[OT] Good taste, bad taste? Take a look at this promotional campaign...

[Ancalagon]

I don't find it offensive.

What I find profoundly offensive is jack chick himself, and all the conservative bigots. They give christianity a bad name.

Ancalagon

 

[William Ronald]

I did not find the "tract" so much offensive, as annoying. It seems to be a parody on the Jack Chick track, but seems to be relatively unfunny. Maybe it is because I have run into people who swallow Jack Chick's line completely.

While I am not a Christian, I think a Christian might be offended by how it and Jack Chick trivialize their beliefs. Of course, there is a Yiddish word that rhymes with duck that I associate with Jack Chick. I know a few others as well, but I will not mention them out of respect for Eric's Grandmother and board decorum.

I concur with Ancalagon that Jack Chick is a hateful person who believes anyone who disagrees with his opinion is an agent of evil.

The tract by White Wolf seems to have been created just for shock value, and it fails in that regard. I found their marketing efforts boring.

I think it is a case of someone trying to go for a bad-boy image. Yawn. I would like to see an original spin on that. I find a "look-at-me, I am badder than bad" campaign very unoriginal. (The closest thing to originality seemed to be a background picture of Jesus where the halo was partially cut off to suggest horns. My that REALLY took creativity.)

I have never really been into White Wolf's games. Maybe it is the fact that most of the game setting seem to be stepped in doom and gloom. I believe that people can make their own destiny. (Ironically, I enjoyed Mage: The Ascension when I played it briefly because it seemed as if the characters could make their own destiny... as opposed to some of the other games.)

So, in summary, I suspect White Wolf hopes that someone will attack their new game and give them some free press. At the risk of sounding cynical, this doesn't seem to bode well about the quality of the game.

 

[BMF]

I don't like religion at all, but even I can see how that is in bad taste.

It certainly doesn't do anyone any favors. I didn't think it was very funny either. It was just lame.

 

[theburningman]

It's about time!

I'm glad I've finally got someone like Father Ramos to watch out for my interests. When my DM subjected our group to another "golden shower" last week, I said it was the absolute last time I was putting up with that kind of behavior!


Oh. It's not a real sermon?



Uhhhh. . . nevermind.

 

[Zappo]

I found it disgusting until I realized that it was actually by White Wolf themselves. At which point I found it rather funny.

They aren't really bashing anyone save fundies, who IMO deserve to get bashed (though they would deserve much more to get severely ignored).

I agree with Voobaha.

 

[vox]

I consider those companies as attached, but seperate entities. The same way I consider WOTC under Hasbro, but I won't hold any grudges against WOTC for any Hasbro stupidity.

I like or dislike those other entities for entirely different reasons then I dislike WW.

FD

To the best of my knowledge, WOTC is wholly owned by Hasbro. It is a part of Hasbro. Hasbro approves all WOTC content or it isn't published. It is like "Olive Garden" is part of Darden Restaurants.

Malhavoc is not owned by White Wolf. They have some sort of distribution agreement with White Wolf. White Wolf does not have any editorial authority or any real input in what Malhovoc puts out. The most White Wolf could do would be to refuse to distribute Malhavoc products if they had a problem with them. Malhavoc could distribute them through other vendors.

Small press publishers almost universally use larger distribution houses to sell their books. It just so happens that White Wolf is a distribution house and a publishing house so it is a little confusing but I am almost certain that White Wolf has no editorial say in Malhavoc products and the connection between the two companies is limited to a distribution deal.

On another note, Piratecat posted (a link to?) the referenced Chick track a while back. It was very funny. Satirizing something that is so obviously ridiculous isn't so funny to me. I'm not offended, I just thought, "I'd like to read that Chick track again, that was funny--this is just something that reminds me of something funny".

-vox (who really just knows what he reads about Malhavoc on the Monte website, but I'm still pretty sure I'm right). Oh, and if I wrote all this but misspelled Malhavoc, then it's Monte Cook's fault for not having a wizard named "Ted" or something sensible like that.

 

[Conaill]

Here's an extract of the html source from the front page:

<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="If you are first coming to this site, nobody is trying to trick you. It's easy enough for you to look at who has registered the URL or to see that it is running off of our servers. This is also not an attack on the religiously minded among you. It is intended as a parody of those religious zealots who inevitably are going to be upset by our production of a "Demon" game. We just figured we'd beat them to the punch.">
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="White Wolf's official web site. Publishers of fiction and Storytelling games, including Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension.">
<META NAME="KeyWords" CONTENT="White Wolf, , everquest, roleplaying, rpg,vampire the masquerade, werewolf the apocalypse, mage the ascension, roleplaying games, storyteller, wraith, changeling">

 

[Billiarmus]

I have to agree with heirodule on this one.

Reading that article before reading the post, I was sparked to anger that such hatred and misunderstanding was being placed forth towards gamers.

But I'm really bothered by the fact they would mock Christianity as a marketing ploy, playing on the emotions and faith of some individuals.

That seems a little more than a little low

Just my two cents.

 

[kenjib]

I like hoaxes. They're generally not so funny when they tell you that they are hoaxes though, so I don't think that White Wolf should have made their connection any more explicit. I think it's funny -- although I do think that the original Jack Chick comic is even funnier.

Now please excuse me while I go *cough* kill a zombie *cough*.