OT: It seems the culture wars are beginning to spill over to RPGs?

[Jason Weiser]

I was hoping the hobby would manage to stay out of this mess...but it seems the penny is beginning to drop with regards to trying to make gaming more "progressive", whatever the hell that really means?

http://mythcreants.com/blog/five-des...playing-games/

I almost want to say "Lighten up, Francis" to the author of the article....

[Draq]

It's not what you play, but how. I don't think there's anything wrong with role playing as it is.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

The author's opinions are shit, and I wish he would leave gaming forever.

[Raellus]

Some of the author's points are valid, but he's taking what are essentially escapist games way too seriously. I can't imagine that gaming with him would be any sort of fun.

[Jason Weiser]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Some of the author's points are valid, but he's taking what are essentially escapist games way too seriously. I can't imagine that gaming with him would be any sort of fun.

Heaven forbid that crowd ever find their way here, IMO. I play Twilight 2000 to have fun, be it writing fictional apocalypses for a "dead game" or playing a sort of radioactive "have gun, will travel" (tends to be the tenor of most of my games).

Honestly, when we are engaged in a firefight with a bunch of Soviet NPCs in our games, do we give a damn one of them promised his mother he'd come home, or another is a drunk and a scoundrel? Nope. Sounds cold, but honestly, RPGs, like life make us the hero of our own story. I really don't want folks getting in the way of that to assuage guilt over outside political issues.

Hell, I am a real troll to them anyhow, I am an unreconstructed miniature wargamer.....

[Schone23666]

WTF ??? Really?

I try to avoid politics and airing my own political views for a reason on forums, any forum. But this BS the "author" wrote? It seems you can't escape this drivel even during gaming now. Does he honestly think gamers take RPG's and whatever "views" they may espouse seriously?

In case you heard a loud THUMP, that was my head slamming my desk...

[raketenjagdpanzer]

You guys haven't seen anything. Some ... person is out there promoting the idea that RPGs should include "x-cards" to "prevent triggering"; literally that someone at your table can hold up this card with an X on it and say I'M NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THIS SUBJECT, IT TRIGGERS ME SO YOU CAN'T HAVE IT IN YOUR GAME.

If anyone has any doubt about what "triggers" Millennials, oh the things I've seen. "'Teeth' triggers me, please don't describe the teeth on the monster." "I'm triggered by rampant firearms use, please don't have guns in your game." "I get very triggered by eating disorder discussion please don't have fat people as villains in your game" and on and on.

The Social Justice Warriors are invading pen and paper RPGs and shitting the whole hobby up.

[kato13]

I follow the video game scene pretty closely and some of these complaints mirror what progressives have been saying about video games for at least a decade. (Though I admit some points are well written, calling concepts in gaming he does not agree with "flaws" really annoys me)

Generally though the pendulum is turning back away from giving in to these types of rants. Small, reasonable, incremental changes are occurring, but video game makers realize that for the highend stuff that the market wants what the market wants and that a quality story and/or quality gameplay will allow you to be successful even in the face of a loud, generally non-purchasing, vocal minority of complainers.

I would not worry about a major effect on RPGs. In general the progressive change movement is dependent on constant success, and as the easy and proper targets have fallen, and they have widened their scope and begun to pounce on more and more trivial complaints, they are being ignored to a greater degree from what I have seen.