Gaming and Identity Politics

Kramodlog · Oct 18, 2015

Who are the privileged of geek identity politics? I'm gonna go with video gamers. Their industry is making as much as the film industry, their games get huge developpement and marketing budgets, and since they are the majority they just have more influence.

Us poor PnP RPG fans are at the bottom because we are so few and our industry is making so little money. It should be stated in convention charts that we get a certain minimum of tables to assure proper representation of gamer, a minimum of individuals in PnP RPG cosplay (no Drizzt, no Con!), and a private room where we could wonder what Gygax would have done to kill the PCs.

Ryujin · Oct 19, 2015

The more in depth knowledge someone has of a subject, the more granularity they see within it. Those outside that subject matter tend to see one heterogeneous mass.

miniaturehoarder · Oct 19, 2015

Morrus said:
Yeah, we do. Which is a shame, because there aren't that many of us.

I disagree it is a shame. Just because we play games doesn't make us politically unified, nor should it. Indeed I get very agitated when companies and Faces in gaming push agenda driven games, panhandle for charities pushing one set of cultural biases over another and try political grandstanding assuming "tabletop gamers" will support them as a default. Only good thing about it saves me a LOT of money as that gets them onto my No Buy list.

CaptainGemini · Oct 19, 2015

I think we very much do divide ourselves too much.

What am I? I'm a gamer. I'm not a LARPer because I'm against it, but because I have no interest in it (except the costumes; I love watching people LARP and cosplay).

What games do I love? World of Darkness, both Old and New. DnD for Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, and homebrew settings. Savage Worlds for its ease of play, exploding dice, and quirky settings. Pathfinder, for its attempt at a kitchen sink setting and amount of setting detail that makes even the Forgotten Realms look like a light read (and for attempting to fix 3.5 rules). Mutants and Masterminds, for celebrating superheroes in all their glory and turning the 3.5 rules into a very easy to play ruleset. FATE, for the easiest set of rules ever. GURPS, for being a true kitchen sink ruleset (even though it's more of a read than Pathfinder is). W.O.I.N., which isn't even out yet and which looks to be a better kitchen sink game than GURPS is while not requiring you to read the Library of Congress or Encyclopedia Pathica just to set up a kitchen sink setting.

There are games I don't like, such as Numenera. But, I don't look down on the people who play it. They're having fun, and I gave the game a shot (not a fan of the rules at all).

Willie the Duck · Oct 22, 2015

If you've ever seen debates online about OSR, or edition wars, I'd say that there are plenty of people who (at least verbally) DO look down at other people who prefer a slightly different game. Often it's splinter-factions of the same game, which is to be expected--no one fights like siblings.