Mediums for dealing with gaming related social issues....

[Ozymandias]

I've been reading a lot of the threads on here recently discussing different social issues which affect the gaming community ranging from religion to sexism, and while these have spawned some useful and thoughtful discussions, I'm left wondering exactly how some of these issues might be brought more directly to the attention of gamers in general. While it's great to see good discussion taking place, if these issues are never brought to the attention of the vast majority of gamers, how can any real positive change actually take place? The problem I see is the lack of a good medium for doing so. The major gaming related periodicals that I'm familiar with don't really deal with the social issues which surround the hobby, and other than magazine or something similar how could this sort of discussion gain a large enough audience to make a real difference in the community?

Any thoughts?

[quozl]

Well, I think the large-scale game club idea (which is currently being discussed in this forum) is a good place to start.

[Mike Holmes]

The obvious answer is the gamaing materials themselves. GURPS Religion, for example does a non-terrible job of bringing religious issues to gamers. I can see how particular games, and supplements could be the best medium.

Mike

[J B Bell]

As for me, I've been wondering if an advice column, slightly tongue-in-cheek, wouldn't work well.  It could run on rpg.net, which is perhaps the most well-read (in English) RPG forum there is.  Much of the discussion on here on these issues is almost in advice column format already.

"Mrs. Ludens' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Gaming," anyone?  I'm seriously considering proposing to write it myself to rpg.net, but I'm not sure how they take proposals.

--JB, who does worship Miss Manners, as it happens.

[quozl]

"Mrs. Ludens' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Gaming," anyone?  I'm seriously considering proposing to write it myself to rpg.net, but I'm not sure how they take proposals.

--JB, who does worship Miss Manners, as it happens.

Sounds good to me.  Just send your proposal to:
columns@rpg.net

and tell us what they say!

[J B Bell]

Well, I sent it in, having seen their exasperated call for proposals right on their front page.  They liked my Universalis review OK, so perhaps there's hope.

Sorry about the slightly chatty post--if it goes through I'll announce in a different thread.

--JB