We know. The mods there ban people for BS reasons. Reasons that are deep rpg theory. What if --- the Mods don't understand rpg theory? What if they're dogs who don't know what a cat is?
I still engage them, theory-wise, and they still ban thought outside their boundaries.
Are Rpg.net mods dumb (relating to rpg theory)?
Quote from: Theory of Games on January 27, 2021, 12:58:53 PM
We know. The mods there ban people for BS reasons. Reasons that are deep rpg theory. What if --- the Mods don't understand rpg theory? What if they're dogs who don't know what a cat is?
I still engage them, theory-wise, and they still ban thought outside their boundaries.
Are Rpg.net mods dumb (relating to rpg theory)?
Yes. Next question? :)
In all seriousness, RPGnet has devolved into something of a circle-jerk for progressive views and politics. Kind of a shame, really.
WTF?
I want to be sorry for rpg net in a lot of ways but, they've embraced banning people just because their ideas differ from the mods.
And I find it incredible that a group that claims the California Bay Area would do this. I'm from the Bay Area and .... WOW. Wow. How can a site dedicated to tabletop rpg be so ..... Anti-RPG?
I walked away from rpg.net a long time ago. I think it's a place best left ignored. It certainly has no relevance to my gaming.
I too am from the same region as you and TBP, and since my awareness of them some 11 years ago now found the site not very useful for talking or learning about RPGs. No hard feelings, just never found a 'there' there. :) I let them enjoy their peace, and me mine.
However I learned from many old regulars here that it was a wonderful, heady, energetic place before in the primordial Web 1.0 before changing into this new Web 2.0 Beta Age. From what I gathered a lot of this moderator crackdown occured from Something Awful forum regulars making a successful incursion upon moderation staffing in TBP and thus creating the site of little RPG note today. For all we know this could be an elaborate long term troll from within... Apocryphal, but that's all I got.
Anyway, we here try to keep cross forum drama compartmentalized, and part of that is discretion. There are those who live to scrounge posts and crosspost and stir up hay, sometimes taking into meatspace threats and retaliation. They live for factionalism, envy, and the politics of resentment. I would recommend saying your peace and then stop feeding their little games the attention they crave.
:) Hope you find a helpful and listening place for your RPG ideas here!
Quote from: Theory of Games on January 27, 2021, 12:58:53 PM
Are Rpg.net mods dumb (relating to rpg theory)?
Its not just the Rpg.net mods that are dumb relating to rpg theory.
Literally thought this thread was about therpgsite for a second because I'm illiterate and was wondering who was ever banned...does anyone actually go to rpg.net to talk about games?
Anyway, what is RPG "theory", anyway? RPGs are games, so are we talking about mechanics?
QuoteAre Rpg.net mods dumb (relating to rpg theory)?
What the fuck is RPG theory?
Because they are dumb as mods, but dunno about it. I mean I still read some topics on their boards, as sheer numbers allow for good content in threads untouched by their political shenanigans.
Not merely dumb. More like... mentally ill.
Confirmation bias always lead to increased stupidity.
Why would you expect people with a demonstrated lack of understanding of people in general to display any great understanding of games where a small group of players pretend to be someone else? It's like expecting a nearly blind, color-blind person to coordinate your wardrobe.
Quote from: Theory of Games on January 27, 2021, 12:58:53 PMWhat if --- the Mods don't understand rpg theory?
I forget whether it was Einstein or Bohr who said something like, "Only three people in the world understand quantum physics, and two of them are wrong." Before I was sure I understood RPG theory I'd want whoever used the term to tell me what they meant by it.
The theory that I always grokked most intuitively was the GNS analysis scheme, i.e. (G)aming, (N)arration, or (S)imulation: is the goal to create an exciting contest of player skill at manipulating the rules system, to create an emotionally resonant story, or to create an impressive and immersive feeling of being present in an imaginary world? I can't speak to whether the TBP mods grok/prefer this or not, but it would not surprise me to find the term having fallen out of fashion. Many hobby terms do.
I don't really have anything new to complain about, so I'll reminisce instead. I used to have friends on that site. Like actual talk online a lot friends, even meeting with some of them at conventions when possible. Bailey Wolf ran a game of Monsters & Other Childish Things game that I and a couple non-forum-visiting friend played in at Dragon Con. IIRC, it's the very same game that I played across the table from Random Nerd and Bethdragon. At Gen Con, I met a few people, but the ones I remember best are Koltar(who was[is?]) one of the more active posters on the SJ Games forums, too. And . . . crap, I forget his name, but he came to Gen Con from Greece and ran an impromptu, unscheduled one-shot for me and a couple of my friends. Very cool. I know there were more that I met, but I'm sad to say I've forgotten the names over the years. I wish I could remember the name of the guys who told me about their "Box of ElminSTOR" story. It was hilarious.
