I was trying (in vain) to find this thread on RPGnet from a few years back where a guy said he wouldn't buy from Troll Lord because of their political viewpoints.  

Now, games or settings designed under the umbrella of political ideological fervor can be crap (see Rose, Blue), but I never really saw this with Castles & Crusades or StarSeige.  I know there's plenty of designers who are on the other end of the political spectrum from me, and I don't care--as long as they are making a good product, I'll happily do business with them.  I can't imagine politics entering into it.

Has anyone seen this happen?  Now I'm curious...

Well, I've made a good arguement for D&D being obviously and deliberately set up to evoke ethical debates many times in the past.  The very fact that you have to pick an alignment and it influences your powers and abilities is as telling as the fact that there are kobold babies that are worth XP at all.

Still, Price of Freedom, Year of the Phoenix, Recon, and indeed Twilight 2000 have a certain jingoistic nationalism to them.  White Wolf is certainly a liberal minded bunch and GDW were pretty conservative back in the Traveller the New Era days.

Does it influence my buying habits?  Well I've got lots of GDW on my shelf and no White Wolf but honestly that's more about prefered subject matter.

What were their viewpoints ? Not that it makes a difference in my case. kyle once said if Himmler wrote a good rpg he would buy it. Not me, I'd download it and pass it around free...everywhere.

Edit: Oh we are are talking about games.....

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;306501What were their viewpoints ? Not that it makes a difference in my case. kyle once said if Himmler wrote a good rpg he would buy it. Not me, I'd download it and pass it around free...everywhere.

Regards,
David R

Troll Lord?   Judging from their blog, I'm guessing they were too far on the conservative side in their personal politics.  Wish I could find the original post on RPGnet.

You'd have too work pretty hard on the "too far on the conversative side" for me to even raise an eyebrow, much less not buy your product. But then again, I'm used to designers saying stupid things :rimshot:

Edit: Actually I wish there were more "right wing" stuff. I may not agree with the perspective but I'm sure it would make for some interestin' gamin'. Kinda of liked Price of Freedom. I remember the shitstorm it caused in the pages of White Dwarf.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: Zachary The First;306497Has anyone seen this happen?  Now I'm curious...

I have never done anything like this, but I would. Now conservative or liberal doesn't bother me much, but I wouldn't buy a game from someone with extremist viewpoints or who in my opinion has a poor character (as in really poor, some flaws are allowed).
For example I buy games from Ron Edwards, because his only problem is a failure to communicate at times, which is annoying but ultimately I can forgive a flaw like that. I wouldn't buy a game from you on the other hand because of your fuckup with the Ennies, neither would I buy a Kevin Sembieda game because he is a fraud.

Quote from: David R;306503I may not agree with the perspective but I'm sure it would make for some interestin' gamin'.

Interestin' gamin' is all I give a damn about.

And for me, Palladium makes damn interestin' games.

Looking forward to seeing what they do with their urban combat RPG coming...sooner or later...written by the Detroit cop based on his very down and dirty novel of violent crime.   Pretty sure the author and I have different politics, but I want to see what kind of fun comes out of his brain.

I remember the RPG.net pissfest about the Troll Lords guys.    They're ex-military and like a lot of ex-military (especially those who didn't see actual combat), it sounded like they fell in line with the Bush bullshit.   But I don't give a shit about TL's politics.  I want the Castle Keeper's Guide.   I am still interested to see what directions they go with that book.

Quote from: David R;306503You'd have too work pretty hard on the "too far on the conversative side" for me to even raise an eyebrow, much less not buy your product. But then again, I'm used to designers saying stupid things :rimshot:

My position. I could not care less about the political views of the designer, as long as the game is good. I'm buying a product, not looking for a friend who shares my viewpoints.

I might not get RPG products from someone I knew to be racists, or actively promoting/donating to, say, radical anti-abortionists or movements for denying gay rights or funding the Sarah Palin 2012 movement or something like that.

But short of that, short of actual money of mine ending up funding the Anti-Mexican League or something like that, I don't think that the politics of a company would be enough to get me to avoid buying a game.

The politics of a game certainly might be though, if it made the game suck (as it did with Blue Rose, for example).

RPGPundit

My only concern would be if an overwhelmingly popular game was produced by a company with a clear political bent.

I wouldn't want my money going to a Ronald Reagan lich resurrection fund.

I'm sure Hasbro, for example, contributes strongly to conservative  parties, but that's  business self-interest rather than ideological dogma.
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Quote from: RPGPundit;306531The politics of a game certainly might be though, if it made the game suck (as it did with Blue Rose, for example).

RPGPundit

Agreed.

Quote from: Spinachcat;306526Looking forward to seeing what they do with their urban combat RPG coming...sooner or later...written by the Detroit cop based on his very down and dirty novel of violent crime.   Pretty sure the author and I have different politics, but I want to see what kind of fun comes out of his brain.

This sounds interestin'.

QuoteI remember the RPG.net pissfest about the Troll Lords guys.    They're ex-military and like a lot of ex-military (especially those who didn't see actual combat), it sounded like they fell in line with the Bush bullshit.   But I don't give a shit about TL's politics.  I want the Castle Keeper's Guide.   I am still interested to see what directions they go with that book.

See sig

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;306503Edit: Actually I wish there were more "right wing" stuff. I may not agree with the perspective but I'm sure it would make for some interestin' gamin'. Kinda of liked Price of Freedom. I remember the shitstorm it caused in the pages of White Dwarf.

Oh, I hadn't heard of this.  What happened/what was it?

Quote from: Hairfoot;306533I wouldn't want my money going to a Ronald Reagan lich resurrection fund.

Okay now this is funny and material for an OtE one shot - To Live and Die and Live Again in LA.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: Zachary The First;306554Oh, I hadn't heard of this.  What happened/what was it?

Here's a rpgnet review of the game : http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5737&editionid=6452

When it first came out the letters section of the old White Dwarf magazine (back when it was a gaming mag) was red with blood because of the game's perceived jingoistic themes. If I'm not mistaken what started it off was an extremely sharp (and funny) review of the game by a White Dwarf regular (I'm not so sure of this, it was some time ago)

Regards,
David R