thecasualoblivion
First Post
The original Malcolm Sheppard article in the OP, seems to be alluding to the "perceived reality" of the people who are calling the shots when it comes to business decisions. If the decision makers have been turned off previously by "toxic" TTRPGers and have a "Comic Book Guy" perception of TTRPGers, they may think twice about embracing TTRPGers in the future. This may be a classic case of "once burned, twice shy".
As much as I disagree with the notion of TTRPGers resembling the "Comic Book Guy", it's this very perception which may be turning off some business decision makers, who believe that TTRPGers are more trouble than they are worth.
Particularly when the decision makers Google D&D and come to ENWorld and RPGnet and see "Comic Book Guy" behavior.