Sometimes I miss my friends a little. There were good times before everything went to shit.
Quote from: GeekEclectic on January 27, 2021, 07:39:24 PM
There were good times before everything went to shit.
This describes about 50% of everything in life. The other 50% just starts out as shit and usually stays that way.
"When you stay too long in the same place, things and people go to pot on you, they rot and start stinking for your special benefit." --Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Journey to the End of the Night.
"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television."
― Woody Allen
Seriously, it is one of the biggest places to talk about non-D&D RPGs I know of. I try to make it my last stop given that I don't want to support their moderation scheme, but sometimes it's the best place to ask a question.
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 27, 2021, 07:41:16 PM
Quote from: GeekEclectic on January 27, 2021, 07:39:24 PM
There were good times before everything went to shit.
This describes about 50% of everything in life. The other 50% just starts out as shit and usually stays that way.
I object!
Sometimes something starts out as shit, and then gets worse.
Hmmm, what? Did you just discover this?
Quote from: Theory of Games on January 27, 2021, 02:41:50 PM
WTF?
I want to be sorry for rpg net in a lot of ways but, they've embraced banning people just because their ideas differ from the mods.
And I find it incredible that a group that claims the California Bay Area would do this. I'm from the Bay Area and .... WOW. Wow. How can a site dedicated to tabletop rpg be so ..... Anti-RPG?
According to some designers and reviewers I talked to long ago. Its possible RPGnet was never really about RPGs as they seem to really have it in for designers in particular. And even if they love you today and you can do no wrong. Tomorrow you will be demonized and banned. And this undercurrent of tension has been a part of RPGnet a long long time. Completely perplexing.
This isnt like say BGG where they truely have no fucking idea what an RPG is and are still a haven for the extremist storygamers and the Cult of Ron that refuses to die and continues to undermine RPGs and because probably upwards a quarter of the members are rampant dice-o-phobes. So over there their idea of what an RPG is is effectively "Everything on Earth" because "you are playing a role! And that makes it a really real RPG!"
Conversely I have never had any trouble with RPGnet other than a rare few idiot posts that are easily dismissed and so far never had any trouble with the mods. Whereas I've seen various problems with the BGG staff though rarely had problems with them directly up till they made a RPG staff of a creep who tried to dox me and their covert censoring of any games they disapprove of.
BGG is what RPGnet wanted to be. And BGG wants to extend its grasp to RPGs. Luckily thats not likely to happen considering the absolute mess they have made of the RPG section. G'luck trying to search for anything!
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament on January 27, 2021, 02:53:18 PM
I walked away from rpg.net a long time ago. I think it's a place best left ignored. It certainly has no relevance to my gaming.
This. The last relevant social exchange I had with them was back in 2009 at Their GenCon party when
Piratecat showed up. They seemed very moderate then, and still talked about gaming issues without censoring discussion participants. Once I found that
Skotos had invested money into RPG.net, I knew they were done.
Quote from: GameDaddy on January 28, 2021, 03:12:13 AM
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament on January 27, 2021, 02:53:18 PM
I walked away from rpg.net a long time ago. I think it's a place best left ignored. It certainly has no relevance to my gaming.
This. The last relevant social exchange I had with them was back in 2009 at Their GenCon party when Piratecat showed up. They seemed very moderate then, and still talked about gaming issues without censoring discussion participants. Once I found that Skotos had invested money into RPG.net, I knew they were done.
Alright, you got me curious. What was wrong with Skotos? I know nothing about them, but I just glanced at their website and saw the "we're shutting down, bye!" message. The basic idea of the site looked interesting, but I didn't look in any depth.
Quote from: GeekEclectic on January 27, 2021, 07:39:24 PM
Sometimes I miss my friends a little. There were good times before everything went to shit.
Imo do not feel any regret.
They decided with eyes open and willingly turn rpg.net into the regressive and repressive site that it is now.
