The Rebellion Spreads

Well it looks like this time the wait is only two days between posts. That means that the next post should be in mid June.

This post will be just a quick update, on the new and exciting news in the world of board games. Before beginning I want to say that if there is anything more useless than board game politics, I don't know what it is. I had planned to write a very long post on board game politics, and had written about half of it. My thinking was that the Big Kerfuffle had died down, and it was now time for some sober reflection. But since I wrote it the number of banned users has gone from 1 to 3 (if the new rumor is true), and the exciting events just keep coming. So lets look at what is hot off the ticker...

News

The most interesting thing is that a new board game site has started. It's the Board Game Wiki and can be found on my links page. It's been started in some ways as a reaction to BGG, and is meant to be a more democratic place. You can find it under my links. It's way too soon to see if it will flourish, but I wish them well. I want a place to post, but the attitude on the Geek sticks in my craw, and they are slowly chasing all the interesting people off that site. So I'm hoping it will work out.

What I find amusing about the whole thing is that there has been a negative reaction from a few of the BGG fans (although, to be fair, it has been small). One of the thing that I never got about BGG was all the people who would say "If you don't like it here, start you're own site," who clearly never understood that this was possible. The internet is the most democratic thing ever invented. It has never been easier to make your voice heard. As the number of disaffected users of BGG grows, it's inevitable that some other site will spring up as an alternative to it. The Geek has failed to be inclusive (perhaps that was inevitable), more seriously it is failing to change as the board game fan base changes.


Some Background

For those of you who don't know BGG banned their first user, a young scallywag named Michael Barnes, almost two months ago. While Michael could certainly be abrasive he was banned for making personal attacks. I was busy posting in the thread that Michael was banned in, and I can tell you that there were a lot of personal attacks because I was subject to quite a few of them. I was waiting for the admins to step in and save me, but some of them were some of the same people making personal attacks. Anyway, Michael rated no higher than twentieth on the list of nasty posters on that thread. But he was the one that got banned.

He got banned for saying that Scott Alden (the owner of BGG) was full of crap. In theory this was because it was a personal attack. Events have proved differently. About two weeks ago, another BGG user Steve Weeks got his temporary ban turned into a permanent one. To be frank, I can see why you might ban Steve Weeks. I think Barnes had toed the line, but Weeks crossed it. However he was banned for things he said in his podcast, hosted on his own web site! Those things were criticising Scott Alden, again.


Ban #3

Well the new rumor is that a new user has been banned. That user is a crazy Finn named hobbitti. Hobitti is a very strange man. I like him, but I have a weakness for all things Finnish. I f you check out my profile, you'll see I love the Moomintroll books which are weird Finnish children's books. A side effect of my love of those books is that I have a soft spot for all things Finnish, including hobitti. He's also been quite vocal in his criticism of Scott Alden, and the banning of Michael Barnes. He has said nothing even remotely resembling a personal attack to anyone, although he has taken tons of abuse. The ban is meant to be for a week. If this is true, it proves that personal attacks are not what get you banned, but vocal criticism of Scott Alden is. (Although, vocal criticisms of other board game glitterati certainly helps.) So we'll see if its real or not. Check out hobitti's stuff. It's strange. I found the discussion of the banning on the new wiki site here:

http://www2.boardgamewiki.com/forum/t-8729/a-third-banning-on-bgg


Fortress: AmeriTrash

If for some reason you've found this blog, but not Fortress Ameritrash (this means you Dave) you should check them out. Fortress Ameritrash is a blog started by several of the most prominant Ameritrashers, including the infamous Barnes on the day he was banned (although I believe that this was a strange coincidence). In the less than two months it has been up and running its become the most important blog on board games (and gets by far the most feedback). In fact, it is the second most important board game web site there is (perhaps the wiki can overtake it). If you enjoy interesting ideas, good reviews (they are a model of how game reviewing should be done), humor, and highly creative off colour insults it is the blog for you. If you don't, don't read my blog.

So just to conclude. The Geek is weird. Banning seems to be getting easier. We have a new site. Let's hope it takes off. And Fortress: AmeriTrash is the second most important site on games on the internet. You heard that here first.