BGG has been a poison for at least a decade.

I was permabanned from all of Reddit for one word I posted in r/rpg with no warning, years back. Admittedly it wasn't kind, but that level of censorship is inhuman. No developed community would toss a person out into the wilderness for uttering one unkind word. I try to be a good person, but I also tend to say what I actually think and many places online aren't okay with that. My mind is mine; it's not open for forced reprogramming.

Quote from: Cathode Ray on February 02, 2025, 01:09:15 PMBGG has been a poison for at least a decade.

Longer. Cracks were showing as far back as 10, and was full tilt as the 2010 wave of woke took hold. You knew where it was heading when they set up on the forum a "safe place" for women gamers. As if the rest of the forum had not been. And it got worse from there.

Quote from: D-ko on February 02, 2025, 04:25:04 PMI was permabanned from all of Reddit for one word I posted in r/rpg with no warning, years back. Admittedly it wasn't kind, but that level of censorship is inhuman. No developed community would toss a person out into the wilderness for uttering one unkind word. I try to be a good person, but I also tend to say what I actually think and many places online aren't okay with that. My mind is mine; it's not open for forced reprogramming.

r/rpg and especially r/dnd are really censor happy. One of my friends got a comment deleted and got a warning just for mentioning some "modern" D&D players are near incapable if doing basic math. Guess one of the mods is one. I poke in, see some stupid comment and leave for another month or two unless someone points me at something.

Quote from: D-ko on February 02, 2025, 04:25:04 PMI was permabanned from all of Reddit for one word I posted in r/rpg with no warning, years back. Admittedly it wasn't kind, but that level of censorship is inhuman. No developed community would toss a person out into the wilderness for uttering one unkind word. I try to be a good person, but I also tend to say what I actually think and many places online aren't okay with that. My mind is mine; it's not open for forced reprogramming.

What was that one word?

Quote from: Corolinth on February 01, 2025, 02:46:14 AMIf I know you post on Bluesky, I can accurately predict that you're a far left radical. It really is that simple. We know who went to Bluesky, they told us. We know why they went to Bluesky, they told us.

So, Jesse Singal is a "far-left radical"? Look him up.

Be assured that if you post on TheRPGSite, you are alt-right—for those "whose life is short"—so my defense of Seth is also alt-right, is not it?

I agree that life is short. Which is a further incentive to skip stupid decisions and seek enjoyment where I can find it—with the head that was leased to me for such a brief time.

Quote from: Cathode Ray on February 02, 2025, 01:09:15 PMBGG has been a poison for at least a decade.

Generally speaking, yes. As all major outlets, they suffered a nervous breakdown circa 2016 and became a Big Purple of sorts. "Safe spaces, everyone is welcome - even Whites, if the color their hair - and so on."

In a debate, I posted my opinion about why, IMHO, black meeples in Puerto Rico (IIRC) didn't represent black people (a big brouhaha some years ago). It was a long and articulate opinion. I posted it, waited ten seconds, reloaded, and the post had been deleted, reason: "dismissive." In ten seconds I guess that the mods just read, "I don't agree because..." Or maybe it was a bot.

In a separate episode, when FFG went woke and created a Black Rohirrim and a Chinese elf for an expansion of "Journeys in Middle-earth," (1) the messages of all those who objected were deleted. Messages about Tolkien's racism are still up (pro tip: Tolkien was as anti-racist as it gets).

However, like everything else, there are sane spaces on BBG. I go there mostly for wargames and there is no wokeness there. My group of players enjoys "Journeys", and that page is full of neat tactics, rules clarifications and AAR'S of various scenarios. I simply ditch the posts by the feeble-minded.

So, as usual, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. BGG is still full of wonderful resources. It is not TBP. Just avoid the shady places.

(1) The history of FFG going woke is a sad one and worth of a whole post. They weren't, and many of their early games (Arkham Horror 2E, The Lord of the Rings and AH LCGs...) are still wonderful. Just don't play with Chinese Elves.

Quote from: HappyDaze on February 03, 2025, 02:24:21 AMWhat was that one word?

There are many power words.

Quote from: Venka on February 03, 2025, 12:45:27 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on February 03, 2025, 02:24:21 AMWhat was that one word?

There are many power words.

*gulp*  One for each gender and neo-pronoun even!?!

Quote from: Cathode Ray on February 02, 2025, 01:09:15 PMBGG has been a poison for at least a decade.

