Mediaboss Marketing

After a simple painting of a frog led The Gaming Goat to be accused of using a white supremacist symbol to promote their new title, Tournament Fishing, a number of tabletop RPG developers have since chosen to believe said accusation and publicly condemn the publisher.

Source: Tournament Fishing Media Kit, The Goat Games

The backlash against the publishers newly announced fishing-based deck-building game began shortly after its Kickstarter campaign went public on August 7th when The Dice Tower TTRPG news site contributor Suzanne Sheldon drew attention to how theres a game on @Kickstarter (being run by the publisher who just threatened to make me a good time) whos got a frog throwing the wh*te p*wer symbol on the rulebook cover.

Drawing comparisons between the artwork in question and the exaggerated use of Pepe the Frog and the OK hand symbol, Sheldon tweeted, Just awful. If you dont get the symbology being used here, youve missed the last 5 years.

100% this imagery was intentional to trigger the libs, Sheldon continued, turning to call on her Twitter followers to report Tournament Fishing for its perceived use as a hate symbol.

She added, So be it. They can laugh at me being upset at their racist bs all they want. If you want to report a project click the report the project button at the bottom hate symbols are in the prohibited > offensive category.

Related: Evil Hat Productions Attempts Combative Marketing For New TTRPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians By Declaring If You Dont Like Our Politics, Dont Buy Our Games

And look theres a reasonable chance that KS will make them change that image to keep the campaign going. And they will. And this terrible thing will be forgotten the next day, Sheldon surmised. But theyve shown who they are. Hold them accountable.

It should be noted that Sheldons comment that The Gaming Goat threatened to make me a good time refers to a recent post by the publishers CEO, Jeff Bergren, as part of an ongoing spat between the two.

On August 29th, Bergren shared a screenshot to his Facebook of a tweet made by Sheldon in which she asserted, as part of an ongoing Twitter conversation, Considering who [Bergren] is and his history in the industryId be surprised if he didnt reply with a sty take demonstrating his continuing stiness.

So many people that Ive never talked too in my life posting fun things on the internet, Bergren said of Sheldons tweet. Their friends slandered someone for not wearing a mask in a photo, while all of them have photos without masks. That political party affiliation rides hard! I guess if you have no other significance to the world, then this is the leg you stand on?

Source: Jeff Bergren Facebook

In reply to Bergren, another individual, Dwight Cenac, sarcastically stated, This person looks like theyd be a lot of fun at parties, to which Bergren answered, I bet only us could make her fun at a party. You down for the challenge?

Shoot me the ping, Ill bring the box of cats, said Cenac, assumedly referencing an inside joke between himself and Bergren.

Source: Jeff Bergren Facebook

Related: Player-Curated List Of Woke and Non-Woke TTRPG Companies Sparks Discourse Among Listed Entities

At some point following Sheldons tweets, a caption was added underneath the image of the frog on the Kickstarter page which cheekily read, This is Bob the frog. Bob is A OH KAY. Bob the frog does not have a hateful bone in his body and loves everyone.

Source: Tournament Fishing Kickstarter

As Sheldons accusation began to spread across social media, it eventually spawned its own topic on the popular TTRPG forum Board Game Geeks, wherein Tournament Fishing project manager Mathue Ryann eventually responded to the backlash and explained, I can assure you there is no ill will or intent with any of our art images.

He continued. While I dont want to see anyone leave the campaign if you want to cancel your pledge and are unhappy I completely understand and that and it is 100% obviously your right.

Reaching out to the artist, Ryann later shared the reference photos used in the creation of the frog artwork as further proof that none of the art in the game is intended to be ill willed or hurtful.

However, though he noted 100s of people look at all the art in the game and this was not something that was noticed by anyone, Ryann then announced, Now that is had been brought to our attention we will change the card art.

Yet, despite this explanation, The Gaming Goat still received condemnation from their TTRPG peers, as many designers and developers refused to accept that the artwork was anything but a Nazi dogwhistle.

On Board Games Geek, Badgers From Mars designer Andy Richdale announced that the developer had exercised its right to end its licencing agreement with TGG Games which will come into effect later in the year. The reason for this is the inappropriate behaviour that Jeff (CEO of TGG Games) has displayed when communicating with others in the hobby.

