Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

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Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

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I have mostly been trying to stay out of political stuff for a number of reasons. The most important being that I don't want people here to confuse my beliefs with the board's beliefs. I don't want people to believe they will be treated unfairly because they hold values differently than my own, and I basically want everyone to be able to speak their mind, and be able to disagree in a civil manner.

Another reason is that it's clear a lot of such things are basically designed to create hate-clicks for media, and I refuse to feed into that.

Another reason is that it's basically just not healthy to focus on things beyond your control that get you angry, especially when it's the hypocrisy of a few idiots online basically begging for attention.

But this honestly ticked me off, so I'm sharing it with all of you. I have not included a link to the article because, again, I refuse to give them clicks. If you wish to check it out for yourself, that's fine, but I promise I have included it in its totality.
How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks

New rulebooks and designers' notes are making horror RPGs a more inclusive and healthy hobby.
by Matthew Gault
Jan 31 2020, 7:00am



When tabletop role-playing game developer Evil Hat Productions announced it had included a content warning on page six of its upcoming Fate of Cthulhu game. Many folks praised Evil Hat, but there was also the now predictable tide of hateful bullshit.

Fate of Cthulhu is an upcoming RPG where players take on the role of time travelers trying to stop a Cthulhu-style apocalypse. It’s inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who was racist and anti-semitic—vehemently racist and anti-semitic. Because of that, Evil Hat Productions is publishing a content warning on page six of Fate of Cthulhu that calls out the author, and highlights the work of writers of color who’ve reexamined and reinterpreted the author’s work.

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Racism and fear of the unknown powered Lovecraft’s work. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Yet his work is still compelling to many, including myself. The weirder the world gets, the more popular his work becomes. “We can acknowledge the fear behind his imagination while also re-examining what came out of it,” Evil Hat Production said in its content warning.

The responses were predictable. Thousands of people replied to the tweet. Some praised Evil Hat’s decision, while others logged on to defend Lovecraft from criticism and heap scorn on Evil Hat for daring to point out that a racist was racist. “Since the predictable edgelords and apologists have now shown up," Evil Hat said in response, "a quick reminder: If you don't like the politics included in our games, don't buy them. We literally do not want your money. We are committed to diverse and inclusive gaming. We're not perfect, but we're trying.”

Tabletop RPGs are intimate experiences. Players and game masters collaborate to tell a story. Some of those stories can include themes of violence, sex, and any number of horrors both supernatural and banal. Increasingly, game designers are including guides and content warnings to help players navigate these themes responsibility. When they do, a vocal contingent online pushes against it. But players and designers say the content warnings and mature playing guides are working as intended—gatekeeping bad elements of the community and providing a framework for sensitive players to deal with mature narratives in a safe environment.

Evil Hat Productions recently told me they felt it was important to create distance between themselves and Lovecraft. “Evil Hat is committed to creating games that are welcoming and inclusive, and so we had an obligation to separate the art from the artist,” the company said over email. “No one needs to implicitly endorse the bigoted views of HPL [H.P. Lovecraft] just because they find value in the seeds of cosmic horror he planted.”

(For this story, Evil Hat's answers were written collectively by several members of the team. So while we're attributing the quotes to "Evil Hat," know they reflect the views of many actual people who work there.)

Just as important was Fate of Cthulhu’s mature content warning, which encourages gamemasters to communicate with their players about the hard edges of the game and seek their “enthusiastic consent.”

“We think it’s always worth giving both players and game masters a heads-up so they can judge for themselves whether this is the type of content they want to explore,” the company said. “No one wants their session to suddenly go sour because the game unexpectedly slips into anxiety-inducing material.”

Not all tabletop RPGs carry the same emotional weight, and there’s a big difference between running a group of friends through Storm King’s Thunder in Dungeons & Dragons and running through an apocalyptic horror game like Fate of Cthulhu. Games like Fate of Cthulhu, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Numenera are edgier than their high fantasy counterparts, and that’s part of the appeal. The mature themes are built in, and aren’t always used empathetically by players and storytellers. Consent warnings are coming into vogue in these games and are long overdue, given the mature themes and tendency to push players into uncomfortable places.

