Personalities in the Gaming Industry and Politics

[boredgremlin]

OK, the above came from the Erik Mona blog thread.

Now, I'm going to attempt to talk about politics without talking about politics. Actually what I'm interested in is whether or not people who write games, or are in the eyes of a given community, should associate themselves with politics.

Now, I'm going to come right out and say this because it is pertinent to the conversation. I am pretty left leaning. I suspect Erik's a little more to the left than I am, but that's irrelevant. I've been known to get my hands dirty at *cough* another forum *cough*, and wade into the political discussions. Like me and Erik, Sean K. Reynolds has been known to post political material on his website and his remarks can be pretty inflamatory.

I know that airing your political views here in these forums is not acceptable, and after seeing how things go on that other forum from time to time, I now see clearly why Morrus and Eric before him kept it off the boards. I support that decision on these boards. Frankly, there are people who are the coolest people to talk to until you start discussing those topics, and then things get all hostile.

On the other hand, shouldn't artists feel free to express their political views in the appropriate venues without doing so completely anonymously? If Erik has a blog where he discusses games, politics, and anything else that happens to be on his mind, wouldn't censoring that be untrue to himself?

I'm not really posting this because I have an agenda. I'm curious what people really think about this.

Okay as a conservative republican. About as for off of you left leaning folks as possible... i agree. If its your own blog site you should be able to say whatever you want. For instance my name is Tim. If i had a website (www.timsopinion.com type of thing) and i said that penguins are the evil spawn of satan, canadians are midgets are planning to overthrow america and only the spork can save us. Well its my website and thats my right. The same as anyone else. No one has to go to your website, no one has to read your blog. No one has to approve of what you say or do.

Thats the great thing about online, a thing even better then what TV has. If you dont like what someone has to say then you dont have to hear it. Beyond even websites, on forums, like this one and the WOTC forum. There is an ignore option, you dont to even see anything someone has offended you had to say. You dont even have to leave the website to ignore someone you find offensive.

In closing, political correctness sucks, quit being such a , suck it up, deal with it, accept that not everyone is gonna agree with you, and be an adult.

Edit: slight mimicking of a profanity filter. --Dinkeldog

 

[John Morrow]

I'm going to have to agree with you on that, though I am shocked the president is a big Babylon 5 fan.

http://worldsofjms.com/usenet/post/021126a.htm

 

[MonsterMash]

IMHO, I think artists (and celebs) should realize that no one really cares about their opinions on politics.

That's harsh, but it's pretty much the truth. If I wanted insightful political commentary, it wouldn't be from a supermodel or a lead singer of a band or the editor of a RPG magazine.

Often very true, though on the whole writers, who after all have to think for their work, tend to have more chance of having some sort of worthwhile views compared to actors, musicians or (even worse) celebrities.

I'd say its fine for people to express their political views on a blog, after all the US has laws to guarantee free speech, but if providing a link from an explicitly apolitical site then there should be fair warning about political content.

 

[Shemeska]

A fine, but misplaced worry. That is to say, in the 18 years I've been in the industry I can't think of one case where this was even remotely an issue. Every company I've worked at has had creatives of wildly different and fervently held political views, and it's never mattered one whit. I don't think, for example, that Sean (who's been pretty vocal on the topic) has ever wanted for work because of it.

And it's good to know that that's the way it is, as it should be. Of course as a person who's never made any serious attempt at doing anything in the industry, doing any writing like my storyhours or Planewalker stuff simply for the enjoyment of the act, I couldn't have said one way or the other how political opinion might impact people who did in fact work in the rpg industry. But as you and others have said, it doesn't make an impact, and that's good and heartening for this outsider to know.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Frankly, I am usually interested to hear about the political views/philosophical views/entertainment views of game designers. I liken it more to trivia. Its much more interesting to learn about these things for comics writers since their philosophy can be caught easier in their writing. I was shocked to learn that Frank Miller is a Libertarian, chain smoking Catholic (who takes all three pretty seriously, apparently).

