True Story:

Posted on by Paul Beakley

True Story:

I’m loving reading the hashtag AprilTTRPGMaker threads BUT I’m also feeling hyper-aware of a) who started it and b) the huge preponderance of straight white guys who are jumping in on it.

So I’m gonna continue loving reading the hashtag and assume whatever bit I might have added to the flood isn’t going to be missed. Honestly I’m not sure I have anything unique to add.

Yay games! Everyone’s a maker!

Published by Paul Beakley

I founded the Indie Game Reading Club in 2010. I've written and developed RPGs since the mid-90s, now I mostly talk about playing them.

0 thoughts on “True Story:”

  2. Yeah, each day I’ve gone through the hashtag on Twitter and tried to signal boost the not white dudes and followed folks for later and stuff. There’s a TON of non white dudes there but basically have to sift through to find them now.

  3. The Twitter version is much less cis-white-dude heavy, or at least the portion that crosses my feed is, FWIW. I know TWITTER UGH but I think there is a big platform bias on G+, tbqh.

  4. Yeah, I hear you on this. I’ve been trying to periodically check in on the “recent” view of the tag and follow everyone I spot who doesn’t seem to have all the privileges.

  9. I haven’t exactly been sharing mine outside of closed circles. I probably should but it’s one of those personal bandwidth questions that are so much easier to avoid.

  10. And also a visibility problem! Some of us see a self-promo opportunity and a way to make new pals – others have to add “way for others to hurt me” into the mix.

  11. Fraser Simons mmhm. on the first day anyway. and only on twitter and instagram and people’s blogs, wouldn’t get me stats for google + or fb. Also who knows how they determine gender (is it looking at trans, for exmaple)

  13. Its interesting cause on twitter Ive seen people networking and making new designer friends and learning what people are making that they’re super interested in collabing on or just following those creators. I’ve also seen so many people thank me for making it happen! On G+ everyone is grumpy and skeptical. LOL. I think it’s a media issue. The nature of how G+ works, who’s on it, how its curated (people can’t mute it like on twitter), and the general attitude of people posting on G+ anymore. I’ve seen three negative thread about it so far on G+ and none on twitter (although they could be hiding).

  14. Yeah, and ace, certainly not I’m sure. Still. When I was retweeting folks the first day it was easy to signal boost. Today I spent an hour going through every person from 24 hours prior to this morning, it was much harder to find people. Huge industry folks are participating now and don’t seem to be signal boosting anyone other than those people they know personally. I’m going to go through and retweet those folks daily, following tons more folks to hopefully hire later as well. Really appreciate you creating the hashtag.

  15. I debated not doing it for “white dude” reasons, but then I figured it’d be hypocritical to keep griping about the lack of overt queerness in gaming and then not be as visible as I can.

  19. Also I think its great and fine if white dudes join in (mike mearls and justin achilli are both doing it for example) because hopefully they are at least looking for diverse people they could be aware of and uplift/hire. But hey no one can control gaming spaces and there’s bound to be plenty of jerks using it.

  20. Kira Magrann to be clear! I’m in no way negative about your thing! I’ve read more about the skepticism than the skepticism itself, which is probably a function of my personal curation.

    (I don’t want to say That Three Letter Acronym but is that where the bad vibes are coming from?)

  21. Paul Beakley oh i know! i also don’t mind criticism. 😀 also it is sad that gaming is majority white dudes. but also what can we do about it? also its not bad if they participate imo.

  22. Kira Magrann There is a certain advantage to being public about it especially because everything in this weird haze of an industry is dependent on people knowing who you are. I’m just super anxious about it because I’ve been on the wrong side of what Alex Roberts has mentioned.

    Edit: I’ll probably do it on twitter as well see if that feels more comfortable.

  23. Huh. I wasn’t aware until just this minute that it was at all keyed or considered towards increasing visibility for anyone in particular. I was all “Ooooh, it’s one of those daily thingums that I’m actually interested in!”

  26. I’ve been super interested in reading many of these, and also decided not to myself mostly because bandwidth (and I try not to admit that “well, I’m not really a game designer, am I” because fuck that, even though it’s still swimming in my head). But thanks for the reminder to push others by the re-tweet; I’m not so twitter-y yet, but will do some! (Also, writing this let’s me follow the convo easier.)

  28. Self-promotion can be a real challenge (for a wide variety of reasons) but some of those barriers are lifted when you’re invited to share. Kira Magrann’s questions are a service and a gift to the community. Thanks Kira!

  29. For the record, EDIT I feel like big name professionals participating as “makers” feels off-key and weird.

    There’s probably a larger conversation to be had about that but not in April!

  30. Paul Beakley i see what you mean about the “maker” identification. Like, it would be nice if it was highlighting more unknowns, smallers, nervousers, and diversities.

  32. It’s 100x more complicated and fraught in the indieverse too. Is Vincent a maker or a publisher? How about Avery? Jason? Dunnooooo.

    That’s it! Not mentioning it again until after April! Pinky-promise.

  34. I understand I’m not the target public for it, but I mostly do not feel like reading that kind of personal posts on this platform. Sadly tags can’t be muted, as it would make it much easier.

    I’m glad this is happening because it has value for people and is driving engagement between authors.

    On the other hand, I’m just starting to come out on only some identitary stuff (like gender dysphoria), but to be honest the biggest problem for me online is how most of my readers/peers/y’all are so incredibly unaware of being so much culturally anglos, and what that might mean for non anglos.

    I’m queer and dysphoric, Mediterranean, a migrant pilloried for all that’s going wrong in this country, neurodivergent and mentally ill, liable to be deported after Brexit takes effect, and tbh this kind of stuff I do not feel this helps me at all. Not even to bridge the culture gap, which to be honest is most of the alienation I suffer. I tried to do that through games but it seems nobody cares.

  35. I dunno, my only weirdness about it is that I totally wanted to do it to support Kira, and am totally not because I lack the space this month to actually do it without being all Brand about it.

  36. I think I’ve seen a greater proportion of women than men using it (which is of course just my feed) and a bigger than usual proportion of people who aren’t white Americans. So in terms of visibility, it’s working, at least from my vantage point. As with everything, perception is going to vary.

    I also like seeing it in my feed, but for assorted reasons I’m not taking part myself. I don’t feel like I need the extra visibility and I talk about myself and things I make possibly too much anyway. 🙂

    Edit: When I first saw it, I didn’t realise it was explicitly about increasing visibility, but hoped that would be an effect.

  37. I’ve had a couple fun interactions with folks I didn’t know before who have just a few followers. One today is a trans woman working on a sports inspired RPG. If I can keep up with it and that keeps happening then I’ll keep doing it.

  38. I wasn’t going to do it but figured it would help me fight the imposter feels, so that’s why I’m doing it.

    I haven’t looked at it much here, though! It’s been fun so far on Twitter.

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