Y’all may have noticed me dropping the odd hint here or there about my political leanings. One might from time to time assume that I have some strong views, things both for and against. And you might also have noticed me trying to sell stuff from time to time. And guess what: unlike some businesses… I don’t give a damn what your politics are when it comes to selling you stuff. For an alternate take, witness the wokeness of a particular publisher of a Cthulhu-base role playing game:
While developing Fate of Cthulhu, we were obligated to reflect on the problematic roots of the source material.
We tackle that on page 6.
The mythos is definitely worth exploring – it's also worth re-examining.https://t.co/v0F853zsM0 pic.twitter.com/6WKcg0eSf2— Evil Hat Productions (@EvilHatOfficial) January 17, 2020
Yeah, yeah, Lovecraft had views that just wouldn’t fly in today’s climate. Cthulhu Man Bad. But so what: he was a writer of weird fiction, not a politician or government bureaucrat. But it has become a new trope, and already a tired one, that anyone who plans on making bank off the back of Lovecrafts ideas had better get on with the virtue signalling.
And where it gets interesting is after the predictable backlash to this publishers grovelling before the outrage mob, they crank this out:
Since the predictable edgelords and apologists have now shown up, a quick reminder:
If you don’t like the politics included in our games, don’t buy them.
We literally do not want your money.
We are committed to diverse and inclusive gaming.
We’re not perfect, but we’re trying.— Evil Hat Productions (@EvilHatOfficial) January 20, 2020
“If you don’t like the politics included in our games, don’t buy them.
We literally do not want your money.”
Boggle. This “screw you” to half of their potential market is incomprehensible to me. Are you a socialist? A communist? A monarchist, fascist, ethno-statist, theocrat, or any of the wide, wide world of political systems that raise my hackles? Then… buy my stuff. I ain’t voting for you, but I will gladly take your money in exchange for my products.
I can only understand this sort of thing in terms of it being a form of PR. Perhaps they suspected that their product was not going to sell well because it didn’t have enough exposure, so they did something clickbaity and hatebaity. They knew they’d drive away at least half the potential market, but the half that remained would be larger than the 100% of the far smaller market that was originally aware of their product. But I don’t really think that’s the case. I find it more likely that these people really are this wacko, or they are really this grovelly before the might of the SJW hatemob.