Further comments in response to concerns raised around their latest Kickstarter campaign have been unacceptable to us and failed to meet even the minimum standard we would expect from an industry professional, he added. We truly hope that Jeff gets an opportunity to reflect on recent events and come to an understanding of why these comments are unacceptable.

On Twitter, Mr. Cabbagehead Garden developer LudiCreations wrote, Racist statements and actions, explicit or implied threats, abusive and aggressive behavior are something that we condemn and deplore, whether it is in social media or in person.

We do not want to be part of any community or business relationship where those are tolerated or taken lightly, they added. So, to be clear: We will not have any future relationship with anyone making light of white supremacy and its signals, no matter how subtle.

Related: Ernie Gygax Jr. Claims Wizards Of The Coast Acted Like Corporate Raiders Towards Dungeons & Dragons, Criticizes Current Tabletop Trend Of Pushing Out Players Who Do Not Follow Modern Trends

Cauldron and Unbroken creator Artem Safarov similarly declared that he would be withdrawing from a solo game design to be published next year by TGG Games as a result of what he believed was a dismissive/defensive reaction to the issue of white supremacy/frog image on the Tournament Fishing campaign.

For the record I am fully confident that the image itself was accidental, he clarified. The reaction to it, however, made light of the issue and was a missed opportunity to understand the connection, acknowledge the threat of white supremacy and denounce it loudly and boldly.

Ultimately, on September 11th, The Gaming Goat took to Tournament Fishings Kickstarter page to address the frustrations about an image within the game and the initial response.

It was never our intent to offend anyone, we do not tolerate or support any form of racism, they reiterated. TGG-Games prides itself in creating games with diverse characters that promotes inclusivity and we believe that will shine through in this game. We truly value any chance to make the game better with not only stretch goals, but also with community feedback and we look forward to continuing this campaign with excitement and positivity.

Source: Tournament Fishing Kickstarter

Novelist, comic book creator, and YouTuber Jon Del Arroz responded to the backlash against The Gaming Goat by stating, The only way to deal with this is to have humor. If you have humor the SJWs lose every time. Because you are going to live your life to the fullest, you are going to have fun, and you are going to have a good time. And everybody wants to have a good time with you.

He added, The people like Suzanne, who want to create anger, hostility, and division in the board game industry, in the sci-fi industry, and the comics industry, they are going to lose at the end of the day and they know it. And thats why they are so miserable they want to drag everybody else down with them.

What do you make of the backlash to both Tournament Fishings artwork and The Gaming Goats subsequent response? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!

More here:
The Gaming Goat Condemned By TTRPG Community After Being Accused Of Using White Supremacist Symbol In New Tournament Fishing Game - Bounding Into...

Photo: AFP via Getty Images

On September 11, 2001, Donald Trump honored the then-unknown number of dead in lower Manhattan by pointing out that the collapse of the World Trade Center meant that he now owned the tallest building downtown. To commemorate the events 20th anniversary, he visited a fire station and police precinct in New York City before flying back to Florida to guest-host a novelty pay-per-view boxing match with his son.

The former president, a promoter at heart, mostly stuck to vague bromides that couldnt get him in trouble as he provided color commentary during four underwhelming bouts at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. I think tonights card is going to be very successful, he said, when asked about his expectations for the evening. He is like a totally different fighter, he said, seconds after a co-host made the exact same observation. I like to do that, he said, when asked if he liked to eat lobster. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the night is that Trump hung on for the whole undercard without getting visibly bored.

Though he largely behaved himself, a few non-boxing jabs inevitably came through. When asked at the beginning of the broadcast about 9/11, Trump said that the anniversary was made even worse because of a very bad week from President Joe Biden. He praised the state of Florida for the way they ran the election clean. Describing the way that referees decide boxing matches, he said, Its like elections: It could be rigged. Donald Trump Jr., during a particularly boring moment in the first bout, said that right now, the audience likes politics better.

It was an astute observation: During the first two fights, the only real noise from the crowd came during outbursts in support of the former president. Cardboard banners dotted the casino arena: Bring back #45 and Trump won. (Im watching the signs, said Trump.) The home audience that paid $50 to stream the fight also got access to a live chat in which viewers talked about QAnon, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden sucking, Pepe the frog, Trump actually winning the 2020 election, and Jeffrey Epstein not actually killing himself.

