Woke.exe Crashed: Gaming Media’s Mirror of Projection
The following article reflects the author’s opinions and interpretations based on publicly available information and recordings. All individuals mentioned are encouraged to clarify or respond. Please do not harass anyone mentioned in this article for any reason.
The Culture War Reloaded: Gaming's New Battlefront
Welcome to ground zero of the gaming culture war—where pixels meet politics and everyone’s pointing fingers through cracked mirrors. In one corner, we’ve got ex-legacy media dinosaurs and DEI activists like Sweet Baby Inc., clutching pearls while playing gatekeeper.
In the other?
Developers, players, and creators just trying to make cool sh*t without pandering to woke ideologies and not checking twelve and a half identity boxes.
From moral panic over “the wrong kind of representation” to journalists screaming victim while they plan harassment in questionable Discord servers, the hypocrisy is getting harder to ignore.
Let’s takes a flamethrower to the projection, the censorship attempts, and the performative outrage infecting gaming’s loudest self-appointed saviors.
Join me while we peel back the layers of the victim-villain cosplay onion and see who’s actually trying to silence who in today’s funderful gaming landscape.
Kim Belair and the DEI Panel That Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
If there was ever a panel that ripped the mask off the “inclusivity” crusade in gaming, it was GDC 2025’s “The Black Designer’s Dilemma” featuring a stacked roster of DEI evangelists who seem more interested in pushing propaganda than telling compelling stories.
The scenario? A creative challenge:
“What would you do if your supervisor asked you to make a game that reflects a market of people with a history of racist or vile behavior?”
Spoiler alert: This wasn’t a real challenge—it was a purity test. And the panel made it very clear to me that there is only one correct answer: shut it down.
Image Source: GDC 2025 | The Black Designer’s Dilemma Panel
Jabari Alii kicked things off by declaring that “games are the most influential media” and that creators must be “very careful about the images, and the ideas that we allow to go out into the world.”
Let the word ALLOW sink in real quick. And his conclusion for this?
“You gotta shut it down, you gotta find a way to shut it down“.
That’s right. Not challenge it, not explore it, not genuinely tell a story from a unique or controversial angle. Just shut it down. If the idea doesn’t align with your worldview, kill it with fire.
Artistic vision? Nah, never heard of it.
Then Jarory de Jesus seemed to want to play devil’s advocate—or at least consider the possibility that there could be a deeper narrative opportunity in such a challenge—but was instantly talked over by moderator Carl Varnado, who flat-out said: “You’re not, it’s not designed that way. It’s not designed that way at all“.
Cool. So we’re not even pretending there’s room for discussion.
Thanks for clarifying the cult rules.
Jarory pressed on, suggesting that maybe the game could be told from a villain’s point of view. But of course, his solution wasn’t really a “narrative challenge”—it was an ideological re-education simulator:
“I would make it so that you feel like the scum of the earth for making these choices.”
Ah yes, the classic interactive guilt trip—press X to apologize for existing.
Another panelist, Pamela Iluore, chimed in next with some truly inspiring commentary on professional integrity, “I’d take the assignment, but it would not be what they expected.”
Not sure about you, but this translates to me like: I’ll cash your check, but I’m going to Trojan Horse my personal agenda into your project.
Imagine proudly announcing something that sounds like you’d deceive your employer to sneak in political messaging—any other industry and this would be grounds for termination, but in modern game dev?
Standing ovation.
Speaking of ovations—Jarory closed out with the subtle suggestion of “making punching Nazis cool again”, to which the audience responded with roaring applause.
Because nothing says “inclusive storytelling” like encouraging violence toward anyone who disagrees with you politically.
Let’s be clear – everyone that doesn’t adhere to the DEI-laden, woke guidebook, everyone that doesn’t agree with their specific point of view – those are all Nazis, according to every left-leaning Karen on social media.
Image Source: imgflip.com
Then enters Kim Belair, CEO of the infamous Sweet Baby Inc., who took this opportunity to spiral into a monologue about how this exact scenario is already happening in real life.
I’ll include a funderful video of Hypnotic’s breakdown below of this panel if you want to brave the whole thing:
Video Source: The 2025 GDC Black Developer Conference BREAK DOWN | Hypnotic Live
“They want to make games look like the world they want—by removing people from the story. Removing the ‘undesirables.’”
Let’s pause there. These people actually believe that if a story doesn’t feature DEI™️-approved representation, it’s akin to ethnic cleansing…
That’s not a joke.
In their worldview, it seems like not featuring certain identities is an act of violence, and even entertaining an alternate narrative that doesn’t center their ideology is equivalent to hate speech.
Because God forbid a dev just wants to make a game about knights and dragons without checking every identity box on a DEI spreadsheet.
And just to add some extra spice to this hypocrisy stew—let’s not forget that Kim Belair was literally on video back in 2019 at another GDC panel openly advocating for the use of scare tactics to get companies to hire Sweet Baby Inc.
Yep, straight-up said the quiet part out loud:
So let’s review: from my point of view, it looks like this GDC panel told aspiring creators to shut down anything they don’t like, subvert their employers, view neutral stories as inherently racist, and rewrite everything to fit their moral framework.
Good times?
And the same people pushing this ideological conformity are the ones who call you a fascist for saying maybe the protagonist doesn’t need a they/them non-binary pansexual unicorn subplot in your gritty WW2 shooter. All while dodging claims of self-insertion into games that Sweet Baby Inc. has worked on.
Image Source: Is the protagonist a self-insert of Kim Belair? | Steam Forum
Image: Kim Belair 2024 XOXO Festival | Nor Vanek, Flintlock: Siege of Dawn | Lawless, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Honestly, you couldn’t write satire this good if you tried.