"If you don't like the politics included in our games, don't buy them. We literally do not want your money. We are committed to diverse and inclusive gaming. We're not perfect, but we're trying."

It’s possible to play in uncomfortable places safely. Vampire: The Masquerade’s 5th edition release made headlines when publisher White Wolf was accused of anit-semitism, promoting pedophilia, and marketing to neo-Nazis. White Wolf’s response was clear and fast—it modified language in its game, apologized profusely, and included an appendix titled “Advice for Considerate Play,” which detailed how to handle violence, fascism, and sexual trauma sensitively in a tabletop RPG. Then, White Wolf quickly destroyed the good will it had built up among its fans when it used Chechnya’s LGBTQ community as a prop in a section of a Vampire book. White Wolf apologized, again, and Paradox Interactive—its parent company—reined it in.

Despite the controversies, White Wolf’s content warnings are still good. They’re empathetic and clear about potential abuse between players. “ Vampire: The Masquerade is not a fascist-friendly game,” the appendix says. “If you are neo-Nazi friendly, ‘alt-righter,’ or whatever you’re calling yourself nowadays, we urge you to put this book down and call someone who you trust to talk about where you went wrong in your life.”

The Masquerade’s 5th edition has been out for more than a year, but people are still discovering the game. The recent announcement of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2—a sequel to a cult favorite based on the tabletop—has driven more people to the game. As more players discover the book and the content warning within, they take to the internet to complain about it.

“What the hell is going on at Whitewolf?” read a post on the Bloodlines subreddit this past January. “Is there any reason behind this meltdown?” The user posted a screenshot of the first page of “Advice for Considerate Play” to his post. It’s not unique for people to complain about content warnings online, but it’s rare for the authors of the content warnings to push back against them.

That’s what Jacqueline Bryk—a freelance writer, game designer, and the author of Vampire’s “Advice for Considerate Play”—did. “Hi. I wrote this," she said on Reddit, "and I am absolutely giddy that it's doing what it's intended to do."
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Bryk then proceeded to argue with her critics on Reddit until a moderator locked the thread a day later.

According to Bryk, this isn’t the first time she’s defended her work and doesn’t think it’ll be the last. “They rediscover it every so often and raise a stink about it,” she told me in a Facebook DM. “Maybe they're just late to the book, maybe it's Bloodlines, maybe it's because they've been rolling in the hatred and needed to vent it. But it's always the same: some dude finds a safety text and yells about it being a ‘hysterical meltdown’ or ‘not real gaming’ or whatever.”

Bryk said she feels it’s important to fight these battles when they come up, even if they’re exhausting and repetitive. “I consider myself an anti-fascist, and I like getting my metaphorical milkshakes to the face in where I can,” she said.

The negative reaction to content warnings always take the same shape. The aggrieved point a finger and claim the writers are having an emotional overreaction, then demand a return to an era where everyone stoically dealt with their trauma and ignored it when a piece of art evoked uncomfortable feelings. This contempt for the weak and machismo are both signs of fascism. A good content warning can filter out the bastards.

She said the response to her work has been more positive than negative, and that it’s important to keep giving players guides to help them navigate potentially traumatic waters in gaming.

“Sometimes a game will touch on something that may affect your players, because it (or something like it) happened to your players IRL [in real life],” she said. “Rape is probably the most obvious example of this, but gaslighting, torture, and animal death are others. And playing with those can be hard!”

The content warnings aren’t there to stop people from playing tabletop games that touch on those themes, they’re meant to give people a framework for including them responsibly. The process is similar to how a well-run BDSM community treats consent. There’s lots of communication and before, after, and during sessions and checklists that help players and partners find create a list of their dos, don’ts, and maybes. A BDSM scenster’s checklist helps consenting adults understand limits before they start fucking. An RPG players checklist does much the same.

