"I don't want Politics in my Gaming!"
-
What template was he using before?
Steven Crowder
-
Imagine if you had to file paperwork for every demon killed in Doom. Youād practically never be killing demons after the first level because of all fhe paperwork from all the demons you killed in the first level!
Nah, youād just write up the first level in an Incident Report covering multiple dead demons. And more to the point, both bureaucracy and warfare are forms of politics, so killing demons is still a form of politics, with or without paperwork.
-
When I say āI donāt want politics in my gaming,ā I mean it literally.
Like, I donāt care for the Star Wars prequels because they spend a lotta time just doing politics instead of space battles.
I donāt wanna sit through boring ass senate sessions listening to motions and passing votes. I wanna blow shit up!
I think thereās a middle ground where the game āworldā can acknowledge there are political maneuverings happening, while not forcing you to track the shipments of food and goods so you can squeeze nobles who depend on certain economic routes into complying with the kingās orders to rally troops for a cause.
Bounty orders style campaigns are fun for a short while, but thereās only so many āgo here, kill x, biggest change is the layout of the dungeon and enemy vulnerabilitiesā before the game sessions all bleed into one long blurry dice roll. Thatās close to warhammer/battletech/etc territory. I want a real story to go with the campaign, and that necessitates a āpoliticsā somewhere unless youāre playing one of the barbarian/end-of-the-world games where there is no civilization or npcs at all aside from enemies.
But I think we can all agree that the āpoliticsā of motions and passing votes is not what was being addressed by OP.
-
He changed it to Calvin, but this comment is hilarious now.
Now itās likeā¦
-
Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might choose not to examine them, but this is an active choice on your part, and you donāt get to pretend that your entertainment is āfree of politicsā.
If it has a story itās political
-
Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might choose not to examine them, but this is an active choice on your part, and you donāt get to pretend that your entertainment is āfree of politicsā.
I donāt care about politics in my games (and shows/movies) as long as it fits into the world and into the story. A TV show examples for that is Torchwood. It has to be the most gay scify show (at least it is the most gay I know) but all of it fits together and I love the show, even as a totaly hetero/cis guy. It doesnāt feel forced but is just how everything just it. Not sure if I can explain it good, hope it is somewhat to understand.
-
That may be the case for some people, but a lot of people just want some good lighthearted fun without any of the real world implications attached to it. This obviously doesnāt excuse bigoted mindsets. Iām talking about campaigns where me and my players just want to do some good old goblin slaying without the need for anyone to chime in with a āUM actshually those goblins have families tooā.
Easy moral patch: These specific goblins have all made unambiguously evil choices that warrant a good slaying. Like kicking dogs. Youāre not slaying goblins because theyāre goblins, youāre slaying dog-kickers that happen to be goblins. There are plenty of goblins who do not kick dogs, but theyāre not a part of this fight.
This is still a political statement that dog kickers are evil. I doubt anyone would mind that, and those that do are better off leaving my table anyway.
-
Easy moral patch: These specific goblins have all made unambiguously evil choices that warrant a good slaying. Like kicking dogs. Youāre not slaying goblins because theyāre goblins, youāre slaying dog-kickers that happen to be goblins. There are plenty of goblins who do not kick dogs, but theyāre not a part of this fight.
This is still a political statement that dog kickers are evil. I doubt anyone would mind that, and those that do are better off leaving my table anyway.
Or, you know. We could just ignore those pseudo-moral excuses and do some good old goblin slaying because theyāre in the dungeon, laying traps and we want the loot. Not everything needs 12 layers of logical depth. Sure, itās fun to explore moral implications from time to time, but more often than not, no one cares.
-
I donāt care about politics in my games (and shows/movies) as long as it fits into the world and into the story. A TV show examples for that is Torchwood. It has to be the most gay scify show (at least it is the most gay I know) but all of it fits together and I love the show, even as a totaly hetero/cis guy. It doesnāt feel forced but is just how everything just it. Not sure if I can explain it good, hope it is somewhat to understand.
