Jaded Gamer - Industry vs Hobby

I'm about done with the 'industry' side of the table top gaming folks in online communities.

A good portion of these people are not good for my mental well being. It's hard enough being poor without having a somebody shaming you because you can't afford their products. Or telling you that you should be thankful how cheap they are when you can't even afford them in the first place. Saying that you are one of the problems of the gaming hobby and that by not spending a bunch of money you are instead promoting piracy.

Yeah screw those people.

I'm more interested in interacting with the actual hobby side of the table top gaming folks.

You know the ones who don't give you crap when you can't afford the big new shiny and may direct you towards a cheaper alternative. Who run blogs and give out content for free, maybe asking for donations but never demanding them. People you can kitbash setting and system ideas with over the course of a week and there is nobody staking claim to what is created.

Yeah I belong with those people.

Jaded Gamer Diary - UK Expo meets uber creepy GM

Okay over in the UK this weekend was the UK Games Expo, a pretty big gaming convention that I had heard a lot about (nearly every bit positive). Bunch of gamers getting together and having a good time. But then a tweet rant out over on Twitter that got a lot of attention.

Just had the worst rpg experience of my life. Signed up for a Things from the Flood game and the GM decided it would be perfectly all right to have all our characters kidnapped and gang raped without discussing it with anyone first. Told us he enjoyed the shock factor of it...

Yeah that's pretty screwed up. Quickly word spread and folks were firing off messages to the con about how this could happen.  Thankfully the folks at the UKGE were on top of things and took care of it pretty fast. The shitbag GM was located, ejected from the con and banned for life. The players were tracked down and apologized to by the staff.  You can read their full account of the issue here.

Turns out the guy was known for being a creepy POS but had evidently kept off the radar long enough that nobody spotted him attending. People were applauding the con, the people in the game who came forward and generally the thing came to about the best end that it could.  Until....

THE BBC CAUGHT WIND OF THE STORY.

Then thing pumped into overdrive rather quickly. As with any bad news about the hobby that makes it on to the 'regular' new channels everyone started talking. It got real busy real fast. Of course this leads to folks like Jim "rape is great" Desborough who will jump into any controversy in hopes of getting more attention defending the GM. Of course the double standard creep that Jim is he's angling in from the 'free speech' and 'horror gaming means anything goes' points. Even going as far to paint the guy as the 'real' victim in this issue. But what do you expect from a guy who doesn't understand a single thought about boundaries and lines that don't need to be crossed.

 A few others have chimed up in the guys defense, just not to full on dumbass level like Jim. Thankfully even on some of the worst game forums out there they are the minority. It did give me a good time to update my block lists though.

Didn't share the name of the original tweeter in case they don't want anymore hassle, if they want to be listed that person can let me know in the comments. Also if anyone would like to comment the name of the GM in question please do so.

Jaded Gamer Diary - the latest undercurrent in the hobby

Well there is a new undercurrent going through the social media aspect of the hobby right now. This time it boils down to "Don't do anything for fun, only for money".  While this may seem rather harmless on the surface there are people throwing some dislike towards anybody who offers up content for free. Claiming they are the reason for the problem of low wages in the gaming industry.

This comes right on the tail end of the undercurrent in which people were trying to shame poor gamers out of the hobby. That was all started because some people said a hundred dollar pdf product was way out of their range to afford. People flipped their shit and suddenly poor gamers were the reason for every problem including piracy and low pay.

So what this really looks like is some folks stepped back and rethought up a different angle to go after us no good poor folks.  Guess they figure by shaming people out of producing free material because it's what they love to do then the poor gamers will all leave as well. 

I really don't buy into the 'movements' that are basically people telling others what to do. Then giving them a hard time when they don't want to change. It's a hobby and a passion for some. You want better pay, then start up a project and set an example by paying people better yourself.  Leave those who are happy in their little corner of the hobby giving away their ideas alone.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Mike Mearls crawling back out

Well Mike Mearls is starting to crawl out from underneath the rock he has been hiding under. For those that don't know he is the guy who hired Zak Smith/Zak Sabbath on as a consultant for DnD 5e. Despite many warning about Zak being an abusive and stalkerish pile of shit, he claimed to have investigated Zak and found nothing wrong. Then handed over the info on the abuse victims who tried to warn him to the abuser. Then when shit hit the fan he said Zak was nothing more than an early playtester, yadda yadda yadda and a bunch of other bullshit. He then quickly vanished from social media.

Now he's slowly creeping his slimy little toes back out to test the water. Did a podcast interview and has been quietly popping back up here and there.

