D&D General [rant]The conservatism of D&D fans is exhausting.

[Micah Sweet]

Again, if you watched the Tiefling and the Gnome video and felt insulted and mocked, that says more about you than it.

I think that doesn't acknowledge people's feelings as valid for them. You don't have to agree that something is insulting from your perspective for it to be insulting from someone else's perspective.

 

[Remathilis]

I think that doesn't acknowledge people's feelings as valid for them. You don't have to agree that something is insulting from your perspective for it to be insulting from someone else's perspective.

Again, you can feel the attempt at humor was in poor taste. You are allowed to not like it. What you aren't allowed to do is use it as proof of a nefarious plot to attack a section of players (be it grognards or gnome lovers). You're upset feelings are not proof of malfeasance.

 

[The Firebird]

Again, you can feel the attempt at humor was in poor taste. You are allowed to not like it. What you aren't allowed to do is use it as proof of a nefarious plot to attack a section of players (be it grognards or gnome lovers). You're upset feelings are not proof of malfeasance.

The strong version of the claim here is not "there is a nefarious plot to attack a section of players". It's not a nefarious plot; it's just a general atmosphere wherein this section of players is considered backwards or guilty by association or not worth our time.

Treating people as important, treating them with empathy, means considering in advance if our jokes or the things we say might come across poorly. I don't think WotC is doing this.

It's worth adding that WotC has made many missteps with many other groups in the past. In some cases they've issued apologies or corrections. Where they choose to do so says a lot about their priorities.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Treating people as important, treating them with empathy, means considering in advance if our jokes or the things we say might come across poorly. I don't think WotC is doing this.

It's worth adding that WotC has made many missteps with many other groups in the past. In some cases they've issued apologies or corrections. Where they choose to do so says a lot about their priorities.

Indeed it does.

You won't be surprised to learn that I am among the groups to which they have never--not once--issued any sort of apology for the jokes at the expense of the group(s) to which I belong.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Again, you can feel the attempt at humor was in poor taste. You are allowed to not like it. What you aren't allowed to do is use it as proof of a nefarious plot to attack a section of players (be it grognards or gnome lovers). You're upset feelings are not proof of malfeasance.

I don't recall anyone talking about proof.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Gnomes were originally added to the game as a parody of Dutch people (check out the hats and clogs) but people in the Netherlands have a good laugh about it.

 

[James Gasik]

I am always amused how much Thaco gets under the skin of grognards. Thac0 has been the butt of jokes for 40 years. Older players found it inferior to the attack matrixes of 1e, newer fans hated how intuitive it is to add and then subtract for every hit. Upwards AC was a considered for 2e (and kiboshed for compatibility) because of how nonsensical it was. People made Thac0 jokes when Thac0 was in it's prime. But WotC had the gumption to mock the second most mocked mechanic in D&D history and every grognard already nursing a grudge found their knickers twisted and their pearls clutched in fake Kabuki outrage that WotC was impugning the honor of AD&D and the people who played it.

Honestly, even if WotC was making a light-hearted rib at a long mocked mechanic rather than a biting criticism of grognard players as grumpy fools, the fact the grognards looked at Thaco and saw themselves in him says more about the community than WotC. So I say if the clown shoes fit...

Yeah, I mean, it's not like they took Gnomes out of the PHB or anything...

 

[FrozenNorth]

What about that "I'm a monster" ad campaign when 4e was spinning up?

That was a joke by the designers of 4e at their own expense: pointing out that according to the logic of the 4e PHB, gnomes were monsters rather than player characters (which was remedied when the 4e PHB 2 came out).

 

[FrozenNorth]

Gnome fans seemed not to appreciate it.

Actually, we thought it was funny. I mean, we would have preferred that gnomes were included in PHB, but the character was endearing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Actually, we thought it was funny. I mean, we would have preferred that gnomes were included in PHB, but the character was endearing.

Fair enough. Your experience with it wasn't universal, however, which I know through my own personal experience.