Harassment Policies: New Allegations Show More Work To Be Done

The specter of sexual harassment has once again risen up in tabletop gaming circles. Conventions are supposed to be places where gamers and geeks can be themselves and embrace their loves. Conventions need clear and well formulated harassment policies, and they need to enforce them. In this instance the allegations from multiple women have taken place at gaming conventions and gathering in different locations around the country. In one case, the harassment was took place over the course of years and spilled over into electronic formats.

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The specter of sexual harassment has once again risen up in tabletop gaming circles. Conventions are supposed to be places where gamers and geeks can be themselves and embrace their loves. Conventions need clear and well formulated harassment policies, and they need to enforce them. In this instance the allegations from multiple women have taken place at gaming conventions and gathering in different locations around the country. In one case, the harassment was took place over the course of years and spilled over into electronic formats.


The alleged harasser in these cases was Sean Patrick Fannon, President of Evil Beagle Games, Brand Manager for Savage Rifts at Pinnacle Entertainment Group, as well as being a game designer and developer with a long history in the tabletop role-playing industry.

There is a long and untenable policy of harassment at conventions that stretches back to science fiction and fantasy fandom in the 1960s. Atlanta's Dragon*Con has been a lightning rod in the discussions about safety at geeky conventions after one of the convention's founders was arrested and pled guilty to three charges of molestation. We have also covered reports of harassment at conventions such as Paizo Con, and inappropriate or harassing behavior by notable industry figures. It is clear that clear harassment policies and firm enforcement of them is needed in spaces where members of our community gather, in order that attendees feel safe to go about their hobby. Some companies, such as Pelgrane Press, now refuse to attend conventions where a clear harassment policy is not available.

Several women have approached me to tell me about encounters with Fannon. Some of them asked not to be named, or to use their reports for background verification only. We also reached out to Sean Patrick Fannon for his comments, and he was willing to address the allegations.

The women that I spoke with had encounters with Fannon that went back to 2013 and 2014 but also happened as recently as the summer of 2017. Each of the locations were in different parts of the country, but all of them occurred when Fannon was a guest of the event.

The worse of the two incidents related to me happened at a convention in the Eastern part of the United States. In going back over texts and messages stretching back years the woman said that it "is frustrating [now] to read these things" because of the cajoling and almost bullying approach that Fannon would use in the messages. She said that Fannon approached her at the con suite of the convention, and after speaking with her for a bit and playing a game with a group in the suite he showed her explicit photos on his cellphone of him engaged in sex acts with a woman.

Fannon's ongoing harassment of this woman would occur both electronically and in person, when they would both be at the same event, and over the course of years he would continue to suggest that she should engage in sexual acts, either with him alone, or with another woman.

Fannon denies the nature of the event, saying "I will assert with confidence that at no time would such a sharing have occurred without my understanding explicit consent on the part of all parties. It may be that, somehow, a miscommunication or misunderstanding occurred; the chaos of a party or social gathering may have created a circumstance of all parties not understanding the same thing within such a discourse. Regardless, I would not have opened such a file and shared it without believing, sincerely, it was a welcome part of the discussion (and in pursuit of further, mutually-expressed intimate interest)."

The second woman, at a different gaming-related event in another part of the country, told of how Fannon, over the course of a day at the event, asked her on four different occasions for hugs, or physical contact with her. Each time she clearly said no to him. The first time she qualified her answer with a "I don't even know you," which prompted Fannon after he saw her for a second time to say "Well, you know me now." She said that because of the multiple attempts in a short period of time that Fannon's behavior felt predatory to her. Afterwards he also attempted to connect with her via Facebook.

Afterwards, this second woman contacted the group that organized the event to share what happened and they reached out to Fannon with their concerns towards his behavior. According to sources within the organization at the time, Fannon - as with the first example - described it to the organizers as a misunderstanding on the woman's part. When asked, he later clarified to us that the misunderstanding was on his own side, saying "Honestly, I should have gotten over myself right at the start, simply owned that I misunderstood, and apologized. In the end, that's what happened, and I walked away from that with a pretty profound sense of how to go forward with my thinking about the personal space of those I don't know or know only in passing."

Both women faced ongoing pressure from Fannon, with one woman the experiences going on for a number of years after the initial convention meeting. In both cases he attempted to continue contact via electronic means with varying degrees of success. A number of screen shots from electronic conversations with Fannon were shared with me by both women.