Theres a reason the boxing wasnt really the main event: Celebrity fights, of the sort featuring aging heavyweights, jacked influencers, and retired NBA players, are a sideshow of the sport itself designed purely to make money. (Other than Anderson Silvas first-round knockout of Tito Ortiz in the third bout, many of the boxers on Saturday night spent more time trying to avoid boxing than actually boxing.) Into this world enters President Trump, a man whos never been afraid of a weird opportunity to make money. His presence was a perfect addition to the resurgence of novelty fighting: a domain full of shady financing; alleged sexual assaults; aging stars who are trying to mount a comeback; and guys who really like Florida.

In some ways, he never really left the sport. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Trump hosted several marquee fights in Atlantic City, including Mike Tyson vs. Larry Holmes and Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman. Since the 80s, Trump has been friends with World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon and once shaved his head in the battle of the billionaires at WrestleMania. McMahons wife, Linda, served as the head of Trumps Small Business Administration and worked on his 2020 campaign, while Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White is also a close friend. If his observations on Saturday night werent particularly insightful, it was clear that this world claimed him as one of their own. To his credit, Trumps best moments were his recollections of his Atlantic City days, and he seemed genuinely animated when Jorge Masvidal, a UFC champ who campaigned for him in south Florida, stepped into the announcers box.

George Foreman, Donald Trump, and Evander Holyfield promote an Atlantic City fight in April 1991. Photo: The Ring Magazine via Getty Imag

After his year of almost nonstop assaults on American democracy, its very strange to watch Donald Trump talk boxing, enjoy himself, and be in charge of absolutely nothing for a few hours. This bizarre appearance on a mostly tedious three-hour stream felt like a peek into another reality: one in which the 45th president accepted his electoral loss last November, and instead of flirting with a second run, he spent his time chasing quick cash in man-o-sphere appearances events that can be outrageously fun and stupid if you choose to engage and completely inconsequential if you do not.

As the night wore on, it got more absurd. Before Evander Holyfield got in the ring with former UFC champ Vitor Belfort, the audience was asked to observe the anniversary of 9/11 for a ten-count of the bell. The silence was broken up by a woman yelling, Feel that fuckers! Shut the fuck up! the crowd screamed back. The memorial bell tolled as the audience booed and a woman in short shorts walked around the ring with an American flag.

Once the fight started, Belfort more or less beat the pulp out of the 58-year-old Holyfield until the sad display was called off before the second round. (Holyfield wasnt actually supposed to fight: He was subbed in after Oscar de la Hoya got COVID at the last minute; his last opponent was in a charity fight against Mitt Romney in 2015.) When he was interviewed after the fight, Belfort called Jake Paul a bitch and demanded that the celebrity-boxing moneymaker fight him for $25 million on Thanksgiving. Trump, after avoiding the crowds chants requesting he give a speech, closed out the event with an address to his many supporters in the casino. This is like a rally, he said. We love you all. We love this country.

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

Originally posted here:
Trump Guest-Hosting a Boxing Match on 9/11 Was a Vision From an Alternate Reality - New York Magazine

There are some things so difficult to countenance that it can seem simply easier to believe they didnt happen: that one man could put a bullet through the presidents skull, that human beings could stand on the moon, that a seemingly average man might walk into a school and kill the children inside. And, throughout history, many people have chosen simply not to believe those unfathomable events, telling themselves stories that help make the world make sense, albeit more sinister.

So when the first plane and then another collided with the Twin Towers 20 years ago in lower Manhattan, it opened a wound so unfathomable in its horror that it seemed necessary to tell a new kind of story one that helped make sense of the tragedy, even as it distorted it. The conspiracy theories began almost as soon as the attacks had finished, and they have stayed with us to this day.

The theories themselves are so well-worn that they have progressed all the way to memes: the common refrain that jet fuel cant melt steel beams, once an earnestly communicated part of conspiracy lore, has now become so hackneyed that it is almost meaningless. But there are many others, which either tend to suggest that that the US could have intervened but decided not to, or that it actually orchestrated the attacks itself.

At the same time, however, they borrowed from tropes and ideas that had existed for centuries before, and which have continued to prove popular in the decades since. For the most part, 9/11 conspiracy theories are the same as those that went before, and those that followed, with the nouns swapped.

Perhaps the most distinct facet about the 9/11 conspiracy theories is the way they were pushed through formats that are familiar now in everything from advertising to the arts. In 2005, as the early viral internet we know today was finding its feet it was the year of the first Pepe the Frog drawing, the beginnings of Chuck Norris facts and the Million Dollar Homepage there appeared a video known as Loose Change, a documentary that presented the central ideas of the 9/11 conspiracy theory in a way that sent it swiftly across the internet.

