Players 'distressed' by gang-rape role-playing game

CapnZapp · Jun 3, 2019

Bagpuss said:
.

The "M-Card"

https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/rpg-m-card-roleplaying-outside-safe-spaces/

This would help insofar that at any con rated PG (which would be all of them unless you know otherwise) the use of the M card would be prohibited.

Just a reminder that the core issue is having M-rated content at all, unless you're certain everybody in the audience has buy-in to a more restricted rating.

Otherwise put, a card ain't gonna save you.

Umbran · Jun 3, 2019

Bagpuss said:
While this was probably prompted as a parody of the "X-Card" I think it is actually worth looking at as it tackles the same problem from a different direction. I also think it would have worked better in this instance.

The "M-Card"

I don't think this actually addresses the same problem as the X-card, at all. I think it is a good idea for a GM to put up front if they intend their game to include material that some would find inappropriate*. But that's not nearly the same thing as giving a player a way to quickly communicate, without having to enter into discussions, that they have a problem.

Case in point - the last time an X-card got invoked in my presence was not because of the "mature" content of the game, but because the loud vocal tones used at the table triggered (in the diagnosed PTSD sense, not the "I found it inappropriate/offensive" sense) a player who had suffered abuse as a child. The scene was not about abusing a child - PTSD triggering is often about sensory input, not content.

This player did *NOT* want to go into their history of abuse with random strangers at a convention table. The X-card saved the session for them.

The M-card would have done nothing for them.

*I also think the level of "mature" we are talking about in the OP is just not appropriate for open table games at general fandom conventions, period.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jun 3, 2019

Reading threads like this just make me thankful that despite some real play style and focus issues with members of my long term group, I don't have any need to RPG with randoms at stores. At least all our degeneracy matches up.

Who the hell would think an on screen rapey con game was good? Dang.

At least when historical wargaming with randoms you don't have stuff like this come up.

Dannyalcatraz · Jun 3, 2019

Hmmm...

This whole X-Card/M-Card Thing is new to me.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jun 3, 2019

CapnZapp said:
This would help insofar that at any con rated PG (which would be all of them unless you know otherwise) the use of the M card would be prohibited.

Just a reminder that the core issue is having M-rated content at all, unless you're certain everybody in the audience has buy-in to a more restricted rating.

Otherwise put, a card ain't gonna save you.

The only con I've been to in a long time was GaryCon this year and there were definitely games that were listed as mature 18+ to play and stuff in the event listing about the game having adult content. Is GC unusual in that regard then?

Though I do remember seeing a Battletech game as listed as 18+ which I thought was strange unless they just didn't want a bunch of kids at the table.

mrm1138 · Jun 3, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
Hmmm...

This whole X-Card/M-Card Thing is new to me.

It's something I always wonder if I should include when I run con games. I always try not to include material that will make others feel uncomfortable or unsafe, but we can never know what will end up doing so. (For instance, I know someone who gets really freaked out about spiders—possibly to the point of it being a phobia—which tend to be a fairly common element in D&D-type games.) So far, I've only included an X-card once, but this incident reminds me that I should be more conscious of these issues.

Ralif Redhammer · Jun 3, 2019

Honestly, I just heard of X-Cards about a week or two ago on the Behold Her podcast. But the idea is something I've been thinking about ever since.

Dannyalcatraz said:
Hmmm...

This whole X-Card/M-Card Thing is new to me.

LuisCarlos17f · Jun 3, 2019

How to explain with the right words? (English isn't my native language).

In the first years of the comic strip "Buck Rogers" the antagonists were the han, the red mongol invaders. That was right then, but today it wouldn't be politically correct. In the 70's there was a Disney comedy "Our dinosaur is missing", where Chinese are the antagonists. Today we can't watch it because it is not politically correct. Walt Disney was smoker, but not their photos are changed, the cigar in his hand has been censured. In a 60's comedy show maybe you could tell a joke about gays, but now it wouldn't be allowed. The mind of the people can change.

Your conscience can be clear but if you have said something offending others, you have to face the consequences.

If you really want to fight the hate and help for a better world, then you have to remember the key is recovering moral values like the respect of the human dignity. Without this the rebel can become a new tyrant, the hero can fall in the dark side of the force. Without respect of the human dignity reporting hate or intolerance will not be enough.

* An ordinary person with a sane mind should have enough empathy even for fictional characters. (Some people like horror movies, but because that fear helps us to remember we are really lucky because our life is enough boring, without danger or menaces). Trust nobody too much who enjoy with the suffering of other people, even fictional characters.

* If I want to play "Tale of the Loop" with children PCs, I want an adventure like R.L.Stine's Goosebumps stories, not Garth Ennis' "Crossed" comics.

Umbran · Jun 3, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
This whole X-Card/M-Card Thing is new to me.

For those who are not aware, the X-card concept is simple: You put an index card with a big "X" on it on the table. If what is going on in the game or the table is problematic for anyone, they reach out and tap that card. Or alternatively, each person has a card, and they hold it up for all to see when they want to invoke it.

When the card is invoked, the group is supposed to back off from what they are doing - in context, it is often pretty obvious what raised the issue. If it isn't, there's an opportunity for the GM to take the player aside to clarify.

In general, the person who invokes the X-card isn't supposed to have to justify or explain it to the group as a whole - if something is freaking them out, they should not have to spend the emotional cycles explain the details why to people they don't necessarily know or trust or want to give the details to.

doctorbadwolf · Jun 3, 2019

lowkey13 said:
I do have a slight quibble regarding the Orange Cover B3- it's a bit more complicated than that.

Here are some helpful links-
https://www.wired.com/story/racy-dandd-module-oral-history/
https://kotaku.com/d-d-wouldn-t-be-what-it-is-today-without-these-women-1796426183

In comparison to a lot of the art at the time, and a lot of the stuff that was being produced by TSR, it wasn't really that odd (whether that is damning or not ... well ....). But there were some odd dynamics going on behind the scenes.

Really good articles! thanks for sharing!