Updated 2 months ago ago
“Wizards told me that 85 million people have played D&D over the past year, and 21 million have registered on D&D Beyond, its online hub.”
Read the full Atlantic article here: https://archive.ph/pRmkG
Personally, I haven’t played D&D since 1991. I have no skin in the game to this controversy. But I see no need to clutch my pearls at modern D&D. People are free to play how they want.
Although I’m slightly liberal and somewhat libertarian, I’m also one of those nerds who’s not a fan of wokeness/DEI, whether it’s in games, film, books, or comics.
Sadly, the culture war has hit infected fandom for each of these media. It started in the early 2010s, and of course, the pushback – the big anti-woke wave in culture that began in 2016.
And no end in sight.
Off-colour commentary from Gary Gygax
“I have been accused of being a nasty old sexist-male-Chauvinist-pig, for the wording in D&D isn’t what it should be. There should be more emphasis on the female role, more non-gendered names, and so forth. I thought perhaps these folks were right and considered adding women in the ‘Raping and Pillaging[’] section, in the ‘Whores and Tavern Wenches’ chapter, the special magical part dealing with ‘Hags and Crones’, and thought perhaps of adding an appendix on ‘Medieval Harems, Slave Girls, and Going Viking’. Damn right I am sexist. It doesn’t matter to me if women get paid as much as men, get jobs traditionally male, and shower in the men’s locker room. They can jolly well stay away from wargaming in droves for all I care. I’ve seen many a good wargame and wargamer spoiled thanks to the fair sex. I’ll detail that if anyone wishes.”
– Gary Gygax