Diane Bulkeley was willing to come forward and speak on the record of her incidents with Fannon. Fannon made seemingly innocent, and yet inappropriate comments about her body and what he wanted to do with her. She is part of a charity organization that had Fannon as a guest. What happened to her was witnessed by another woman with whom I spoke about that weekend. As Bulkeley heard some things, and her witness others, their experiences are interwoven to describe what happened. Bulkeley described this first encounter at the hotel's elevators: "We were on the floor where our rooms were to go downstairs to the convention floor. I was wearing a tank top and shirt over it that showed my cleavage. He was staring at my chest and said how much he loved my shirt and that I should wear it more often as it makes him hot. For the record I can't help my cleavage is there." Bulkeley went on to describe her mental state towards this "Paying a lady a compliment is one thing, but when you make a direct comment about their chest we have a problem."

Later on in the same day, while unloading some boxes for the convention there was another incident with Fannon. Bulkeley described this: "Well, [the witness and her husband] had to move their stuff from a friends airplane hangar (we all use as storage for cars and stuff) to a storage until next to their house. Apparently Sean, while at the hanger, made grunt noises about my tank top (it was 80 outside) while Tammy was in the truck. I did not see it. But she told me about it. Then as we were unloading the truck at the new facility Sean kept looking down my shirt and saying I have a great view etc. Her husband said to him to knock it off. I rolled my eyes, gave him a glare and continued to work. I did go and put on my event day jacket (light weight jacket) to cover up a little."

The witness, who was in the truck with Fannon, said that he "kept leering down at Diane, glancing down her shirt and making suggestive sounds." The witness said that Fannon commented "'I'm liking the view from up here.'"

Bulkeley talked about how Fannon continued his behavior later on in a restaurant, having dinner with some of the guests of the event. Fannon made inappropriate comments about her body and embarrassed her in front of the other, making her feel uncomfortable throughout the dinner.

Bulkeley said that Fannon also at one point touched her hair without asking, and smelled it as well. "[Fannon] even would smell my long hair. He begged me to not cut it off at a charity function that was part of the weekend's event." She said that he also pressed his pelvis tightly against her body while hugging her. These incidents occurred at a convention during the summer of 2017.

Fannon denies these events. "The comments and actions attributed to me simply did not happen; I categorically and absolutely deny them in their entirety."

When asked for comment, and being informed that this story was being compiled Fannon commented "I do not recall any such circumstance in which the aftermath included a discourse whereby I was informed of distress, anger, or discomfort." He went on to say "The only time I recall having ever been counseled or otherwise spoken to about my behavior in such matters is the Gamers Giving/Total Escape Games situation discussed above. The leader of the organization at that time spoke to me specifically, asked me to be aware that it had been an issue, and requested I be aware of it in the future. It was then formally dropped, and that was the end of it until this time."

There were further reports; however, we have respected the wishes of those women who asked to remain anonymous for fear of online harassment. In researching this article, I talked to multiple women and other witnesses.

About future actions against the alleged behaviors he also said "It is easy, after all, to directly attack and excise obviously predatory and harassing behavior. It is much more difficult to point out and correct behavior that falls within more subtle presentations, and it's more difficult to get folks to see their actions as harmful when they had no intention to cause harm, based on their assumptions of what is and isn't appropriate. It's good for us to look at the core assumptions that lead to those behaviors and continue to challenge them. That's how real and lasting change within society is achieved."

Fannon's weekly column will no longer be running on E.N. World.

Have you suffered harassment at the hands of someone, industry insider or otherwise, at a gaming convention? If you would like to tell your story, you can reach out to me via social media about any alleged incidents. We can speak confidentially, but I will have to know the identity of anyone that I speak with.

This does open up the question of: At what point do conventions become responsible for the actions of their guest, when they are not more closely scrutinizing the backgrounds of those guests? One woman, who is a convention organizer, with whom I spoke for the background of this story told me that word gets around, in the world of comic conventions, when guests and creators cause problems. Apparently this is not yet the case in the world of tabletop role-playing game conventions, because there are a growing number of publishers and designers who have been outed for various types of harassing behavior, but are still being invited to be guest, and in some cases even guests of honor, at gaming conventions around the country. The message that this sends to women who game is pretty clear.

More conventions are rolling out harassment policies for guests and attendees of their conventions. Not only does this help to protect attendees from bad behavior, but it can also help to protect conventions from bad actors within the various communities that gather at our conventions. As incidents of physical and sexual harassment are becoming more visible, it becomes more and more clear that something needs to be done.

additional editorial contributions by Morrus
 

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Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Supporter
ENWorld has a lot of clout. I ton of visitors. This site has the power to make or break someone.

