TSR TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC

The latest in the TSR3 saga, which has gone quiet for a while, is a new IndieGoGo campaign launched to "stop Wizards of the Coast". They cite wrongful bullying of TSR, and refusal to answer requests that WotC show TSR "proof of their claims" (although the campaign page doesn't mention what those claims are).

The IndieGoGo campaign was launched yesterday and has so far raised $675 (at the time of writing).

The action TSR seeks is a "Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership" which is a court declaration about the status of something in dispute.

TSR has launched a campaign to stop Wizards of the Coast

Become a Champion of TSR and Support TSR’s campaign against Wizards of the Coast!

TSR is taking a stand against Wizards of the Coast (“WOTC”) and its wrongful bullying of TSR, our trademarks, and its public libeling and slander of all those who helped create TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and products.

Wizards of the Coast has continually bullied TSR regarding TSR’s legally owned Trademarks. Wizards of the Coast has refused to answer all of TSR's repeated requests that they show any proof of their claims. Wizards of the Coast has the vast resources behind them and is implying to bring them to bear down on TSR.

The new TSR suffered widespread pushback when it launched, which they blamed on WotC, claiming that they were under a "coordinated assault across various channels being mounted.... by [WotC]" The company announced itself earlier this year, having acquired the TSR trademark after the previous holder accidentally let it lapse. It was run by Ernie Gygax, Justin LaNasa, and Stephen Dinehart. After several weeks of controversy, the company split into two -- Wonderfilled (Stephen Dinehart), and TSR (Ernie Gygax and Justin LaNasa).

TSR - TSR3 Blames Widespread Pushback On WotC

In an unexpected turn of events, the primary individuals behind TSR3 have claimed the pushback they've received on social media and elsewhere was orchestrated by .... D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast (a company which has thus far remained completely silent on recent events). TSR3 is run by...

www.enworld.org

The page also indicates an intention to "fight to have WotC's legacy product disclaimer removed" from older products (that's the disclaimer on the older books available on DMs Guild which indicates that those books are products of their time) by claiming that the disclaimer portrays the creators of those older products as "as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products".

TSR will also Fight to Have the WOTC Legacy Disclaimer Removed

TSR is suing WOTC for Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership . TSR will also pursue in the near future having WOTC remove the legacy content disclaimer placed on TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and other products, and retractions of any other libel and slander which alleges that racism and other heinous beliefs are incorporated into those products.

This disclaimer attempts to make a statement of fact argument, and therefore paints all of the writers, editors, artists and consumers of those products as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products. This statement by Wizards of the Coast opens the possibility for the producers and players of these "Legacy Products" to face ridicule, and face the labeling as "bigots", "racists", "misogynists", and worse Cyber & Physical Attacks!

Wizards of the Coast legacy content disclaimer.

"We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end".

TSR3's Justin LaNasa spoke about the campaign in a YouTube video.

TSR - Companies & Freelancers Distance Themselves From The New TSR

The new TSR (which I refer to as TSR3 to avoid confusion) has doubled down on its stance--which has been widely condemned online--via an ongoing series of tweets and replies from its TSR Games, Giantlands, and Dungeon Hobby Museum social media accounts (possibly operated by Justin LaNasa) in an...

www.enworld.org

 

[MGibster]

this thread took a weird turn...

Yeah, but at least now I know why Snarf has rejected all my friend requests.

 

[Bolares]

Yeah, but at least now I know why Snarf has rejected all my friend requests.

A blessing in disguise

 

[Sacrosanct]

But I need you to think on the following- that's a great analogy, when you understand how a tool works, right? Do you know, I mean ... do you really really know how facebook works? Not even the stuff that they're hiding- just the stuff that you probably aren't even thinking about? Let's run down a few things-

1. You understand that what you see on FB is different than what everyone else see, right? And you have no idea the ways in which it is different, because it's generated algorithmically? And that this portrayal of how the world "really is" will have subtle effects on you that you aren't even aware of?

