Proving that identity politics literally permeates the DNA of video games, Epic Games is encouraging developers using its popular Unreal Engine to use “inclusive” language in the programming code of their titles.
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This new “inclusive language choice” clause was first added to the engine's official coding standards when the fifth version of the tool was released in April 2022, and was recently revealed in the April 2024 update. This new “inclusive language choice” clause states that Epic Games “encourages” users to “use respectful, inclusive and professional language” when writing or documenting any given code (a strange choice of words, since Epic Games considers following said standards to be “required”).
“Word choice applies when naming classes, functions, data structures, types, variables, files, and folders. [and] “Plugins,” Epic Games explains, “apply when writing snippets of user-facing text for UI, error messages, and notifications, as well as when writing about code, such as comments and changelist descriptions.”
To this end, Epic Games has provided guidelines on the words that developers should and shouldn't use when writing.
“Do not use metaphors or similes that reinforce stereotypes. Examples include black vs. white, blacklist vs. whitelist,” they began. “Do not use words that reference historical trauma or lived experiences of discrimination, such as slaves, masters, or nuclear weapons.”
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Regarding gender-related language, Epic Games advises developers to “create fictional characters They are, theyand theireven in the singular” and “non-personal things.” that and the – For example, a module, plugin, function, client, server, or other software or hardware component.”
Additionally, users are asked to “not assign a gender to anything that doesn't have a gender” and “not use collective nouns such as: everyone They also caution against “using expressions that assume a gender identity” and “avoiding colloquialisms that imply arbitrary gender, such as 'poor.'” ManIt's “X”.
Regarding slang, the standards ask developers to “remember that your language will be read by a global audience who may not share the same idioms or mindsets or understand the same cultural references,” and aim to “avoid slang and colloquialisms, even if you think they're funny or harmless,” as they “may be difficult to understand for people whose first language is not English and may not translate well.”
And, of course, developers are also warned not to use obscene language.
The standard goes on to ask Unreal Engine users to be mindful of their use of “overly semantic language,” since “many of the terms we use in a technical sense also have non-technical meanings.”
“Examples include abort, execute, and native,” they explain. “When using words like these, always be precise and look at the context in which the word appears.”
Finally, the blanket terminology clause concludes with a list of “several terms” that Epic Games believes “should be replaced with better alternatives.”
This terminology includes the terms “blacklist” (alternatives include “deny list, block list, exclude list, avoid list, unapproved list, forbidden list, allow list”), “whitelist” (allow list, include list, trust list, safe list, preferred list, approved list, allow list), “master” (primary, source, controller template, reference, main, leader, original, base) and slave (secondary, replica, agent, follower, worker, cluster node, lock, link, sync).
Finally, at the end of the text of the new standard, Epic Games assures the public that they are “actively working to align our code with the principles above.”
Next article: Microsoft releases new inclusion guide for video game developers, discourages creation of female characters with 'exaggerated body types'
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