Ethics in tabletop game journalism
Yesterday, I found a terrorist attack in my mailbox.
Maybe I took it so hard because it was September 11th. Like many of us
in the United States, I had spent the day searching for ways to honor
the memory of all that was lost just one year ago. I tried to avoid the
television. Instead, I spent much of the day in reflection and work ...
and thinking on the nature of true heroes.
The thing that upset me the most about this terrorism, however, was that it was in the form of Dragon Magazine’s 300th issue.
At the bottom of the cover, in a little box, it said: “Mature Audiences:
Sealed 16-page Section.” In large letters next to it, spanning the
bottom of the magazine, it read: “HOW FAR WILL YOU GO? Vile Content *
Graphic Violence.”
Vile Content? Graphic Violence?
What about the Comic Book Code that prohibited anyone writing for D&D from indulging in such excrement?
Now their daring us to go TOO FAR?
How dare you? How dare you take something that I have enjoyed with
friends and family for over a quarter of a century and make it cheap,
trashy and demeaning? How dare you pour filth on all those good
memories?
Not that this attack was entirely unexpected. I had information that
this was coming soon in the form of a product to be aptly called ‘The
Book of Vile Darkness.’
Now THERE’S a title that will silence the D&D critics. :-P
Yes, there will be a ‘Book of Vile Darkness’ but it would be carefully labeled for ‘Mature Audiences’ only.
Now my nose twitches whenever I see the words ‘mature audiences’ stuck
together. It is such a subtle and devious oxymoron. Invariably, ‘mature’
subject matter targets immature impulses. Think about it: EVERY act
that is labeled as ‘for mature audiences’ deals with an immature act or
animal-level instinct.
It is understandable on one level: it is lazy. It takes far less effort
to tell a dirty joke than a really GOOD joke. It is like my mother use
to tell me about swearing: people curse when they are either too lazy or
incapable of thinking up something intelligent to say.
Now, after OVER TWENTY YEARS of building public relations good will ...
it is all being thrown out the window. They are gleefully opening the
Pandora’s box ... and there will be NO CLOSING IT again.
It literally makes me sick.
The lead article in Dragon on this subject is entitled: “How Far Should
You Go?” ... which sounds like a dare to me. The subtitle is “Choosing
the Right Level of Evil for your Campaign.”
The “Right Level of Evil”???
On the outset, the article appears to be an attempt as some sort of
gaming equivalent to the Motion Picture Rating Board classification of
films. The clinical-looking ratings of LG, SG, MG and VG supposedly give
us a convenient handle on the nature of these game forms. For those of
you not familiar with these ratings, they mean ‘Lighthearted Game’,
‘Standard Game’, ‘Mature Game’ and ‘Vile Game.’
It then goes on to completely dismantle, point by point, the same comic
book code that we all worked so hard to protect for a quarter of a
century. Here is the ‘brave new world’ that we can look forward to in
our D20 games. It promotes “selfish and sinful impulses”; distrust and
suspicion of everyone; slavery, torture, rape, gore, violence (including
“over-the-top, unrealistic amounts of gore”); Characters engage in all
manner of sexual acts; and worse!
This is sociopathic behavior ... NOT entertainment.
SHAME ON YOU! Laura and I went to Gencon this year and were relieved and
delighted to see families there. Yes, actual families with their
children coming to play games and have a good time. Gencon felt actually
FUN for the first time in years. We thought that perhaps at last
D&D could have a future.
This destroys it all for me. Every dark fear that mothers and clergy
across America have about D&D is now, suddenly, true. In one stroke,
I watched everything that Laura and I had worked toward for the last 25
years come crashing to the ground.
Shame on you ... whoever you are! Do you honestly think you can dump
filth into our trough and blithely expect us to feed on it? You have
sold out cheaply to the animal within, apparently too lazy to write
something positive and strong. Don’t you know that Goths and the whole
post-modern cynicism is so-last-decade? Do you honestly think that we
will all follow you into this dark place?
People occasionally ask me how I feel about playing evil PC characters.
My response is always: Don’t do it.
After all, who do YOU dream of being?
A New York City Fireman...
...or a Terrorist?
If you agree with me, may I suggest you make your displeasure known ...
as both my wife and I will ... in no uncertain terms to ANYONE you think
needs to hear about this. May I suggest http://www.planetfeedback.com could assist you in getting the names and addresses of people to whom you might complain?
And my I further suggest that you demonstrate your own maturity by
avoiding purchasing or playing ANYTHING labeled for ‘Mature Audiences
Only.’
