Other general things WisCon 38 has me thinking about:

As always, WisCon this year had a lot of powerful, important discussions. The discussion about social isolation was, for me, the one most directly related to gaming. But an ongoing, overall discussion, about who gets to be in our fandoms — and who gets to decide that — is an extremely important one. As I mentioned in the last post, Nora K. Jemisin’s Guest of Honor speech on this topic was really powerful. There has also been a lot of discussion about how we handle it when creeps find their way into our fandom. And general discussion about “inclusion”, and who gets to “include” whom, also feels related.

Fandom is going through some big changes these days. Women, people of color, TBLG people, disabled people and many other groups are standing up in greater numbers to say “Hey, we’re here, we’ve been here, no one gets to exclude us”. Unfortunately, a lot of people who view fandom as being their private turf are reacting negatively to this.

It’s a fraught time to be a woman gamer and writer of RPGs. (And to be other things that I don’t feel comfortable going into here.) Hopefully, fandom in the future will be a less hateful place. I know I’m going to keep working towards that, and WisCon has (as always) inspired and energized me to continue working.

In general, WisCon this year was great. Good to see friends I don’t otherwise get to see, good to be in an atmosphere where we all hold ourselves to a high standard. Good gaming, good panels, good food. Great things to think about, and greater things to work towards.