Goodman Games Announced the Indie RPG Creator Summit; Featured Presenters Share Something In Common

[darjr]

Regarding our previous Indie RPG Creator Summit speaker highlight post: We acknowledge and want to address our oversight in representing the diversity of our community, and are committed to promoting inclusivity moving forward.

 

[thirdkingdom]

The listed presenters represent a very small sliver of indie RPG design, both in terms of content and distribution channels. The lack of any presence from Exalted Funeral or any panel addressing distribution through itch.io shows a very narrow focus for an event that bills itself as an Indie RPG Creators Summit.

Jarrett is former Exalted Funeral, and one of the few speakers that I think exemplifies the "indie" tag. Otherwise, it's a pretty shocking lineup that omits the most creative and innovative voices in the OSR/indie fields, many of whom are BIPOC, queer, or women (or a combination).

 

[thirdkingdom]

I pointed out to one of the speakers involved with Goodman Games that the tag "indie" is misleading; if they had just stuck with "OSR" there would be less of a fuss -- although I thing that is still misleading and misrepresentative of the current OSR movement, although there is a perception that the OSR is a bunch of middle-aged white dudes (which includes myself). The speaker argued that compared to WoTC all other game companies are "indie", but that is such an out-of-touch view of the community. "Indie" has a very specific connotation, just like "punk" does with music.

Anyway, my top ten indie minority creators are, in no particular order:

*Sam Leigh
*Ava Islam
*Evlyn Moreau
*Rose Bailey
*Richard Ruane
*Zedeck Siew
*Sean McCoy
*Tanya Floaker (Lo, thy Dread Emperor is an awesome little game)
*Amanda P (author of Tannic)
*Emmy Allen

*I'd add Chris Spivey to the list (author of Haunted West and Harlem Unbound), but don't really consider him to be "indie".

 

[Divine2021]

Make of this what you will, but the vast majority of the comments to GG's tweet is in relation to the lack of diversity in the featured presenters.

This just tells me that Twitter sucks.

 

[jayoungr]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the response on Twitter has focused on the diversity of the featured panel, or more specifically the lack thereof.

Genuine question, just because I'm curious: Do we know for sure that all these guys are straight?

 

[thirdkingdom]

Genuine question, just because I'm curious: Do we know for sure that all these guys are straight?

They are not all straight.

 

[Gradine]

This just tells me that Twitter sucks.

Again, it's so incredibly easy to just write off everything that happens on Twitter without having to actually engage with it; that you miss what are actually incredibly good insights and commentary. You know who didn't think those comments "sucked"? You know who did appreciate the points they brought up? Goodman Games.

Genuine question, just because I'm curious: Do we know for sure that all these guys are straight?

It is my understanding that they not all straight.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Twitter -- well, old Twitter -- has been huge for marginalized voices getting their word out and bypassing traditional gatekeepers. The Arab Spring, the events in Ferguson, a great deal of the MeToo movement and more all had the impact they did largely because of Twitter. You may not be personally affected by any or all of those movements, but Twitter is -- or at least was -- far from a valueless platform.

 

[Divine2021]

Again, it's so incredibly easy to just write off everything that happens on Twitter without having to actually engage with it; that you miss what are actually incredibly good insights and commentary. You know who didn't think those comments "sucked"? You know who did appreciate the points they brought up? Goodman Games.

It is my understanding that they not all straight.

I got a lot of death threats for simply existing when I was active on Twitter, so I completely, and totally, feel justified in saying that Twitter sucks, that people who spend too much time on Twitter tend to be awful, and feel no need to consider the feelings of others who haven’t been told to kill themselves for simply tweeting while Black.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

feel no need to consider the feelings of others who haven’t been told to kill themselves for simply tweeting while Black.

I think some of the people arguing with you have probably gotten similar death threats. There's a lot of awful people out there on the internet and they tend to share their awfulness freely.