The company behind role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons spoken out to defend diversity – after video game developers were flooded with abuse.

Beamdog Studios, the studios behind popular fantasy game Baldur’s Gate, spoke out this week against the torrents of horrific personal abuse that developers received over a transgender character in an expansion pack.

The game featured a side character, Mizhena, who explains she created it because “my birth name proved unsuitable”.

Hundreds of fans flooded the game’s pages with negative reviews, claiming that the “crap writer” should be dismissed for creating “a tranny that doesn’t fit the lore”.

But Wizards of the Coast – the company behind tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons – has spoken out to defend the choice.

Nathan Stewart, the Director of Dungeons & Dragons, said: “Dungeons & Dragons stands by the stories our partners tell and we fully support the choices Beamdog has made in developing Siege of Dragonspear.



“Inclusivity is a core value of Wizards of the Coast and we believe that all people, regardless of ethnicity, background, gender identity or sexuality, should be free to play our games without fear of harassment or attacks.

“In July of 2014 we released the D&D Player’s Handbook for the fifth edition and included the following section as an example of our core values.”

The handbook says: “Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture’s expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behaviour.

“For example, a male drow cleric defies the traditional gender divisions of drow society, which could be a reason for your character to have to leave that society.

“You don’t need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender.

“You could play as a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character’s sexual orientation is for you to decide.”