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Feminist Geeks on gamer culture

All gamers have some stake in what “gamer culture” means. Feminist Geeks points out that it contains some undesirable bias:

ENWorld is actually a pretty respectable site with good discussions, but many of the posters and moderators don’t really give two flying fucks about alienating minority groups. Because… well… D&D/table-top games are typically enjoyed by the default: the white, cisgender, heterosexual male. In a patriarchal, heterocentric society, this makes some of the discourse problematic. By deeming it “preference,” too many folks are veiling their prejudice. And, on that forum along with so many others, it’s acceptable.

I had an interesting discussion with the ENWorld mods a few years back. It taught me something about their approach: they are not concerned with right and wrong; they are concerned with pleasing people and keeping the site running. Their philosophy is akin to that of James Bond on a mission to save the world: keep running by any means necessary. Selectively delete posts to change context, lock threads, ban someone without letting them fully explain themselves – it’s all good as long as the bulk of gamers keep returning.