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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 9638442" data-attributes="member: 9053">I think this is very well said, and very important to the hobby. I grew up in the 70s and 80s playing, and there were a lot of social outcasts and odd people who were welcomed into the game. Nowadays, I realize that they were neurodivergent, but we didn't know it back then. Other social circles excluded them and gaming was a welcoming home.I think those kinds of people are currently being subtly and not so subtly pushed out of the hobby because they have issues fitting in and don't understand some of the social dynamics that people have that are new to gaming. And I don't think they should be excluded. I don't think people should be excluded for politics, bad smells, or wanting to tell me about their character too much.It's not that I don't find those things annoying; I just want gaming to continue to be as inclusive as possible. And, no, that doesn't mean I have no standards, I just relax them when I'm playing at a Con or my FLGS. Because gaming in public spaces, where a lot of gaming happens, is where you see this. Frankly, the people who want to gatekeep the hobby are the only ones I want to keep out of it.I come at it from the perspective of having gamed with a lot of people on the spectrum, and having a daughter who's neurodivergent. She works very hard to fit into group environments, and we want to help her as much as we can, but in the end, it's on her. In my opinion, it's on all of us to be as understanding as possible because we all have something odd about us, and we're all just looking to have some fun.</blockquote>

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