Game genres are a bit of an ossified thing. You’ve got strategy, FPS, RPG, and something called action-adventure for when you don’t actually know where else to categorise a game. It’s always been that way and feels like it’ll always be that way. But it doesn’t have to be.
Spotted by GamesRadar, Kitfox Games and Ghost Ship Studios—the teams behind Dwarf Fortress’ premium edition and Deep Rock Galactic respectively—have united to launch a generation-defining campaign to get a new tag added to Steam: Dwarf. It kicked off in January, but things really hotted up yesterday when the games finally got a response from Steam.
Together we stand slightly taller than before 💪⛏ @JoinDeepRock pic.twitter.com/6QH1EyawpQJanuary 31, 2024
“The short answer is ‘no,'” explained the two studios in a statement, but fear not, la lucha continua. The statement went on to say that “the real answer is ‘ok but only after people on Steam start trying to use it as a tag.'” With that in mind, both DF and DRG are encouraging fans to take matters into their own hands. “Next time you see a dwarf game on Steam, go ahead and add the tag manually. Over time, Steam will see that we are very serious about the value a dwarf tag would bring to the platform. Remember that dwarves who stand together are slightly taller than before.”
“Our friends at Steam say dwarf is ‘not a tag,'” say Kitfox and Ghost Ship with the rising firebrand cadence of Marat addressing the National Convention, “similar to how elf, centaur, wizard etc aren’t tags. This is very legit and fair, but the difference is that dwarves are cooler and have a much more dedicated fanbase than any of those other mystical creatures.”
Unassailable revolutionary logic, and it seems the fans have taken it to heart. Already the Twitter replies are populated by players announcing they’re doing their part: Adding “Dwarf” to each game’s user tags and perhaps, one day, convincing Steam to inaugurate the term officially. Will PC Gamer also have to add it as a genre tag if the campaign succeeds? I hope not. I don’t know how to do that.
Now, jokes aside, you might argue that this kind of undermines the Steam user-tagging system, which is meant to let players get easy overviews of what a game is about based on the community’s experience. But let’s be honest, that ship sailed a long time ago when people started sticking “Psychological horror” and “Hentai” on anything and everything. Given that DRG and DF do have some similarities (mining, construction, dwarves), I think the new tag could actually end up being useful.