2. Did you know that FB not only creates full profiles of you and everyone that uses FB in order to model your behavior, but also "shadow profiles" of people not on facebook? That's right- they are constantly scouring your posts and your photos to try and glean information about people (like me) that aren't on facebook; quite literally, your existence on facebook is selling out people that deliberately avoid it.

3. Facebook gives you a distorted view of the world; not just the recent well-publicized issues of causing body dysmorphia for teen girls (instagram), but causing depression in general since you are generally presented with peoples' posts that attempt to portray idealized versions of themselves, and not the reality as you would see it if you were actually present. Umbran talks about the connection of other people ... but it's actually the opposite. Just the dopamine rush of checking facebook, and the worry that your life isn't as great as what other people present.

4. Do you use facebook messenger? You're aware, right, that all of that is being checked and then used by facebook? Including photos and links? Imagine if someone said, "Hey, all your phone calls are going to be recorded and monetized by a private company. Oh, you can trust them!"

5. And all that data- it's not just the Facebooks, and the advertising, and the Cambridge Analyticas of the world that know everything about you. Facebook has acknowledged selling off that data to all sorts of shady places ... and if you think it hasn't been hacked ... well, it has been.

6. How about the genocide? Social media is great for organizing people ... especially if you want them to feel angry about minorities in the county. Like the Rohingya. That's surprising, except ...

7. Facebook has known that its algorithms promote divisive and false content, but because it drives engagement and profits, it decided to go hard into that. In other words, facebook literally prioritized the worst of the worst.

So yes, it is a tool! But most people are discounting not just how bad it is for the world, and how much damage it does ... but they also don't realize how much it influences them in ways that they don't know.



I think that's great- but I also think that this would have been the case without Facebook. I have seen too many people radicalized ... and trust me, I don't think any of them started by saying, "Hey, I'd like to look at some cute cat videos and keep up with some friends, and also? I'd like to totally believe in crazy conspiracies and drive my in-real-life friends away!"

If people knew how it was influencing them ... then it wouldn't work. That's the beauty of it. It's just giving people more and more of what they think they want.

...and the thing to reflect on is not the obvious ways other people have been changed, but rather- what has this done to me? Would I even know?


To me, what's crazy is the people that continue to defend facebook. All of this ... all of this is out there, but people can't quit it. Almost like that's exactly by design. Weird, huh?

I hate to break it to you, but all of that is already being done by pretty much every company website you go to, from Amazon to Yahoo. My day job is project management for a large banking corporation. More than 10 years ago we were approached by several data management companies to coordinate and share users' information and habits. For example, their goal was to sell it like: "Customer goes out and orders pizza every Friday night using their debit card. We want to make it easier for them, and give them an automated prompt on their phone "It's Friday, would you like to order another pizza and we will process the entire transaction automatically for you!" (submitting the online order, charging the card, etc all behind the scenes). or targeted advertising, "We see you get pizza every night and you love action movies, how about with your pizza this Friday, you get 10% off that pizza AND 10% off this great movie rental!"

Our bank declined to take part of that, but you can be sure most big companies, not just FB, is doing everything you're accusing FB of. So unless you never use the internet (obviously you do since you're posting here), your information is being mined, linked, and shared. Information = $.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Yeah, but at least now I know why Snarf has rejected all my friend requests.

Oh, that's not why .....

I can sniff out a bard from a thousand miles away.

 

[Umbran]

A little more than that, Morrus.

I think it's just kind of remarkable that people here are mocking (correctly, and I'm one of them) LaNasa and TSR(cubed) ... without pausing to think about how and why we keep having the same systemic issues.

So, the problem here is that what you are now talking about is present in any open mass communication. The activity-based algorithms are not solely responsible for the effect. Indeed, if we were not already drawn to content in this manner, the algorithms wouldn't earn them money!

If the system is open enough, folks will find the material they want, algorithm or not.

