Radflakes are trying to get a game (admittedly a distasteful one) banned from an online store:
https://archive.is/iRRuU
So much for "we're not Jack Thompson".
Link isn't working.
It's working for me.
Ah, it's just not available in Finland.
Summary: A game called "Tournament of Rapists" is made available on DriveThruRPG (and is incorrectly cited as a Pathfinder game). A lot of people, including big-name Paizo's Erik Mona (because, again, IT IS NOT A PATHFINDER GAME), are really pissed about that, because such games are likely to push people away from RPG's in general.
DTRPG initially removed the "Pathfinder/Paizo" tag and restricted the game as "Adults Only." This wasn't good enough.
Quote from the link above:
There’s a pretty clear distinction between, say, a story that contains rape, and a story that’s about nothing but rape. And in the latter case, there’s a pretty clear distinction between something that explores the issue, and something that simply trivializes and glorifies it. Any non-disingenuous adult can tell the difference between something like “Tournament of Rapists” and something like Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak,” or even something like “Game of Thrones.” Heck, any non-disingenous adult can tell the difference between this and something that might have elements that trivialize sexual assault, like a book that contains a background generator with options for assault. “Tournament of Rapists” doesn’t turn rape into a game as a side effect; from its description, at least, that’s the entirety of its content. That’s its point.
There’s a pretty bright line, there.
And let’s not kid ourselves. As much as gamers like to make proclamations about free speech and censorship to reassure them that their petty little tantrums are important and connected to fundamental rights (!), when we talk about a private site’s decision to carry or not carry a single product, we’re not talking about Supreme Court caselaw, here. We’re not talking about binding arbitration that the government will step forward to support, which one can be thrown in jail for disobeying, which will be used as precedent in all decisions by all game sites forevermore. Don’t flatter yourselves, gamers and game sites. The free speech stakes here aren’t just low, they’re nonexistent.
Since gamers love citing the First Amendment but generally haven’t the first fucking clue how it actually works, let’s review: the First Amendment protects you from the government shutting you up. That’s it. It doesn’t protect you from social or financial consequences imposed by people other than the government as a result of your speech–in fact, those consequences are free speech WORKING AS INTENDED. Private individuals and companies deciding they don’t want anything to do with you because you’re saying repulsive things? That’s HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK. The Bill of Rights protects your right to enter the marketplace of ideas. It doesn’t guarantee you buyers. Private companies can kick you off their forums or your product out of their store because they’re pissed that you misspelled “ridiculous,” and they’re still not violating your rights. That’s their prerogative.
There are real stakes here, however–make no mistake about that. They’re just not about free speech. Games (and geekdom in general) have sent out the message time and time again: women aren’t really members of the community. If we look pretty and keep our mouths shut except to stroke male gamers’ egos, we can hang around the margins, but if it’s ever a choice between us and the dudes who aren’t comfortable unless we’re being objectified, harassed, or abused, the geek community will choose its own–those dudes–every time. And this situation is no different. (And yes, I’m aware that rape isn’t just a women’s issue, but given that the description for the PDF positions misogyny as the rapists’ motivating factor, this is absolutely about gender.)
[...]
The thing is, this isn’t really a “complex” issue. As I said, we’re not talking binding legislation here. DriveThruRPG isn’t the Supreme Court, or, for that matter, an entity with authority over anything beyond what they host on their own site. And “Tournament of Rapists” doesn’t fall in any sort of ethical gray area–unless you think that maybe women kinda deserve it and maybe guys who make shitty game supplements should be allowed to say that without any consequences.
