I'm also waiting for Mike Johnson to start knocking on Chicago and New York crime again while this happens in his state. Because its not like he actually cares.

I'm waiting for the alt right types to make this tragic shooting of 8 kids in Louisiana about trans people ot immigrants, despite the killer being neither. Anything to demonize those groups and ignore now easy it is for this to happen.

I legit think these idiots find like one insufferable grad student and just take whatever weird crap they say or write as gospel.

Course I also suspectb that's where we get the occasional "PC" term that it turns out nobody in the group it involves actually likes or uses.

So do we think MAHA sounds like a comic book villain laugh on purpose or is that just another instance of these people not being able to hear themselves?

"Which Post story inspired this?"

Yes. The answer is yes.

They're a thing I've tried to excise and ads and algorithms keep them coming back and they're just trash. And I still see people try to share pieces when one hits them just so and just... no.

If you care what the New York Post has to say about literally anything, even if... no, especially if you're all "but in that one case..." Consider therapy.

They're like that one toxic "buddy" who would sell your kids for drugs but they hate that one movie too so you keep them around. Just don't.

Especially since there's nothing these assholes can really tell me. What? They're going to drop deep Star Wars or comics or whatever stuff I don't know or can't find from legit sources? Nah.

My feed is definitely better since I've just decided there's nothing some trollish tribalistic asshole has to say about stuff I do for fun.

"You sheeple need to understand that (insert fandom shit)..."

That you wish you'd been a bigger bully in school? Got it...still blocked.

I think this is pretty much canon. Maybe Icon didn't say the words "you saved me" but it really feels like you've hit the their relationship perfectly.

Dudes mad about gay romances in video games crack me up. They're basically always optional unless you're playing a set character (and often not even then).

Yet these dudes act like someone put a gun on them and said "your character must bang that other dude!"

You picked it. That why it happened.

Many days, I feel like Elliot Ness in the Untouchables standing over a dead gangster's body he had to shoot exasperatingly asking "Didn't you hear what I said? What are you, deaf? What is this, a game?"

People just ignore real shit constantly and act like consequences won't touch them.

Plus many pushing this now are just grifters and liars and bots anyway... so they're easy to hate.

And it's such a pervasive deception. It took me years to realize the "poor farmer" side of my own family used to own parts of whole towns and their struggles were mostly due to poor management from some ancestor while the "snobs" were depression kids who literally fought for education opportunities.

I've seen "nobody ever gave me anything types" who started their real estate biz with the big chunk of the family farm they inherited and got rezoned when the town expanded. They curiously never mention that when bootstrapping smugly at others.

They never mention houses they inherited or family who got them jobs. Never mention their job plan was knocking up their high school girlfriend and getting a job from daddy in law because he didn't want to see his little girl starve. It's always hard work and eating beans and rice every night.

I legitimately hate the "you just didn't plan right, you should have learned a trade that everyone insisted was a dead end years ago and lived as poor as I lie about doing to make it!" crowd.

Like, I seriously loathe those people.

Whew, that a a novel. But yeah, good but complex question. :)

So there's a lot of factors. It's exhausting.

And given how many gamers are... shall we say lacking in tact? Often reactions to struggling can be cruel and dismissive and just awful.

Plus some other creators are shits. I mean that's in ever industry. But the don't help either.

I've seen people who I've mentored or bailed out on a project seemingly lose my number when they get into a position to hire and promote. And it's so just not me. I'm not special here. It happens too much. And everyone is very sad when we die young or quit or burn out. For like...a hot minute.

And generally speaking? Few people care about correcting misconceptions. I've seen people I've replaced for poor performance on other jobs get lauded by nerd celebs and such. If I said anything? Experience tells me I'm risking my rep and future work and it won't matter.

None of this even touches stuff like how rare it is for those big streaming shows to showcase veteran designers and such. They might high one or two with a following. But a lot of folks who made stuff these folks used to get fame and cash are crowdfunding their medical care.

By which I mean a select group of fairly privileged "solo" designers sell the idea that anyone who works collaboratively are part of some "machine". Which reinforces the "you're all corporate cogs!" silliness.

In reality a lot of us who tend to freelance do it because we lack the privileges to not

And I think there are other issues in play. Some folks are sure since they can design for themselves they can do it for everyone. And if they don't like what you do? You're bad at it, clearly. Because only bad gamers won't like what they do.

Plus there's the "indie auteur" thing.

I got the John Carter job because Chris Birch at Modiphius is a huge Carter fan and wanted a huge Carter fan with design experience to head it. My "interview" was a hangout at Gen Con where they asked me "so if you were going to design a Carter rpg, how would you?" He liked my answer.

My Marvel and DC rpg research came 90 percent from my own comics and sub services. I think people imagine we have some "real fan" intern we abuse for their lore when no... we're huge nerds who developed skillsets.

That's a good question. I think part of it is just a profound misunderstanding of what a game company even looks like. I think a lot of fans think it's some big slick corporate operation.

In reality? I wrote much of my rpg Tianxia on my laptop at the local Panera.

Do journalists ever ask Trump "why" when he goes off like a dip? I pretty much never see it.

"The White House desperately needs my beautiful ball room!"

Okay... why? Not "because nobody tells me no!" Give actual reasons. Maybe every once in awhile they might be sane. But we never seem to get those

Possibly related? I expect famous people to be people and all that implies. So when one turns out to be a shit? It's disappointing. But it's not a shock.

"Oh no, this white mom turned fantasist who got lucky with her entertaining if predictable work is bigot? That's impossible!"

And sure, I get that some folks will point out the bad behaviors of some in a group to malign the group but no... there just are shitty people in every group, sometimes many of them, and it does no good to ignore that.

But this also sometimes creates conflicts because this IS unilateral. For ex, I've met far too many racist sexist queer folks to adopt the common progressive attitude the "but not you, your marginalized status surely mitigates that".

This is also why I put a lot of stock into individuals.