Never Once

Message:

Great statement, very brave to disagree with my hero. Now the rebuttal.

Zero Level: While playing the game of Risk, crazy to assume I could do this in real life or contemplate how many ethnic cleansings I'm performing. While playing game Life, I think not of marriage and a car being an analog. Monopoly is not being a landlord. Whodunit does not make me see murder as possible if only a sharp knife and a greenhouse I had.

Step Up 1st Level: I have not played Third Reich scheming about resource points for my death camps. Bull Run wondering how Andrew Jackson's religious inspired slave owning aided my move of the 6-3 unit to the hillot.

Step Up 2nd Level: I have not played D&D and worried about being a murder hobo. I have not played EPT and thought slavery in the US was underrated or caused the decline of Roman Empire.

Step Up 2020: Why are we stating the obvious? The made-up world is not reality. Um, don't play with strangers who confuse the two. Essential is a potent word; leave it out of gaming. I am sympathetic about not getting hate-mail, but do we need to include the idea that before we play we need to discuss our feelings (of the moment). I have never started a game asking if anyone was Pro-Life or Voted Libertarian. I come from a generation who left many things private, settled by secret ballot. Even Conrad and I don't spend heartfelt moments together talking PTA and vacation plans. We rant and laugh with each other. We live on opposite coasts and are very different people (esoterically). We see gaming as a common philosophy. We have spent, and can easily do again, decades talking about game rules and the effect on story or player paths to victory. His is a minimize the bad rolls strategy; mine is capitalize on hot dice. He beats me more often but I tend to finish second most of the time. Especially in two-player miniataure wargames. Wish I could get back the kitchen floor Colonial match by holding back my Grenadiers, which I committed too early. Where was I?

People who are uncomfortable should walk out or log-off (as more of this is online). They must control their own life and stop being the eternal victim. There are actually very few people who are victims and too much empathy from the rest of society over who might protect those poor souls. What's this have to do with recreational gaming? GTA is simply fun. Don't waste my time discussing politics with strangers; they might unknowingly bring a hesitation or smoldering anger into play. As for women, let them handle their affairs. No one needs to be the gallant to stop the cad. This need not be a cautious workplace with lawsuits. Groups will find norms without help.

The writing of a game should not start with what amounts to a legal disclaimer. D&D fell into that trap with the Christian Right in the 1980s and never really recovered. I hope not to offend, but I may bully. I also know we make a choice with our time. Stop reading and ask for a refund, if you find the product was something other than what you first imagined. I too am sympathetic and must tell (the reader) that my pronoun choice is not misogyny, it's simple sexism. I wish I didn't think that was necessary.

We live in hypersensitive times.


Yours,