Personalities in the Gaming Industry and Politics

[EricNoah]

So the question as to whether it's 'legitimate' to post links to eg a blog containing politics as well as RPG stuff doesn't really arise.

You know, I posted a link to my politics-laden blog about 3 weeks ago and no one said boo. I think that's because I did so in the "right" forum (off-topic). Maybe it was that subtle difference that changes the whole issue? In General RPG folks might have expected it to contain only RPG stuff. Dunno...

(And my blog's gone now -- I didn't need a second "personal journal" and it was boring as heck anyway.)

 

[The_Universe]

It seems that it would be logical to expect some personal stuff on a weblog that's explicitly personal (though one related to gaming by virtue of the blogger's career). Politics are inherently personal, and I don't think it's out of line to expect someone to mention their own beliefs at such a place.

That being said, I don't think a warning (contains a political discussion!) would have been out of line.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

And that's understandable. Doesn't mean he should change the way he is or the way he runs his website if he's willing to accept the consequence -- that some folks will be turned off by that.

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.

 

[Renshai]

One of my personal hobbies, besides roleplaying, is politics. I've become very involved in them. It is as much as part of my life as roleplaying is. Thats why I don't like seeing the two mixed, I suppose.

All game designers have the right to post their political views on their site, that "is" their right. However, when I go to a roleplaying site I want to read about RPGs or about that industry. Now, Erik's site is a blog so that is a little different. I just don't care to read a political jab every now and then when reading Erik's insightful game material. Its very distracting. I'm not offended at all by his politics. I just want to read his gaming material without the political side.

The same goes for Sean Reynolds. I haven't been to his site since he had a certain title posted at the top of this website. I would very much like to purchase his Argonauts RPG, but the comments he made so long ago really turned me on him.

I guess my opinion is that an RPG personality should have a web presence for his gaming material and keep his/her blog seperate from that gaming material.

Its not about being offended by a view different that my own, its about wanting to read about RPGs and not politics...

These are just my personal opinions on the subject. I don't dislike Erik for including political commentary mixed with gaming material, I just prefer that it wasn't there. That is self-centered I suppose...

Ren

 

[billd91]

To use an appropriately in-genre phrase: With great power comes great responsibility.

Celebrities have as much right as anyone else to speak on whatever topics they wish. But, their celebrity means that (within however small a niche) their words carry more weight. So, celebrities have the responsibility to exercize their rights with care.

I largely have to disagree with this. Celebrities have no more responsibility to check on their facts than anybody else do before they spout off. I don't think that the cult of celebrity that surrounds certain people in the public eye changes that a single bit. If people fall victim to that cult and give more weight to what celebrities say simply because they are famous, that's their problem... well, it's all our problems in certain way because it means that critical thinking education has failed too many people at some point. But it's not the celebrity's fault.

 

[Renshai]

You know, I posted a link to my politics-laden blog about 3 weeks ago and no one said boo. I think that's because I did so in the "right" forum (off-topic). Maybe it was that subtle difference that changes the whole issue? In General RPG folks might have expected it to contain only RPG stuff. Dunno...

(And my blog's gone now -- I didn't need a second "personal journal" and it was boring as heck anyway.)

I'd say off-topic is the place for that kind of announcment. Good call.

You, boring? Now come on Eric!

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

No one has any right to try and make a person sublimate their own views. It's one thing to say that a certain forum (like this one) has a "no discussion of politics" rule, but its quite another thing to ask another person to sublimate their views under threat of financial reprisal - I won't buy from you because I disagree with your views.

Now, if those views are utterly and totally out there, that's a different story. I don't think I'll be buying any Michael Jackson CD's, for example, and I'm unlikely to pay for an OJ Simpson autograph.

But so long as you're not an out and out whack job, I'll set my political and religious views to the side and buy your product based on what I think of your product.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I know anytime I go to someone's personal website that it will likely have personal opinions posted, and maybe not well segregated or with warnings.

A person of some type of celebrity will of course get more attention, not because their opinion matters more, or is well thought out, but because people have some kind of connection to or association with that person. Sometimes I am very interested in what other people have to say when they feel they can be completely open, which is what I think happens in many blogs.

Many times I read enough to know that what they are writing is pure unthought bunk and I won't waste more of my time. Occasionally I find that what they write makes me a little warm and fuzzy as it validates my own thinking and stokes my ego a little. And then there are those rare and honestly cherished moments when what someone writes really makes me think. In the end it may not change what I think, but anytime someone gets me to consider my own thoughts and opinions it is effort well spent.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I highly doubt the finding of the article in the Seattle times. The polling questions seemed written to produce the results they wanted.

Having lived in France (a highly Roman Catholic country, yet one that is very active in trying to seperate religion from the state) for five years in the past, and been through Europe farily extensively, I found the article to back up my own personal experience.

 

[Henry]

No one has any right to try and make a person sublimate their own views. It's one thing to say that a certain forum (like this one) has a "no discussion of politics" rule, but its quite another thing to ask another person to sublimate their views under threat of financial reprisal - I won't buy from you because I disagree with your views.

Does "making someone sublimate their views" correspond with refusing to buy someone's stuff because of ideologies? To me, it's not the same thing. Making someone hide their views is more the province of censorship or blacklists, than boycotts.