D&D General Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to Be Racist

[Hussar]

I think one needs to understand that while, yes, this stuff absolutely existed in the hobby and fantasy fandom at large, it is such a small part of the fandom. I don't believe that this was ever the predominant viewpoint in the hobby or the fandom, but, rather evidence of a small subset that has been given far, far more attention than it deserves.

 

[BruceWright]

My take is that I notice that people who want to push bigotry, sexism and other identity-based strife tend to want to infect any circle where people of all identities gather. The folks pushing such agendas in sci-fi fandom, sports fandoms, games etc, -- the subject itself is irrelevant to them.

It merely gives them access to the social media connection matrix they can use to spread their vileness. Everyone who follows said subject matter now gets fed hateslop by the algorithm.

They want to create strife and division everywhere. They don't care about D&D. They'll burn it to the ground. It's merely a key to an algorithm for them.

But D&D, being something run at individual tables, is surprisingly resilient against any permanent detrimental change. If some billionaire decided to buy the company tomorrow, it wouldn't affect my game at all. Nobody decides what hits my table but me.

 

[aco175]

Didn't we just have a thread about D&D being so great and that it helps kids with autism and soldiers with PTSD and stuff like that. Then, D&D is the devil and stealing kids again. C'mon. It is a tool that can be used and pushed to show one angle or another depending on who is talking.

 

[MichaelSomething]

D&D isn't Musk's game to conquer.

 

[gnarlygninja]

I think nerds generally are uncomfortable with him constantly trying to get nerd cred, especially since it's pretty clear he hasn't actually meaningfully engaged* with the stuff he professes to love.

*A guy who claims Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is his favorite work should recognize that he's Infinidim Enterprises, not a plucky hitchhiker.

I don't know, I've been on the internet in nerd spaces long enough to know "You need to have meaningfully engaged with and not wildly misunderstand things" is a bar a lot of nerds will have trouble clearing.
But I agree with the overall point.

Some of us remember the last couple of times that moral entrepreneurs launched a moral panic about d&d. Don't repeat those dark bits of ttrpg history

It is not immediately obvious to me how this relates to the article, who is panicking?

 

[Hussar]

They want to create strife and division everywhere. They don't care about D&D. They'll burn it to the ground. It's merely a key to an algorithm for them.

Well, sort of. I mean, the issues in SF and Fantasy genre circles predate by a LOOONG time the notion of pandering to the algorithm. F&SF have long been the "boys club" genre. You seen this in so much of 20th century genre fiction and circles. That it exists in D&D and RPG circles is not surprising in the least.

The only real change is that in the past twenty years or so, there's been a rather large spotlight shone on things and the main body of fandom largely distancing themselves from these things.

I mean, it was only a year ago that a segment of the fandom lost their poop because a history book of the early days of D&D included some primary sources demonstrating some less than, shall we say, forward thinking, among the creators of D&D.

 

[MockingBird]

Why is this even a thread? Dont we get enough of this stuff everywhere else? D&D is my escape from this stuff.

 

[Gradine]

Didn't we just have a thread about D&D being so great and that it helps kids with autism and soldiers with PTSD and stuff like that. Then, D&D is the devil and stealing kids again. C'mon. It is a tool that can be used and pushed to show one angle or another depending on who is talking.

I think you've greatly misunderstood this article, which is absolutely arguing in defense of D&D (and tabletop gaming and fantasy as a genre, writ large), its massive and widespread appeal to such a broad and diverse population of fans that (a) past attempts to gatekeep the game/genre from women/POC/etc. are little more than a historical footnote, an ugly part of history best left in the past, and (b) that any new attempts to return the game/genre to that state of open misogyny/racism/etc. are destined to fail.

This article isn't about how dangerous D&D is; it's about how dangerous some people are and how great D&D is that it can flourish in spite of the efforts of some of those same people.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Isn't this thread in violation of the no politics rule?

Show me art that's apolitical and I'll show you ergonomic design.

 

[Gradine]

Also, quite clearly, a feature article about the biggest game in our hobby in one of the most mainstream sources of news and cultural commentary is self-evidently relevant to this forum. It is far more trouble to complain about the existence of a thread than it is to ignore it altogether