Whether its Watchmen, Star Wars, comics, or D&D, you have to stop letting your Nerd-OCD make you give money to people who despise  you to ruin things you love!



[video=youtube_share;yELu2XzjckI]https://youtu.be/yELu2XzjckI[/youtube]

There seems to be a trend of new projects trying to claim a connection with classic properties even when they have nothing to do with them. With this new Watchmen it sounds like there's an obvious heavy handed culture wars agenda going on, but I've seen it without that.

Netflix recently made a miniseries of The Haunting of Hill House that turns out to have literally nothing to do with Shirley Jackson's novel or the movies based on it. They used the title and some of the character names (but not the characters themselves) and that's it. The funny thing is, taken on its own merits it's not bad. It's a serviceably creepy story about the impact of a childhood encounter with a haunted house on the characters as adults. I'm not sure why they tried to tie it in with the Jackson book. It's as though the makers lacked the confidence to believe that they could make something that people would like for its own sake.

I don't care what others think of me, and I won't let what they think of me control what I spend my money on. If people make products I get something out of, I will continue to buy it, regardless of what they think of me. My gaming is not some activist protest movement.

I've heard the same kind of talk from Herion addicts.

Quote from: Son-of-Gaia;1111784I've heard the same kind of talk from Herion addicts.

Who you hang out with is also none of my business

It's "The Two Dougs" dilemma from the TV Show "The Good Place". Which is a superb show by the way.  In the episode titled "The Tale of Two Dougs (Season 3, episode 11), the destinies of the two different people named Doug illustrates why fewer and fewer people are earning enough points to get into Heaven until around 500 years ago nobody could any longer get into Heaven (no matter how careful and knowledgable and isolated they were) in the setting of this show.

The first Doug, in the year 1534, picks roses and gives them to his grandmother. He earns good points towards getting into Heaven. The second Doug, in the year 2009, orders roses using his mobile phone and gives them his to his grandmother. He loses points (or gains "bad points" to get into Hell).

Why? Because now the flowers are grown thousands of miles away, using fertilizers and pesticides that harm the ecosystem, picked by workers who are underpaid, and transported using vehicles that pollute the atmosphere.

The point is it's become impossible over time to gain sufficient knowledge about the complexity of life given the interconnectedness of the world. Our actions have implications that ripple beyond everyone's ignorance threshold or ability to avoid harm. There are no longer good choices, and choices you often think are better than others may well be worse in ways you don't and perhaps can't know.

You can see one of the main characters explain it in this clip, concerning simply trying to buy a tomato. The Judge objects to his explanation saying he's just arguing life is complex, but not seen in this clip is her going to Eath, experiencing what the character is describing first hand, and realizing the system is broken. Skip to the 1:34 mark in the video below:

[video=youtube_share;R8m_5HDZF7w]https://youtu.be/R8m_5HDZF7w?t=94[/youtube]

The answer I've chosen is to do what you can in the areas you care about the most, and just accept that you cannot do it all, and would be miserable and fail if you tried. Gaming is just not an area I am going to engage in activism. I really, honestly don't care enough about the topics you guys are caring about with this issue to let it crack my top 100 list of activism I am willing to engage in.

It's laughable how nerds claim to possess a higher intelligence than normies, but can't understand voting with their dollars.

Every dollar is a vote. Spend accordingly.

It's not activism. It's basic personal economics. If you want local businesses to thrive, buy your stuff locally at those businesses. If you like a particular band and want them to make more music, buy their albums and go to their concerts.

Alternatively, if you think a company is a bunch of worthless fucknuts, don't buy their products and instead patronize their competitors who produce equally good products.

Not rocket science.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1111810It's laughable how nerds claim to possess a higher intelligence than normies, but can't understand voting with their dollars.

Every dollar is a vote. Spend accordingly.

It's not activism. It's basic personal economics. If you want local businesses to thrive, buy your stuff locally at those businesses. If you like a particular band and want them to make more music, buy their albums and go to their concerts.