BGG? The name is a total miss for me.
Don't remember who it is.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on January 28, 2025, 04:25:49 PM

Quote from: Phil on January 23, 2025, 04:25:48 AMHi guys,

this time I'd like to have your opinion about Torchbearer from Burningwheel. The reason I'm interested in this game is I'm looking for a pseudo-OSR-like dungeon crawler with old fashioned arts. I saw this game could be the good one, and it will be available in my mother tongue this year, so I may give it a try.

Obviously, I was disappointed to see it in the redlist, but also surprised not to find here any description of actual content from the game itself possibly owning its place.

Thence my question: do you know this game, what is your general feeling about it, and of course, could you point me actual woke/anti-consumer content from the book itself?

Subsidiary comment: don't you think making a list based on game lines rather than companies, would allow a better granularity and increased relevance for consumers? For instance, if I was unable to see any wokeness in The One Ring yet, I cannot avoid being negatively triggered when reading Forbidden Lands, and I don't think it is only due to my own and unfounded conservative bias (though it plays a role ofc). Meanwhile, both games are from Free League, often told to deserve its place in the greenlist. I don't think FL would merit a place in the redlist in itself, but, I'm just wondering about the relevance of a company-based list. 

I have the game; kind of like it; we played it some.  No one else in my group really took to it, because it is a very abstract game.  Also, it doesn't really work with anything but 3-4 players because of the way the mechanics function.

It is in no way an OSR-like game.  Rather, like Dungeon World, it is hitting some of the same subject matter in a completely different kind of game.  Torchbearer, and all BW games, are set up so that any kind of fight (or conflict of any kind for that matter) is likely to have a big cost to the characters. Furthermore, there is no way to advance but risk it.  So the upshot is that mathematically the players must do crazy stuff, knowing that the most likely outcome is that 1 or 2 of the characters are going to die. 

All of that became moot for me right about the time my group said it didn't really work for them, when the whole team behind the BW games were some of the first to jump on the idea of if you don't agree with our extreme left-wing positions, then don't play our games.  Message received, chief.  Also, they think Anita Sarkiseen or whatever her name is, is sane.  In fairness, nothing in the actual game text is woke.  If they didn't make it so clear, it would down to whether you like that kind of game or not.

If you want something OSR-like, literally any actual OSR game would be a far better choice.

Many thanks, it's exactly what I wanted to know.

Quote from: blackstone on February 03, 2025, 01:21:55 PM

Quote from: Cathode Ray on February 02, 2025, 01:09:15 PMBGG has been a poison for at least a decade.

BGG? The name is a total miss for me.
Don't remember who it is.

BoardGameGeek.  I only use the place as a resource to find information on games, I don't engage with any of their forums.

Quote from: Reckall on February 03, 2025, 09:06:28 AMSo, as usual, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. BGG is still full of wonderful resources. It is not TBP. Just avoid the shady places.

Except the whole place is shady due to the admin. Nothing is safe and they can and will censor games they disapprove of. They flat out stated this a few years ago.

This on top of them hating RPGs and having no clue what an RPG even is and making staffers of more idiots.

There is nowhere on BGG that is really safe and the minute one of the SJWs butts into a game you either have to clam up or get out because if you speak up you risk being censored or actually having your account deleted.

As I've said many a time before. I have never had any trouble over on RPG.Net. That in absolutely no way means it is a safe place. Especially if you are a game designer posting over there.

Quote from: Omega on February 03, 2025, 11:05:46 PMExcept the whole place is shady due to the admin.

I never saw "shady" in wargames, which is what I use BBG the most. Of the other games I play (mostly Arkham Horror LCG, Lord of the Rings LCG, Journeys in Middle-earth, and Mansions of Madness 2E) I saw shady in Journeys, as I told ("Tolkien was rashist!!1"). Even there, only in that thread. Our group found a lot of good stuff on BGG, like the homemade display for your cards in Journeys made by a fan, which we printed on heavy cardstock, and it is just wonderful.

I guess that, like everywhere else, the creeps hover on what's successful in a given moment (and it is funny how I never saw a picture or a video produced by BGG with their people without everyone looking creepy...) Yet, the trove of positive material created by the users and the designers on the site is big. They can have their "Black meeples are racist!" debates as much as they want. I'll get the free display.

Yea, BGG is good for finding stuff like community made manuals and reference sheets. I never bother with its forums or reviews, aside from getting a general overview from its scoring system.