Consent in Gaming - Free Guidebook

[Xenonnonex]

I find the RPG Consent Checklist to be of very limited use in a convention setting or at a game store. I don't know how the rest of you run your games in a public space, but by the time I arrive it's too late to give a survey because my adventure was written long before that day. If my adventure involves an NPC lying to the PCs to convince them that they didn't see what they thought they saw, I very well can't change the adventure on the fly because someone in the group marked that Gaslighting was unacceptable. If I'm running an adventure with the premise that a hurricane just destroyed their homes and they've got to find shelter before they're out of the eye, well, I can't very well change things at that point. (Maybe some of you are talented enough to make those changes on short notice but I'm not.)

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

 

[MGibster]

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Expecting me to make significant changes to an adventure a few minutes before we're set to start is an unreasonable accommodation request.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Expecting me to make significant changes to an adventure a few minutes before we're set to start is an unreasonable accommodation request.

How would you do so before? You have not played with these people before. You do so as you run the adventure. You gauge reactions. You ask. You talk as a group.

 

[billd91]

Expecting me to make significant changes to an adventure a few minutes before we're set to start is an unreasonable accommodation request.

Depends on how tightly scripted you've got it. My players go off on all sorts of tangents and the session usually isn't what I expect. I feel I have plenty of chances to de-emphasize things that my players don't seem interested in (and, forewarned by said questionnaire, have problems with).

 

[Xenonnonex]

Expecting me to make significant changes to an adventure a few minutes before we're set to start is an unreasonable accommodation request.

The best laid plans are undone by players.

 

[billd91]

I find the RPG Consent Checklist to be of very limited use in a convention setting or at a game store. I don't know how the rest of you run your games in a public space, but by the time I arrive it's too late to give a survey because my adventure was written long before that day. If my adventure involves an NPC lying to the PCs to convince them that they didn't see what they thought they saw, I very well can't change the adventure on the fly because someone in the group marked that Gaslighting was unacceptable. If I'm running an adventure with the premise that a hurricane just destroyed their homes and they've got to find shelter before they're out of the eye, well, I can't very well change things at that point. (Maybe some of you are talented enough to make those changes on short notice but I'm not.)

If your players aren't already picked or signed up before you get there, use the checklist to indicate what your game incorporates and how you expect to run it. Then your potential players will be appropriately informed so they can make the appropriate decisions on whether to sign up for your game or not.

 

[MGibster]

How would you do so before? You have not played with these people before. You do so as you run the adventure. You gauge reactions. You ask. You talk as a group.

According to Consent in Gaming, I should not use anything in the game the players haven't specifically told me it was okay to use because "the default answer is 'no.'" If I have to resort to gauging their reactions I've failed to acquire consent.

 

[MGibster]

If your players aren't already picked or signed up before you get there, use the checklist to indicate what your game incorporates and how you expect to run it. Then your potential players will be appropriately informed so they can make the appropriate decisions on whether to sign up for your game or not.

I won't ever use the RPG Consent Checklist as I prefer an opt out system. When I run a game I am not a therapist nor do I view D&D as a group therapy session. It is not my responsibility to provide people with a safe space free from anything that might dredge up bad memories, open up old wounds, or trigger them. It is the responsibility of those who have strong negative reactions to certain subjects or situations to bring it up to me. If I can make an accommodation I certainly will but I should not be expected to make major changes on such short notice. Someone can expect it but I rather than make major changes I will suggest the player join another session.

 

[Umbran]

The pamphlet is all about what you are ranting about

Maybe you should not be beating that drum about ranting quite so much.

...that one persons enjoyment of their elf game and their feelings about it trumps everyone else's at the table. There are humans sitting next to them, but their feelings come first.

I have to ask - though, from what you write I am not sure you would know the answer - have you ever witnessed someone who has been diagnosed with PTSD by a mental health professional have a panic attack from being triggered*? Or been in the room when the related night terrors wake them screaming?

Because, if you had seen that, I don't think you would question this - In fact, yes, there's times in your hobby entertainment when one person trumps the others. Avoiding that trauma is worth a bit of the enjoyment of a handful of other people. Similarly, helping some abuse survivors avoid the images of their abuse is worth a bit of edginess at some tables.

Among ethical, basically good people, this should not be a question. If someone came to the game with a broken leg, folks would shift their chairs a little bit to make room for their cast. If someone comes with an honest issue with some content, folks should be willing to do the metaphorical same, and shift the content a bit to avoid the problematic bits, and have folks concentrate on the rest for their fun.

If we all agree to that, then we are only left with quibbling over the particulars of how, which should not be worthy of the acrimony seen here. Since we have the acrimony, it follows that the thread overall is not just about those particulars - and you should probably stop holding folks to discussion as if it were if you want it to be constructive.



*In the common parlance, the word "triggered" has been somewhat over-used and diluted. It does not originally refer to "exposure to something mildly upsetting". It is a serious event.

 

[Bedrockgames]

In Soviet Russia everyone is born drunk.
I jest. I kid.

Hey, we never consented to Russia jokes. My father died of laughter at a Yakov Smirnoff show.