Alternatively, if you think a company is a bunch of worthless fucknuts, don't buy their products and instead patronize their competitors who produce equally good products.

Not rocket science.

It's laughable how you think my expressing my opinion is some implied "higher intelligence" claim, or that I don't understand the concept.

It's not a vote. Voting with dollars is an analogy, not reality. Reality is there is no connection made by these companies between sales and the positions they take on the internet. And they're right - your protest "votes" are not registering because far too few people think like you or care about these topics like you do. You are peeing in the ocean and proclaiming everyone will drown as the seas rise.

It's activism. Of course it's activism. That's another word for "personal economics" in this context. These are not "local businesses". Hasbro does not care about your idiotic internet bitching about woke shit. You are having no meaningful impact with your "personal economic votes" with regard to shit like WOTC products.

But you think you do apparently, or don't care. If you don't care, cool, then you should understand me not caring. But if you think you're having a meaningful impact then it's not me whose intelligence you should be insulting.

People don't post more than twice in threads they don't care about.

Quote from: Mistwell;1111818Hasbro does not care about your idiotic internet bitching about woke shit. You are having no meaningful impact with your "personal economic votes" with regard to shit like WOTC products.

I'm not entirely sure of this. Hasbro as a whole doesn't care, but the tabletop RPG market is sufficiently small that grassroots movements could potentially have an impact -- thus affecting that small branch of Hasbro. Voting with one's dollars is an imperfect analogy - like any analogy - but it gets some essential truths. If enough people are displeased with Wizards of the Coast's marketing and/or products, then their business will suffer.

On the other hand, what I'm not sure is: Are there really a ton of nerds buying stuff they don't like because they don't understand how to buy things? Or is it that they just have different taste in gaming products from RPGPundit and Spinachcat?

I must be one of the few people that did not really get into Watchmen.  I mean one of them is supposed to be the smartest person on earth who comes up with a plan for world peace so ridiculous that he could not even do it with the help of his super hero friends.

But as for Nerd OCD and Star Wars in particular, the third Trilogy seems completely borked and I have no interest in finding out what happened to Mary Sue or her Emo boyfriend now that every original character has been killed off.

Quote from: EOTB;1111821People don't post more than twice in threads they don't care about.

I care about the topic. The concept of voting with your dollars when it comes to RPGs is a topic I like. I don't however care about the SJW issues in RPGs issues like many of you guys do. See the difference? Gay gnomes seems like a silly thing to sacrifice my fun over. Discussing if it's a silly thing or not seems like a fair thing to sacrifice some free time over.

Quote from: jhkim;1111823I'm not entirely sure of this. Hasbro as a whole doesn't care, but the tabletop RPG market is sufficiently small that grassroots movements could potentially have an impact -- thus affecting that small branch of Hasbro. Voting with one's dollars is an imperfect analogy - like any analogy - but it gets some essential truths. If enough people are displeased with Wizards of the Coast's marketing and/or products, then their business will suffer.

On the other hand, what I'm not sure is: Are there really a ton of nerds buying stuff they don't like because they don't understand how to buy things? Or is it that they just have different taste in gaming products from RPGPundit and Spinachcat?

It's that 99% of them are not reading about this shit at all and shrug about these issues like "What Crawford said on Twitter than one time" or "These two gnomes are gay oh nooooes!"

Seriously, we've never mattered. By "we" I mean "People who post a lot on message boards and minutia when it comes to RPGs including social issues re: RPGs." The entire classification of people who are even aware of these issues, on all sides of the topics, is so tiny as to be meaningless.

Quote from: jhkim;1111823I'm not entirely sure of this. Hasbro as a whole doesn't care, but the tabletop RPG market is sufficiently small that grassroots movements could potentially have an impact -- thus affecting that small branch of Hasbro. Voting with one's dollars is an imperfect analogy - like any analogy - but it gets some essential truths. If enough people are displeased with Wizards of the Coast's marketing and/or products, then their business will suffer.

