About fifteen minutes after I started participating on TBP, I realized that Gareth-Michael Skarka was not merely an asshole, but that he sought out to be an asshole, and likely enjoyed being an asshole.  He was the first person on whom I'd ever used an IGN button since VBulletin-style forums introduced the feature.

Someone touted a game of his to me, and I just refused: there was no way in creation I was going to put any of my hard-earned money into the pockets of that prick.

There are a lot of good games out there.  There's a lot of good product out there.  There are many blogs and websites out there filled with the opinion of smart non-jerks.  Far more than I have the time to read or play.  I am quite happy with using the dickishness of the Skarkas of the world as a content filter.

I've been known to get cranky at people insistently/repeatedly pointing out Lovecraft's racism (yes he was, no I'm not going to burn my books)... so I suppose it behooves me to ignore the foibles of other creators I actively dislike but who occasionally make good stuff.
Generally I'll go out my way to avoid giving them money though... so no buying Mongoose, GW or Palladium stuff unless it's used.

Quote from: Simlasa;790646Generally I'll go out my way to avoid giving them money though... so no buying Mongoose, GW or Palladium stuff unless it's used.

Wait, what's the deal with Mongoose?

Quote from: Ladybird;790609No, you've got it backwards. Now that the gap between creators and consumers is much smaller, we've got more information to decide that we just don't want our money to go to certain people or organizations. This is a good thing, because as consumers, we are now more informed, we can decide what we want to fund or not... or we can continue to not give a shit. There's more options available now. Options are good.

I get people being concerned at funding causes they disagree with, but I don't really worry about with RPGs. People in this business are at best just making enough money to keep making more game stuff. While I know for a fact that Robin Laws supports Canada's covert campaign to annex the United States, I know that as a game designer, he is never going to make enough money to contribute even a token amount to his beloved cause.

Overall, I am biased towards games by designers that I like as people. It just isn't going to stop me from buying games by people is I dislike.

I'll second what the others have said. I don't have time for hate in my life so there's no one I feel that strongly about. Most game designers and book authors are just names to me, I know little about them and mostly don't care.

That said, I can put aside any distaste I have about a writer if I enjoy their books enough. I don't agree with Orson Scott Card concerning gays and his strong religious beliefs but I've enjoyed the first two Ender books and look forward to reading the third. I don't like Terry Goodkind's Randian beliefs but I've mostly enjoyed his Sword of Truth books. Larry Niven may have been an adviser to Ronald Reagan on the silly SDI plan but that doesn't stop me from reading his novels. And so on.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;790647Wait, what's the deal with Mongoose?

Old matters I won't dredge up... basically I just don't like the company and how they've done business.

Quote from: Blacky the Blackball;790618Having said that, I can use other media as an example. I enjoy H.P. Lovecraft despite his blatant racism, and I still have some Gary Glitter on my playlist despite his paedophilia and some Rolf Harris despite the recent revelations about his past sexual assaults.

These things don't stop me enjoying the media they've produced, but they do always remind me of their authors' moral failings when I hear/read them.

.

i think it depends as to whether it was two little boys or his dire cover of stairway to heaven

A good game is a good game, I couldn't give a toss about the person who wrote it. I find games I actually like so rare that I don't have the luxury of using what I think about the author as a criterion. Furthermore, I won't "support" a shit game just because I think the writer is a worthy person.

I don't think I could enjoy playing or running anything written by an rpgnet SJW, no. I don't think I could GM/play Ron Edwards' Sorcerer! either, though I use 'Sorceror & Sword' as a resource for normal (=decent, right-thinking) games.

OTOH I think I could enjoy playing games written by Kevin Simbieda, even though he is a huge ass.  And I've been enjoying playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle with my boy recently, despite hating Games Workshop - but I was careful to buy second-hand copies of out of print material, so as not to directly give them any money. I think the difference there is that I have nothing against GW authors, it's the company that is evil. Whereas the evil of someone like Topher is personal, and is likely to stain his work.

