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Sunday 10 August 2014

These Things I Believe (for the record)

I posted this like a week ago on G+, because I wanted there to be a public record people could point to if they ran into any of the vicious lies claiming "pundit is a homophobe", "pundit is a racist", "pundit is opposed to the inclusive language in D&D", etc.

I didn't get around to reposting it here, so I'm doing so now:

This is the RPGPundit.

Some people have, for the past month, been spreading vicious lies against my character and false claims about what I believe.  They continue to do so in spite of repeated statements to the contrary, because they have NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in the truth.

So it is not a question anymore of reasoning with them (they are entirely beyond reason) or arguing with them (they have no interest in a fair debate).  The only goal is to promulgate the truth as much and as often as the promulgate their lies.

So, in the spirit of that, 'these things I believe':

I, the RPGPundit, strongly support women in tabletop RPG gaming.  I have several women in my gaming groups (present and past), and have done so for the last 25 years or so.  At present, 25% of all the people currently playing in campaigns with me (4 out of 16 players) are women. I have in the past spoken up against misogyny or attacks on female gamers from all sides, opposing both the recent (idiotic) statements some have made about 'fake geek girls' and the attempts of certain pseudo-activists to attack female game designers, women cosplayers, and the organizers of the woman-organized woman-run gaming con, Contessa.

I, the RPGPundit, strongly support minorities in tabletop RPG gaming.  I have various minorities in my gaming groups.  I also wrote Arrows of Indra, an RPG with a carefully-researched and detailed setting based on the mythology of a non-european culture.  I guess I could also add that the vast majority of all my current players are latinos (and I'm half-latino myself).

I, the RPGPundit, strongly support the inclusion of all varieties of gender in tabletop RPG gaming.  I have constantly and consistently given my ABSOLUTE AND UNQUALIFIED SUPPORT for the inclusive language about gender included in the new D&D rules.
I'll also note that my RPG, Arrows of Indra, featured a transgender character on its cover, possibly the first tabletop RPG to do so.

I, the RPGPundit, strongly support the inclusion of LGBT gamers in the tabletop RPG hobby. I have always welcomed LGBT gamers into my gaming group (by "always", I mean I've had LGBT gamers at my table since at least as far as 20 years back).

I'll note that I was practicing inclusion in my RPGs when it comes to gender and sexuality for years BEFORE WoTC got around to it.  I have promoted gender and sexuality inclusiveness (and promoted gaming set in non-european cultural milieus) in the games I have actually written myself.  In other words, I've not just said things, I've actually DONE things for inclusiveness in the gaming hobby. And I've done so without trying to make a big deal of it or to engage in self-congratulatory smugness about how 'socially conscious' I am; I just did them, without commentary, because it was right.

My opponents, for the most part, have done nothing, other than cynically and self-servingly using these causes to try to attack people they don't like, baselessly and without merit.  In the process, they've viciously attacked women in the name of fighting sexism, they've viciously attacked minorities in the name of fighting racism, and they've viciously attacked LGBT advocates in the name of LGBT advocacy.

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