Made worse that many who go to the site are also willingly part of it being as it is. For fear of being banned they threw away and all self-respect. I'm too damn old for that kind of high school teenage bullshit. I'm just surprised that the OP finally realized how bad the site really is. I wonder if he truly is surprised or it's just an act. Rpg.net has gone downhill for about ten years or more. So one has to be living in a cave to just realize it imo.
You guys remember when the most radical thing about RPG.net forums was that they were kinda sorta the "Anti-D20" forum?
Pepperidge Farm remembers...
Quote from: BronzeDragon on January 28, 2021, 12:57:47 PM
You guys remember when the most radical thing about RPG.net forums was that they were kinda sorta the "Anti-D20" forum?
Pepperidge Farm remembers...
I remember that too.
The golden age, the wild west days, those were really pretty short lived and long past now.
Quote from: Mishihari on January 28, 2021, 06:55:03 AM
Alright, you got me curious. What was wrong with Skotos? I know nothing about them, but I just glanced at their website and saw the "we're shutting down, bye!" message. The basic idea of the site looked interesting, but I didn't look in any depth.
Skotos was a storytelling/narrative website founded by Europeans (mostly) with very deep pockets in the 90's. In it's original incarnation it was a phenomenal place, one where one could go online and working with other contributors, create these fantastic interactive stories online. Part RPG, part MUD, part LARP, it was a website ahead of it's time by more than a couple decades. The only problem was, the founders had some very unusual ideas about intellectual property, and about fantasy gaming in general, and as it evolved, they worked so that only their "narratives" and "goals" became the narratives and goals that everyone was supposed to adopt when creating interactive online experiences, and they tried to force us to adopt their agendas and goals with of course... predictable results. They also claimed all IP from anything and everything written on their site, so of course, I stopped writing, very shortly after I started.
I had actually joined RPG.net about the same time, and back then, it was a pretty much normal gaming website supporting 3e and lots of indy gaming. There was a wide variety of viewpoints, constant, high quality new game reviews, and an atmosphere of Renaissance brought about by the WOTC buyout of TSR and the imminent release of 3e with open gaming included. It was a fun optimistic place where one could go to learn about RPGs in general, D&D 3e and a host of cool and interesting Indy games.
Around 2005-2006 I had my first incident of being censored over on RPG.net where some discussion threads were arbitrarily closed before the discussions were naturally finished. In 2008 I attended a party at GenCon hosted by
PirateCat from RPG.net where we met him in person. He had thrown the party because more conflicts were happening online over on RPG.net that he wasn't understanding, and he wanted all the Americans on RPG.net to get together for what basically amounted to a peace conference. Unfortunately the mods that were creating controversy, of course didn't attend, or at least didn't attend when me and
Koltar were there.
PirateCat was all about advocating for peace and reasoned discourse, so was pretty cool to hang out with. If any contentious mods were there, they were incognito, and very civil, unlike when they were online. Wait, maybe that was the Enworld party...
Anyway, in 2009 I learned that
Skotos had either bought RPG.net, or had founded it. Then I knew what was going to happen at RPG.net becuase it had already happened on Skotos. Basically they drove off all their best mods, and most of their visitors with their Cthulu based ideology about gaming and gamers, and Skotos collapsed into an echo chamber of insanity and despair.
My gut feeling is there a consortium of Euro gamers and business folk who think they own RPGs becuase you know, every decent RPG was based on Tolkien...
and all our bases belong to them lolollololollol!!!! ....and they keep interfering in the American gaming Industry, Kinda like how Eurogame companies have taken over most of the gaming and RPG distribution channels here in the States over the last two decades... and they don't want FLGS to truly succeed... They want Megacorps and the olde great printing houses of yore to succeed. Oh, they don't play nice, either, and destroy any possible company that is competing with them, whenever they can...
Quote from: David Johansen on January 28, 2021, 05:25:28 PM
The golden age, the wild west days, those were really pretty short lived and long past now.
Indeed, I just downloaded the Wushu Skidoo article series from there as a precaution. If anyone there ever looks back at it, they'll probably shit themselves over the 'cultural appropriation' of the adventure ideas.
Quote from: GameDaddy on January 28, 2021, 06:33:45 PM
Around 2005-2006 I had my first incident of being censored over on RPG.net where some discussion threads were arbitrarily closed before the discussions were naturally finished. In 2008 I attended a party at GenCon hosted by PirateCat from RPG.net where we met him in person. He had thrown the party because more conflicts were happening online over on RPG.net that he wasn't understanding, and he wanted all the Americans on RPG.net to get together for what basically amounted to a peace conference. Unfortunately the mods that were creating controversy, of course didn't attend, or at least didn't attend when me and Koltar were there. PirateCat was all about advocating for peace and reasoned discourse, so was pretty cool to hang out with. If any contentious mods were there, they were incognito, and very civil, unlike when they were online.