I mean, we all found EN World, right? And that wasn't generally about the algorithm, now was it?

 

[Bolares]

Oh, that's not why .....

I can sniff out a bard from a thousand miles away.

*another bard

 

[ReshiIRE]

I hate to break it to you, but all of that is already being done by pretty much every company website you go to, from Amazon to Yahoo. My day job is project management for a large banking corporation. More than 10 years ago we were approached by several data management companies to coordinate and share users' information and habits. For example, their goal was to sell it like: "Customer goes out and orders pizza every Friday night using their debit card. We want to make it easier for them, and give them an automated prompt on their phone "It's Friday, would you like to order another pizza and we will process the entire transaction automatically for you!" (submitting the online order, charging the card, etc all behind the scenes). or targeted advertising, "We see you get pizza every night and you love action movies, how about with your pizza this Friday, you get 10% off that pizza AND 10% off this great movie rental!"

Our bank declined to take part of that, but you can be sure most big companies, not just FB, is doing everything you're accusing FB of. So unless you never use the internet (obviously you do since you're posting here), your information is being mined, linked, and shared. Information = $.

I think Snarf's point is that this is incredibly dangerous shite that should be regulated out of existance and this type of predatory, invasive behaviour that wallows individuals to be targetted to an insane degree on information that really, relaly shouldn't matter and shared is wrong.

The industry and internet model has to change. We need to figure out some way to actually allow legitimate and valuable commerical work to take place, but none of this crap.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think Snarf's point is that this is incredibly dangerous shite that should be regulated out of existance and this type of predatory, invasive behaviour that wallows individuals to be targetted to an insane degree on information that really, relaly shouldn't matter and shared is wrong.

The industry and internet model has to change. We need to figure out some way to actually allow legitimate and valuable commerical work to take place, but none of this crap.

Oh, I don't disagree. I'm just saying that refusing to use FB for those reasons while still using the internet (and your debit card) in general seems odd, since pretty much everyone, not just FB, is doing those things.

It would be like saying I'm not going to drink soda anymore cuz i don't want diabetes, but I'm going to keep eating candy all day long.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I hate to break it to you, but all of that is already being done by pretty much every company website you go to, from Amazon to Yahoo. My day job is project management for a large banking corporation. More than 10 years ago we were approached by several data management companies to coordinate and share users' information and habits. For example, their goal was to sell it like: "Customer goes out and orders pizza every Friday night using their debit card. We want to make it easier for them, and give them an automated prompt on their phone "It's Friday, would you like to order another pizza and we will process the entire transaction automatically for you!" (submitting the online order, charging the card, etc all behind the scenes). or targeted advertising, "We see you get pizza every night and you love action movies, how about with your pizza this Friday, you get 10% off that pizza AND 10% off this great movie rental!"

Our bank declined to take part of that, but you can be sure most big companies, not just FB, is doing everything you're accusing FB of. So unless you never use the internet (obviously you do since you're posting here), your information is being mined, linked, and shared. Information = $.

Uh huh. That's certainly true of places like, say, google (which is also extremely problematic).

But if you are seriously trying to compare Facebook to these other companies, then you are either missing the point, or deluding yourself. That's okay- we all tell ourselves the lies we need to in order to make things okay, and we all draw the lines we need to when things aren't okay.

If you think that Facebook is just fine and dandy for you, and that is a tradeoff you can live with or ignore, that's fine. The world is complicated and hard to think through ...

But Facebook is not a good company or product, and saying "everyone is kinda evil, so ... what's so bad about being REALLY evil" just doesn't cut it ... for me.

 

[Umbran]

Sure. Do you know what else works?

Seeing someone ... in person. Calling them. Texting them. Sending them an email. Having a videochat or facetime. Getting together for a game on Roll20. Using discord. Should I continue?

No. You should, however, answer a question - why do you post long essays here? Why don't you just e-mail them to all of us?