The upcoming loot shooter Borderlands 3 will refrain from using a certain term for an enemy type, as it aims to avoid discriminating against little people.
Which term is being referred to? In all Borderlands games, there is a small variant of the usual bandit enemies. These adversaries have shrunk to smaller villains due to mutation.
In Borderlands 1 and 2, they were named “Midget.” This is a derogatory term for little people in English and can be translated roughly as “little one” or “dwarf.” In fact, the enemies were called “Zwerge” in the German version.
What are the enemies called now? In an interview with PCGamesN, producer Chris Brock stated that the small enemies will return in Borderlands 3. However, they will be given a different name. Instead of being called Midgets, they will be referred to as “Tinks.”
The reasons for the renaming
Why did Gearbox change the name? The reason given was that “Midget” is not a particularly nice term for little people. Moreover, the usefulness of the term is not a major issue in the game; the little ones are just called that.
Therefore, it is not a big deal to rename them and thus be politically correct towards little people. The old term is simply “not super-sensitive,” Brock said.
Whether the small enemies will continue to be called “Zwerge” in the German version (as they were previously translated) or will also be renamed to “Tinks” is still unclear.
How are players reacting? Various fans of Borderlands find in comments and on Reddit that the decision to rename the dwarves is not particularly well-received. In fact, some are wondering if the term “Tink” might be even worse and could potentially become a new insult for little people in real life.
Moreover, “Tink” is already an insulting term for a particular form of traveling people in England and Ireland, which is referred to as “Tinker” (tinsmith) or simply “Tinks” in short form. And especially the last term is not meant to be nice.
Is Borderlands getting softened? According to Chris Brock, Borderlands 3 is still not a politically correct game for the whole family, despite the changed term for Midgets. There are still plenty of coarse terms in the game, including the insane psychos, who will still be called that.
He also noted that the time for Midgets has long passed. Even in the Pre-Sequel, the last Borderlands game from Gearbox, the small enemies were no longer called Midgets. Instead, “Lil” was added to the regular name of the enemy when it was a mini-version.
