When the blacklist makes itself...

I missed something I should have had a bit of fun with this week. Last Sunday(updated Tuesday), a group of game industry people put out a letter supporting Hilary Clinton. I'd make less of this if they talked about policy, but instead they present imaginary versions of each as a gamer. If you haven't seen the letter, and care to read it, here.

Now, there are some decent game designers here. I don't have a problem with them being of a different political opinion than me; they have that right. But, to choose to engage in name calling of a significant portion of the population(it's looking like over half the popular vote), is bad business. I'm not calling for anyone to be fired, but you might think twice about any games from some of these folks.

Here's some notables, in alphabetical order, because they're helpful like that.

Peter Adkinson- apparently the owner of GenCon, and a former WotC CEO. I was considering not attending this year as it was, this won't make my mind up, it's just another piece.

Christopher Badell- the brains behind Sentinels of the Multiverse. Not shocked, but disappointed severely. He should know better as a Midwesterner than to alienate customers.

Kieth Baker- is every designer that's been around for years with only one hit going to be on this list?

Emily Care Boss- yeah, she was already on the don't buy list, but confirmation is always amusing.

Chad Brown- works on the Pathfinder card game and the lamented Betrayal expansion

Mark Carroll- Surprised to see that someone working with Conan and John Carter doesn't know his prime audiences.

Chris Cieslik- I'd have thought the OWNER of a game company would be smarter. Especially after some of the good things he has published. Have fun with the drain.

Yesenia Cisneros- A marketing person doesn't get the idea of bad publicity. Pokemon corp. might need to have a word.

Bruce Cordell- Has done some interesting things. Too bad he put ID politics over making games.

Luke Crane- Has the Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel credits, and is head of games at Kickstarter. How long before a good alternative shows up?

Rob Daviau- This is a real disappointment. Not that he's a liberal, but that he's dumb enough to sign such a letter.

Roberto Di Meglio- Another letdown. I'd think someone behind two major LotR games and a Conan game would not be the type to discuss his politics publicly.

Ben Dobbins- I'm not shocked. Zombie Orpheus went from being a gentle poke at gamers to calling us racist misogynists.

Glen Drover- For a guy that designed some well respected conflict games, I think he'd respect the idea of mitigating odds more.

James Ernest- Not surprised. Though this is his first big time at name-calling. No more Cheapass for me.

Richard Garfield- WHAT THE HELL are you thinking? Is your echo chamber that insular? This is a HUGE disappointment. Stop trusting the liars, Richard.

Trin Garritano- Gee, somebody with Cards against Humanity supports Hilary. What are the odds? Oh, right: 1.

Justin Gary- Ascension is on the crap list now. That's alright, it's not got that many tricks.

Jonathan Gilmour- The designer of Dead of Winter is a zombiecrat. Go figure.

Bruce Glassco- What, ruining you own game, Betrayal, wasn't enough for you?

Shane Ivey- You'd think the designer of Delta Green would know better than to insult the folks that support the military.

Tom Jolly- I'm sure the kids made Uncle Tom very Jolly.

Jon Kovalic- A cartoonist stuck getting most of his money from Munchkin. I'm sure the rest pays, but another reason to not play that unbalanced mess.

Eric Lang- Good grief. Keep doubling down. You'll be an albatross.

Matt Leacock- Insanely too bad. Now I really need to work on my little idea.

Peter Lee- Wasn't Lords of Waterdeep diverse enough for you?

WJ MacGuffin- The Laundry is unclean. Paranoia is out to get us.

John and Michelle Nephew- Atlas Games has sucked for awhile. This tells me why.

Douglas Seacat- I'm shocked Privateer Press doesn't have a Social media policy about things like this. Some place that take customers seriously, you'd be fired in a heartbeat.

Mike Selinker- Again, no shock. Lone Shark is supremely insular.

Stephanie Straw- Yep, that explains why you look like a quickly aging feminist in videos for BGG.

Monica Valentinelli- Dear, sweet Monica, everybody knows you hate white males already. You really don't have to keep reminding us.

C. Joshua Villines- Another Privateer employee. Still surprised there isn't a policy about making the company look bad.

Aaron Wiessblum- 10 days to needing a new market

Wil Wheaton- Shut up, Wesley. How many spots on your YouTube show did you offer?


This of course, is just a very few of the fine folks not wanting our money. Others work on Magic, D&D, FATE, and other games that should remain apolitical. Like I said, I don't care if they are liberals, I just have to think about them getting any of my money now. I mean, they practically said they don't want it.

You know who isn't on this list? Steve Jackson. Jamey Stegmaier. I suspect Steve's a libertarian, and Jamey a liberal, but both know better than to alienate a significant portion of the market.  Then again, they actually are in pluralistic towns, rather than progressive ones.

Until they learn,

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.