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.

 

[Dire Bare]

Speaking for myself, I feel that the heartwarming stories of a racist/bigot who reforms their ways after a friendship with a black man, or gay man, or someone from a non-Christian religion, etc tend to simply come off as soothing balms to make people feel complacent. They feel like bandaids to me over wider cracks in our society. All the Green Book stories in the world aren’t going to fix bigotry and racism because they are individual stories amidst a raft of systemic problems.

Okay.

You're right, kinda, changing the mind of one bigot doesn't "solve" racism. I don't think anybody is under that illusion.

Heck, "solving" racism and bigotry isn't something we're likely to achieve anytime soon, no matter what we do. Humans have been prone to bigotry since Day 1.

But treating others with understanding and compassion is the way I prefer to go through life, even with folks who belief terrible things and commit terrible acts.

That doesn't mean we stop fighting racism in other ways. It's not one or the other, but both.

Show up to the protests, write your politicians and let them know how you feel (and vote), proudly be anti-racist, be visible with your anti-racism, be a good example for others, and let racists in your life know how you feel about their beliefs.

But giving in to similar negative thoughts just entrenches folks and perpetuates bigotry. It doesn't solve racism, but it can perpetuate and strengthen it.

 

[Artamo]

Okay.

You're right, kinda, changing the mind of one bigot doesn't "solve" racism. I don't think anybody is under that illusion.

Heck, "solving" racism and bigotry isn't something we're likely to achieve anytime soon, no matter what we do. Humans have been prone to bigotry since Day 1.

But treating others with understanding and compassion is the way I prefer to go through life, even with folks who belief terrible things and commit terrible acts.

That doesn't mean we stop fighting racism in other ways. It's not one or the other, but both.

Show up to the protests, write your politicians and let them know how you feel (and vote), proudly be anti-racist, be visible with your anti-racism, be a good example for others, and let racists in your life know how you feel about their beliefs.

But giving in to similar negative thoughts just entrenches folks and perpetuates bigotry. It doesn't solve racism, but it can perpetuate and strengthen it.

My issue remains that the systemic problem has been ignored but the onus of the solution is placed on individuals, and often the very individuals who are the most vulnerable.

 

[overgeeked]

My issue remains that the systemic problem has been ignored but the onus of the solution is placed on individuals, and often the very individuals who are the most vulnerable.

That’s how modern, Western societies deal with all their problems. Poverty, climate change, racism, etc. Pretend systemic problems are individual problems and throw up our hands.

 

[Riley]

But treating others with understanding and compassion is the way I prefer to go through life, even with folks who belief terrible things and commit terrible acts.

That doesn't mean we stop fighting racism in other ways. It's not one or the other, but both.

Show up to the protests, write your politicians and let them know how you feel (and vote), proudly be anti-racist, be visible with your anti-racism, be a good example for others, and let racists in your life know how you feel about their beliefs.

But giving in to similar negative thoughts just entrenches folks and perpetuates bigotry. It doesn't solve racism, but it can perpetuate and strengthen it.

Your point here would once have made sense to me. In a time of mutual benevolence and peaceful coexistence.

- A Minnesotan

 

[Dire Bare]

My issue remains that the systemic problem has been ignored but the onus of the solution is placed on individuals, and often the very individuals who are the most vulnerable.

Sure. That goes for a lot of societal issues. Politicians and institutions often push individual solutions rather than affecting real societal change.

But being open to the idea that bigots are people too and can change, IMO, doesn't really fall into that.

And small changes at the individual level do matter. Grains of sand on the beach and all. But putting pressure on politicians and other policy makers to affect real change is even more important.

No matter how many soda cans I recycle, it's not going to solve climate change. But I still recycle. I also make sure to vote for politicians who are likely to strengthen environmental regulations, I make my voice heard.

 

[Dire Bare]

Your point here would once have made sense to me. In a time of mutual benevolence and peaceful coexistence.

- A Minnesotan

It's tough right now in Minnesota, to be sure.

And mad respect for those organizing, protesting, and doing what they can to help neighbors who are the most affected.

Your anger and frustration is justified, as is that of your community and your local and state politicians. Your pushback against what's going on is important.

We should not take it easy on those who are perpetrating these extreme acts, they deserve censure, public shame, and even prosecution.

It's tough right now for anybody sane to feel charity to those in our government perpetrating these acts . . . and yet, plenty of Minnesotans and others are doing just that.

Be angry, fight back . . . but don't give in to hate.

 

[Artamo]

No matter how many soda cans I recycle, it's not going to solve climate change. But I still recycle. I also make sure to vote for politicians who are likely to strengthen environmental regulations, I make my voice heard.

It’s funny you mention this because I was going to make the same analogy and decided against it because I was afraid it would get too far off topic. The difference is I’ve been recycling for years and found out relatively recently that most of the recycling was ending up in a local landfill because the local recycling facilities weren’t able to handle much of the load.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It’s funny you mention this because I was going to make the same analogy and decided against it because I was afraid it would get too far off topic. The difference is I’ve been recycling for years and found out relatively recently that most of the recycling was ending up in a local landfill because the local recycling facilities weren’t able to handle much of the load.

We have that problem here too. Too many kinds of recyclable materials can't actually be recycled by many existing facilities, so most stuff just ends up in the landfill anyway.

 

[Dire Bare]

It’s funny you mention this because I was going to make the same analogy and decided against it because I was afraid it would get too far off topic. The difference is I’ve been recycling for years and found out relatively recently that most of the recycling was ending up in a local landfill because the local recycling facilities weren’t able to handle much of the load.

Yeah.

Industry has spent big money trying to convince us all that individually, if we just "reduce, recycle, and reuse" we can make a difference . . . while failing to actually build systems that effectively recycle our waste.

We need systemic change at the societal level which takes industry leaders and politicians to be motivated to affect change rather than passing the buck to individuals and shirking their own ability to affect change.

But I still recycle. It's the right thing to do. But I don't stop with recycling.

 

[Riley]

Be angry, fight back . . . but don't give in to hate.

Hate seems such a strange feeling to me. I sometimes use the word to describe the feelings I temporarily experience regarding specific individuals because of specific things they are doing.

However I really don't understand how people can experience those feelings generally and perpetually, toward whole categories of people.

(I do remember, decades ago as an adolescent, feeling prolonged hate and jealousy toward those who I felt had caused me misery. But then I remember deciding to let those feelings go, because they served no benefit and only caused me personal suffering. That all seems so very long ago and far away, and I wish I knew how I achieved that transition. )