D&D 5E Toxicity in the Fandom

[Jahydin]

Woke, as explained to me by a black woman is just "aware of racial prejudice". Sort of calls out those against.

For what it's worth, I found most people using it derogatorily have postmodernism and/or CRT beliefs in mind.

 

[Jahydin]

Reading through the last few pages of this thread has got me thinking of Blaine Pardoe (Battletech author for 37 years) being let go for his far-right views and works.

His rants wouldn't put me off buying Battletech product, but curious how others feel. Specifically, is there room in the hobby for people like him too, especially considering how much he's contributed?

His latest book.
Example rant I found.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Based on those two examples I don't seem capable of reading his work without my eyes rolling into the back of my head, so I'd probably give it a miss. I'm not really interested in Battletech, and I've had a pretty firm policy of ignoring people who insist there's a left wing attack on America since I grew up having to listen to Rush Limbaugh though so I'm probably not the best weathervane for this.

 

[John R Davis]

I dunno. I heard the C bomb a lot when I lived London. Much more than I hear it in Oz.

Yup.
Very London centric!!

 

[FrozenNorth]

For what it's worth, I found most people using it derogatorily have postmodernism and/or CRT beliefs in mind.

Hehehe… I thought you were referring to using the C-word.

 

[dragoner]

For what it's worth, I found most people using it derogatorily have postmodernism and/or CRT beliefs in mind.

Still on them though, lumping in other things with anti-racism, and saying they are against it. If they want to make themselves look bad, fine, they are doing it.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah, "Why is everyone not plugging their ears and ignoring out historic plague of racism?" is still not a non-jerk question.

 

[payn]

Reading through the last few pages of this thread has got me thinking of Blaine Pardoe (Battletech author for 37 years) being let go for his far-right views and works.

His rants wouldn't put me off buying Battletech product, but curious how others feel. Specifically, is there room in the hobby for people like him too, especially considering how much he's contributed?

His latest book.
Example rant I found.

Is the idea that contributing to a hobby gives you allowance for a certain amount of potentially dangerous political rhetoric?

 

[Vaalingrade]

So what's the going rate? One sourcebook for... five, six incitements to violence?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

For what it's worth, I found most people using it derogatorily have postmodernism and/or CRT beliefs in mind.

Again, for what it's worth, I have found most people using it ("woke") derogatorily have as little idea what it means as they do postmodernism or CRT.

Which means that they are either using phrases that they don't understand as a catch-all term to cover their fear and hatred of inclusivity, or they are unthinkingly parroting phrases and should probably reflect on why they find them so objectionable.

If you think, for example, "CRT" (which is a conventional term in law schools that has become the bogey man du jour because it's been pushed by a single individual who thought that "political correctness" wasn't scary enough to flame culture wars) is something more objectionable than bigotry, hatred, and discrimination, that's probably something worthy of a little self-interrogation.

More importantly, I think it's important to bring this back into the context of the OP. The great thing about TTRPGs when I was growing up is that it was inclusive for many people that were considered outcasts at the time. Sure, "geek culture" is the new hotness now, but it wasn't that way when D&D started. TTRPGs were a welcoming place for people that didn't fit in elsewhere. That it wasn't always welcoming to some (women, POC, LGBTQA+, etc.) doesn't mean that when we think fondly back on the good aspects of older games, we carry with it the baggage of that exclusion.

In short, we should celebrate the legacy of this hobby by continuing to making it as inclusive as possible for as many people as possible.