashid, another character of middle-eastern heritage.

And any characters who're portrayed as Islamists with no questions asked whether or not it's a healthy belief system aren't exactly doing anybody favors. However, this is indicative of the path the entertainment world's been taking ever since 9-11, kowtowing to the enemy beliefs in contrast to the WW2 era. Under today's massively PC environment, it is not possible to make a video game like Operation Thunderbolt, which was inspired in its time by the Israeli army's raid on Entebbe in 1976. That's how far we've fallen.

However, some character designs for Muslims can be stereotypical and not very reflective of your average young Muslim, according to Sitara Shefta, head of studio at No Brakes Games.

Sitara believes Ms Marvel is far more representative of what young Muslims are actually like, and says the Kamala Khan character reminds her of her own niece.

She says the significance of Kamala Khan's inclusion in the game is a huge step for better representation in gaming.

"It's very important, why shouldn't Pakistanis and Muslims have characters and stories that inspire them?" she asks.

"They are usually depicted as terrorists or the villains we fight against in the games.

"Now we have an empowering Pakistani Muslim character, and a role model for kids from this community to be inspired by."

The irony is, last time I looked, it appeared the comics were depicting scenes and situations with Khan that would offend hardcore Islamists, like depicting her making love to a boyfriend, and associating with Jewish characters, among other things that are considered haram (taboo) under the Religion of Peace. So the above is a rather laughable argument, as "inspiration" isn't exactly what they're looking for. Only politically correct depictions adhering to their demand of how Islam should be portrayed in fictional entertainment. As mentioned, ever since 9-11, moral panic's led to a significant decrease in games where jihadists could be depicted as the adversaries.

Scott Amos, studio head at the game's developer Crystal Dynamics, said they had been overwhelmed with the response to Kamala Khan's inclusion.

"One post that really caught us was about how this current, long-time gamer said how emotional this made him - and how important it is to have a leading hero in this game now, so that generations of new gamers can see and play as someone like them in a game that is filled with these iconic giants like Thor and Iron Man and Black Widow," he told the BBC Asian Network.

It sounds like they're fudging up what really happened - complaints about the poor design for Black Widow, and how biased the whole project was from a political perspective, putting Khan into the foremost position. No surprise, really. I'd thought before Crystal Dynamics was the kind of studio that was "going woke", and this confirms something. And explains why I'd rather not play any video game based on Marvel today, because of how far they've fallen in terms of pushing propaganda instead of entertainment value.