Hi everyone,
Thank you all for a great Fall 1! And welcome to our wonderful new players.
In contrast to the fun of most of the weekend, there were a few things that came up that are important concerns to make sure everyone has a good time at Witchwood.
First, please respect everyone’s pronouns. If you accidentally mis-gender someone, it’s not a big deal; accept a correction and move on. But if someone tells you which pronouns they are using and you continue to use something different, we consider this very disrespectful. Don’t do it.
Also, if someone tells you that they don’t want terms like “dude” or “guys” applied to them, this is not an invitation to debate whether these terms are gender-neutral in our culture. Just switch to something else. “Folks” and “y’all” are great words.
Second, please avoid excessive use of OOG memes in game. Particularly, avoid slut-shaming comments like “Begone Thot” jokes.
Third, if you are playing a character who is not a nice person, please check in with those around you to make sure you are not causing them out-of-game discomfort. We have the okay/yes/no hand signals for a reason. We want to give you the opportunity to be someone different from who you are in everyday life, but we need to be mindful of how we are affecting others.
Finally, if someone is causing you discomfort, nip it in the bud. We have the brake/cut hand signals for this, or a simple OOG “Clarify, that’s making me uncomfortable,” is fine. If you would prefer not to approach the person directly about your discomfort, please seek out someone with a red feather pin or come to staff center and we will help communicate your needs to the other person. Please don’t just let your discomfort grow inside. We’re here to look out for each other.
Thank you all for reading this. I look forward to seeing you again next month.
-Beth
Witchwood Game Director