Wednesday, September 19, 2012

We are talking about this again

Another article basically asking the current status-quo in fandom to stop being a bunch of jerks.


We only get this on the periphery in the RPG community, but it is there.  Maybe only because old-fashioned table-top RPGs are not quite as popular in the same way comics and comic book movies are.

I talked about this back in June, and again, I hope that we as gamers are doing better.


2 comments:

5stonegames said...

Its fine to have male only spaces or female only spaces but I don't think cosplay or TTRPG will benefit from that kind of exclusion. Cosplay especially id kind of a girl thing, always has been.

Besides the more pretty geeky girls the better. Its makes us ugly grogs look like a better catch. ;)

My last gaming group was socially and politically quite diverse. Black, White, Bi-Racial, Gay, Straight (or Cis if you prefer) Hispanic whatever. We didn't care, don't care. Most groups are pretty similar and while my current group is mostly White Male and LDS (one Asian) its not closed either. The gaming is good either way.

That being said table top gaming does not need to be inclusive either.

Its was a hobby made by and for somewhat Conservative White Male Geeks (I am one of those BTW) and will do fine with just that audience. The percent of the overall population may have declined but the numbers of such nerds are at least holding or maybe better.

Its not actually a liberal hobby in any sense. Even its memes are old fashioned John Wayne and his crew (or Doc Savage) on his own, past the bounds the State. Its ideologically about Negative liberty and individual (or small group of mates) achievement, not the Positive Liberty of the Left or Social Democracy. You stand or die on your own merits or those of your friends, nothing more or less.


Because of that as I see it if a group prefers a certain demographic or holds far from liberal views (a surprising number of gamers run hard right or libertarian) we have no say in it and newcomers ought to be warned "This is a weird hobby with weird people, know your group"

No groups truly speaks for another or for the hobby and while I would not game with them, I don't hold opprobrium against the guys who wrote say FATAL. I've read it and the game is disgusting on an essential level. Despite that its goal is no different than that any other game, to bring home the fun for like minded friends.

Its not my place or yours to interfere since everyone there has agency.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I am rather liberal myself. But I do agree with your points that the hobby can only improve with the inclusion of more people and of more different kinds of people.