Quote from: Ravenswing;790645About fifteen minutes after I started participating on TBP, I realized that Gareth-Michael Skarka was not merely an asshole, but that he sought out to be an asshole, and likely enjoyed being an asshole.  He was the first person on whom I'd ever used an IGN button since VBulletin-style forums introduced the feature.

Someone touted a game of his to me, and I just refused: there was no way in creation I was going to put any of my hard-earned money into the pockets of that prick.

There are a lot of good games out there.  There's a lot of good product out there.  There are many blogs and websites out there filled with the opinion of smart non-jerks.  Far more than I have the time to read or play.  I am quite happy with using the dickishness of the Skarkas of the world as a content filter.

Yes. The second-worst game I ever bought was d20 Mars (worst was Gygax's Cyborg Commando). If I had realised that GMS was the author and what an asshole he was, I could have worked out that his game would be garbage and not wasted my money.

But I think "Skarka is a dick - his game will be crap" filtering is a bit different from the OP's suggestion that a morally repulsive author makes a game unenjoyable, whereas if you didn't know the author you might enjoy the game. Eg there are only a very few hints in "Sorceror & Sword" concerning Ron Edwards' character. You have to go to his Forge posts and other Internet postings to really see him for what he is.

Quote from: jibbajibba;790667i think it depends as to whether it was two little boys or his dire cover of stairway to heaven

Is a dire cover like a normal cover but bigger and fiercer?

Quote from: Blacky the Blackball;790682Is a dire cover like a normal cover but bigger and fiercer?

Stairway is already a touch over 8 minutes, does it need to be bigger?

In general if I know someone who wrote an RPG is a dick I'll be a little uneasy playing it and alot less likely to play it.

If I know those involved are raging dicks or outright crooks then no. I dont care if its the most perfect RPG ever crafted by man. No.

On my general dislike list is just about anything from White Wolf or especially their Swords & Sorcery/Arthaus side. I'll play Aberrant and Racer Knights of Falconus because I still havent a clue who wrote those. Anything by Baugh is likely a flat NO.
SJG is another one on the irk list due to some dirty stunts pulled by them around 2001.
FGU is a company I wont buy from due to their treatment of the original writers.

Sanguine and everything from them is alot higher on my dislike list. I've had bad experiences with the company before and I do not like how they treat customers. This and some of their other stunts make them fairly low.

Games Workshop is an odd one. Up to a point I had great dealings with them. Past 2000 though it became increasingly evident that the company was corrupt. I feel sorry for anyone still shackled to that. Playing the games pre-2000 makes me occasionally uneasy because Im aware that this was the dieing light of a company in the process of going straight to hell.

Same for WOTC. Even moreso because its been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. In one stroke WOTC will do something great, and in the next they will be competing with GW for title of dirtiest gaming company. Or at least the stupidest on earth. 5th ed I'm getting because I participated in the playtest and feedback and one other bemusing contribution. For now at least the rollercoaster is on the upswing. But I dread the inevitible plunge into whatever new stupid WOTC embraces that ruins it all.

Quote from: Simlasa;790658Old matters I won't dredge up... basically I just don't like the company and how they've done business.

That is the strangest thing. I have all of one product from Mongoose I think, if even that. But there is something about the company that feels just that fraction off?

Pazio is another one that causes that "feeeeeeling"...

Weird...

I'll play just about everything. If I don't like the game it's really unlikely I'll play it again.
So I end up disliking some author's work or ideas about gaming, but hate is too strong a word.
Is the author a dick? Most people are, yet they manage to do good things as well.
 
See the RPGPundit? I think he's obnoxious, something of a bully and an attention-whore in his RPGPundit persona.
Yet he has put up this place that's kind of a haven of free-speech RPGwise, and also writes the occasional good review or article.
Do I hate him? No. Like him? No, he gets on my nerves about 65% of time. Yet he has done good things IMO and that's why I hang around here.

So back to square one: Do I like the game? Then I'll play it. No? I won't.