Are you confusing rpg.net with EN World? PirateCat is mostly known for being a EN World moderator/admin and story hour author.
Still remember the good days of RPGnet, 2000-2005 or so. The moderation slowly got more strict and all the fun seemed to drain away. They used to have flamewars, for gods sake, and now everyone is so afraid that the secret police will take them away that no real opinions are expressed.
Quote from: Pat on January 28, 2021, 06:58:50 PM
Are you confusing rpg.net with EN World? PirateCat is mostly known for being a EN World moderator/admin and story hour author.
ya, that was the Enworld party, but I remember talking about RPG.net with some of the mods there.
Why is it that some of the most bigoted, elitist, and closed minded people in every corner of gaming are european?
We see it ALOT over in the LARP circles.
We see it ALOT over in the board gaming circles.
And they sure as heck push Storygaming or Storytelling sans the game part in RPGs.
Whats next? Video games?
And more oft than not extremists in each field. Seen it time and again in LARPing where they push that the only "real" LARPs are with real weapons and real armor and its not "real" until you bleed. And same with RPGs. The only "real" RPGs are storygames or better yet just storytelling. COYA books are really real RPGS!
Quote from: Omega on January 29, 2021, 05:18:32 AM
Why is it that some of the most bigoted, elitist, and closed minded people in every corner of gaming are european?
...
Seen it time and again in LARPing where they push that the only "real" LARPs are with real weapons and real armor and its not "real" until you bleed.
Are you fucking kidding? That sounds ridiculously dangerous.
Then again with all the health and safety bullshit these days (yes I know how old I sound!), it's almost refreshing.
Quote from: GameDaddy on January 28, 2021, 06:33:45 PM
Quote from: Mishihari on January 28, 2021, 06:55:03 AM
Alright, you got me curious. What was wrong with Skotos? I know nothing about them, but I just glanced at their website and saw the "we're shutting down, bye!" message. The basic idea of the site looked interesting, but I didn't look in any depth.
Skotos was a storytelling/narrative website founded by Europeans (mostly) with very deep pockets in the 90's. In it's original incarnation it was a phenomenal place, one where one could go online and working with other contributors, create these fantastic interactive stories online. Part RPG, part MUD, part LARP, it was a website ahead of it's time by more than a couple decades. The only problem was, the founders had some very unusual ideas about intellectual property, and about fantasy gaming in general, and as it evolved, they worked so that only their "narratives" and "goals" became the narratives and goals that everyone was supposed to adopt when creating interactive online experiences, and they tried to force us to adopt their agendas and goals with of course... predictable results. They also claimed all IP from anything and everything written on their site, so of course, I stopped writing, very shortly after I started.
I had actually joined RPG.net about the same time, and back then, it was a pretty much normal gaming website supporting 3e and lots of indy gaming. There was a wide variety of viewpoints, constant, high quality new game reviews, and an atmosphere of Renaissance brought about by the WOTC buyout of TSR and the imminent release of 3e with open gaming included. It was a fun optimistic place where one could go to learn about RPGs in general, D&D 3e and a host of cool and interesting Indy games.
Around 2005-2006 I had my first incident of being censored over on RPG.net where some discussion threads were arbitrarily closed before the discussions were naturally finished. In 2008 I attended a party at GenCon hosted by PirateCat from RPG.net where we met him in person. He had thrown the party because more conflicts were happening online over on RPG.net that he wasn't understanding, and he wanted all the Americans on RPG.net to get together for what basically amounted to a peace conference. Unfortunately the mods that were creating controversy, of course didn't attend, or at least didn't attend when me and Koltar were there. PirateCat was all about advocating for peace and reasoned discourse, so was pretty cool to hang out with. If any contentious mods were there, they were incognito, and very civil, unlike when they were online. Wait, maybe that was the Enworld party...
Anyway, in 2009 I learned that Skotos had either bought RPG.net, or had founded it. Then I knew what was going to happen at RPG.net becuase it had already happened on Skotos. Basically they drove off all their best mods, and most of their visitors with their Cthulu based ideology about gaming and gamers, and Skotos collapsed into an echo chamber of insanity and despair.
