Across culture, social justice warriors(SJWs) have been taking over and silencing people and projects. While there are many covering many of the fronts on this, tabletop gaming articles have been limited. Many of these have been addressing issues of role-playing games and some about wargames. I have yet to see much on the broader boardgaming hobby, and wish to correct this.
Now some would ask why not pursue the ideals of social justice in boardgaming? Quite simply, social justice agendas create bad art. History is either glossed over or forgotten, and everyone is portrayed the same, and Western civilization is vilified and scoffed, its true status ignored.
Now, as to my personal history with boardgaming, and social justice within the hobby. The agenda driven gamer came to my attention in late 2014 during the kickstarter campaign for a game called New Bedford. This is a game of historical whaling, set in what was the whaling capitol of the United States. The publisher and designer were very careful in their campaign video to state that they did not endorse whaling, but rather, that this was a reflection of history, and the mechanics reflected the theme.
Mechanics and accuracy aside, the game drew a great deal of vitriol on Boardgame Geek both times it went to fundraising campaign(the first campaign was poorly timed, and did not have any final art, and was cancelled). Looking back, I came to realize I knew quite a few clear SJWs in gaming. I know several who refuse to play Puerto Rico due to the "settlers".
Currently, my goal is to post once a week after research and consideration of a single game, though similar and current games will also receive mention.
When you play Social Justice, the world loses.
if Puerto Rico is what I think it is, it was a fun game when I played it. Also, slaves really existed and still do. I'm not quite clear: are we supposed to make Civil War boardgames devoid of slavery because slavery is bad? Does pretending it doesn't exist make it go away? I don't follow...
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