Maybe I took it so hard because it was September 11th. Like many of us
in the United States, I had spent the day searching for ways to honor
the memory of all that was lost just one year ago. I tried to avoid the
television. Instead, I spent much of the day in reflection and work ...
and thinking on the nature of true heroes.
The thing that upset me the most about this terrorism, however, was that it was in the form of Dragon Magazine’s 300th issue.
At the bottom of the cover, in a little box, it said: “Mature Audiences:
Sealed 16-page Section.” In large letters next to it, spanning the
bottom of the magazine, it read: “HOW FAR WILL YOU GO? Vile Content *
Graphic Violence.”
Vile Content? Graphic Violence?
What about the Comic Book Code that prohibited anyone writing for D&D from indulging in such excrement?
Now their daring us to go TOO FAR?
How dare you? How dare you take something that I have enjoyed with
friends and family for over a quarter of a century and make it cheap,
trashy and demeaning? How dare you pour filth on all those good
memories?
Not that this attack was entirely unexpected. I had information that
this was coming soon in the form of a product to be aptly called ‘The
Book of Vile Darkness.’
Now THERE’S a title that will silence the D&D critics. :-P
Yes, there will be a ‘Book of Vile Darkness’ but it would be carefully labeled for ‘Mature Audiences’ only.
Now my nose twitches whenever I see the words ‘mature audiences’ stuck
together. It is such a subtle and devious oxymoron. Invariably, ‘mature’
subject matter targets immature impulses. Think about it: EVERY act
that is labeled as ‘for mature audiences’ deals with an immature act or
animal-level instinct.
It is understandable on one level: it is lazy. It takes far less effort
to tell a dirty joke than a really GOOD joke. It is like my mother use
to tell me about swearing: people curse when they are either too lazy or
incapable of thinking up something intelligent to say.
Now, after OVER TWENTY YEARS of building public relations good will ...
it is all being thrown out the window. They are gleefully opening the
Pandora’s box ... and there will be NO CLOSING IT again.
It literally makes me sick.
The lead article in Dragon on this subject is entitled: “How Far Should
You Go?” ... which sounds like a dare to me. The subtitle is “Choosing
the Right Level of Evil for your Campaign.”
The “Right Level of Evil”???
On the outset, the article appears to be an attempt as some sort of
gaming equivalent to the Motion Picture Rating Board classification of
films. The clinical-looking ratings of LG, SG, MG and VG supposedly give
us a convenient handle on the nature of these game forms. For those of
you not familiar with these ratings, they mean ‘Lighthearted Game’,
‘Standard Game’, ‘Mature Game’ and ‘Vile Game.’
It then goes on to completely dismantle, point by point, the same comic
book code that we all worked so hard to protect for a quarter of a
century. Here is the ‘brave new world’ that we can look forward to in
our D20 games. It promotes “selfish and sinful impulses”; distrust and
suspicion of everyone; slavery, torture, rape, gore, violence (including
“over-the-top, unrealistic amounts of gore”); Characters engage in all
manner of sexual acts; and worse!
This is sociopathic behavior ... NOT entertainment.
SHAME ON YOU! Laura and I went to Gencon this year and were relieved and
delighted to see families there. Yes, actual families with their
children coming to play games and have a good time. Gencon felt actually
FUN for the first time in years. We thought that perhaps at last
D&D could have a future.
This destroys it all for me. Every dark fear that mothers and clergy
across America have about D&D is now, suddenly, true. In one stroke,
I watched everything that Laura and I had worked toward for the last 25
years come crashing to the ground.
Shame on you ... whoever you are! Do you honestly think you can dump
filth into our trough and blithely expect us to feed on it? You have
sold out cheaply to the animal within, apparently too lazy to write
something positive and strong. Don’t you know that Goths and the whole
post-modern cynicism is so-last-decade? Do you honestly think that we
will all follow you into this dark place?
People occasionally ask me how I feel about playing evil PC characters.
My response is always: Don’t do it.
After all, who do YOU dream of being?
A New York City Fireman...
...or a Terrorist?
If you agree with me, may I suggest you make your displeasure known ...
as both my wife and I will ... in no uncertain terms to ANYONE you think
needs to hear about this. May I suggest http://www.planetfeedback.com could assist you in getting the names and addresses of people to whom you might complain?
And my I further suggest that you demonstrate your own maturity by
avoiding purchasing or playing ANYTHING labeled for ‘Mature Audiences
Only.’
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Comments
Also, "true heroism shines the brughtest when confronted with the vilest darkness, just like on September Eleventh" is just horribly insensitive and totally ignorant.
I've read loads of books with better evil.