Goodman Games: Our Efforts Have Been Mischaracterized

Goodman Games' CEO Joseph Goodman made a statement via YouTube over the weekend*. The video itself focused on the content of the controversial upcoming City State of the Invincible Overlord crowdfunding product, but was prefaced by a short introduction by Joseph Goodman, in which he reiterates his company's commitment to inclusivity and diversity and its opposition to bigotry, something which they say they "don't want to be associated with".

Goodman goes on to say that the company's efforts have been "mischaracterized by some folks" but does not go so far as to identify the mischaracterization, so it's not entirely clear what they consider to be untrue other than the "inaccurate" statements made by Bob Bledsaw II of Judges Guild about Goodman Games' plans, which Goodman mentioned last week.

For those who haven't been following this story, it has been covered in the articles Goodman Games Revives Relationship With Anti-Semitic Publisher For New City State Kickstarter, Goodman Games Offers Assurances About Judges Guild Royalties, and Judges Guild Makes Statement About Goodman Controversy. In short, Goodman Games is currently licensing an old property from a company with which it claimed to have cut ties in 2020 after the owner of that company made a number of bigoted comments on social media. Goodman Games has repeatedly said that this move would allow them to provide backers of an old unfulfilled Judges Guild Kickstarter with refunds, but there are many people questioning seeming contradictions in both the timelines involved and in the appropriateness of the whole endeavour.

Despite the backlash, the prospects of the crowdfunding project do not seem to have been harmed. The pre-launch page has over 3,000 followers, and many of the comments under the YouTube videos or on other social media are not only very supportive of the project, but also condemn those who question its appropriateness. In comparison, the original (failed) Judges Guild Kickstarter had only 965 backers.

The video is embedded below, followed by a transcript of the relevant section.

Hi everybody, I'm Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games. We recently announced our City State of the Invincible Overlord crowdfunding project for 5E and DCC RPG.

In the video you're about to see, some of our product development team is going to tell you about what makes the City State so amazing and why we're bringing it back to 5E and DCC audiences nearly 50 years after it was first released. It really is an amazing setting.

But we could have rolled this project out with a lot more clarity. Now, to be clear, Goodman Games absolutely opposes any sort of bigotry, racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, transphobia. We don't want to support it. We don't want to be associated with it.

Our well-intentioned effort to launch this project in a way that refunds backers of a former failed Kickstarter from another publisher kind of backfired in the way we announced it. Rest assured, the funds from this crowdfunding will actually fund refunds to backers of the original City State crowdfunding for the Pathfinder edition from 2014.

Unfortunately, our efforts have been—you know, I didn’t clarify them perfectly when we rolled it out—and they've been mischaracterized by some folks since then. But please rest assured, we stand for inclusivity and diversity.

You can read a lot more detail in the post that's linked below, and there's another video linked below where we talk about this in even more detail. But for now, we hope you will sit back and enjoy as some of the product development team tells you about really what makes the City State of the Invincible Overlord so amazing, and why you might want to check it out when it comes to crowdfunding soon.

Thanks, and I'll turn it over to them now.

The statement refers to a post about this that is supposed to be linked below, but at the time of writing no post is linked below the video, so it's not clear if that refers to a new post or one of Goodman Games' previous statements on the issue.

I reached out to Joseph Goodman last week to offer a non-confrontational (although direct and candid) interview in which he could answer some ongoing questions and talk on his reasoning behind the decision; I have not yet received a response to the offer--I did, however, indicate that I was just leaving for UK Games Expo, and wouldn't be back until this week.

*Normally I would have covered this in a more timely fashion, but I was away at UK Games Expo from Thursday through to Monday.

 

[the Jester]

I'm not sure I follow, but I am hesitant to ask.

I would think racist is a subtype of bigot. There are plenty of non-race-based things that people are prejudiced about.

 

[Imaro]

Joe Goodman is actually a guest on the Roll for Combat stream right now... I wonder if he'll be answering any questions around working with Bob Bledsaw II & Judges Guild.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Joe Goodman is actually a guest on the Roll for Combat stream right now... I wonder if he'll be answering any questions around working with Bob Bledsaw II & Judges Guild.

I would bet $1 that he won't. I think he's hoping this will all just go away if folks like Bob World Builder pretend there's no issue.

 

[Fenris-77]

I would bet $1 that he won't. I think he's hoping this will all just go away if folks like Bob World Builder pretend there's no issue.

I'll take the under here.

