Fish in a Barrel
In case I needed further proof that Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a confused beast, and those behind it are attention starved controversy hounds who promote right wing agendas, this just falls into my lap.
I'm sure the same people (predominantly white, cis, male) will tell me that it doesn't mean anything, yet again. But the dog whistles are dropping in frequency, and coming more often.
Don't get me wrong, it's not just LotFP where this sort of regressive gaming and attention whoring lingers.
It takes me back to my earlier post entitled "Old School Regressive?", which generated quite a bit of conversation. In that, I was remarking on the tendency of OSR games to be regressive in their attitudes to race, and I had a diverse group of people adding their support, or privately messaging thanks to me for voicing the opinion, and a fairly narrow (white, cis, male) demographic telling me that I was reading too much into it.
Between that post and this one, the following post came up on Facebook.
When I voiced my opinion again about how this fits the general pattern of traditionalists in gaming, the same split in responses occurred. So it's really not just an OSR thing... it's deeper than that, but the OSR seems to be signalling itself as a "safe harbour" for those attitudes.
Curiously, around the time that the above screenshot was made (I think it might have even been the same day), Geekwire posted this article which is a distinct counter to the actual play experience above. So maybe there are some attempts from the top to make changes in the hobby, but like changes for more diversity in the world of comics, there are those who will be kicking and screaming against them all the way.
I'm sure the same people (predominantly white, cis, male) will tell me that it doesn't mean anything, yet again. But the dog whistles are dropping in frequency, and coming more often.
Don't get me wrong, it's not just LotFP where this sort of regressive gaming and attention whoring lingers.
It takes me back to my earlier post entitled "Old School Regressive?", which generated quite a bit of conversation. In that, I was remarking on the tendency of OSR games to be regressive in their attitudes to race, and I had a diverse group of people adding their support, or privately messaging thanks to me for voicing the opinion, and a fairly narrow (white, cis, male) demographic telling me that I was reading too much into it.
Between that post and this one, the following post came up on Facebook.
When I voiced my opinion again about how this fits the general pattern of traditionalists in gaming, the same split in responses occurred. So it's really not just an OSR thing... it's deeper than that, but the OSR seems to be signalling itself as a "safe harbour" for those attitudes.
Curiously, around the time that the above screenshot was made (I think it might have even been the same day), Geekwire posted this article which is a distinct counter to the actual play experience above. So maybe there are some attempts from the top to make changes in the hobby, but like changes for more diversity in the world of comics, there are those who will be kicking and screaming against them all the way.
.png)
Comments