Discord Dungeons & Double Standards: Alyssa Mercante and the Activist Server Slip-Up
Let’s talk about a real case of “it’s only bad when you do it.” Alyssa Mercante, a self-proclaimed victim of right-wing harassment campaigns and a former Kotaku contributor, was caught up in a secretive little Discord server that gives “conspiracy clubhouse” vibes—but, you know, the kind where they’re actually the ones plotting in the dark.
According to a deep dive by SmashJT and Gigabear, this wasn’t just your average meme-trading server.
This was a pay-to-enter, $10 Patreon-exclusive echo chamber full of activist journos and Twitter burnouts allegedly coordinating smear tactics, doxxing attempts, and info dumps targeting content creators like SmashJT himself and ex-Blizzard dev Mark Kern (aka Grummz).
Y’know, the exact stuff they accuse everyone else of doing.
Projection, anyone?
Alyssa Mercante has now been caught in a private discord chat group looking to dig up more information on my previous work history.
— Smash JT (@SmashJT) March 30, 2025
Ironically, this is the same woman who is currently suing me for harassing ...her.
This same woman has:
- Contacted my wife in attempt to get us… pic.twitter.com/uKXDj7Ni1F
Image Source: SmashJT | X.com
One of the voices in that Discord—according to the leaked messages—was none other than Mercante, who’s spent the better part of a year framing herself as the poor, innocent victim of an online hate campaign.
But (if true) when the logs dropped, it looked more like she was playing dungeon master in a real-time LARP about silencing dissenting voices and strategizing reputational takedowns.
Oops.
Image Source: Gigabear | Alyssa Mercante Caught in Secret Discord Harassing SmashJT and Grummz | www.smashjt.com
And if that’s not enough irony to set off a smoke alarm, guess who else showed up in the logs? Airbagged—a troll so toxic he’s been perma-yeeted from X (formerly Twitter) for alleged threats and constantly telling people to delete themselves, yet somehow keeps respawning with new accounts like it’s Dark Souls.
He’s part of the same server.
That’s the crew. That’s the energy.
Image Source: Gigabear | Alyssa Mercante Caught in Secret Discord Harassing SmashJT and Grummz | www.smashjt.com
But here’s the kicker: this whole server saga dropped after Mercante and others spent months warning everyone about “secret Discord cabals” of right-wing gamers plotting world domination.
Turns out the only secret plots were coming from their side—paywalled behind a join fee and packed full of activists allegedly engaging in the same harassment they claim to fight.
You can’t make this up.
I spoke to the team at Sweet Baby and infiltrated the Discord group rallying against them to try and paint a clearer picture of WTF is going on. https://t.co/B16gOADEtf
— Alyssa Mercante (@alyssa_merc) March 6, 2024
X Post: Alyssa Mercante “Infiltrates” the Free-to-the-Public SBI-Detected Discord Group; No Invitation Needed
It’s the classic crybully cocktail: Play victim, throw as many punches as you can, and then screech loudly when someone calls you out on it.
This Discord disaster didn’t just reveal hypocrisy—it exposed potentially illegal activities and a generally disturbed mindset. A network of journos and activists more interested in policing thought and narrative than fostering actual debate or engagement.
If you’re not towing the line of their curated utopia?
Well, then you’re getting deplatformed, demonetized, or digitally effed up.
The receipts are out there now. The masks are slipping. And no amount of tweet-thread damage control is gonna glue this Humpty Dumpty back together.
Final Boss: The Projection Engine
At this point, it’s hard not to notice the pattern.
The loudest voices in gaming media and DEI consultancy circles—those claiming to stand for inclusivity, representation, and open-mindedness—are often the first to slam the door on anyone who doesn’t parrot their worldview.
They label others as bigots, fascists, or worse for daring to question the narrative, while simultaneously advocating for what is essentially ideological gatekeeping: deciding what stories can be told, who can tell them, and what types of characters are allowed to exist.
They say they’re fighting to include people—but only the right kind of people. Everyone else? You’re either a villain, a relic of a past they’re desperately trying to erase, or—if you’re really lucky—a punching bag in someone else’s morality tale.
This isn’t diversity, it’s creative censorship wearing a rainbow sticker. It’s not inclusion, it’s exclusion with better PR. These activists and media mouthpieces aren’t liberating gaming—they’re trying to take it hostage, filtering it through their lens of victimhood and moral superiority while pretending they’re the ones under attack.
Image Source: imgflip.com
And the kicker?
Their entire platform is one massive projection. They scream “fascism” at the top of their lungs while building their own echo chambers where dissent isn’t just discouraged—it’s portrayed as evil.
They accuse others of wanting to erase people from games while actively erasing characters, stories, and perspectives they deem “undesirable.” All in the name of “progress.”
Gaming deserves better than this ideological purity test. It deserves actual diversity—in stories, in creators, and yes, in opinions. Because if we let these self-appointed gatekeepers continue to steer the ship, we’re not heading toward a more “inclusive” industry.
We’re just building a new flavor of tyranny—one where the only acceptable art is the kind that flatters the worldview of a select few.
And that’s not progress. That’s propaganda with a patch update.
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Ray
April 20, 2025
I agree but you shouldn’t platform them. Just let them faaade into obscurity. Good info though.
Ayefkay
April 20, 2025
Hey Ray, you officially won the “fastest comment” award lol. But platforming them? They are much bigger than lil ‘ol me, so I don’t think me talking about them will raise any awareness – positively or negatively. But I get what you mean. Still, I think transparency is important so I don’t think I would shy away regardless. Either way, thanks for stopping by and glad you liked the article!
Jeff M
April 21, 2025
Yo that stuff with the discord group is crazy. Is that for sure real?
Ryan D
April 23, 2025
Never heard of the Mercante person but I hear Sweet Baby’s games suck. Did they make anything that was ever good?