2013-05-29 Decency

A few days ago Jeff Rients wrote How many commandments have you broken? which lists TSR’s Code of Ethics. At the time I said The TSR code is definitely not cool. When asked to elaborate, I said (edited):

How many commandments have you broken?

The TSR code is definitely not cool

Things that are not cool are:

• language like “peak entertainment value”
• “All product shall focus on the struggle of good versus injustice and evil” eliminates interesting moral dilemmas and gray areas
• “shall not present explicit details and methods of crime, weapon construction, drug use, magic, science, or technologies that could be reasonably duplicated” eliminates an aspect of adult entertainment. What is a garrote and how does it work? How does a guillotine work? No smoking of weed, no injection of drugs? Personally, I feel that much of this is relevant to people growing up and learning how to make their own decisions
• “Agents of law enforcement” cannot be corrupt, cannot be part of a tyranny? How to explore the Nazi terror and fascism? They cannot all be “an exception and the culprit should ultimately be brought to justice.”

And so on. Every single point in that ethical code makes the world a bit *safer*, cushions us from the *choices we need to make* in real life. Yes, some of this may not be appropriate for all ages. It may have made sense for TSR to have such a policy. Nevertheless, I personally think that this will result in *products that I think are not and will never be cool.* Cool as in rebellious, exciting, risqué, *exploring what it means to be human.*

☯

Zak writes about it as well: Thanks For The List, TSR

Thanks For The List, TSR

​#RPG

Comments

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Zak also remarks how many of this commandments were broken by TSR itself. Maybe it would be an interesting challenge to write an adventure that adheres to the code 100% without beeing boring... ;)

– Rorschachhamster 2013-05-29 12:37 UTC

Rorschachhamster

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Haha, I have trouble writing adventures with or without the code. Must not make it harder on myself or I won’t get anything done. 😄

– Alex Schroeder 2013-05-29 16:51 UTC

Alex Schroeder