Can someone explain to me why a fucking nerdy ass hobby about pretending to be fruity elves needs any sort of real-world politics injected into it? I am not being flippant or rhetorical, I want an honest answer as to why people just can't leave their problems at the door to play a GAME. I play GAMES to get the fuck away from real life, I don't want to hyper-analyze stupid shit, I just want to get drunk and roll dice. These fucktards are sucking the joy out of something I have enjoyed since I was a kid and made it into an avenue to explore their sophomoric postmodern ideas. Sorry, I actually have two degrees in philosophy, most of this shit can easily be addressed after one semester of Aristotle. Fuck them. Seriously.
Its all about control...all totalitarians must force 'art' (in this case rpgs) to fit whatever their control pattern is, whether its called fascism, socialism, communism, or wokism. Art in any form is a way to reach people and like everything else, it has to be viewed through the 'proper' lens. Our elf games are just a small microcosm compared to a nation state, but it is an avenue for these people to exercise control over their little corner of the world.
This is why people like me are still holding on to DVDs, CDs, and books.
100% this. As many people have turned away from traditional religions they have taken to secular ideologies in the hopes of achieving utopia on earth. A utopia, almost by definition, is a totalitarian society. A perfect society allows no flaws. If a flaw is found then utopia is thwarted, and the utopian believers can justify just about any action in the name of achieving their goals. There becomes a problem (among many others) that it’s difficult for even like minded utopianists to agree as to what is perfect as even a mild deviation can be seen as thwarting to perfect good.
A lot of traditional religions have worked out over thousands of years that heaven on earth is not possible, though the occasional small splinter/cult still tries to achieve this. The traditional religions spilled a lot of blood sorting this out over the centuries. ISIS is an example of a group trying to force a utopia (a perfect theocratic state) that has caused a lot of recent bloodshed.
Secular idealism/Utopianism seems to have really only come about since the 19th century, with the various forms of Marxism costing 100 million + lives in the name of achieving the workers’ paradise. (None of the many people I’ve known from former communist countries thought they were living in anything but a lousy prison at best. Well, there are two exceptions, but had both drunk the kook-aid as youths, yet both somehow came to the USA to make their lives.) Secular idealist (those just interested in reforms and improvements are a vanishing breed) keep telling themselves utopia is within reach, and dismiss the prior failures (“that wasn’t real communism/socialism”) because they have to or risk questioning their ideals. I’m afraid we’re in for a very long period of having to deal with the cult-like behavior of the secular idealists. I think the secular “pragmatists” recognize the danger, and is why some of them have reached out to moderate believers recently.