killing puppies for satan

[Leningrad]

Forget that guy, where can I get this Pitbull game?  Also, can I convert other games to include pitbulls?

Pitbulls in the Vineyard?

[lumpley]

Well, hate. Huh. Thanks for moving it down here, Ron. This person's definitely "kill puppies."

Is anybody going to acknowledge Lance's point? He's sure got one.

I like "rancid viciousness," by the way. It's like regular viciousness, only the flavor of it stays in your mouth when you taste it to see if it's still good. I'm flattered.

Also, pit bulls are the baddest dogs.

-Vincent

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Which point of Lance's do you mean, Vincent? The one about how this guy took the trouble actually to register? I don't find that very difficult to understand, and suggest that it was only a matter of time, based on my reading of the many emails you've collected.

I suggest that a lot of people visit your site due to a web search based on "pretty puppies" or perhaps "animal cruelty," probably out of the widespread preteen obsession with these issues. They're searching primarily in order to be outraged. Then they see the Google link kill puppies for satan among all the others.

They're already reacting to that before they even click on it. By the time your site loads on their screen, they're already composing (if that's the right word) their hysterical comments. They do not even process the idea that it's a role-playing activity that you're talking about, or look for any context at all, nor do they care. Anything they see (the color text, etc) is only processed in light of something they've already constructed in their heads - that you are advocating the real-life torture of pets in the name of diabolic worship.

Then they hit the email button (or in this guy's case, the link to the forum) and they're off to the races. In this guy's case, the energy was running high enough to power him right through the registration process, which really isn't all that hard to imagine. Based on the other letters you've received, I'm certain the same would have occurred if the authors had hit the forums button instead of the email one.

Best,
Ron

[lumpley]

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's not even the first hate here; there was a post ... uh ... can't find it, in some other early puppies thread, somebody registered just to accuse my game of being the reason that we geeks will never be accepted by society. If anything I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more.

No, I meant Lance's point that the game is offensive.

Here, let me say how this conversation sometimes goes.
Hater: I hate! HATE!
Me: We don't really kill puppies, y'know. We sit around a table and talk is all.
Hater: Really?
Me: Yep.
Hater: Oh. Well that's okay then.
Me: Yep.
Hater: But why? And why did you set things up on purpose to provoke me? Didn't you know I'd be outraged? Did you mean to scare me? Was it so that I'd feel stupid and you could feel superior to me afterward, like now? Do you like being hated? I'm confused, but I'm pretty sure that you're the one with a problem, not me. Aren't you?

You and I, Ron, I think we like to gross and/or freak ourselves out occasionally. I don't know about you but if I go too long without disturbing myself I get unhappy. Lance and other people, maybe not so much.

-Vincent

[jrs]

I don't know Vincent.  I think there are some people who need assurances that the world is a big, dark, scary place.  And they actually seek out evidence so that they can defensively respond to it.  Maybe it's their way of shedding light in dark corners.  The hate and vitriol I can sort of understand; it's the deliberate seeking out behavior that's beyond me.  It's not like you or anyone else deliberately pushed that play description to that particular person.

Now, I know the world is a big, dark, scary place.  And finding the small, dark, scary place in my own soul is what makes me feel more at home.

Julie

[quozl]

Still, despite his flagrant disregard for grammar or making a point, I can definitely see his perspective. I *know* what Puppies is about, generally, and I find myself incredibly indisposed to want to play it. There's a rancid viciousness to it that turns my stomach, even though I find Actual Play posts interesting and amusing. I know that's totally the point, which should make me want to play it, but it's a very visceral reaction.

Do you mean the above point?  I'm really surprised that you don't understand it.  People find certain things revolting.  For example, I find watching a rape scene in a movie revolting.  Now, a good movie makes a good point for having the rape scene so I understand why it's there and the point of it but still, the actual scene revolts me and turn my eyes away.

Can't you fathom that other people have a similar response to the activities depicted in Kill Puppies For Satan?

[Lance D. Allen]

Quozl hits on it pretty squarely. However, I think maybe there's another bit to it that the latter series of posts brings me to think about.

I have a dark, twisted side. Who doesn't? I know that my morals and my values depict the way I act, but in the darkest hours, when there are none to see me (except, of course for He who sees all) I have taken amusement in my darker sides. When day rolls around again, and my morals and values reassert themselves, I'm ashamed of that darkness, disgusted by it.

Frankly, Killing Puppies for Satan is disgusting, but it's not a patch. The game is about delving that darker side though, and to be honest, I don't know that I want to explore it. I'm fairly sure I don't want to explore it where other people can see.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

My actual play posts are relevant to your point, Lance, because I really dislike the graphic animal-torture. Watching it, thinking about it, etc. So playing puppies has no element of catharsis for me, or even "look within my soul to find the nastiness there," or anything like that.

Fortunately the game offers more than that, eventually, which is why I always emphasize that it's the real-person disgust with the characters which drives play (rather than any form of identification whatsoever), and also why I won't have anything to do with it in demo or one-shot play.

Best,
Ron

[Larry L.]

Kill Scum with Pitbulls containts:

- Full rules for breeding and raising your Pitbull. You can make it as nice or as vicious as you want!

I'm thinking up some horrible, horrible Pokemon-style game now...