Alpha Blue Boycott

Thanks to a tip from the RPGpundit, I have screen-shots of David Black (of The Black Hack fame) trying to whip up some kind of anti-friend mob against me.

I wouldn't classify it as harassment, cyber bullying, or actual hate, but he's only getting started.  We've interacted before, and now it looks like David Black is trying to escalate things.

Those who know me, know that I'm not homophobic.  Alpha Blue isn't homophobic, either.  It may be from a straight male's point of view, but Alpha Blue can be used for any kind of sexual gratification between consenting adults.

While I was upset with Kiel Chenier for not wanting to review Alpha Blue because it wasn't gay enough, did I go on a boycott or unpersoning rampage, accusing him of heterophobia?  Nope.  He's free to do what he wants, review what he wants.

Zak S. just wrote a new blog post about sexual expression in RPGs, hoping for some kind of consensus via exhaustive argument.  And he assumed anyone coming down on sexual content would be from the right-wing.  Have you met the far-left, Zak?  Policing what everybody says, thinks, believes, votes, friends, likes, dislikes, and how they live their lives is job numero uno for the Ctrl-Left.

Me?  All I wanted to do was join some Facebook Roll20 groups so I could find players who wanted to try something other than D&D.

I'm just a middle of the road guy with a singular agenda - fun!  That's all I want, to have as much fun roleplaying with friends and strangers as possible.  I don't care if they're straight, gay, bisexual, male, woman, non-binary, black, yellow, green, blue, or white.  I don't care if they're communists, Muslims, Christians, Satanists, Jews, Libertarians, white nationalists, far-left, Alt-Right, farmers, programmers, doctors, or pornographers.

As long as they're not a disruptive asshole at the table, I'll put politics and everything else aside so we can game and see what happens.

But my allowing others to have differing points of view is part of the problem, part of my problem, and why I should be shunned by a certain segment of the hobby.  By not being an intolerant asshole, I'm considered "toxic" or whatever by a select few.

It's tragic that conformity is idealized, whereas individuality and freedom are looked down upon.

There's rumor of an Alpha Blue boycott happening, so let me say one thing regarding that - trying to influence the masses away from dangerous or forbidden content goes both ways... just like many of the characters in Alpha Blue.

VS

p.s. I somehow forgot to mention that David Black is either lying or totally misunderstood / took out of context any comment I made about an all-female development team.  Also, I have no idea what "tried to Kickstart DnDgate" means. 

Self-imposed Limitations

This blog post is a little more Devil's advocate than my usual stuff.  After all, I'm a dyed in the wool anti-authoritarian who loves creative license.

Just before falling asleep last night, a vague notion hit me.  Something about Facebook and MySpace... why the former was more successful than the latter.  If I told you that a MySpace page was totally open-ended, you could do virtually anything with it - colors, designs, fonts, images, have all kinds of wild, modular powers of manipulation and choice, and then told you that Facebook was artificially limited, that it imposed lots of regulations and restrictions... you might "like" MySpace over that other social networking site.

Why, then, is Facebook more highly regarded and well respected than MySpace?  Why does Facebook get more traffic and have more gravitas?  How come no one made a movie about the CEO of MySpace?

This is just a theory, but it goes back to man's unconscious need for structure; the world should be regulated.  Human beings say they want loads and loads of freedom, they might say it until their blue in the face, but that doesn't necessarily make it so.  Consciously, man yearns for wide-open spaces.  However, he secretly craves the ground under his feet and familiar scenery at which to gaze.  After all, the void is a scary place.

How does this relate to roleplaying games?  I believe the vast majority of gamers dislike RPGs or campaigns with little to no structure.  Sure, they want choice, they want their decisions to matter, but at the end of the day, players want to know there are rules.  I'm not saying sandbox campaigns suck.  On the contrary, a well thought-out sandbox is usually preferable to a strictly linear scenario - as long as GMs are careful to occasionally leave a trail of breadcrumbs and clearly mark clues, plot points, NPCs with useful exposition, etc.

A GM has to lead just as much as he describes.  Not along tracks like a railroad, but in a realm of boundaries and barriers.  Don't characters enjoy the occasional feel of an invisible hand upon their back, gently pushing them in the right direction?  If you asked them, some might deny it.  Nine times out of ten, they're kidding themselves.  Suggest to them an RPG where the setting is anything they want, their character concept can be whatever they choose, and there is no pre-determined objective - it's all open-ended.  Lameness, game session for two.

Does this mean the silliest offenses to conventional storytelling should be thrown out without a care?  Must players give up on playing a Half-Orc, Half-Drow ninja/bard/sorcerer with a magic ring on every finger, a spell-storing bastard sword in each hand who can transform into a Were-Spider when it suits him?  Sure, it sounds cool.  So does a fantasy world of unlimited possibilities where the rules are whatever sound good at the time.  Trust me, the novelty will soon wear off, and then the only people enthused about that game will be the same teens using MySpace.

Have you encountered too much freedom in a roleplaying game, as either a player or GM?  Does the old school renaissance resonate more towards the limitation or unlimited end of the spectrum?  What about modern RPGs?  Does this also apply to horror RPGs?  Because there are few things more frightening than knowing the walls aren't really there.  Perhaps that's for another blog post...

VS