According to Evil Hat, setting boundaries early leads to better games. “There’s no way to know every player’s past and there’s no reason anyone should be obligated to disclose their entire personal history before a game gets underway," the company told me. "So instead, a content warning and the use of Safety Tools (like the X card, Script Change, or Lines & Veils) creates an atmosphere of trust and respect. You’re setting the boundaries: ‘Hey, we’re all here to have fun—but if the game suddenly crosses a line and stops being fun, let’s pause or redirect that so we can get back on track and make sure it’s enjoyable for the whole table.’”

For example, in a recent game, Evil Hat was running Fate of Cthulhu at a local game store. They skipped over the Safety Tools and content discussion and jumped into play. One of the players was an Iraq war veteran.

“We were in the midst of combat and the GM described someone’s jaw getting broken," the company said. "And the vet stopped the game and said ‘Hey, you know, I’m cool with most things but I just… I have a thing about teeth.’ Clearly having anxiety about it. Now that’s not on the list of most people’s triggers, but if we’d had a better content discussion ...or had Safety Tools available, then it would have been a much smoother experience for him as well as everyone else in the game.”

“Basically, treating people's real-life issues carelessly can fuck them up more,” Bryk said. “Treating them with care and full informed consent is like ... well ... like if you're going to top someone, and you don't know their limits, right? You need to ask, and make it clear what you want to do, and come to a consensus about what will be good for both of you. Consent isn’t just for sex.”

Bryk said she’ll keep fighting fascists online as she sees them, and she’ll keep writing content warnings and guides for players. “It makes people feel safe, while also making it clear that people who engage with the material in bad faith are not welcome,” she said.

Evil Hat wants to see content warnings become the norm. “Hopefully it’s less of a trend and more of a standard practice that’s beginning to emerge. RPGs are enjoying an unprecedented renaissance and that’s bringing in a new and diverse audience,” it said. “It’s both incorrect and irresponsible to assume that everyone playing is a 28 year-old white guy from Wisconsin. From our point of view, to be truly committed to welcoming new players to the hobby, including content notices like this and encouraging the use of Safety Tools in play is one step in putting our money where our mouth is.”
It's kind of amazing how the people who were traditionally picked on for enjoying weird hobbies like comics and RPGs, and who were generally the most welcoming of folks into their hobby, now are having their hobbies "reclaimed" by people outside of the hobby on the grounds of the original people being "insert negative thing X here".

I'm not saying nerd culture is or was ever perfect. You get a large enough group and you're going to get your assholes, especially in a group that already tends to attract outsiders and people with less developed social skills. Geek culture was actually a way for people to develop said social skills, and tended to welcome anyone in so long as the love for whatever fandom they were a part of was genuine.

I'm also not saying H.P. Lovecraft didn't hold views that would be considered racist. I'd take it a step further and say Lovecraft was more accurately xenophobic, because he was afraid of everything outside of his "safe space", to an irrational degree. It's very likely Lovecraft also had un-diagnosed mental issues stemming from his father's death and how he was raised, and it haunted him for the rest of his life. And it wasn't that he ever did anything to deny people their rights, or tried to actively hurt people. He just channeled that irrational fear of basically everything outside of his house into one of the most unique and complex fictional universes that has inspired generations since.

The sad thing is that once Lovecraft traveled and married his wife, he actually improved a bit and realized how much of a racist and elitist he had been. The marriage unfortunately didn't last and Lovecraft would retreat back to his safe space, but he did make genuine efforts to overcome the faults he realized he had.

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In short, I find the people slandering folks outside of their own little bubble to basically be emulating the worst of Lovecraft's qualities while happily profiting from his work, and are coming off as massive hypocrites.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I don't think H.P. Lovecraft was any more racist than many people of his time, who believed that there were significant physical and differences between the races, whether positive or negative. And indeed, it was as much about xenophobia, the feeling of the foreign. And, of course, some other people who wrote in his shared universe took things further.