I pretty much lump him into a big group of abuse enablers that helped Zak make other miserable for years on end. Companies like Magpie Games, LotFP and people like Satine Phoenix and Mike Mearls, all birds of a feather who well sell out others for a moment of popularity or to make a fast buck. They don't care what happens to anybody but themselves.

So when I see him crawling out I'm not staying silent. Whatever social media I run across him at I'll be sure to ask him about his past actions. Others should be doing the same.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Zak Smith still an asshole

Well apparently Zak Smith/Zak Sabbath is still not done being an asshole in the gaming community. This bag of shit just keeps on floating back up like the turd that he is instead of going down the drain. Here is the latest from the comments page on a Kickstarter for a game he is releasing.

Yeah you read that right. He's now asking for help in making a list for all the people who say anything bad about him with the oncoming release for his game. You know who does shit like that? Scumbag bullies who want to control others and silence them with fear. Good luck with that. We have all been putting up with your crap for years and basically everyone is sick and tired of you. Your shields have left you and told everyone what kind of person you are and your new shields just aren't stopping anybody.

But he keeps on talking.

Now he's trying to use his typical tactics and make everyone else look like the villain. To bad for his ass nobody is going to listen to him.  He's the kind of person that needs to be kept as far away as possible.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Why so serious?

It's been a while.

Although I think I finally figured out some of my issues with the online table top role playing games community at large. Hopefully now that I have done this it will make it easier to switch my focus around a bit and stay away from what distracts me and shoots my motivation straight into the toilet.  What is the main issue? Glad you asked.

Why the hell is everyone so damned serious all the time.

Recently the gaming Twitter community blew up over GM's fudging die rolls. To quote Deadpool, "Holy shit balls" was it a blow up. Some people were outright spitting venom over this. Talking about how it breaks the social contract, that those who fudge die rolls shouldn't even be running games and that they are simply terrible people for it.

To those people I have a hearty quote from Bubbles "Fuck you, it's a loner cat". While there is actually no cat involved I do feel that line works very well. Because to hell with those people who want to tell you how, exactly how, you should run your games. Many of these folks I've seen screaming about 'one true wayism' last year while they are telling you that you need to follow their one true wayism now.

Running and playing in a game isn't serious business, at least it shouldn't be. But damned if some people are dead serious in telling others that they are doing something wrong.

Why the hell so serious? Is it hurting you personally? Is the die god punishing others for those who sin and fudge die rolls?

Happy! (2017)

Happy! (2017)

Holy shit, what did I just watch?

This has got to be one of the most well done crazy train rides I have ever seen. It's an all out full throttle punch to my face that I was not expecting at all. Just a quick warning though, this who is not for you if you can't handle: Violence, including sexual violence, massive amounts of blood, pain, suffering, grievous injuries, drug use, death, children in danger, all manner of sexual situations, prostitution and probably a few I'm forgetting.

Basic plot line: Nick Sax is a disgraced alcoholic ex-cop turned hit man who cares about nobody, not even himself. Meanwhile Hailey, the daughter he didn't know he even had, gets kidnapped by a very bad Santa so she sends her imaginary friend Happy to find her father, whom she's never met, to save her. Meanwhile Nick gets involved in a mafia power struggle in which a man who has messed with him before named Blue needs a password that he think Nick has. While the very bad Santa is collecting kids and pulling mind trips.

Got that? Yeah it's that messed up and I think that is only the first episode.

Nick can actually see Happy, a little blue flying unicorn that is tooth rotting sweet, and quickly figures out that he is real. Insert of stream of characters that are either disturbing as all get out (Smoothie) trying but not trying to screw over Nick (Meredith) or just want all of it to end and everything please go back to normal (Amanda). It just plain gets stranger after that.

As the violence ratchets up and Nick starts taking a beating that should kill a man three or four times over he just keeps on going. He is the unstoppable force that is pissed off, drunk, high and really needing to release some stress. With a friend that (almost) nobody else can see by his side that gets dragged down into the the world of Nick Sax and all the darkness it has gathered.

Then, really subtle like, they start doing something that makes it even more over the top. Tiny bits of supernatural elements are slipped in under the radar. I mean if imaginary friends are real then why not? Catching onto this is what really drives the final perfect nail into the series and holds it all together nicely. Leading to a scene at the end that definitely lets you know that dark shit is afoot and season 2 will try to blow my already blown mind.

Everyone does their job above and beyond here. The actors are putting everything they have into it. The attention to detail on the sets, costuming, Nicks constant growing collection of injuries, etc are superb. Then the way they shot the entire thing is jarring in all the right ways. This is the kind of show you need a cigarette after watching an episode.

So if you like some really over the top messed up television. Watch Happy!. But don't say I didn't warn you.

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