US professor teaches Assassin's Creed trolls a lesson by killing with kindness
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Schmidt-Hori, an associate professor of Japanese literature and culture at Dartmouth College, worked as a narrative consultant on the latest instalment in the popular Ubisoft video game franchise.
The game launched on March 20, but the vitriol directed at Schmidt-Hori began in May 2024 with the release of a promotional trailer.
'Once I realised that I was by myself – nobody was defending me – I just decided to do what I knew would work,' she said. 'It's very difficult to hate someone up close.'
Set in 16th century Japan, the game features Naoe, a Japanese female assassin, and Yasuke, a black African samurai. Furore erupted over the latter, with gamers criticising his inclusion as 'wokeness' – or a state of being socially aware – run amok.
A scene from the new Assassin's Creed Shadows video game. Photo: Ubisoft/AP
They quickly zeroed in Schmidt-Hori, attacking her in online forums, posting bogus reviews of her scholarly work and flooding her inbox with profanity.
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