On the other hand, what I'm not sure is: Are there really a ton of nerds buying stuff they don't like because they don't understand how to buy things? Or is it that they just have different taste in gaming products from RPGPundit and Spinachcat?

Not sure about RPGs but in comics/movies yes there are, lots and lots of people complaining that Marvel/DC this or that but keep on buying at least some of their products, thus funding the ones that nobody buys.

Take One More Day lots and lots of geeks/nerds complaining about it, and yet they keep buying every single Spider-Man comic.

The same goes with Star Wars and the MCU, lots of geeks/nerds went to see the Captain Wahmen/Last Jedi movie despite being sure it was going to be shit, and then went/plan to go see end game/Rise of Meh because reasons.

So there could be some number of people that buy D&D products out of loyalty to the brand, even if they don't like it. We used to call those people fans for a reason.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1111810It's laughable how nerds claim to possess a higher intelligence than normies, but can't understand voting with their dollars.

Every dollar is a vote. Spend accordingly.

Problem is when you have 'nerds' proclaiming they are proud to be cattle and gladly give a company money they know is either ripping them of, or treating its workers like dirt. They arent even cultists anymore.

Quote from: Mistwell;1111818Reality is there is no connection made by these companies between sales and the positions they take on the internet.

I'll let Blizzard know.

Quote from: Mistwell;1111818And they're right - your protest "votes" are not registering because far too few people think like you or care about these topics like you do.

So what? I've never cared if others share my opinions, my likes or my dislikes. That's not how I'm wired.

What I do care about is how I feel. And I feel great when I consciously vote with my dollars.

Quote from: Mistwell;1111818You are peeing in the ocean and proclaiming everyone will drown as the seas rise.

Somebody better warn Greta!

Quote from: Mistwell;1111818But if you think you're having a meaningful impact then it's not me whose intelligence you should be insulting.

Of course I'm having a meaningful impact! But my goal isn't a meaningful impact on WotC. My goal is a meaningful impact on small press publishers who make stuff I enjoy by supporting them financially by buying their products and evangelizing their brand by running their games in public.

It's exactly why Kickstarter backers have a meaningful impact because without them, many projects would never have seen the light of day. I've backed several projects where there were only a few hundred of us, or less, who made sure the creator had the support they needed to launch.

It's pebbles in the small pond, not pebbles in the ocean. Just like patronizing your local artisan pizza place instead of a mega-chain.

If you want to call that activism, so be it. I'm old school regarding activism. To me, activism requires a lot more than just watching where you spend your money. To me, activism requires sweat and commitment.

Voting with your dollars is just driving two blocks past Taco Bell to eat at a locally owned taco stand instead. No energy spent by any stretch, but it does require a modicum of awareness.

Quote from: jhkim;1111823On the other hand, what I'm not sure is: Are there really a ton of nerds buying stuff they don't like because they don't understand how to buy things?

Nerds are too attached to name brands like D&D, Marvel, Star Wars, etc and now that these brands have shit their pants with SJW propaganda, many of the nerds I've seen online and offline are angry, upset, but weirdly still attached to the brands like some bad marriage.

I don't get this attachment. We live in the Golden Age of Geek Stuff from comics to video games to RPGs and there is so much interesting quality content out there being created by independents and small companies. So my message is simple. If you don't like what the name brands are doing, come check out dozens of products you might like much better.

Quote from: jhkim;1111823Or is it that they just have different taste in gaming products from RPGPundit and Spinachcat?

Everyone should support what they enjoy. People who love storygames should buy more storygames so those creators can continue to not make RPGs. Gamers who love crunchy rules should buy more crunchy rules.

It's not about sharing my taste. It's about everyone supporting their preference. And if they like the bullshit WotC, Paizo, Monte Cook, etc is shoveling into the hobby, then they should buy it.

But if any gamers don't like SJW nonsense shoved into their games, or don't like companies who denigrate their customers who might have different viewpoints, then those gamers should look around at the incredibly variety of awesome games that exist beyond the "big brands" of the hobby.