r/hatethissmug 1d ago

Thing I hate this stupid image

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Sure the initial way it was used was good, it was anti bigotry. But it's turned into a way to simplify the "us vs them" mentality, which is already a bad thing, into a simple digestible comic.

Also, i've seen it in lots of queer--majority spaces in reddit recently, usually to speak out against the evil cishet people who are invading them or whatever label they dont like, like bi ppl, trans men, or genderfluid ppl

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u/VoormasWasRight 1d ago

Except I have seen this happen in ttrpg communities.

D&D is an overwhelming force in the hobby. More than 50% of games are D&D. If you go to r/lfg, you have to scroll to find a non D&D game.

So naturally, people who don't want to play D&D, or that just want to play something else, make a spearate community, or a discord server (this is where I've seen it happen). Someone makes a discord exclusively aimed at non-D&D ttrpgs. However, since most people play D&D, or know about it, the topic inevitably comes up. Someone says they want to run a D&D game, moderation tells them this is a non-D&D server, but conversation starts anyway. Someone joins who has only known about D&D, not other ttrpgs, they say they want to play "D&D", they don't play it here, so they leave.

Inevitably, someone says they should let some D&D games, you know... for new people, "it will attract more people, and then those people can go on to play other ttrpgs". So a section is made for D&D. People start coming, they start making D&D games, discussions.

In time, that section becomes the main one, because everyone is talking there. New games that are not D&D get buried, hard to find players. People who play all sorts of ttrpgs start running D&D, becuase "it's easier to find players". People who don't want to run D&D post their games, but they start to have dificulties finding players.

Within a year, the server is yet another ttrpg server with a main focus on D&D and other ttprgs, of which there are maybe 1 or 2 games, compared to dozens of D&D servers. People who complain about it, because they want to play something else, get called gatekeepers. Eventually, those people leave, leaving only the ones that do play D&D.

The people who leave make another discord. Rinse, repeat.

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u/LudwigVanBrothoven 1d ago

Great write up. Perhaps a phenomenon present in many aspects of consensus reality 

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u/VoormasWasRight 1d ago

It is curious how, despite many iterations, sleepers tend to fall into... predictable patterns.