My gut feeling is there a consortium of Euro gamers and business folk who think they own RPGs becuase you know, every decent RPG was based on Tolkien... and all our bases belong to them lolollololollol!!!! ....and they keep interfering in the American gaming Industry, Kinda like how Eurogame companies have taken over most of the gaming and RPG distribution channels here in the States over the last two decades... and they don't want FLGS to truly succeed... They want Megacorps and the olde great printing houses of yore to succeed. Oh, they don't play nice, either, and destroy any possible company that is competing with them, whenever they can...
This amuses me because I spent a lot of time in the 90's and 00's playing on MUDs and MUSHes, and for Skotos to act like they're some kind of zeitgeist setter is funny as hell.
Quote from: Marchand on January 29, 2021, 06:06:40 AM
Quote from: Omega on January 29, 2021, 05:18:32 AM
Why is it that some of the most bigoted, elitist, and closed minded people in every corner of gaming are european?
...
Seen it time and again in LARPing where they push that the only "real" LARPs are with real weapons and real armor and its not "real" until you bleed.
Are you fucking kidding? That sounds ridiculously dangerous.
Then again with all the health and safety bullshit these days (yes I know how old I sound!), it's almost refreshing.
It is ridiculously dangerous and euro-LARPs have a much higher instance of injury that those dirty filthy ol american LARPs. Usually I just hear of scraped, bruises and the occasional cuts. But they field alot more broken bones. They also push for non-safety tipped arrows.
In the US weve seen various trying to push this as well and as they escalate from boffers to latex to real swords they have had to also increase the requirements that to play you have to wear real armour because surprise surprise, injuries increased exponentially. And it all comes across as so eletist.
That and a cultist level obsession with "immersion".
Quote from: Omega on January 29, 2021, 05:18:32 AM
Why is it that some of the most bigoted, elitist, and closed minded people in every corner of gaming are european?
Because you dont speak Chinese.
Self selection bias.
I guess. It's crazy that this site is FILLED with people banned or ran away from Big Purple simply due to their SJW mods.
As hot as RPGs are, especially D&D, you can't say, "Yeah, go check out rpg.net", because your referral might get banned for having an opinion outside of the mods.
I caught a ban a few weeks ago for posting exactly what the OP asked. It's just bad business, as if a Nihilist doesn't understand Capitalism. Crazy, right?
That site is DOOMED.
RPG.net has always been a clusterscrew of a community. The mods were always vicious bullies and the userbase always prone to targeting hate mobs at people for any reason or none at all.
The Social Justice slant just allows them to have a veneer of righteousness while they carry on doing what they were always going to do anyway.
Out of curiosity I finally registered an account on RPG.net. I immediately motored to the "Infractions" forum, where warnings and bans are posted for all to see.
And the first thing I read is this one:
Daz Florp Lebam receives a 🚫 Thirty-Day Ban - Cultural appropriation
For what? For posting ideas about how his cleric could build a "Sweat Lodge" ritual. :o
These RPG.net people are sick in the head. They should consult a psychiatrist ASAP. I'm totally serious.
Quote from: Reckall on February 02, 2021, 07:48:24 AM
Out of curiosity I finally registered an account on RPG.net. I immediately motored to the "Infractions" forum, where warnings and bans are posted for all to see.
And the first thing I read is this one:
Daz Florp Lebam receives a 🚫 Thirty-Day Ban - Cultural appropriation
For what? For posting ideas about how his cleric could build a "Sweat Lodge" ritual. :o
These RPG.net people are sick in the head. They should consult a psychiatrist ASAP. I'm totally serious.
You don't need an account to read Infractions, but yeah. No arguments from this corner.
Ol' Jim receives a 🚫 One Day Ban - Disrespecting Chicken McNuggets ???
I mean... You can't make this shit up.😶
Quote from: Reckall on February 02, 2021, 07:48:24 AM
Out of curiosity I finally registered an account on RPG.net. I immediately motored to the "Infractions" forum, where warnings and bans are posted for all to see.
And the first thing I read is this one:
Daz Florp Lebam receives a 🚫 Thirty-Day Ban - Cultural appropriation
For what? For posting ideas about how his cleric could build a "Sweat Lodge" ritual. :o
These RPG.net people are sick in the head. They should consult a psychiatrist ASAP. I'm totally serious.
