TWBG Statement on Harassment, Abuse, and Intolerance in the Gaming World
It’s time to clean house.
Last week games writer Katie Aidley (Katiesgamecorner.com) posted an article to her Web site about sexual harassment in the board games world. Some have reacted with the all-too-typical and infuriatingly sexist "where is the video footage/police report/detailed eyewitness accounts" trope. Some have remained indifferent, uncomfortable that their fun times are interrupted by a very serious issue. While others like myself have simply nodded sadly and thought "it's about god damned time somebody said something." Having seen and encountered the kinds of rampant sexual harassment that goes on at conventions and game groups and having heard stories like Katie's about the more behind the scenes hostility that exists in this hobby toward women, I wanted to take this moment to state ThereWillBe.Games position on not just sexual harassment but also racism, prejudice, and intolerance in the gaming community. Don't act like it doesn't exist, because it absolutely does even if it does not directly touch your life.
Rather than abdicate leadership on the subject and sweep this into backroom forums as other major gaming sites have done, effectively throwing the issue to the dogs, I wanted to come forward on our front page at this point to say that this site stands with Katie as well as anyone else who has suffered any kind of abuse or harassment at the hands of others in the hobby gaming sphere. It's time to drag the scumbags that are making this hobby hostile to women or any other non-white, non-male, non-straight group out into the light and run them the fuck off in no uncertain terms. Katie's article is a clarion call that it is time to clean house in what has traditionally been a very white, very male, very middle-class hobby where "representing women" still too often means...Red Scorpion.
ThereWillBe.Games is a safe zone for all genders, all sexual orientations, all nationalities, all races, all religions, and all socio-economic classes. This is common ground, and here all users can rest assured that they are welcome, accepted, and neither our staff nor our community will tolerate aggressive male behavior, hate, prejudice or abuse toward them. We have been running this site for over ten years and, rather shockingly, we have never had to deal with the kinds of harassment and abuse other gaming sites have dealt with. This will remain the status quo.
ThereWillBe.Games supports inclusion and equality one hundred percent. We believe everyone that plays and enjoys games deserves to feel represented and accepted. If at any point anyone feels that we are not meeting this goal or if someone in the community is not meeting our standards of inclusion and acceptance set forward here, please reach out directly to me or any of other staff members and we will correct the situation.
However, there are exceptions to the above policy. Nazis, Neo-Nazis, "Gamergate" types, sexists, homophobes, racists, and bigots of all descriptions are absolutely NOT welcome here and if that upsets you, you can walk right on out the door with them. There are plenty of other gaming sites where you motherfuckers are tolerated so don't play the victim card on us.
Sometime in the early 1980s, MichaelBarnes’ parents thought it would be a good idea to buy him a board game to keep him busy with some friends during one of those high-pressure, “free” timeshare vacations. It turned out to be a terrible idea, because the game was TSR’s Dungeon! - and the rest, as they say, is history. Michael has been involved with writing professionally about games since 2002, when he busked for store credit writing for Boulder Games’ newsletter. He has written for a number of international hobby gaming periodicals and popular Web sites. From 2004-2008, he was the co-owner of Atlanta Game Factory, a brick-and-mortar retail store. He is currently the co-founder of FortressAT.com and Nohighscores.com as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Miniature Market’s Review Corner feature. He is married with two childen and when he’s not playing some kind of game he enjoys stockpiling trivial information about music, comics and film.
Also, is the first time we've had the word "motherfucker" in a front page article?
quozl wrote: Sad to see such a serious and much needed message derailed at the end by childish posturing.
Personally, I would describe Michael's hardline opposition to hate-mongering assholes as a "principled stand," not "childish posturing." I've no patience for "good people on both sides" false equivalences. Time to call assholes out for being assholes.
quozl wrote: I hope I'm wrong and we see real change here.
I didn’t realize there was a problem HERE. I haven’t seen any racism or intolerant, crazy shit here. No Nazis, no gay bashing, nothing.
I mean, being conservative in any way is definitely frowned upon by many but I haven’t read anyone being blatantly hostile towards anyone of any particular “identity group” for lack of a better label. I hate labels, so forgive my lack of a better one.
That said, as others have pointed out here and elsewhere on the site, there is still a level of "just bros being dudes" going on that we need to recognize and address. Even purposely "ironic" stuff _is still that stuff_. It doesn't have to be shiny happy fun time all games and players are great in their own special way -- we already have a place for that -- but I think we can elevate out of the remnants of 2004 juvenile nerdbro Internet some.
Even with that, however, I still enjoy the discussions here far more than elsewhere, and I think the site is on the right track.
BGG
TWBG
and
Two private Facebook Groups:
one for DreadBall
and
one for the Hobby side of life
None of sites above exhibit vitriol. Ubarose's description of the wider gaming communities online is alarming and depressing.
quozl wrote: I'm hesitant to post this as I fear it will derail this thread into people arguing about the language used but I do want to point out that using words associated with sexual violence is pretty tone deaf when you're talking about making this site free of that kind of thing.
Motherfucker isn't a word associated with sexual violence. It is associated with the breaking of society's most sacred taboos, which makes the person vile and despicable.
Identity harassment has been accepted, even encouraged, in nerd culture forever. We are declaring that on TWBG this harassment is not just inappropriate, unfunny, disruptive, threatening, hostile and mean, but absolutely taboo.