I do think that consent is important in games, both having that Session 0 where everyone agrees on what game they're playing (even aside from potentially disturbing content, it's good for ensuring that the group builds characters, and plays, in accordance to the general theme of the game you're playing) to players feeling they can speak up if the subject matter disturbs them, even if they hadn't brought it up at first. Yes, it's not something that's traditionally been in the game content itself, but including a discussion of how to handle it, as well as other topics like how to include players who don't like to talk, or have a hard time doing characters, or doing the math, is a net positive good thing.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

I didn't have to read that article, but I did anyway.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by Ares »

FuzzyBoots wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 6:44 pm I do think that consent is important in games, both having that Session 0 where everyone agrees on what game they're playing (even aside from potentially disturbing content, it's good for ensuring that the group builds characters, and plays, in accordance to the general theme of the game you're playing) to players feeling they can speak up if the subject matter disturbs them, even if they hadn't brought it up at first. Yes, it's not something that's traditionally been in the game content itself, but including a discussion of how to handle it, as well as other topics like how to include players who don't like to talk, or have a hard time doing characters, or doing the math, is a net positive good thing.
I definitely agree that it's important to talk with the group about the kind of game you want to run, and that everyone feel comfortable saying things they wouldn't want included in a game. But I also think that was happening in the vast majority of groups anyway, and the idea of what amounts to a consent form should be limited to conventions and public areas where you might be gaming with strangers.

Doctor Malsyn wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 11:03 pm I didn't have to read that article, but I did anyway.
I appreciate your sacrifice, and hope you followed it up with something actually fun and/or mentally stimulating to replace the brain cells lost in that reading.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by mrdent12 »

I read the article and it may be my tired brain not processing it all, but I don't get what they are trying to reclaim. Yes, Lovecraft was likely racist holding to some of the common beliefs of his time most likely. There has been plenty of great stories from people who held racist or otherwise hateful views though. Somehow I don't see why that should reflect back on the fans of the work unless the work itself is inherently racist, or insert term of choice here.

As for the "consent" bit, that is all about knowing your group. While maybe don't go as far as formal ratings, a heads up form the publisher isn't unwarranted if its not clear from the title or description. Taking Vampire the Masquerade, for example, a reasonable person wouldn't read that title and think it was a good idea to play it with a small child without investigating the material more.

More and more it seems people just take things too far or get offended too easily. I agree with giving strangers some forewarning might be warranted if a subject matter is particularly troubling, but a stranger jumping into something shouldn't just assume it would be there thing. Books have descriptions on the back, conventions have game runners who can give you a quick run down if you ask, and comic store games likely have someone who can give you a heads up.

In the general case, if someone wants to make something their own I am all for it so long as they don't push it on others as well. What someone does in their own social circles or in private is their business as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. How about instead of reclaiming Tabletop RPG's, just say this is how we do it. If you disagree, that's fine without negative connotations? No one says you need to play with the people you call bigots and jerks.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by Spectrum »

I'm still trying to put my impression into words, but it strikes me as very paternalistic. Has it become the game companies' job to tell people how to play nicely with each other rather than a group of people coming together on common terms? Is this part of the growth of gaming on the internet (and shared spaces), where the people you play with aren't necessarily your friends but only friends within the scope of a game?

But this might be in the same space as every new game telling you what it means to roleplay, most often with almost the same definition and overtold stories about adding rules to playing cowboys and indians.

.. or Palladium's warnings from the satanic panic days
... or Pivateer Presses' page 5?

