D&D 5E Mearls' "Firing" tweet

[Guest 6801328]

Mearls sounds like he is gatekeeping a bit himself. How is he going to go about "firing" players? How about, just be civil and don't be a jerk to ANYONE at your table. He doesn't have to make it into some noble social crusade- who's he trying to impress?

He's not trying to 'impress' anybody. He's sending a clear message to the gatekeepers about their actual status. The "fired" part is poetic license.

 

[GameOgre]

It was a Jerk Tweet. Happens... Not every Tweet can be the gold nugget we want them to be.

 

[bedir than]

I kept my cool and pointed out to him that WotC made her gender in issue when they added affirmative action to their physical requirements and I pointed out that his type of behavior what disastrous for Marvel Comics.

Look I get their point that no other hire underwent this kind of discussion, but most of those hires happened before twitter was as influential as it has become, did not have as much of a big deal made by the company itself, aside maybe for Cook, and it's occurring against the backdrop of certain political interests trying convert beloved geekdom IPs into propaganda for their idealogy, and their way of thinking, at the expense of good story telling and respect for the IP.

So people are more leery of hires connected to an political agenda and had reasonable concern, of course when you get dumped on for having reasonable concerns, reasons concerns over process turn into rage, which leads to more rage on the other side, and then you have a new front in the complex culture war that makes the edition wars look like cuddly discussions between close friends.

And if it's like what happened at Marvel then SJW creators lash out in rage at fans, leading to a hostile relationship between fans and creators, that ultimately damaged not just Marvel, but the industry as a whole, just when it's on the rise.

So yes, Mearls should apologize, or I hate to say this because I like Mearls, he should be let go for the good of the RPG industry. Any culture war front needs to be nipped in the bud now.

Affirmative Action was never part of the physical requirements. Please argue from a factual foundation, at the very least.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

So you'd rather no one be available to help anyone learn new things? Because that's something that can be directly inferred from this statement.

"Welcome to your new endeavor... NOW FEND FOR YOURSELF!"

Note this does mean I'm endorsing purity tests (I am most certainly not). I'm taking your first line and stripping away the subordinate clauses to get at the heart of the universal statement in these words and pointing out this goes to a place perhaps even more unhealthy than purity tests, because it's even more exclusive.

I'm saying maybe save the "mentoring" for those that ask. Because it can drift over into paternalism and mansplaining pretty easily otherwise.

Plus I think some people might well prefer to learn on their own, and make their own mistakes. I "learned" D&D from an incomplete copy of the Red Box my mom got at a church garage sale when I was about 8 or 9. I got probably EVERYTHING wrong, but my cousins and friends who played with me didn't care. Monsters! Magic! Treasure!

If there was a pro telling us it's not in the rules that you can drink wine and pee in a beholder's eye d4 rounds later to blind it, I don't think I'd be the DM I am today lol.

 

[Wiseblood]

Not to parse words or anything...but looking at it again, he does say gatekeeping and not prefer.

Its an important distinction. So no, he is not calling fans of GURPS or Champions.

But I still wonder if that is really the issue, or is it just jerkiness. I think women are dissuaded by jerkiness, and the jerkiness of some affects the play of many.

He does use gatekeeping. Which is a loaded term. I don't need persuading I agree with him. I disagree with his method of persuasion.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I kept my cool and pointed out to him that WotC made her gender in issue when they added affirmative action to their physical requirements .

Whaoh! Wait a minute. You told him this after you were already told in the other thread that you were wrong, and that was never part of the physical requirements? You intentionally lied to cover up pushing your sexist position? That's pretty low. And yes, raising a stink when a women gets hired but not a man when the application has the exact same word is a double standard, and thus is sexist.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Mearls sounds like he is gatekeeping a bit himself. How is he going to go about "firing" players?

He's traveling the globe, meeting face to face with each of the gatekeepers, handing them a pink slip followed by a swift kick to the groin.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Amen! "Gatekeepers" forget that the original intent behind almost any group having that kind of knowledge is not to shame people who don't, but to be able to tell who is a poser TRYING TO FOOL YOU AND HARM YOUR GROUP (not gaming group, social group).

What? The point of knowledge isn't to sniff out the "fake geek girls", or posers as you term them. NO ONE is spending hours pretending to pretend to be an elf to... I don't even know... infiltrate D&D/geekdom? The point of knowledge should be for your OWN enjoyment.

Its like the weirdos who insist on giving cosplayers quizzes. They don't CARE about the lore or who Batman's greatest enemy is (it's Superman). They care about something else about the character. It's fine to enjoy the same thing in different ways or even in superficial ways.

This somehow springs to mind...
https://www.theonion.com/i-appreciate-the-muppets-on-a-much-deeper-level-than-yo-1819583976

 

[Caliban]

Yeah, we need to focus on what's important here. Specifically, how this tweet affects your feelings and ego because of his choice of words.

That whole sexism and misogyny thing he was referring to? Entirely beside the point and not worth discussing.

This is about you and how you were personally bothered by his specific choice of words. Nothing else.

Because words hurt, and you have to make sure people know they can't just go around using words you don't like.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm saying maybe save the "mentoring" for those that ask. Because it can drift over into paternalism and mansplaining pretty easily otherwise.

I'm glad someone brought up mansplaining, because that was my first thought when I read the tweet.

It's a fact that mansplaining is still a problem, in every hobby, not just RPGs
It's also a fact that our geek culture seems to have more than it's share of arrogant gatekeepers. The ones whenever you start talking about your favorite author is David Eddings, they look down at you like you're a kid because they read Kurt Vonnegut and they understand the nuances of Neil Gaiman. Or how you're less intelligent for liking the Transformers cartoons when they only watch films by Katsuhiro Otomo. Or talk down to you like you're a simpleton for liking the champion fighter instead of the warlord I.e., equating what form of entertainment you like with sophistication and intelligence and if you don't know all those other things, you aren't skilled enough to be part of the group.
We also know it's a fact that more than a few fellow male geeks get all puffy when a girl shows up, trying to act all superior in hopes of impressing her (because women are very much still a minority in this hobby)

So with those known facts, I'm sure he was referring to the those people who act like they're some sort of D&D expert to mansplain to women how to play the game the right way and trying to impress her with his uber knowledge of all these complex rules, and if they don't reciprocate the affection, or they just don't want a girl to spoil their boy's club, these guys use these complex rules as a way to push her out. In that sense, I totally agree with his sentiment.