I learned after the fact, that most of Torchwood is just how John Barrowman is. He insisted on having a scene with a shirtless Stephen Amell in Arrow as well.
-
Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might choose not to examine them, but this is an active choice on your part, and you donāt get to pretend that your entertainment is āfree of politicsā.
EVERYTHING is politics and the shitheads who complain are the ones who made it that way.
-
āI donāt want to talk about/see politicsā is always synonym to āI support the status quo, and I will aggressively reject anything that goes against itā.
Nothing that happens on a public space is free of politics, even when itās not controversial.
Just MLKās white moderate doing white moderate things. Funny how shit donāt change.
-
That may be the case for some people, but a lot of people just want some good lighthearted fun without any of the real world implications attached to it. This obviously doesnāt excuse bigoted mindsets. Iām talking about campaigns where me and my players just want to do some good old goblin slaying without the need for anyone to chime in with a āUM actshually those goblins have families tooā.
Arenāt goblins ontologically evil in most DND settings? That should take care of that specific issue anyway.
-
When I say āI donāt want politics in my gaming,ā I mean it literally.
Like, I donāt care for the Star Wars prequels because they spend a lotta time just doing politics instead of space battles.
I donāt wanna sit through boring ass senate sessions listening to motions and passing votes. I wanna blow shit up!
So you donāt like narratives involving politics. Thatās a very different statement to āI donāt want politics in my gaming.ā
-
Arenāt goblins ontologically evil in most DND settings? That should take care of that specific issue anyway.
Nah, theyāve long fallen to the usual cycle of āhere is a species of interesting antagonistic creaturesā -> āOh wow, that sounds interesting. I want to play themā -> āYeah sure, hereās a playbale variant of that species. Weāve removed all traces of evilness and uniqueness because god forbid players playing evil charactersā. Same as Drow, Orcs, Fairies and Goliath.
Itās not just their inherent evil nature BTW. Itās also stuff like daylight sensitivity.
-
I learned after the fact, that most of Torchwood is just how John Barrowman is. He insisted on having a scene with a shirtless Stephen Amell in Arrow as well.
Maybe that why it feels so ārealā and āauthenticā and not just forced onto the story.
-
Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might choose not to examine them, but this is an active choice on your part, and you donāt get to pretend that your entertainment is āfree of politicsā.
It means āI donāt want politics that I donāt agree with in the gameā
-
Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might choose not to examine them, but this is an active choice on your part, and you donāt get to pretend that your entertainment is āfree of politicsā.
It means āI donāt believe in anything and my media must reflect the status quo of (my) politics or I will throw a little baby tantrum because you dared to make me think about the cost of the comfort I enjoyā
-
āI donāt want to talk about/see politicsā is always synonym to āI support the status quo, and I will aggressively reject anything that goes against itā.
Nothing that happens on a public space is free of politics, even when itās not controversial.
I donāt like politics in ttrpgs because that means less time SMITING and more time with boring words. Unless the politicians are secretly vampires, then I can keep SMITING.
NO TALK ONLY SMITE.
This post has been brought to you by the palabian gang.
-
I feel like a lot of people, who complain about politics in gaming are not choosing to examine/not examine the political assumptions, they are simply not realising that theyāre there. Often these themes reside deeper in the storytelling so you have to actually engage with it to be aware of them. People who complain about it only choose a handful of topics to be mad about, because they are against it.
Exactly. What theyāre really mad about is the fact that thereās a black person, a gay person, or woman with normal sized tits in the game.
-
Or, you know. We could just ignore those pseudo-moral excuses and do some good old goblin slaying because theyāre in the dungeon, laying traps and we want the loot. Not everything needs 12 layers of logical depth. Sure, itās fun to explore moral implications from time to time, but more often than not, no one cares.
But youāre making the statement that itās okay to kill people if you want their stuff. The politics are there even if you donāt choose to examine them.