I'm really trying to separate out this message from my recurring discomfort at how few game companies seem to realize that there are conservative (or at least moderate) gamers too when they seem to so often be leaning Far Left.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Spectrum wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:09 pm I'm still trying to put my impression into words, but it strikes me as very paternalistic. Has it become the game companies' job to tell people how to play nicely with each other rather than a group of people coming together on common terms? Is this part of the growth of gaming on the internet (and shared spaces), where the people you play with aren't necessarily your friends but only friends within the scope of a game?
There is a degree of that. Honestly, though, this really has been a longstanding issue. Many people haven't had enough close friends who want to play, requiring them to reach out to other groups. And even among friends, bullying happens. I've seen it. One could argue that it's a matter of nerds who've been oppressed enjoying the opportunity to turn the tables or that it's just human nature that some percentage of people are assholes, but it's out there.
Spectrum wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:09 pmBut this might be in the same space as every new game telling you what it means to roleplay, most often with almost the same definition and overtold stories about adding rules to playing cowboys and indians.
Yeah, you'd think people would understand that already. :) But you always get a few. There's a reason why so many board games have to explain that the objective of the game is to win. And honestly, I think that it does deserve some discussion. All jokes about "different kind of roleplaying" aside, the kinds of characters people play, and how they play, is fascinating from a psychological perspective. There are those playing for catharsis ("Things were hell at the office. I'm looking forward to bashing a few orcs"), to experiment with changing who they are (classic cases are people who enjoy a chance to be assertive as their character, or maybe just trying to play from a different perspective whether it's trying to roleplay the other gender or another race), to people who just enjoy the improvised acting, and probably a bunch of other ones I'm not thinking of at the moment. Specific instructions on this are welcome, in my opinion. Seasoned players might skip it just like the section explaining polyhedral dice, but they might also check it out to see if there are new tips, the same way that expert chess players will still read books on the subject on the off chance they learn something new.
Spectrum wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:09 pmI'm really trying to separate out this message from my recurring discomfort at how few game companies seem to realize that there are conservative (or at least moderate) gamers too when they seem to so often be leaning Far Left.
Hmm... other than the mention of "a 28 year-old white guy from Wisconsin" as a prototypical player, I'm not really seeing a liberal/conservative aspect of this article. They call out racism and fascism, but those aren't conservative traits, one hopes. Parallel to my commentary about having seen bullying firsthand, I haven't run into racist (well, no more than usual) or fascist RPG players. And the conservative players I've seen tend to be welcomed. Yes, there is a change happening where more RPG systems normalize homosexuality, transgenderism, etc, which can make people uncomfortable. And I played one M&M game where the GM got a little bit excessive about their demonizing of a particular liberal group, making it clear that they felt that the group were terrorists just by affiliation and therefore we, as players, were being naive in assuming they might have benign intentions.

And yes, the claim of "fighting fascists online" is a bit overblown. Kind of reminds me of the stereotype of someone getting a gun and them talking about how they're "ready to shoot any burglar that comes through the window" as if they're some sort of hardened warrior.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by saint_matthew »

Spectrum wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:09 pmI'm still trying to put my impression into words, but it strikes me as very paternalistic.
Yep, treating grown ass adults as children.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by Spectrum »

Fuzzy, I think that you make some really good points in there. I'm trying really hard to not steer this conversation into a ditch.

I know that a lot of my time online is in being someone that I wish that I was/the person that I am on the 'inside'. Which curiously, distracts me from becoming that person in real life. Kinda self defeating.

This might be my own biases coming up, but I twitch a little every time I hear a lot -ist or -ism words because they have become a heavy part of certain ideologies that are on the other side of the political spectrum. When the words racist, homophobic, transphobic, Nazi, etc are thrown around so easily by some people in ways that weren't used just a few years ago, they stop having as much meaning but are just more weapons in an arsenal.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I think the other important thing is that these sections on how to work with your players tend to be fairly small compared to how they're sometimes portrayed. One of the best examples I've seen, in Howard Tayler's Planet Mercenary book, devotes approximately a page and a half to discussing dealing with player challenges ranging from shy players to handicapped players to players who have difficulty with social cues to players who have problems with certain scenarios to players who try to be class clowns.

And I do appreciate you trying to avoid the conversation going over a cliff. :) I will attempt to do similar steering.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by saint_matthew »

FuzzyBoots wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:45 pmHmm... other than the mention of "a 28 year-old white guy from Wisconsin" as a prototypical player, I'm not really seeing a liberal/conservative aspect of this article. They call out racism and fascism, but those aren't conservative traits, one hopes.


