D&D 5E Does the inclusion of these two gamers undo WOTC desire to be inclusive?

[Alzrius]

I know Pundit and often find him annoying so I tuned him out several years ago. But I have heard that he worked on a book that had a transgendered character on the cover. And that he treated the subject matter with great sensitivity. I don't know much about Zac.

I'd never heard of The RPG Pundit before this, but I've been reading Zak's blog intermittently for several years now. In that time, I can honestly say that I've never seen him exhibit anything that remotely resembles the bigotry being ascribed to him. The worst I can say is that he can be assertive to the point of being aggressive when debating a point, but that's it (and in all honesty, I've seen plenty of people take that sort of behavior to a much worse extreme).

This article is a response to the one the OP linked, written by someone who knows Zak. It paints a much better picture of the man, and a much poorer one of that article.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I can't say much about Pundit, as I know very little about him, but I did a double take when I saw Zak S's name in connection with these allegations.

The man can be abrasive, no doubt about it, but this is obviously nonsense to anyone who reads any amount of his output.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

For those too lazy to follow the counterpoint links, Zak runs an almost all-female game that includes multiple queer or disabled gamers, including his girlfriend of like seven years, all of whom seem to have nothing but positive things to say about him and specifically his attitude of inclusiveness. The whole fake issue reeks of horseshit, and I consider it an embarrassment to progressive politics and policies of inclusion that this article has found any traction.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I was reading about this yesterday, and it struck me that - for an issue that was obviously a "huge deal" for parts of the internet - no one on ENworld seemed to care in the slightest.

 

[delericho]

The beauty of the *-ism/*-phobic attack is that it's really easy to make and incredibly difficult to defend against. It's generally a good idea to take such accusations with a pinch of salt, and at least check them out for yourself, because it can be a quick and dirty way to sully someone's reputation.

As appears to be the case here.

I have also seen arguments saying that, the section for sexual orientation, is too small. But honestly that section doesn't need to be adorned or large, it's small for a reason, because now in this day and age sexual orientation does not need to be a big kerfuffle, but a part of life that should just be automatically just accepted.

Indeed. It says what needs to be said, and moves on. Well done to WotC on that one.

 

[sidonunspa]

And the political correct head hunt comes to RPGs.....

As someone who works in the industry, I can attest that we have some amazingly good and some shockingly horrible people...

being honest here... just because two complete ass-hats where involved in a game's production is not a reason to not buy a game or play it.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

As a transgender person (noting, also, that I don't speak for anyone but myself), I find them both to be problematic enough that I don't want to read what they write on the internet. I'm not terribly fond of abrasive people in general. However, their names in a D&D product as "consultants" doesn't bother me. Lots of people work on gaming products and all of those people have opinions on various topics, some of which I probably disagree with. These two are more outspoken than most but that doesn't change the fact that D&D 5E is my favorite edition of D&D so far and my current game of choice.

 

[whiteape1]

I completely agree, and myself I don't care much for political correctness, I can't agree with political correctness. Although it seeks to fix a short term problem, it diss illusions those in e long run. Don't get me wrong, I like people having an equal standing and always want that but constantly going for the correct can sometime cause a stir

 

[Morrus]

Guys, while discussion of issues of gender and inclusiveness are very welcome here, let's keep the personal drama out of it and make sure this remains a comfortable place for people to post. The issues are important and can be discussed without dragging specific individuals into it. You can even discuss the concepts of separating the art from the artist (we have a thread in the Media Lounge on that subject right now, as it happens) but, again, let's try not to get embroiled in personal disputes between actual individuals. If you want to do that, there's... well, the whole rest of the internet is accommodating your wishes right now, and there's plenty of places you can weigh in to your heart's content! Thanks!

 

[whiteape1]

I agree with you Morrus. In the end these guys have no effect of the final products credibility. I've never read any of their writings or blogs, so I have no ied what their like. As such I won't disrespect them, or write an opinion about them unless I have both sides of any story.