Korey Rowe, the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who made the film with friend Dylan Avery after returning from those wars confused and disillusioned, has drawn a straight line from the film to the various conspiracy theories that surround us today.

Look at where its gone: you have people storming the Capitol because they believe the election was a fraud. You have people who wont get vaccinated and theyre dying in hospitals, he told the Associated Press. Weve gotten to the point where information is actually killing people.

One of the legacies of 9/11 was to give prominence to the idea of the false flag attack

(Reuters)

It can be easy to blame the internet. Experts are divided on whether technology has really made people more given to believing in conspiracy theories.

9/11 conspiracy theories existed, and the internet existed, says Joseph Uscinski, a professor at the University of Miami and author of books on conspiracy theories. But it wasnt the case that conspiracy theories somehow couldnt grow before the internet; thats just completely false, and it reflects a really rosy view of history.

We had multiple red scares in this country, Freemason breakouts, Illuminati panics, crushing and drowning witches all before the internet.

One month after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, 55 per cent of Americans believed that the assassination was pulled off by a conspiracy rather than a lone gunman. That number increased to 80 per cent in the 1970s, and stayed that way for three decades; we havent seen 80 per cent numbers on anything in the internet era.

The view that the internet is to blame either for promoting or discouraging conspiracy theorists looks at the problem from the wrong perspective, Mr Uscinski argues; people are not simply blank slate lemmings walking around that can have their mind changed by any piece of information they run into, whether that emerged from the internet or the printing press. Instead, conspiracy theory belief is a worldview and interpretation of the world like any other.

Theres no evidence whatsoever that people believe conspiracy theories more now than they did in the past. We can only see it more.

Perhaps one of the more potent legacies of 9/11 conspiracy theories is the establishment of a career that has continued to flourish: the professional conspiracist. And perhaps nobody has embodied that more than Alex Jones.

Alex Jones feeds the disbelief and accusations that surround major tragedies

(Infowars)

Jones was already a relatively successful radio host by the time of 9/11, and some of that success was built using the same playbook he would use after the attacks. Before 2001, he had focused on other traumatic events and claimed to know the truth of them the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, for instance, and the Waco siege that had happened two years before and helped inspire it. While the late 1990s are sometimes depicted as a prelapsarian time of social harmony and reliable information that was broken by 9/11, those events and the response to them show that the foundations were there already.

And while 9/11 helped establish the Alex Jones brand as it exists today, it was only one stop on his road to underground domination. He has applied the same format of disbelief and accusations that the media story is a hoax to everything from school shootings to the Capitol riot.

He has been able to do so because one of the legacies of 9/11 was to give prominence to the idea of the false flag attack, a theory that an organisation or country conducts an operation under the banner of another. While that idea has been present for centuries its name derives from the very real flag that would flown on navy ships it became increasingly popular after 2001.

It is a way of explaining what the motivations were for, say, George W Bush to the extent that you believe that the president and certain aspects of the military industrial complex would be interested in allowing or organising an attack on US soil because it creates an enemy that you can go fight for whatever nefarious purpose you have, says Mark Fenster, a law professor at the University of Florida and author of the seminal book Conspiracy Theories. And that has just become a trope that explains everything now.

And so the Sandy Hook shooting massacre becomes not the horrible slaughter of kindergarten students by a teenager, but instead a fake operation through which Barack Obama could impose stronger gun control laws. The Capitol riot on 6 January was not an insurrection against Congress by the far right, but the intentional creation of chaos and violent mayhem to be used against conservatives.

20 years of conflict and terror since 9/11

Some of todays conspiracy theories have become far more involved than the ones that cropped up after 9/11, with their adherents behaving more like those interested in myth or religious texts than scholarly study. Those who believe in QAnon, for instance, gather their beliefs primarily through the almost-sacred texts that are posted by the mysterious Q, not by endlessly replaying videos and conducting experiments to understand whether the official story makes scientific sense, like those who believe in 9/11 conspiracies.

Others today are laced with a specific kind of irony, that does appear to have been born out of the internet. Accusations that Beyonc is a member of the Illuminati seem at once earnest and something of a joke; the slogan Epstein didnt kill himself emerges from both a sincerely held belief and has become enough of a meme that it could be slapped on beers and novelty Christmas jumpers.

