Valve’s new card game, Artifact, has not yet been released. However, it is already causing a stir on Twitter, along with allegations of racism.
Whips for “Black”: In recent days, Valve has gradually introduced cards for the new trading card game Artifact, the card game based on Dota 2. One of the cards was titled “Crack the Whip,” which translates to: “Let the whip crack.”
This card modified “black heroes” according to the card text. This is a combination that can quickly be associated with less desirable themes. Fans brought attention to Twitter regarding the potentially racist combination.
Suggestion: You should REALLY change the name of this card. Having a card called “Crack the Whip” that says it modifies black heroes is not a good look, especially out of context. May I suggest something like “Intense Training”?
— Matt Frazier (@MattFrasche) September 28, 2018
Valve Admits Mistakes and Adjusts Card
New Name for the Card: Valve quickly responded to the criticism. The connection between whips, “black heroes,” and slavery was apparently too obvious.
After it was pointed out that it could easily be misunderstood, Valve promptly renamed the corresponding card. “Crack the Whip” is now called “Coordinated Assault,” which translates roughly to: “Coordinated Assault.”
Crack the Whip has been renamed to Coordinated Assault.
— Artifact (@PlayArtifact) September 28, 2018
What Does the Card Do? The effect of the card is actually not further concerning. It strengthens a hero and grants him an effect:
Modifies a black hero with “After you played a black card, grant this hero and its allied neighbors +2 attack for this round.”
In Artifact, there are four different colors, similar to the new Magic card game, that apply to all cards and can be combined with various effects:
- Red
- Blue
- Green
- and Black
The effect of “Let the whip crack” only refers to black hero cards and other cards of the color black. Taken out of context, the card text could indeed cause some issues.
Users Confront Valve: However, the debate about the card also went beyond mere criticism of the misleading card text. Some users on Twitter responded with memes to draw Valve’s attention to the error.
It was also pointed out that the community on Twitch is known for quickly misunderstanding such small errors intentionally to use them “inappropriately.”
Other users reacted somewhat more harshly. User @BlackThvghts accused Valve of a lack of diversity by questioning whether a “POC” (People of Color) was present when the card was created.
Twitter is, by the way, full of psychopaths – at least that’s what Minister Dorothee Bär says.