Here's the thing though, they aren't calling out racism & fascism, they are INVENTING it where it does not exist so they can pull a Don Quixote & tilt at windmills, while asserting that those windmills are actually evil giants, in need of thwarting.

It'd be one thing if they were actually fighting discrimination, but they aren't, they are just policing things that aren't discrimination on the basis that discrimination still exists in the world, even though the things they are policing has nothing to do with discrimination or stopping it.

They are the exact definition of that old quote by C.S Lewis, about the perpetual moral busy bodies who treat adults like infants & imbeciles (his words, not mine).
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by FuzzyBoots »

saint_matthew wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:04 amHere's the thing though, they aren't calling out racism & fascism, they are INVENTING it where it does not exist so they can pull a Don Quixote & tilt at windmills, while asserting that those windmills are actually evil giants, in need of thwarting.

It'd be one thing if they were actually fighting discrimination, but they aren't, they are just policing things that aren't discrimination on the basis that discrimination still exists in the world, even though the things they are policing has nothing to do with discrimination or stopping it.

They are the exact definition of that old quote by C.S Lewis, about the perpetual moral busy bodies who treat adults like infants & imbeciles (his words, not mine).
Yeah... I wish I could say those things don't exist, but they do. There are entire RPG systems based on people being able to live out their fantasies of tangible physical and mental differences between the races. That said, as I said, I think they're a bit overblown in feeling that they're combating those things on a regular basis rather than, say, targeting minor cases.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by saint_matthew »

FuzzyBoots wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:10 amYeah... I wish I could say those things don't exist, but they do.
Sure, in the wider world. But they don't exist where they are trying to fight them. They are just asserting they exist in these places they don't exist, so they can feel good & virtuous by pretending to fight them.

Or to put it another way, bears exist right? We have established that bears exist. And yet there is no large scale problem of bears driving cars. So if someone comes out with a whole heap of legislation to deal with bears driving cars, that's what we like to call a giant waste of time. Because bears driving cars is not a thing.

Likewise, while sexism & racism are totally things that exist in the real world, they aren't generally a thing that exists in RPG rule sets. Nor does the bullshit these bullshit artists interject in to the rule-set stop it, because they have no control over what GM's & Players can do with their book once they've been sold the book.

So what does any of this achieve in practical terms? Is there less discrimination in the world because a RPG company wrote about how sexism is bad, & trans people exist, in their newest RPG? Nope.

Were players all getting together after a game of D&D 2E to lynch some gays & sexually assault some women, before this new RPG told them homophobia & sexism is bad? Of course not.

Do these new texts stop people from playing the game in a way the creators would find problematic? Nope. Heck there are still MRA's playing Eclipse Phase after Catalyst Game declared the game was not for MRA's & MRA's must stop playing the game immediately.

So what does it really achieve? Other than to virtue signal of course.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by FuzzyBoots »

:) I apologize if I made it sound like RPGs are a cesspool of bigotry, definitely not my intent. I'm saying that it exists out there, and that this is less Don Quixote going after windmills he mistakes for giants, and more "Red Scare" where some people saw Russian spies everywhere. Or, as I said before, the guy who buys a handgun and thinks of himself as Charles Bronson.
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Re: Vox Article: "How Tabletop RPGs Are Being Reclaimed From Bigots and Jerks"

Post by Spectrum »

I find your usage of the term 'Red Scare' particularly amusing given how the Far Left is bending towards socialism.

Last year, there was an intersesting statement from Whoopi Goldberg on the topic.

One of my biggest problems with the Southern Policy Law Center and groups like it is that there is a lot of power in selling people a problem and that you are the only group that can offer the solution. They end up in a really twisted reality where success at their mission means less funding and a loss of power.

Okay, before asking this next question, let's just put FATAL aside as the complete troll or sickness that it is. How many games do you know about that have been published recently that push a hard left agenda? How many push a hard left agenda? Or maybe put, a Far Right vs Far Left perspective? I collect probably far too many rpgs from a wide variety of publishers. I can't think of one that pushes too far right. There might be a few old school D&D clones that lean that way. I can think of quite a few that push too far left.
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