At the same time, those conspiracy theories have deadly consequences. Covid and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories often borrowing from those same health-based scares that have spread for centuries continue to prove popular both online and in person.

Each age has its truths, its lies and its conspiracy theories. As much as the truth of 9/11 defined those first years of the 21st century, the conspiracy theories around them have helped colour the lies the world has told itself for the last 20 years.

Read more:
How 9/11 influenced the way conspiracy theories spread today - The Independent

This very moment in menswear seems to be characterized by a woozy, high-style embrace of past and future. Eras warp into each other, and everything old blurs into everything new. Some of today's most advanced-fashion looks feel like they could have been plucked out of a decades-old Eric Rohmer filmunless they came from the 1980s closet of Billy Crystal. Were into slouchy suits and breezy collared shirts and glossy penny loafers, sometimes all at once. Its enough to make your head lovingly spin as you stand in front of your closet.

There is, however, one bizarre throughline to our anything-goes fashion moment, and its the Muppets. Yes...those Muppets. Not all of them, exactlyjust a few choice onesbut still. You probably didn't expect to hear that Kermit the Frog, Gonzo the Great, and Pepe the King Prawnalongside a few of their felt palsare dressing like modern-day street style stars. But the proof is incontrovertible.

Kermit in a fetching three-piece.

The Muppets Are Stylish movement started out like so many bizarre-but-undeniable ideas before it: as funny memes and stray tweets, building year after year until theyd acquired the patina of truth. The official Kermit account tweeted a photo of the fuzzy frog in an autumnal brown outfit with a blazer thrown over his shoulder, and the fashion memes starting flying. Gonzo's looks started drawing comparisons to those of Harry Styles. "Looking for pics of dripped out muppets," read one tweet.

Then, just last week, self-proclaimed fashion rulebreaker Gonzo made a splash in a loud yellow suit, looking like he stepped straight out of an Engineered Garments collection. It was as if everything clicked into focus and I finally saw the light. All of a sudden, I couldnt deny that Pepe,the always-spunky prawn, in his funky patterned camp-collared shirt (Bode-esque, isn't it?) and gold chain, was the spitting image of some hip urbanite crossing through Dimes Square on a hot summer day.

Bet you didn't think you wanted to dress like Gonzo.

Go here to read the rest:
Menswear Has Finally Caught Up to the Muppets - GQ

An image that QAnon followers have reportedly taken interest in (US Government/Potus/Instagram)

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe an image of Joe Biden shows that Donald Trump was recently in the White House, and was in fact US president.

The image, which shows the Democrat taking a phone call in the Oval Office, features a figure reflected in a window to the right of the US president, Mr Biden.

It was shared to Mr Bidens Instagram account last week, from where it was taken and shared to Telegram, a messaging platform favoured by the far right and followers of QAnon.

The conspiracy theory alleges that a cabal of Democratic sex traffickers conspired against Mr Trump when he was in office, and after his defeat to Mr Biden that the Republican will return as president, or has already returned.

As reported by Newsweek, the image of Mr Biden was shared by a popular QAnon account, We The Pepe. The name references the cartoon character Pepe the Frog, which has been appropriated by the far right.

The account argued that the former US president could be seen in the reflection in the Oval Offices window, and told its more than 750,000 followers: Did you see whos in the reflection?...Go see for yourself.

Another QAnon account, MelQ, also shared the image to more than 140,000 followers on Telegram, as did others on the messaging platform.

According to Newsweek, the image was widely taken by followers of QAnon that Mr Trump was not only in the White House, but was secretly in charge of the US a tenet of the conspiracy theory.

Did they just photoshop mumbles Biden into a picture that was taken while DJT [Trump] was in office. Asking for my fren [sic] that questions everything, a Telegram user allegedly wrote of the image.

QAnon supporters currently believe that Mr Trump will return to office in August in the wake of his 2020 defeat to Mr Biden.

It is in the latest date for Mr Trumps resurgence offered by followers of QAnon, after a string of theories and predictions about the former US president.

Read More

Story continues

July 4, Juneteenth and the meaning of national holidays

Fauci warns Delta variant will produce two Americas for vaccinated and unvaccinated

As wildfires rage, Biden will raise federal firefighter pay

The rest is here:
QAnon spreads Biden photo online claiming it shows Trump is secretly in the White House - Yahoo News