Personalities in the Gaming Industry and Politics

[John Morrow]

I agree 100% with what you're saying; I am, however, not seeing what "two concepts" I have merged or confused.

I don't think that you, personally, have necessarily done this. But I do think the idea that people should sit down at a table and look at the facts leads a lot of people to the conclusion that such an honest meeting of minds should produce agreement. So consider what I wrote as a warning that sitting down to talk over issues like adults is a good thing but don't expect it to work miracles.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Also true. But it should ring a small bell for people who consider doing the same. I could be wrong but if a gamer goes political then I see him losing more customers then he will gain.

Who is going to go out of their way to buy from a game designer just because he has a similar political stance? Maybe a few but not enough in my opinion to offset the number of customers he will lose.

All of this comes with the caveat that I bet 90% of the people who have bought SKR's material have never been to his website and have no clue what his political leaning is and thus we are probably talking about a very small change in sales.

But a smart business person knows alienating and offending even a single customer is not a good thing. Word of mouth can be dangerous and we gamers just never seem to shut up.

Amen to this, especially the bolded part. It's just smart customer service. Now, I would be far better off and spend lots more money if I didn't know your political views, your religion or your sexual preferences.

If I know them and don't agree with them, then I take my money elsewhere.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

When the other side often doesn't agree, they reject the possibility that the other side understands their position but simply disagrees and jump to the conclusion that the other side is unreasonable, stupid, inattentive, or simply evil. They can't imagine why an intelligent person of good character could possibly look at the same facts and arguments and come to a different conclusion. And once you stop believing that the people who disagree with you might also be of good character, all civility tends to break down.

It is just this sort of innuendo I get when I visit certain blogs of professionals who I admire for their work, and then read stuff that comes off just as you describe. And it is usually snarky innuendo, not face-slappingly obvious. I don't want to listen to people openly express that I am unreasonable, stupid, inattentive, or evil just because I disagree.

If they are going to run for the self-congratualtory "but I'm an artist" high ground when called on it, I will happily run for the degenerate "and I'm a consumer in a saturated market" low ground, and send my hard-earned money elsewhere.

We're I able to find blogs by creative professionals who were also professional in expressing their politics on their personal blogs I happily shrug it off and ignore our differences, maybe even with greater admiration for them and willingness to go out of my way to check out their stuff! But when I read that they look at me as a less-than-equal, so much that they see me as almost less-than-human... well pardon me, but I'm not that stupid that need to stick around for that kind of abuse, however rarely they express it.

I have found exactly the situation I described above so common that I make an effort to skip such blogs by creative-professionals. No, I don't go mining their archives to find something offensive. *shrug* When there is one that doesn't try to insult me, I keep it.

 

[Umbran]

I agree that there might be "consequences" for speaking one's mind, or mixing RPG and political musings in a blog or other public forum. I assume that's what you mean by "they deserve what they get." So be it.

Pretty much, yes. If you step up and put your thoughts in a public place, expect the public to react to them.

But I wouldn't ask someone to compartmentalize themselves or their writing to make things more comfortable for the reader. If the reader doesn't like it, it's the reader's problem, not the writer's. In my opinion.

Ask them to? No. Expect them to be bright enough to do so without our bidding? Yes.

If you're a professional, and you write publicly about your profession, you should expect (and probably want) fans of your work to read your writings. That makes those writings an extension of your professional life. It also effectively makes any other writings associated with the professional ones into part of your professional life. Do you want your political leanings (or health, or sex life, or whatever other private matters) to become part of your professional life? Then don't mix 'em together in a publicly accessible place!

Knowing when to separate the private from the public is part of "professionalism". Folks who mix them willy-nilly aren't behaving in a professional manner, and will be judged accordingly.

It surely isn't difficult to segregate blogs into professional and personal subsets. It isn't like I'm suggesting some onorous burden.

 

[John Morrow]

I posit that people, in actual practice, do the opposite -- they form their opinions early, then seek out facts or other evidence to reinforce their world view; and they cling very hard to their position/opinion despite opposing evidence. In effect: no one wants their opinions changed, which makes a lot of political debate kind of pointless.