The problem occurs when the writer goes overboard and tries to shove a philosophy down your throat - especially in a gaming book. When the guys at Central Casting (a series of books for help in creating backgrounds for characters) got around to their 'Modern' series they took some heavy handed views when they were talking about 'perversions' and 'psychological problems.' Their heavy-handed disclaimers about what is right and wrong could have been there to appease parents who were esily shocked, but as an adult it always struck me as a little agenda-driven.

 

[Belen]

A fine, but misplaced worry. That is to say, in the 18 years I've been in the industry I can't think of one case where this was even remotely an issue. Every company I've worked at has had creatives of wildly different and fervently held political views, and it's never mattered one whit. I don't think, for example, that Sean (who's been pretty vocal on the topic) has ever wanted for work because of it.

I say "misplaced," because ironically it's not political talk that gets people work (or ensures that they get none), but gaming talk. Either talk about games themselves or companies or people in the industry. I know lots of people who haven't gotten to work with people or companies they wanted to work with because of things they've said to others or written about in magazines or the internet. And really, I'm not talking about legitimate reviews here or anything like that, I'm talking about criticizing people (or sometimes companies) directly, revealing confidential information, and that sort of thing.

It's hard not to be critical in this hobby simply because it's creative in nature. One person may find a book to be a gem, while another believe it should never have been made.

 

[Lhorgrim]

I believe that everyone has the right to express their views in the proper venue. A personal Blog is the perfect venue for political expression.

I am not in the same political camp as Erik, but I fully support his right to get his personal message out on his blog.

I don't think it is a big deal that Erik didn't have disclaimer on the link post to his blog. If he had put in a warning, I think most people still would have gone to the blog. Some might have gone just to see what his politics were. I do try to keep real life politics out of my D&D as much as possible, but that doesnt mean that I expect everyone involved with D&D to keep their political ideas concealed.

 

[boredgremlin]

Politics are an unfortunate part of life. You can ask a person not to tell you what they think in straight forward terms but that doesnt mean politics arent involved in their work and thier life.

The fact is that a persons politics reflect thier hopes, thier dreams, thier beliefs in how the world should be. Its not possible to seperate a person from thier politics. Just because they dont come out and tell you that they believe in this or that doesnt mean that it didnt influence thier works. Artists especially. Everything that anyone says or does in life is influenced by thier morals and ethics. Asking a person not to share those beliefs in a straight forward way doesnt mean that they dont have them. Or that they didnt affect what you have seen or heard from that person. Just accept that politics are a part of life. Insepperarable from the rest of what people say, do or write.

 

[EricNoah]

I refuse to let the fact that I have a public voice (albeit a minor one, in a niche industry) keep from saying whatever I want to in my "normal" voice.

This is my take as well. If you don't want to get to know someone, don't read their blog.

Personally, I feel no one can be harmed by reading something they disagree with. The reason I forbade political (and religious) discussion from the get-go was not that these topics are inherently "bad," but that almost no one can discuss them without getting nasty, personal, rude, emotional, etc. and that it was no fun for me to "moderate" such discussion on my forums. (And it's not just the internet; with few exceptions I have seen almost no one who could really "discuss" politics or religion in a way that didn't have my skin crawling because of all of the dirty tricks, emotional cheap shots, sloganeering, etc. The reason: they want to "win". You can't "win" a debate about ideology.)

I read a great quote just recently about how political debate should work: "True debate is about more than winning; it is collaborative truth-seeking." In order to come to the table with "sound habits of thought" we need to do certain things: respect facts, research, and learning; think critically about sources of information including bias, credentials, funding sources and affiliations; examine our own unquestioned assumptions and motivations; practice open-minded listening; and resist "argument by slogan and sound-bite."

I think instead of telling RPG "celebrities" to shut up about their politics on their personal websites, it should be the reader's responsibility to choose whether to read or not.

 

[Breakdaddy]

1)
3) I'm with Ari 100%. Halfwits who can't separate the art from the artist are welcome to their opinion....but I'm not going to lose any sleep over offending their delicate sensibilities and losing them as customers.

I am much more likely to be offended by your penchant for name-calling (halfwits) than your political opinions. Not everyone that is a politically active person is close-minded or arrogant (on either side). I understand that the voices become very shrill when preaching ethics and politics to others, but people should understand that theirs isnt the only point of view and respect others.