Pulling Games

So unless you have not caught up on your reading yet this week (I haven't really myself) then you might not know that OneBookShelf, the owners of DriveThruRPG and RPGNow have opted to pull a title by +James Desborough from their virtual shelves.

Here are the links of what people are saying today.

• http://nuelow.blogspot.com/2014/12/more-gamergate-nonsense.html
• http://nuelow.blogspot.com/2014/12/final-word-on-gamergate-card-game-and.html
• http://dorkland.blogspot.com/2014/12/onebookshelf-and-that-voldemort-card.html
• http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2014/12/if-onebookshelf-banned-game-what-would.html
• http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2014/12/on-hack-slash-tv-2-onebookshelf-bans.html
• https://cirsova.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/gamergate-card-game-designer-statement/
• http://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/gamergate-card-game-designer-statement/

And James' first post on this:
http://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/gamergate-the-card-game-released/

TL;DR. OBS pulled James "Grim" Desborough's latest game, a card game based on "Gamer Gate".

You can see OBS' comments here:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/drivethrurpgcom/dear-publishers-banned-a-title-on-onebookshelf-marketplaces/10153001549944095

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. But here it goes.

1. I support OBS' stand on their right to pull any game they choose.  It's their store. They can choose what they want to sell or not.

2. I support Grim in making and selling any game he wants.  I do not agree with his stance on Gamer Gate, but I also feel the guy is often accused to saying and doing things he actually never said.  He says on his own blog, posts and everywhere else that if we have a question just ask him.  Turns out that works great.  I do think it sucks that his game was tossed out pretty much sight-unseen.

So my issue is not really with OBS or James.

My issue is with the publisher that forced OBS to make a decision.  They used their own market power as a bullying tactic to get a game they, or rather one person in particular, did not like.   It was a dick move.

This is not the first time this particular publisher has pulled some rather dickish stunts.  In fact it is the third I have heard of in the last year.

I am not getting into details. I have no desire to challenge this publisher and no power whatsoever to have them address their own bad behavior.   All I can do is not play or promote their games here.

If you want to buy the Gamer Gate card game, then please head over to Postmortem Studios  http://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/.   I have no interest in it myself, but maybe I'll buy something to show support.   Machinations of the Space Princess is a good choice.