In theory, perhaps. In practice, the number of people EN World could break is severely limited. Only a small number of gaming professionals can be impacted by this site. But, let us take what you say at face value for a moment.

My anger involves the motivations here. Chris Helton is not reporting on this because he cares about sexual harassment. He's reporting on it because he craves the limelight.

Okay, now I have a question...

You are very, very big on how accusations on EN World have heavy impact, and can break a person. And then you make accusations on EN World.

So, in case I have missed it in the morass of the thread, I will ask - How do you know what Helton cares about? Upon what do you base your assessment of Helton's motivations? Presumably, you have a basis stronger than that used in the article, so that you are on moral high ground, yes? If so, can we please see your evidence?

If you don't have good evidence, I fear you are engaging in the behavior you decry, which is not exactly a solid rhetorical or ethical position.


Not on ENWorld, but in real life.

If EN World has the power to "break" a person's real life, that qualifies EN World as being in real life.


There are simply more substantial and more constructive ways to raise awareness, support victims and enact positive change.

Your whole position is predicated on words on EN World being substantial - for they are not dangerous if they are not substantial.

It is not sufficient to support victims, because that alone does not stop more people from being victimized. Making it clear that such behavior is morally unacceptable and will not be tolerated should reduce the incidence of harassment, and that is a positive change.
 


I try to be careful about judging without knowing all the facts as well, but in this case we hear both sides, thankfully. His replies give the fairly clear impression of someone who just doesn't get it, doesn't respect (women's?) personal boundaries and space and just won't take no for an answer.
For Pete's sake, he was hitting on a woman in front of her husband, with witnesses backing this up.

I think I understand his type (the kind of guy from an aera where slapping a cute girl on the butt in passing was considered a stylish pickup line) but that's just not a good way to behave.

Thanks for the very balanced article on this.
 

Garthanos

Arcadian Knight
People go to the police every day with crimes. That does not mean the police sufficiently resolve those alleged crimes.

Hmmm, the law system was very much designed to avoid accidental conviction of the innocent... and something like 94 percent of all crimes brought to court do not resolve in felony convictions.

We can be pretty confident those that are convicted, were crimes - and far much less so that those who do not were not crimes.
 

Garthanos

Arcadian Knight
I try to be careful about judging without knowing all the facts as well, but in this case we hear both sides, thankfully. His replies give the fairly clear impression of someone who just doesn't get it, doesn't respect (women's?) personal boundaries and space and just won't take no for an answer.
For Pete's sake, he was hitting on a woman in front of her husband, with witnesses backing this up.

Yuck.
 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
We can be pretty confident those that are convicted, were crimes - and far much less so that those who do not were not crimes.
Welll... sorta.

Beyond the case of the (allegedly) wrongfully convicted pedophiel I mentioned upthread, the more recent studies of our judicial system have been revealing alarming erroneous conviction rates. Ignoring the demographics of why this happens, we’re seeing that eyewitnesses are not as reliable as once supposed, flawed interrogation techniques can lead to false confessions, bad testimony based on bad science or even criminally malicious expert testimony leads to convictions. Sometimes, the entire system simply screws things up.

Here in Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death for murdering his 3 children, with an arson coverup. The testimony for the fire experts was subsequently debunked by further research in arson science. There was an inquest impaneled to determine whether the man was, in fact, unjustly executed, but Gov. Rick Perry had the comittee dissolved shortly before they were going to deliver their findings. Those results are sealed, but leakers claim the conclusion was going to be that .texas killed an innocent man.

Gov. Pat Quinn abolished Illinois’ death penalty after 50% of the inmates then sitting on its death row got absolutely exonerated by DNA.

See also The Central Park 5.

Sooo...there are definitely flaws, some we’re just now beginning to recognize and address.
 

M

malcmerlyn

Guest
Hello

This is mainly the forum thread reason why I suscribe a user account for this forum.

I am a french GM and blogger, I have interviewed Len Pimentel a few weeks ago and he is a friend of Sean and even vouch for him.

Since I do not know personnally Sean, where are the proof he has done anything wrong ?
 

jdrakeh

Front Range Warlock
For the people defending Mr. Fannon, I want to know how you square the grandiose conspiracy theory put out there by Mr. Fannon himself - that all of these women, across the country, are engaged in a giant conspiracy to ruin his life because he's some kind of super gigolo who declined to sleep with them and they were, subsequently, driven clinically insane by his rejection - with reality. I mean, really. That explanation for these accusations is completely :):):):)ing unhinged (and more than a little egotistic).
 


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