TSR Giantlands

[Umbran]

People are certainly complex, and perfectly allowed to be so. That said, "not associating with rabid bigots" seems like an incredibly low bar for decency, and yet...

Has Ward personally said things that were objectionable?

His most famous work is 30+ years behind him, and he has nobody else to market his work. He's ageing and has chronic health conditions such that he's had to turn to crowdfunding to pay medical bills in the past, IIRC. In the absence of specific statements of his own? How many of us would make bad decisions in the same situation?

 

[Mannahnin]

However, if a game designer agrees to be interviewed by interviewers who are known for their extreme views, to simply talk about gaming, and not even the -ism's in gaming the host subscribes to, then that seems like an implicit agreement or at least tolerance for their intolerance and support for their platform. (And then, of course, making "what-about" statements supporting the host's views only turns the implicit into the explicit.)

Pretty much, yeah.

The lowest-culpability scenario for Jim is that he had no idea who they were, but just that they had a significant audience (as I believe Pundit does, at least in terms of numbers). They might have reached out to him because they liked nu-TSR's crap, and/or LaNasa might have made a connection with them because they're of like minds, and he might have set up the interview.

Even in that scenario, it doesn't excuse him for going along if and when they said regressive crap in the interview, or for re-tweeting their other regressive content if he did so.

 

[Gradine]

May we all someday earn the benefit of the doubt afforded to aging white cishet dudes.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

May we all someday earn the benefit of the doubt afforded to aging white cishet dudes.

Yup.

If you were posting videos as political has the one shared by JW, you'd be accused of ''pushing an agenda''.

But a dude resembling JW? Nha, he's just old, maybe he did know, his sickness makes it harder to make judicious choice etc.

My general habit with poster sharing regressive videos is to ask myself: ''if those videos were shared by any other poster on Enworld, would the videos be removed and the post branded by ''anti-inclusion'' mod note?''

The answer is yes. No doubt about it.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

May we all someday earn the benefit of the doubt afforded to aging white cishet dudes.

Yeah.

May we all be treated with the same respect that we deserve based upon our shared humanity- not upon our sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, creed, color, age, national origin, religion (or lack thereof) or ... as you put it, "dude" status.

I guess that's what I get for trying to engage. Lesson learned.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

How many of us would make bad decisions in the same situation?

I obviously can’t speak for Gradine or anyone else, but I think the issue here is whether Ward’s bad decisions—or I suppose, best-case scenario, abject cluelessness—are bad enough to merit writing him off as a creator, at the very least until he makes better decisions. Interrogating the root of those bad decisions is another matter, but if any of us were being just as idiotic, hurtful, oblivious-to-our-own-very-small-and-easily-digested-from-within-industry, or some combination of those, I’d think we should expect the same consequences.

more generally, though, I feel like the notion that Ward is some Rip Van Winkle roused from his slumber to go, sight-unseen, on an awful video stream is both too kind by half and weirdly infantilizing. For creators the internet is an arena, and it’s on anyone who voluntarily steps into that arena to be prepared for what happens next.

 

[OakenHart]

May we all someday earn the benefit of the doubt afforded to aging white cishet dudes.

I completely get that the past few weeks especially have been tough (and is tough in general well beyond). However, I don't believe that automatically assuming the worst when there is not yet strong evidence that particular people hold certain beliefs is a good practice, cisgender or not.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This article gave me some insight into who Pundit is.

Thaumaturge.

Fo me, this was the stomach churner:

“I’m sorry, but if you are being raped all the time everywhere you go, you may want to consider it might be you”

EDIT: see post #134, this thread

 

[OakenHart]

Fo me, this was the stomach churner:

I already knew Pundit was horrible, but holy crud that's an extra layer of disgusting

 

[Malmuria]

Has Ward personally said things that were objectionable?

His most famous work is 30+ years behind him, and he has nobody else to market his work. He's ageing and has chronic health conditions such that he's had to turn to crowdfunding to pay medical bills in the past, IIRC. In the absence of specific statements of his own? How many of us would make bad decisions in the same situation?

The parts of the podcast that I watched were basically about aspects of dnd, or dnd "discourse," are a microcosm of broader culture wars (so orcs as evil, alignment in general, twitter "mobs" and so forth). Without veering off into politics, suffice to say that these discussions have become quite polarizing, especially in the US and UK contexts. It was clear that everyone in that podcast, Ward included, were approaching that broader conflict from a particular and recognizable perspective (at one point Ward identifies as a "deplorable" and pundit does the same in response). I guess the question is whether this alone warrants criticism; honestly when it comes to OSR and old school gaming, at this point I am a bit wary, as there appear to be many bad actors in the scene. If he is just there playing along so as to market his game, that's a questionable pr move given how many people will feel similarly about the other people on that podcast (I mean, I don't know who "hentai dad" is, but I think as a general rule, never do a podcast with someone who calls themselves "hentai dad").