I was completely confused by this BIPOC email, too. Especially with the phrasing of Lounge because here I thought us gamers were striving to be one entity and just GAME. I don't care who you are, what you do, or what you look like . . . . I'll just utterly hate you if you eliminate me in 3 rounds in MTG. Just sayin'.
I can't argue that there aren't bad actors at Gen Con, but I think much of this situation stems from an ambiguously worded announcement.
Recommendation: If the folks are showcasing materials, please have signs telling us where we can find these materials in the vendor's hall.
At our comic con we direct people to vendors who I know are carrying the games people play in the game room. This thought just made me realize we've never actually had a MAP... Someone plays Catan, someone loves Catan, we tell them who is selling Catan.
Have a MAP too people!!!
From Rose Gauntlet Entertainment's Twitter account:
The area is open to everyone but we ask that people are respectful to the BIPOC attendees that are trying to get work done there and give them priority to table space and demos.
That aside, it seems like a silly business idea to try and showcase products and then intentionally try to exclude potential customers from the products being showcased. All money (at least for the US) is green regardless who is holding it.
As mentioned previously the wording of this was less than stellar mostly due to the headline, sub-head and first two sentences. The entire five paragraphs tend to wobble between regressive passive voice and authoritative outline. As an example here are the first two sentences:
"This year Gen Con, in partnership with Rose Gauntlet Entertainment, will be providing a lounge area for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals and attendees."
This infers that a lounge area will only be for the professionals mentioned.
"During the show, the lounge will be open to those who seek to play games, look at art, network, relax, and enjoy activities with the BIPOC community."
This tells the reader that during the show the lounge will be open for everyone to intermingle. The next four paragraphs continue to waver back and forth with the inferences on who this is for. If someone just skimmed through the announcement it is very easy to get the wrong impression one way or the other. Someone insufferable may believe they are being excluded and get mad about it. Even worse, someone with a minority background looking for a safe space to interact with other creators could walk in and find it isn't what they thought at all.
Not to mention that "BIPOC" is a very new (like 2020 new) and a very American central term with its own group racial ranking controversy. While it may not be GenCon's responsibility it could be helpful to further expound for those who are generally (or willfully) just uninformed.
As an aside BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) is only 20ish years older and mainly used in the UK but has seen usage in the EU & US and is currently under scrutiny for having the exact opposite effect of its intention. Many see it as disparaging and UK civil service has started removing it.
With my long winded speech out of the way. I think this is a really good idea and should have been more supported. I do not know where this is located but gives the impression the "lounge" will be stuck in some small out of the way room that Rose Gauntlet Entertainment had to pay for as a "partnership".
If GenCon really wanted to shine the spotlight on minority or under represented creators, create a space in the stadium at least the area of the board game library from 2018. Offer spotlight advertisements (that are not exorbitantly priced) during the con, and instead of a "lounge" showcase these creators to everyone so that we can invest-in/support their product in an informed way.
It's not about "white people being so important," it's about preventing anyone of any racial heritage from experiencing and learning about anything they wish to at Gen Con. I wouldn't be happy if Gen Con created a special area exclusively for White Men, because it would fly in the face of the stated goal of being inclusive to all. Creating something exclusive for another group would be similarly unacceptable.
We don't build better relations by putting up fences, we just build better fences.
If you actually cared about better relations, then you would 1. Have correctly read the announcement to see you are more than welcome to the lounge to support BIPOC creators 2. You would understand the historical precedent and demographics (they'll never announce it but I bet GenCon is 85%+ white people and nearly 75% white dudes) that make a BIPOC showcase worthwhile 3. You would either quietly support the Lounge understanding its purpose, or you'd make time to go by there and support creators that for a lot of reasons are underrepresented in the community
I personally don't think anyone was being excluded. I even point out how silly the concept would be for people trying to showcase products to be sold to exclude anyone. Purposely lowering your customer pool is a bad business move regardless of what the product is.
Okay guys, you're starting to get to the Thin Ice area.
Back it off. This is not a place to discuss racism (or any other -ism) or to take potshots at each other.
Roderick Robertson Gen Con Forum Moderator
Gen Con is NOT inclusive (this year). They are preventing people who make certain medical decisions regarding their personal health from attending. They are preventing people with breathing issues (who cannot cover their faces) from attending. They are preventing people with hearing problems from fully participating in games.
Yes, this is just for this year, but it is an example of how 'inclusivity' bows down to whatever the social agenda is.
Ideally, everyone who wants to attend Gen Con should be able to attend Gen Con. Period. Everyone should be encouraged to attend Gen Con if they show an interest. Period. Everyone who attends Gen Con should be able to participate in any event or space that may interest them (obviously with capacity limitations coming into play, but with all interested parties having an equal chance at spots).
Obviously, this is not the case. There is discrimination. Personally, I am an advocate for no discrimination of any kind. To me, this means that we all need to inter-mingle, to get to know each other. If this lounge can help with that, I support it. If the lounge is meant to be exclusionary to ANY group (which it *seems* like it is not... despite bad wording in the announcement and lack of an official statement from Gen Con) then I do not support it.
Regarding the other stuff... I am against medical discrimination and do not support it, yet I am hoping that this discrimination is temporary. If it continues into the future and becomes long-term, I will have to re-consider my attendance.
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We will be making some clarifying statements considering the BIPOC lounge soon. We will post them here...if this topic remains open that is.
Mike