I don't think the evidence really shows that. Some articles to consider:

http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arch/6_29_96/bob1.htm
http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~camerer/web_material/latimes050204.htm

(A more scientific paper published in a peer-reviewed journal on the issues mentioned in the second article can be found at http://www.csbmb.princeton.edu/~jdgreene/ if the newspaper article is too unscientific for you.)

I think the last two articles may explain why people resist change and why purely rational arguments don't always persuade people to change their mind.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

"MY God, I've become my father/mother/grandmother."

I think there's a template for that that Aberrations book ...

 

[mearls]

I've never really been clear on *why* industry people talk about politics. I rarely, if ever, bring it up on my journal simply because I doubt I have anything truly interesting to say about the topic. There are highly paid analysts and political scientists out there who have far more compelling things to say than I do. I think I have a much better chance of saying something interesting and thought provoking about games.

Aside from that, political discussions on the Internet are either sewers stuffed with shrieking, battling extremists or echo chambers designed to reinforce and comfort.

The odd thing is that I've met a number of people who seem to assume they know my political beliefs, but no one has ever gotten it right.

Monte mentioned that he's seen RPG writers get in far more hot water from industry comments than anything else. That's definitely true - a lot of people in the business make major, fundamental mistakes in assessing who they need to impress to get more work or make it as a full-timer.

 

[GMSkarka]

I find it depressing that so many people want to equate the personal opinions of the artist with the art itself.

I find Orson Scott Card to be a religious nutjob. Doesn't prevent me from really liking the "Alvin Maker" books.

Harlan Elllison is a grade-A jerk. Writes brilliantly, though.

Bono has some seriously inflated opinions on his relevance on the stage of world affairs, but that doesn't change the fact that I like U2, and continue to buy their music.

Earnest Hemingway was a misogynistic, macho kook with a ton of personal issues....and I love his work.

Christopher Marlowe was a bisexual (possibly homosexual) who betrayed and spied against his friends on behalf of the government. Doesn't change the fact that I consider him to be the greatest writer of the Elizabethan era. (edit: just to clarify, it's the betrayal I have the problem with, not the bisexuality.)

In short....if you only allow yourself to enjoy art produced by people you agree with, you're going to have a very boring life.


"I won't see movies by X, because they hold political opinions I don't believe in" --- never mind that X is one of 400-odd people who worked on the film, and X made their money before the cameras rolled, so your little boycott doesn't effect them in the slightest. It's slacktivism at its finest....a meaningless act which isn't hard to undertake, and serves no purpose other than to make you feel righteous. Knock yerself out, I guess.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

I've never really been clear on *why* industry people talk about politics. I rarely, if ever, bring it up on my journal simply because I doubt I have anything truly interesting to say about the topic. There are highly paid analysts and political scientists out there who have far more compelling things to say than I do. I think I have a much better chance of saying something interesting and thought provoking about games.

Aside from that, political discussions on the Internet are either sewers stuffed with shrieking, battling extremists or echo chambers designed to reinforce and comfort.

The odd thing is that I've met a number of people who seem to assume they know my political beliefs, but no one has ever gotten it right.

Monte mentioned that he's seen RPG writers get in far more hot water from industry comments than anything else. That's definitely true - a lot of people in the business make major, fundamental mistakes in assessing who they need to impress to get more work or make it as a full-timer.

Agreed. I'm looking forward to your stuff from WotC.

 

[Miln]

I think it boils down to this for artists (authors, etc.) posting in a blog:

1) You are allowed to post/discuss your views in a blog.

2) If you discuss your political views in a blog, some people will agree with you, and others will disagree.

3) Those who disagree may choose not to purchase the products that you are selling. That's one of the consequences of free speech - people can "enhance" their disagreement with you by not buying your products that they otherwise might have.

4) If you are willing to accept #3, then post away! You most-likely will lose some customers. If you are afraid of losing customers, then don't post controversial stuff.

I asked Chris Pramas in the other thread about this, because he indicated that he may lose business because of his blog. He felt that his freedom to post his views was more important than the bottom line. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.

DaveMage, thank you for writing my reply for me!