PAX prime 2014

After such an awful week of people who identify as Gamers behaving indefensibly, I want to say that I hope that this PAX weekend is the best one yet. Not because we need to take attention away from the negative aspects of our community, but because we need to be motivated to stand up for our community against those who would like to claim it for themselves as their hateful little club.

Stewardship is important to me, and for me, being a nerd and a gamer has always been about liking things enthusiastically and unapologetically, and sharing them happily with anyone who was willing to give them a try.

The argument has been made, that being a 'gamer' as a identity is dying, and that that is necessarily a good thing. I don't know if that's true, but it seems a sad thing to me, because I've always felt identifying myself by the joy I take in a thing was ... well, joyful.

I hope that the wonderful, progressive, and thoughtful people who I know will be going to PAX and talking about it in person and online will take the opportunity to come together against the toxicity in our community, and become galvanized to speak out against it both during and after the event.