IGN reviewer Len Hafer, who pretends to be a woman, declared he will dock points on game reviews if games include the Gulf of America.
Hafer, who pretends to be a woman and uses the name Leana Hafer or Leana Vanadis, took to X and wrote, “I'll take a whole point off the review score for any future map games that call it the Gulf of America.”
“you think i'm joking? you think i want to do this forever? i can start some fires on the way out. try and call the bluff,” he continued. “nobody has ever let this amount of soft power go to their head before afaik.”
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Hafer’s comments come in the wake of President Donald Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
On January 30th, President Trump signed Executive Order 14172 titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.” In that order he instructed the Secretary of the Interior to “take all appropriate actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.”
He added, “The Secretary shall subsequently update the GNIS to reflect the renaming of the Gulf and remove all references to the Gulf of Mexico from the GNIS, consistent with applicable law. The Board shall provide guidance to ensure all federal references to the Gulf of America, including on agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications shall reflect its renaming.”
Since the signing of the order, Google updated their popular Google Maps app for users in the United States to display the area as the Gulf of America rather than the previous Gulf of Mexico.
In a blog post, Google stated, “In the U.S., the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has officially updated ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America.’ As we announced two weeks ago and consistent with our longstanding practices, we’ve begun rolling out changes to reflect this update. People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Gulf of America,’ and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ Everyone else will see both names.”
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Given Hafer’s outspokenness to dock review points due to this name change, one has to wonder if there is any integrity in his reviews at all or if they are all politically and ideologically motivated.
Furthermore, given IGN employs such an individual to review games, it’s hard not to see how this does not undermine the entire publication’s integrity.
What do you make of Hafer’s threat?
This dude is a perfect avatar for the game journo - corrupt, incompetent and mentally ill.
An IGN manchild on a pathetic power trip? How refreshing...
Sarcasm aside, doesn't he and his ilk know that America is what the continent is called? You know, as in "North America"? Or does his knowledge of elementary geography not go that far?