"Regular" person disgusted at Swine Games

[RPGPundit]

Regular Person Disgusted at Swine Games

So here we have the example of a regular person, who gamed long ago in their youth apparently, who has discovered and become disgusted by the Swine game "steal away jordan", one of the "misery tourism" brand of Forge games that deals with playing Slaves in the Antebellum South. This regular person happened to blog about it, because their job is to blog about racial issues on Alternet.

So here's an example of how the Swine affect our hobby: a guy who was once a gamer, looks back into it, and sees that this is what is being pushed and promoted by a very vocal group.  It would be easy for him to mistake it for the mainstream.

Let me say this to Chauncey De Vega:
Let me say that in the RPG hobby there is a strong counter-movement that is oriented AGAINST these kinds of games, which we refer to as "misery tourism".  These games are pushed and promoted by a small, cult-like group of pseudo-intellectuals who have tried to subvert the regular RPG hobby, which is largely composed of people who still play the games that you loved from your youth.  The people who make these kinds of games (and unfortunately, there are several of them, this one is not even the worst of the lot) are a group of hipsters who got frustrated that games weren't "sophisticated" enough and want to imagine they're the new Beat Poets making really meaningful "art" by writing this often-offensive garbage. Many of them include sexual perversion or radical politics into the games under the guise of "dealing with mature themes".  Its all very disgusting, and fortunately the fight is on to stop these guys from taking over the RPG hobby.

RPGPundit

(september 9th 2010)

[jhkim]

If you are going to take "regular person" Chauncey DeVega's opinion as meaning something, you should also include his updated comments.  Julia Ellingboe responded to DeVega's comments on her blog in the post,  "I Don't Like Misery Tourism Either".  

DeVega commented:

I too would like to thank Julia for being so kind and gracious. I did learn a great deal about a type of role-playing that I did not know of before, and that while I may not "get" it, I certainly encourage folks to continue our shared hobby.

I am going to actually go to Indiana to partake in the historical "reenactment" of the Underground Railroad and write an article about it. If there are any folks in the Chicago area playing Steal Away Jordan by all means email me if you want a fair, curious, and interested gamer to participate.

Who knows it could be "fun?"

best.

cd

[DominikSchwager]

I sometimes fear that someone might stumble over pundit's blog and take his hate mongering as a representation of what goes on in our hobby.

[Kyle Aaron]

In this context, a "regular" person would be a non-gamer. But this is a former gamer.

A non-gamer would not even hear about this stupid shit. The hobby itself is so obscure that its factions and infighting would be a source of confusion and bemusement, not disgust, in any non-member. Us worrying what non-gamers think of this thespy wacky nonsense is like a Druze worrying what everyone else thinks of their heretics.

Nobody cares.

[Ian Warner]

Funny Tough Justice can be pretty miserable but Pundy didn't mind it so much.

Then again my approach was pitch black comedy so there is a difference!

[Noclue]

Wow. Julia has the balls to say her people were oppressed but they were heroes and worthy of the same attention that we might lavish on characters like Bilbo Baggins and Arthur Pendragon. And for her trouble, Pundit has the audacity to call her a swine and to suggest she is a tourist of her own people's exploitation.

Nice.

[Benoist]

Great name, dude. Perfectly accurate.

[Exploderwizard]

RPGPundit

(september 9th 2010)

Did you by chance type this up last year and decide to wait a whole year to post it?

[RPGPundit]

Did you by chance type this up last year and decide to wait a whole year to post it?

I think its funny how I still have to answer this.  Most of the threads I start here are archived reposts of my blog from one year ago that date.

RPGPundit

[B.T.]

1. Any and all of Alternet's writers are left-wing zealots in a state of perpetual disgust and offense-taking.
2. Steal Away Jordan sounds absolutely miserable to play.
3. Any game attempting to "raise awareness" or "educate" me should fuck off.  I play RPGs to stab orcs, not to learn about the horrors of slavery.

[Noclue]

1. Any and all of Alternet's writers are left-wing zealots in a state of perpetual disgust and offense-taking.
2. Steal Away Jordan sounds absolutely miserable to play.
3. Any game attempting to "raise awareness" or "educate" me should fuck off.  I play RPGs to stab orcs, not to learn about the horrors of slavery.

She's not trying to do any of those things, at all. Here's what she's after:

I like slave narratives, both historical artifacts and fictional works (Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Marlon James Book of Night Women are my favorites)....Slave narratives to me are not stories where black folks are victims. They’re about survivors and heroes who beat the odds to attain simple pleasures, to stay alive, to protect their families and themselves.Most role playing games are also about heroes and survivors who beat the odds to attain their goals

.

[Daztur]

I have a hard time imagining any RPG about playing slaves that would not quickly become an RPG about playing a slave revolt.

[B.T.]

Steal Away Jordan is a vehicle for players to tell a collective story of the lives of people who live inthe shadow of slavery. The emphasis here is on the people, not the place or time. The institution affects everyone, from the child born into bondage to the man who owns him. Steal Away Jordan is a role playing game written in the spirit of neo slave narratives like Margaret Walker's Jubilee, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Octavia Butler's Kindred. Like these fictional accounts of slave life, players explore the social and psychological implications of life in a society where people can be property. Ultimately, players consider slavery's long-term impact on a society and on the descendants of slaves and slave owners.

Don't lie to protect Swine.

[Imperator]

I have a hard time imagining any RPG about playing slaves that would not quickly become an RPG about playing a slave revolt.

Word. And I can't see how it could be fun otherwise.

[jhkim]

I have a hard time imagining any RPG about playing slaves that would not quickly become an RPG about playing a slave revolt.

Well, revolt or escape, I'd say.  All of the example PCs have some form of escape in their goals, and some have bits of revenge in their goals too.  

I think it's quite consistent to play a hero in history and to also explore and question that history.  When I ran my Vinland campaign, we explored medieval Icelandic culture as well as Algonquian traditions - but it was still an engaging game about heroes, not a history lesson.  

I've periodically been trying to organize a game of Steal Away Jordan to see what it's like at story gamer gatherings, but I've never been able to get a group together.  For the future, I'm thinking of trying to do a Spartacus game instead - which is one of the optional alternate backgrounds suggested with the game.