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/thane-of-fife-receives-a-%F0%9F%9A%AB-thirty-day-ban-declaring-representation-is-too-much-work.876587/
Seconded about as bad as this guy receiving a similar ban for daring to write that he did not want to do write a setting book while also doing a ton of research to make sure that everyone and anyone would not be offended. Speaking for myself if I have to go through that much trouble than pay me for my time. Otherwise fuck that I have a life to lvie and it's not going to be spent worrying if I offend everyone and anyone as a writer.
At this point they have reached peak insanity imo. Yet you will have posters here who not only declare that this site is more repressive and regressive, they also don't have the stones to comment or speak negatively about rpg.net. For fear of being banned at rpg.net or going against their personal narrative that the rpg.site is the most repressive and regressive site ever.
They should be embarrassed and ashamed imo when their infractions forums seems to have more new posts than the entire site combined.
In brief: A joyless sorry bunch of self righteous gossamer skinned white knighting fuckstick snowflakes.
I guess they missed one of the most important lessons that popular culture recently gave to "critics":
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dave_chappelle_sticks_and_stones
Now, bye for a while. I posted a link without accompanying it with a comment. No really ;D
Quote from: Reckall on February 02, 2021, 08:22:13 AM
Ol' Jim receives a 🚫 One Day Ban - Disrespecting Chicken McNuggets ???
I mean... You can't make this shit up.😶
That looks like the kind of ban used to test out someone's new moderating privileges.
Quote from: Reckall on February 02, 2021, 07:48:24 AM
Out of curiosity I finally registered an account on RPG.net. I immediately motored to the "Infractions" forum, where warnings and bans are posted for all to see.
And the first thing I read is this one:
Daz Florp Lebam receives a 🚫 Thirty-Day Ban - Cultural appropriation
For what? For posting ideas about how his cleric could build a "Sweat Lodge" ritual. :o
These RPG.net people are sick in the head. They should consult a psychiatrist ASAP. I'm totally serious.
RuneQuest creator Greg Stafford died in his sweat lodge. Maybe the mods at rpgnet put a permaban on him?
Too soon?
Quote from: Godsmonkey on February 02, 2021, 09:01:51 AM
Quote from: Reckall on February 02, 2021, 07:48:24 AM
Out of curiosity I finally registered an account on RPG.net. I immediately motored to the "Infractions" forum, where warnings and bans are posted for all to see.
And the first thing I read is this one:
Daz Florp Lebam receives a 🚫 Thirty-Day Ban - Cultural appropriation
For what? For posting ideas about how his cleric could build a "Sweat Lodge" ritual. :o
These RPG.net people are sick in the head. They should consult a psychiatrist ASAP. I'm totally serious.
RuneQuest creator Greg Stafford died in his sweat lodge. Maybe the mods at rpgnet put a permaban on him?
Too soon?
They haven't realized how quietly anti-subversive the Great Pendragon Campaign is - the defenders of
medieval feminism fin amor are called White Knights...
I just finished a campaign at Crusader Kings II (the videogame) as a Scandinavian Pagan Ruler. I held Great Blots (big banquets with my vassals preceded by human sacrifices to ingratiate the Gods), ravaged and ransacked Europe's coasts, and even got to reform my religion and organise it in a definite set of rules. I guess that a self-PermaBan on RPG.net is due.
No, really: any RPGer who played in the Al-Qadim setting without being from the 1001 Nights' lands should be banned for cultural appropriation. This is true, too, if you are a Coptic Christian from Egypt who plays an Arthurian knight in Pendragon.
This, BTW, being the "always missed by SJW" crux of the matter. "Cultural Appropriation" works both ways. By this logic I can ban a Muslim because he played a "Fantasy European Middle-Ages" RPG - let's say a Paladin from Cormyr using D&D 3.5, and holding beliefs and rituals inspired by Christianity. That "Cultural Appropriation" segregates the very people you think you are "respecting" never crosses their minds.
What a bunch of bozos.
The reasoning for the 'sweat lodge ban' included a moment that made me want to tell the mods "Check your privilege": :)
QuoteThis would be the equivalent of "Hey, I've heard good things about Mass helping people feel like a community, anyone want to help my luck cleric stat out the benefits from Mass in game terms?", except that what we're talking about here are religious practices that have been the object of persecution in the past, which adds a different dimension to this.
Not to diminish the way Native American practices have been suppressed and even trivialized, but it's not a case of "Practice A has been persecuted, but Practice B hasn't." (It's very hard to find a religion that hasn't been both persecutor and persecuted throughout the long run of human history.)