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

Bagpuss · Jun 7, 2019

Hussar said:
Umm, what? 1. Sex offenders register (which I have no idea if it exists in England) would only be for those convicted of a crime. So, nope.

Exactly, I did say they were a bit extreme but they were twisting the use of the obscene publications act to claim, his waking up in a van with a sore bum was enough to warrant a criminal investigation.

2. Keeping this "quiet" simply allows these people to keep doing whatever it was they were doing.

Actually I imagine it would have ended up very similar with guys remaining events being cancelled as a precaution, and some advice given to him for future cons.

3. What evidence do you have that no one from the media talked to the people involved?

The fact the person behind the initial tweet that kicked this all off has complained to the BBC about not being approached.

Here's a thought. If you are going to run a game in a public space, maybe, just maybe, don't include rape scenes in it. I dunno.

He didn't consider it a rape scene, and it wasn't a rape scene. At worst it was really poorly considered off colour joke about something that happened off camera, very in keeping with the gross out comedy of something like The Inbetweeners.

macd21 · Jun 7, 2019

I think the GM getting banned is down to social media improving how institutions (like game cons) handle these issues. Just a few years ago I think the con organizers would have laughed this off - regardless of what their official policies were. Nowadays they know that letting someone get away with this

will bite them in the ass.

Dannyalcatraz · Jun 7, 2019

At worst it was really poorly considered off colour joke about something that happened off camera...

No, at worst, it was a rape scene and he’s dissembling.

MechaPilot · Jun 7, 2019

Given my previous experiences in the hobby (which I've described on this site before), I'm unsurprised that this still happens. It's one of the reasons I don't attend play events at cons and stores, or play under GMs I don't know.

Bagpuss · Jun 7, 2019

Hussar said:
No, it's not how this works.

I would hope that if you are going to ban someone indefinitely, which could possibly lead to bans at other conventions you at least take the time to listen to both sides and gather what evidence you can. Sure cancel their games for the convention while you do the investigation, because you need to act and you don't have the time.

Even if we want to take the GM at his word and it's "only" kidnapping children and covering them with feces, well, as a con rep, do you really want that representing what you think should be played at your con?

No children were involved. The game was advertised as over 18, the players were all over 18, and the characters were all over 18. Stop trying to make it sound worse than it was. The con might be family friendly but they clearly allow 18+ limitations as his wasn't the only game with this restriction.

It utterly baffles me how much slack people are willing to cut folks. I mean, there's nothing in Things from the Flood or Tales from the Loop that would even hint that this would be an expected scenario.

Perhaps not, but people use system to run there own scenarios not necessarily close to the setting, I've not been able to see the full blurb, but if "lad's holiday, Club 18-30" have a reputation which certainly includes blackouts and not remembering how you ended up in a horrific situations.

A thinly veiled reference to a gang rape scenario isn't what folks signed up for, I'm thinking, nor is it even remotely acceptable at (From the front page of the UKGE):

Again it wasn't a gang rape scenario, at worse the rape (if it occurred at all) happened off camera (veils are a pretty standard technique in RPGs) so it wasn't described, and rather than a scenario is was a few minutes, within the several hours of the game scenario.You keep using phrases to make it sound like it was a 3 hour ordeal of constant child rape, which anyone would agree would not be suitable. One off-camera ambiguous event during a long session in game labelled 18+ horror is not the same thing at all.

macd21 · Jun 7, 2019

The scenario featured the gang rape of a group of 18 year old boys. That it happened off-camera does not make it acceptable. That it was an 18+ game does not make it acceptable. The appropriate response to a GM doing this is to ban him from running games at your con, which is what happened. And there’s nothing wrong with letting others know about him, so they can make informed decisions as to whether they want to game with him.

DammitVictor · Jun 7, 2019

MarkB said:
Right, because raising a complaint in a crowded room within a few feet of the person you're complaining about wouldn't be socially awkward or uncomfortable at all.

Some people will bend over backwards to blame the victims of any form of sexual misconduct rather than holding offenders accountable. I can think of a few more productive things I wish they might do from that position, instead.

Sadras · Jun 7, 2019

Gradine said:
...it does provide us with a tragic example of pervasive and lasting harm caused by the type of myopic and cloistered “climate” some here appear to long for us to return to.

Really? People here have been calling for us to return to a particular unsavoury climate? The level of exaggeration that exists is astounding.

macd21 · Jun 7, 2019

Sadras said:
Really? People here have been calling for us to return to a particular unsavoury climate? The level of exaggeration that exists is astounding.

Yes? That’s not exaggerating at all. It’s a perfectly rational reading of some posters comments.

Sadras · Jun 7, 2019

macd21 said:
Yes? That’s not exaggerating at all. It’s a perfectly rational reading of some posters comments.

The single dude that got banned from this thread? I believe every other poster agreed with the banning of the individual from running games at future cons. Disagreement only occured on shunning him from the community at large. No one is asking for any return for a particular climate. EDIT: Everyone's pretty much on the same page here.