What GOOD things are industry icons doing?

[Sacrosanct]

Seems like over the past year, many icons in the industry are doing really awful things (Ernie Jr, TSR3, Adam Koebel) or being caught in scandal (Luke Gygax, Luke Crane--what's up people named Luke?, Larry Elmore, Jeff Ward).

Naturally based on human nature we tend to focus on those. But what are some of the good things industry icons are doing? I want to focus more on that. Like Peter Atkinson making GenCon more welcoming.

 

[Retreater]

Maybe it's a case of "no news is good news?"
Like if they are running a business successfully, creating product we enjoy, paying their employees, and staying out of controversy, maybe that's a good thing?
We can see trends of more diverse voices in the RPG industry: Paizo's "Mwangi Expanse," Legendary Games' "Boricubos," Chaosium's "Harlem Unbound," the successful Kickstarter of "Thirsty Sword Lesbians." I'm sure there are many more examples.
Then you have human interest stories. So many companies from Paizo to Frog God Games to Monte Cook regularly have sales to raise money for charity or members of the community who need fundraising.

 

[Marc Radle]

Seems like over the past year, many icons in the industry are doing really awful things (Ernie Jr, TSR3, Adam Koebel) or being caught in scandal (Luke Gygax, Luke Crane--what's up people named Luke?, Larry Elmore, Jeff Ward).

Naturally based on human nature we tend to focus on those. But what are some of the good things industry icons are doing? I want to focus more on that. Like Peter Atkinson making GenCon more welcoming.

Larry Elmore ???

 

[MGibster]

We're kind of stretching the definition of icon, aren't we? Gary Gygax has the distinction of being the face of D&D appearing on such nationally broadcast programs like 60 Minutes. I think it's safe to say Gary was an icon but I'm not quite convinced the same is true of Luke, Ernie, or TSR 3. I'm not even sure most gamers heard of Luke or Ernie before this past summer's series of unfortunate blunders.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Larry Elmore ???

Larry's a good guy, but he got caught up in the Dinehart/Giantlands/Wunderfiled (sic) fiasco, and continues to do work for them while people like Jeff Dee, when this all came out, pulled out in a hurry and wanted nothing to do with them.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Never mind about icons, but the small ttrpg creators on itch.io have banded together repeatedly to contribute to massive charity bundles, like the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, and the more recent fundraising bundle for aid to Palestine.

Look not to the heights, but to the trenches, where the little guys are.

 

[Hex08]

Who are the modern industry icons? I don't keep up on this much in recent years but back in my D&D 3.0/3.5 days Monte Cook was probably an icon of the industry and I loved what he did with a lot of his Malhavok Press stuff and his current Monte Cook Games seems to be doing well.

 

[billd91]

Celebrity-elevating culture sucks - even when that person is celebrated within a relatively small, niche field like RPGs. Put them up on a pedestal too much and you're tremendously disappointed when they, inevitably, slip up somewhere or you find they aren't a saint, just a person who did something really well and maybe has a few warts along with their achievements.

That said, there are some things you really do have to shake your head at. All you can do is just hope that it doesn't reflect the totality of their character and that they learn something from their failures.

 

[Malmuria]

Maybe it's a case of "no news is good news?"
Like if they are running a business successfully, creating product we enjoy, paying their employees, and staying out of controversy, maybe that's a good thing?
We can see trends of more diverse voices in the RPG industry: Paizo's "Mwangi Expanse," Legendary Games' "Boricubos," Chaosium's "Harlem Unbound," the successful Kickstarter of "Thirsty Sword Lesbians." I'm sure there are many more examples.
Then you have human interest stories. So many companies from Paizo to Frog God Games to Monte Cook regularly have sales to raise money for charity or members of the community who need fundraising.

content-wise Paizo seems to be doing some good stuff, but I'm not sure they are a model of industry ethics right now, at least in terms of how they are run as a business...

 

[Argyle King]

Steve Jackson (of SJ Games) continues to support The Electronic Frontier Foundation.

He's also typically good-natured to interact with and genuinely seems to still enjoy gaming.