If you or anyone close to you plays video games, chances are you've heard of Dead By Daylight - and that's if you don't play it yourself. Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical survival horror video game developed by Behaviour Interactive (based in Montreal, Canada). It's hugely popular on streaming platforms like Twitch, and in particular, has become a staple for the LGBTQIA2S+ community - a community that I am proud to be a part of, and one which is (no surprises here) especially focused on diversity and inclusion in gaming.

Dead By Daylight features a variety of survivors and killers - some of whom are original to the game, and some of whom are licensed characters from popular horror films including Halloween, Silent Hill, Nightmare of Elm Street, and more.

One of the game’s featured licensed killers is "The Cannibal," A.K.A. Leatherface or "Bubba" from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If you've seen the film, or you're familiar with serial killer Ed Gein upon whom Leatherface is based, you know that he used to remove body parts and/or skin from his victims, and would sometimes wear them. Gruesome, yes - but it’s a horror game.

Unfortunately, Dead By Daylight currently features two cosmetics for Bubba that are hurting many players and perpetuating a lot of hate and racism in the game's community. These cosmetics are the skinned faces of DBD survivors Jake Park and Claudette Morel - both of whom are members of the BIPOC community.

While many defenders of the cosmetics have argued that Bubba wears the faces of all of his victims, and Jake and Claudette should be no different, this could not be further from the truth. These cosmetics represent blackface and yellowface, which have a deep-seated history in all forms of media. (CW: if you open those links, you will see images of black and yellowface.)

Racism hasn't gone anywhere. White supremacy is still shaping all of society, and until actual equity is reached, we can't pretend these cosmetics aren't perpetuating hate in the gaming community. Especially when many of the players choosing to wear these cosmetics are accompanying them with hate speech in post-game chat, in their usernames, and on their gaming profiles. In fact, as more conversations are opening up about these cosmetics, there's been a noticeable upswing of hateful folks not only using the cosmetics and harassing players in game, but also specifically targeting folks with the '.ttv' tag in their usernames, showing up in their stream chats, and inciting conflict and harassment in the streamer's community. THIS IS NOT OKAY.

Behaviour Interactive has expressed that the Claudette and Jake cosmetics for The Cannibal are part of the general licensing agreement they have in order to feature him in the game. Anyone who has worked with licensing knows the solution is never a simple or straight forward one. My goal with this petition is NOT to create a wave of hatred or anger towards Behaviour, but to gather support from gamers around the world to remove The Cannibal's skinned face cosmetics - especially those of Claudette and Jake - from Dead By Daylight. It is my hope that we can show an immense amount of support for the BIPOC gaming community and their safety. It is my hope that Behaviour can see this petition, hear its audience, and leverage this support in a conversation and creating an action plan with the licensors of Leatherface and his cosmetics. 

We know representation, diversity, and inclusion matter in all media. There is so much proof of that. While no game is perfect (does perfection exist?), it is crucial that NO GAME is promoting or perpetuating the blatant hatred of any marginalized group of people. 

Dead by Daylight is a game loved by so many. Let’s work together to ensure that the diverse community of players feels safe and welcome to continue playing for years to come.