thread: 2011-04-29 : A Fantastic Walking Eye Roundtable
On 2011-05-05, Chris Chinn wrote:
I think one of the issues that gets overlooked a lot in these discussions about problematic material is the context in which it appears.
If we're playing some game that's fluffy PG-13 kind of thing, and rape (or whatever heavy, problematic thing) shows up, the question that's sitting on the table is "Why is this showing up, in this game, and what made you think it was a good idea?"
These discussions often get sidetracked into people fussing about "which things must NEVER be included" instead of talking about the real issue- the people at the table. I mean, most of the stories of this kind of stuff showing up in play? The game text mentions nothing of it, so this is a people thing.
The one thing games like Poison'd, or Steal Away Jordan, do, is they let you know pretty quickly what the heavy stuff is, you're going to be dealing with. You can decide, if you do, or do not, want to do that with your escapism, right off the bat.
The question is not the magical list of forbidden subjects.
The question is, in context of the podcast, "What are all these problematic things in the culture of play, and how do we deal with them?"
(In context of designers, the question is different- how do you produce the space and give tools for players to handle whatever subjects you're putting in your game. Sometimes that comes down to an upfront warning and leave the rest to them.)
