actuallyclintbarton:

latining:

I am a gamer. I followed the call of Cthulhu and ran in the shadows with hackers and shamans. I traversed the ancient lands of Greyhawk, Faerun, and Eberron with companions new and old. I swung from an airship and buckled swash over London for the Kerberos Club. I threw dice and flipped cards and ground men into dust playing table-top wargames.

I don’t do that anymore.

Since July of 2015 fans of the game Malifaux have been attempting to overwhelm me with death and rape threats for no other reason than I am a woman who has opinions on the game. Wyrd Miniatures is silent on this matter and hangs up whenever anyone attempts to discuss the harassment. Given that a large number of threats identify the senders by name as Wyrd staff members, I do not find this surprising.

But that’s not what this article is about.

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Birdie and I are SO lucky to have our local game shop, which is owned and run by guys who actively promote a safe, inclusive atmosphere for women, minorities, and trans and queer people. (the store is Critical Hit Games in St. Petersburg, FL btw and if you live in the area I highly recommend them.) I have literally been asked my pronouns without any prompting, because they noticed that my gender presentation and name weren’t the general combination you expect and they wanted to make sure I felt welcome and comfortable.

Like, seriously, it’s so nice to walk in there. It’s majority white and majority male, most days, but not by the huge margin you’d expect – our usual D&D table is 3-4 girls, 3 guys, and me (nonbinary), one of our favorite DMs is a woman in her 60s, and one of my favorite guys to play with sometimes brings his 11yo daughter, and she’s a complete sweetheart. I’ve never felt unsafe or unwanted, and I know that if one of the guys did harass me, the employees would not be okay with that and would do something about it.

But the important thing to know is that we lucked out. One of my friends I met at CHG is trans, and he checked out one of the other nearby stores before he came to us. It was 100% straight white male, and my friend passes thanks to transitioning in his teens, and he said that he was DISGUSTED by the shit that these guys were talking about and doing in their games.

We are lucky. Most non-white non-male gamers are not.