 

[Imaro]

I would bet $1 that he won't. I think he's hoping this will all just go away if folks like Bob World Builder pretend there's no issue.

Yeah Im checking in every so often but im here as well.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not sure I follow, but I am hesitant to ask.

Well, let me try.

I would think racist is a subtype of bigot. There are plenty of non-race-based things that people are prejudiced about.

Not quite.

Bigotry is what you think it is - It is a recognized feeling of dislike, hatred, or intolerance for a person or people due to their race, creed, nation of origin, gender presentation, sexual orientation, and so on. Bigoted actions are intentional.

In the past, racism was considered just racial bigotry. But, as I understand in more modern use, that was found to miss a bunch of stuff. There is systemic racism, and unconscious racism, for example, that are not intentional, but matters of structure or habit.

Which brought about what I understand to be the newer usage - a thing is racist if it has disparate impact on people of various racial demographics whether or not it was intentional.

So, for example, a person who opposes rezoning for multi-family homes in their neighborhood may not realize that this means that people of color are unlikely to be able to afford to move into the community - the policy is racist even if the person was only thinking in terms of traffic and population density.

The benefit of the usage is that it allows conversations about the world in which you can say, "That is racist," without having to say, "You are racist." We can then leave off some of the identity confrontation, and can keep the person reasoning instead of reacting to a personal accusation.

Looping back to the original comment - In the Northeast, there are probably a lot of people who fit into those spaces of unconscious racism, or supporting systemically racist policies, but who aren't intentional bigots.

 

[The Firebird]

Well, let me try.



Not quite.

Bigotry is what you think it is - It is a recognized feeling of dislike, hatred, or intolerance for a person or people due to their race, creed, nation of origin, gender presentation, sexual orientation, and so on. Bigoted actions are intentional.

In the past, racism was considered just racial bigotry. But, as I understand in more modern use, that was found to miss a bunch of stuff. There is systemic racism, and unconscious racism, for example, that are not intentional, but matters of structure or habit.

Which brought about what I understand to be the newer usage - a thing is racist if it has disparate impact on people of various racial demographics whether or not it was intentional.

So, for example, a person who opposes rezoning for multi-family homes in their neighborhood may not realize that this means that people of color are unlikely to be able to afford to move into the community - the policy is racist even if the person was only thinking in terms of traffic and population density.

The benefit of the usage is that it allows conversations about the world in which you can say, "That is racist," without having to say, "You are racist." We can then leave off some of the identity confrontation, and can keep the person reasoning instead of reacting to a personal accusation.

Looping back to the original comment - In the Northeast, there are probably a lot of people who fit into those spaces of unconscious racism, or supporting systemically racist policies, but who aren't intentional bigots.

Ah, then I understand your point. I think the conclusion is correct, speaking narrowly.

But it is worth emphasizing that this is the line of argument my wife was opposed to. We went to college (and currently live) in a northern state, where the line was something like "there is systemic discrimination up here, but not that bigoted stuff".

And her response was that, you know, there's a lot of bigotry up North as well. That comes out in how people treat her, and especially in how the healthcare professionals she works with talk about their patients or colleagues. Just an anecdote, which you can take or leave.

 

[Mannahnin]

Ah, then I understand your point. I think the conclusion is correct, speaking narrowly.

But it is worth emphasizing that this is the line of argument my wife was opposed to. We went to college (and currently live) in a northern state, where the line was something like "there is systemic discrimination up here, but not that bigoted stuff".

And her response was that, you know, there's a lot of bigotry up North as well. That comes out in how people treat her, and especially in how the healthcare professionals she works with talk about their patients or colleagues. Just an anecdote, which you can take or leave.

It's subtler, but it absolutely exists up here too. One of my friends here in New England had his eyes opened wide to it when he got into a serious relationship with a black woman, and saw how people treated her in public. They tried little experiments like entering stores separately or together, too, and some of the stuff he saw deeply shocked him.

 

[Mannahnin]

Joe Goodman is actually a guest on the Roll for Combat stream right now... I wonder if he'll be answering any questions around working with Bob Bledsaw II & Judges Guild.

Heck, I missed it by 12 minutes and couldn't try.

 

[Retreater]

Joe Goodman is actually a guest on the Roll for Combat stream right now... I wonder if he'll be answering any questions around working with Bob Bledsaw II & Judges Guild.

Unfortunately I won't be able to watch live - or I'd SuperChat the question right at him.