Have you guys been checking this comedy show out on TBP and Twatter?

I'm a bit of a fan of the Design Mechanism. But apparently, there are a number of dweebs not too happy at all with this release. Must be very few, considering that the product is selling rather well in the Drivthru charts.

The gist of the problem, as far as I can tell, is that some 'no mark' on Twitter called Liam had a bit of a hissy fit and TBP all sang Kum ba yah to support him.

Apparently, the Maori tribes have been given the dreaded character bonuses (or some shit). Like in Oriental adventures. Thus playing on stereotypes that can do 'harm' in the real world. Uh... Please show me some facts and figures to back that up? I'll wait...

I'm sure that the Maori are now on the verge of collapse after this Huge elf-game release. Which is sure to grace the NY Times top sellers list. LOL

But that's not all... Apparently, the mob started to demand that the product be taken down immediately and an explanation (and presumably) an apology to be given straight away - To this molecule-sized mob.

But to the Design Mechanism's credit, it appears they haven't budged one iota and have remained silent (at this point at least). That's the best thing you can do, imo.

Apparently, the 'ikkle mob is not too happy that some comments were 'removed' from Drivthru that criticized the supposed 'rrrrrrrrrhhacist' elements in the product. That made me laugh.

Anyway, is anyone aware of this tiny tantrum?

PS - And Apparently tDM are now guilty as charged because they have remained silent. You gotta' love that inevitable emotional blackmail trick from the micro-mob. And just how much business tDM will lose. LOL - Just look at the charts!

Yeah, apparently some people caught bans at TBP for pointing out that most of the villains were lizardman tribes or something and got accused of spreading coded racism or some such nonsense (because apparently to the woke lizard people = Maori) and banned even more for questioning the ridiculousness of that ban.

I also agree, just acting like the impotent woke whiners don't even exist is probably the most effective (and infuriating to the woke) means of dealing with it. Particularly as the relevance of TBP continues to wane relative to other ttrpg related means of discourse.

Yeah, I noticed the thread a few days ago on one of my periodic visits to the Infractions thread there.  It struck me as yet another example of SJWs trying to out-left each other. They go to great pains to demonstrate how liberal they are, but you can never be liberal enough so they get attacked by their fellows, who circle like sharks just waiting for such occasions so they can jump in and demonstrate how pure and virtuous they are.

Can you imagine the horror of existence if people like this ever gained total control of society?

But please...

Do a Haka for the offended Maori people who risk death because of this game. Do it for them. They really look like they'd care.

Quote from: I on December 14, 2022, 09:39:33 AM
Yeah, I noticed the thread a few days ago on one of my periodic visits to the Infractions thread there.  It struck me as yet another example of SJWs trying to out-left each other. They go to great pains to demonstrate how liberal they are, but you can never be liberal enough so they get attacked by their fellows, who circle like sharks just waiting for such occasions so they can jump in and demonstrate how pure and virtuous they are.

Can you imagine the horror of existence if people like this ever gained total control of society?

The French Revolution called...

These people are flipping out over a game of imagination, a book!

They could create their own game about Polynesia or go crazy on the internet. They choose crazy.

I looked up the twitter thread and when I got to the part about gender roles I immediately realized that this "critic" is woke af.

I don't doubt that pre-colonial Maori culture was a lot more egalitarian between the sexes than the invading Christians, but this guy conflates that with modern Eurocentric woke gender nonsense. Far be it for me to tell him how to practice his own culture, but many others (primarily non-woke women and bipoc) have pointed out that woke views of this gender nonsense is no less colonialist and has nothing to do with indigenous gender norms.

As far I've been able to discern without taking courses on the subjects, pre-colonial indigenous cultures existed on continuums between egalitarian (no gender roles, men, women and homosexuals were all equal and could take any profession) and patriarchal/misogynistic/homophobic (strict gender roles, where women and homosexuals were considered "non-men" and limited in their choice of professions). In all cases they recognized biological sex as a salient feature of the human condition, simply because women are the only sex who can give birth. In more egalitarian cultures women may have been socially equal to men and the language may lack grammatical gender (to the point where historical or mythical figures' sex is rarely specified or considered important enough to specify), but they still recognized that men and women were realities that couldn't be overcome by wishful thinking.

Altho I do find it rather lazy that Design Mechanism couldn't have hired ethnic maori (and other Polynesians) to consult on the project to add that extra bit of authenticity. Maori people are still around today and use the internet to communicate. It wouldn't be hard to put out an ad or reach out to cultural experts. I'm sure some of them would love to educate others on their culture and inspire an interest in learning about their culture.

I think this is completely ridiculous and good on TDM for not bowing to the woke mob.

What's next should we Europeans require a sensitively read to verify that Americans and Japanese have written their medieval fantasy games with due care. What about the legion of games that have the British Empire as the bad guys, that is so offensive to my culture. The number of times I have read something about Modern Britain or Europe that some American has written and they obvious haven't even been here on holiday. And don't get me on castle, would it be so hard to have even looked a real castles plan before putting some knocked up map of a building that has no idea of what a defensive wall is, or that keep entrances are on the 1st floor (ie the one above the ground for you Americans).

Stupid woke leftist take all the fun out of life.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on December 14, 2022, 10:19:55 AM
Altho I do find it rather lazy that Design Mechanism couldn't have hired ethnic maori (and other Polynesians) to consult on the project to add that extra bit of authenticity. Maori people are still around today and use the internet to communicate. It wouldn't be hard to put out an ad or reach out to cultural experts. I'm sure some of them would love to educate others on their culture and inspire an interest in learning about their culture.

I don't see why that's necessary. This is a game, not a research paper or political document.

A game like this is closer to a travelogue. An author visits a culture, imagines some stuff, and writes about it. It will never be a completely authentic rendition of that culture, but it could be evocative, interesting, and fun. We can still enjoy travel literature, right?

Quote from: zincmoat on December 14, 2022, 10:31:35 AM
What's next should we Europeans require a sensitively read to verify that Americans and Japanese have written their medieval fantasy games with due care.

No kidding! I'm not a huge fan of anime, but I've seen enough to know that the Japanese don't give a fuck about rendering a European culture in any way they want.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on December 14, 2022, 10:19:55 AM
Altho I do find it rather lazy that Design Mechanism couldn't have hired ethnic maori (and other Polynesians) to consult on the project to add that extra bit of authenticity.

Why should they though? Why spend extra cash on something that you don't technically need? Did they do it with all their other products? What makes this one so 'special', other than some crybaby having a tantrum on Twitter? If the bed-wetter hadn't mentioned this on Twitter nobody would have even brought it up I'd wager.

Quote from: zincmoat on December 14, 2022, 10:31:35 AM
I think this is completely ridiculous and good on TDM for not bowing to the woke mob.
.

Yeah, I was really happy about that. I honestly thought that they might have caved in, but so far it's business as usual. LOL Fair play!

Quote from: rytrasmi on December 14, 2022, 09:59:53 AM
These people are flipping out over a game of imagination, a book!

They could create their own game about Polynesia or go crazy on the internet. They choose crazy.

Exactly...

Funny, I said pretty much the exact same thing on another forum. Needless to say, it didn't go down very well. 

Quote from: tenbones on December 14, 2022, 09:47:38 AM
But please...

Do a Haka for the offended Maori people who risk death because of this game. Do it for them. They really look like they'd care.

Indeed! Zero fucks given I'd say. 

I wonder why part of "Mythic" in the title of the book don't they understand?

I guess logic is hard when they have cognitive dissonance.