This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Author Topic: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs  (Read 7561 times)

RandyB

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • R
  • Posts: 1218
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #30 on: August 01, 2022, 07:30:25 AM »
A while back I had stated my belief that the miniature wargaming scene would probably be the most resistant to wokeist infection, but now I worry that I was sorely mistaken.

The IP that are in the most danger are those that have fiction books written about them. These attract the "I read a book so I am part of the community" crowd. Those guys are the death of any game-related fandom.


Warhammer and 40K have been targeted for infection for the last couple of years at least. Thanks, Black Library!

This Ends Tonight

  • Newbie
  • *
  • T
  • Posts: 12
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #31 on: August 01, 2022, 08:02:58 AM »
Well damn…

I really did like Battletech.  One of my all time favorite games.

I have slowly watched the games that I love, drowned in a scummy tide of wokeness.
A while back I had stated my belief that the miniature wargaming scene would probably be the most resistant to wokeist infection, but now I worry that I was sorely mistaken.

One author does not a hobby make, but when you kick out a guy who's been writing source material and novels for over 35 years, it's kind of rattling.

I'd say wargaming is still quite resistant to wokeness because the actual player base for any of these companies is never going to be into it, and it's too expensive and time consuming to fake pretending to like (unlike say comics where people buy 10 issues a year for a grand total of $40 and spend 20 minutes to read them before going on Reddit and declaring themselves a huge comics fan).

It's just that corporations are spineless and unthinking, and people who worship at the feet of business have found themselves a false god. They're going to cave into pressure the same way TV networks and publishing companies used to cave into the "letter writers" in the 80s and 90s. And just like they eventually realized most angry letters about any one issue were coming from one guy and maybe three helpers from his church group typing up the same opinion a thousand times, they'll realize that social media groups discussing their games represents a tiny sliver of their customers and that giving into a crazy person who keeps emailing them doesn't cause crazy people to stop emailing them.

I will say that at least here Catalyst did an actual bad thing worth disapproving of. The amount of insanity over GW putting out a memo eventually began to seem kind of pathetic. A person with a job and a life who didn't check their website that particular weekend would never even know anything about 40K going irreparably woke, but there are Youtubers still trying to get people butthurt over it to this day.

Ghostmaker

  • Chlorine trifluoride
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4013
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #32 on: August 01, 2022, 05:22:36 PM »
Well damn…

I really did like Battletech.  One of my all time favorite games.

I have slowly watched the games that I love, drowned in a scummy tide of wokeness.
A while back I had stated my belief that the miniature wargaming scene would probably be the most resistant to wokeist infection, but now I worry that I was sorely mistaken.

One author does not a hobby make, but when you kick out a guy who's been writing source material and novels for over 35 years, it's kind of rattling.

I'd say wargaming is still quite resistant to wokeness because the actual player base for any of these companies is never going to be into it, and it's too expensive and time consuming to fake pretending to like (unlike say comics where people buy 10 issues a year for a grand total of $40 and spend 20 minutes to read them before going on Reddit and declaring themselves a huge comics fan).

It's just that corporations are spineless and unthinking, and people who worship at the feet of business have found themselves a false god. They're going to cave into pressure the same way TV networks and publishing companies used to cave into the "letter writers" in the 80s and 90s. And just like they eventually realized most angry letters about any one issue were coming from one guy and maybe three helpers from his church group typing up the same opinion a thousand times, they'll realize that social media groups discussing their games represents a tiny sliver of their customers and that giving into a crazy person who keeps emailing them doesn't cause crazy people to stop emailing them.

I will say that at least here Catalyst did an actual bad thing worth disapproving of. The amount of insanity over GW putting out a memo eventually began to seem kind of pathetic. A person with a job and a life who didn't check their website that particular weekend would never even know anything about 40K going irreparably woke, but there are Youtubers still trying to get people butthurt over it to this day.
The problem is that the people driving these changes don't have to spend the money. They just need to be chronically online and know how to work the social media megaphone.

Presto: what looks like a massive 'mob' of people demanding action on some policy, even if the 'mob' is measured in single digits.

I genuinely hope that they realize how much of a scam social media is. But how much damage gets done in the meantime?

RanchRifle

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Forty years of RPGs...
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #33 on: August 05, 2022, 06:55:31 AM »
Such awful news.  I have been a regular customer of theirs from the time he started writing for them.  No more.  The spirit of the age seems to be coming for everyone...

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post and I hope I'm not violating any rules at the get go.

Battletech fans have probably heard of Blaine Lee Pardo. He's written several sourcebooks and novels, which are very good.  He's also an all around good dude.

And he managed to upset some woke oxygen leaches enough to get him cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs.  Note that I didn't refer to them as aholes.  Aholes provide a very valuable function and almost 100% of the time, make you feel relieved.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/29/my-publisher-canceled-me-in-favor-of-an-activist-who-threatened-my-life/

I'm not the type to tell people what to do, what to buy, etc.  Normally; but I do try to nudge folks adopting a puppy dog or puddy tat to work with a shelter or rescue. 
But CGL isn't getting any more of my money in the future and I hope more people will boycott them.

Thanks for reading.

Cadmus12

RanchRifle

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Forty years of RPGs...
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #34 on: February 18, 2024, 11:13:47 PM »
A bit of a Necro here, but I did want to say that the new series by Mr. Pardoe is pretty awesome.  The LAND&SEA series is now up to 6 books and they are a fast and fun read.  Apparently, they have a tabletop wargame, and RPG in the works as well.  Something worth following, anyway.

HappyDaze

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • H
  • Posts: 5337
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #35 on: February 19, 2024, 01:15:59 AM »
A bit of a Necro here, but I did want to say that the new series by Mr. Pardoe is pretty awesome.  The LAND&SEA series is now up to 6 books and they are a fast and fun read.  Apparently, they have a tabletop wargame, and RPG in the works as well.  Something worth following, anyway.
If you have the right Amazon package, you can get (at least some of) them at 0 additional cost.

yosemitemike

  • The hell is this?
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1517
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #36 on: February 19, 2024, 03:52:39 AM »
Warhammer and 40K have been targeted for infection for the last couple of years at least. Thanks, Black Library!

Fortunately, the entryists in the 40k hobby have made themselves easy to identify.  They just can't stop gassing on about how "we" supposedly need female space marines for Representation.  They have tried to make that their wedge issue and people in the hobby aren't having any of it.
“I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.”― Friedrich Hayek
Another former RPGnet member permanently banned for calling out the staff there on their abdication of their responsibilities as moderators and admins and their abject surrender to the whims of the shrillest and most self-righteous members of the community.

Omega

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • O
  • Posts: 17093
Re: Blaine Lee Pardo Cancelled by Catalyst Game Labs
« Reply #37 on: February 25, 2024, 01:09:45 AM »
Well damn…

I really did like Battletech.  One of my all time favorite games.

I have slowly watched the games that I love, drowned in a scummy tide of wokeness.
A while back I had stated my belief that the miniature wargaming scene would probably be the most resistant to wokeist infection, but now I worry that I was sorely mistaken.

One author does not a hobby make, but when you kick out a guy who's been writing source material and novels for over 35 years, it's kind of rattling.

You were very sorely mistaken.

Woke bastions like BGG push and allow these things to happen and quietly contoll the narrative. This is not the first or last wargame or board game to fall. Arkham Horror being another example. They have their claws in everything.