Below is the message I just sent to DriveThruRPG via their contact page: https://help.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. I encourage you to do the same. Feel free to cut and paste from my letter if that helps you to get started. Note that copying and pasting my draft into the text box screwed up the formatting and I ended up re-entering the paragraph breaks by hand.
Dear DriveThruRPG,
I have been a customer of yours since October of 2004. I don’t know if the 512 items in my DriveThru library makes me a big, medium, or small customer. But I wanted to make sure to let you know that I am a fan of your service before I took the time to complain.
I honestly do not understand what the hell you are doing with James Edward Raggi IV and his Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) products.
I purchase most of my LotFP books as pdfs via your site, as I just don’t have that much shelf space any more. I would like to give you money to buy last month’s new releases, including Don't Fuck the Priest, The Butchery of Agnes Gooder, and Orgasm, but James reports that you will not list these three products for sale.
Do you not want my money?
Your site possesses adult content features. If you find the material objectionable, why not list them with the other adult content? The idea that there is a level of content beyond “suitable for adults” is the fairytale stuff of secret societies, conspiracy kooks, and prudes.
Personally, I find lots of stuff in LotFP products objectionable, were they to leap from the page and manifest in the real world. But I reserve the right to read the books and make that call for myself. Why are you trying to do that for me? Are you concerned that I am an unsophisticated reader lacking in proper analytical skills? Do you worry that I cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, an absolute minimum requirement for anyone who enjoys the rpg hobby if they are to function in larger society?
This situation is no longer tolerable to me and I am seriously considering taking my business elsewhere, even if that means locking myself out of many future rpg products. I’d rather make that decision for myself than allow a middleman to make that call for me. Even for one book.
Please explain yourselves.
Sincerely, Jeff Rients
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The message is chopped on the right side in my browser.
ReplyDeleteFixed...?
DeleteI hadn't heard, so glad you're raising awareness. I think we should all be able to decide such things for ourselves. Cha'alt!
ReplyDeleteWhile I applaud your effort, there's still a part of me that isn't thrilled with the "shock" titles that Raggi likes to publish. I'd prefer a more mannered society, although I realize that this trend has snowballed over the decades. Anyway, just like Raggi is free to publish what he wants, I kinda think the Drivethru folks should be able to choose what they want to sell, too. Even a public library gets to choose what's on the shelves.
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DeleteThere isn't much difference between Jim's "shock" titles and the other sexy times/gruesome titles that are behind the DTRPG adult content wall. The issue seems to be that DTRPG has a hard-on against Jim/LotFP, likely because some of the folks who own/run it have some sort of personal animus against him.
DeleteOr at least that's my take.
The ultimate reason behind their decision not to offer any particular work isn't really of any import, IMO. If I had a bookstore, anyone can make a purchase, but I don't have to carry, for instance, a biography of Napoleon, or poems by Leonard Nimoy. It's my store. If I'm a florist I don't have to sell lilies. You think we should have rules for that? Laws?
DeleteNo, I don't. What I am pointing out is the hypocrisy in their practice. Sure, they are a business and can offer or not offer whatever product they choose.
DeleteBut let's not make the mistake of assuming that they have a consistent rationale for doing so: they hate Jim/LotFP, and thus will not carry his more provocative titles. Just because they have the right doesn't invalidate their status as assholes.
But they carry *some* of his products. That alone makes them "not assholes" in my book.
DeleteDuly noted
DeleteThe question is, in your bookstore do you let the hourly employees not stock books that they don’t like or should that decision be a management call.
DeleteThis email seems designed to sort out which of the two this is.
The email doesn't appear to ask that question at all, to my reading. Even if it did, I'm not sure my customers get to inquire as to the hierarchy of my employees and our operational structure. But the general query, "is there a reason these three titles couldn't be listed with other adult titles" seems a valid one to me. Just so long as you don't question the shopkeeper's right to sell whatever stock he chooses. You're certainly within your rights to shop wherever you choose.
DeleteDude, it's censorship. Sit down.
DeleteFantastic letter, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteJust as a note for people who doubtless will read this and say 'well, it's up to Drivethru what they sell and what they don't', they currently sell 'Montreal by Night', which was originally released by White Wolf under its Black Dog Games label (for 'mature adults only') which has art that depicts *a lesbian vampire who has violently raped a woman handcuffed to a urinal to death with a strap-on, in order to gather the blood from her vagina*. The only disclaimer on the cover when it was released was 'adults only'. Drivethru allows this to be sold under this current disclaimer: "Note: Intended for Mature readers. Includes graphic images."
Another example currently sold by DTRPG - also from White Wolf - is 'Freak Legion'; with artwork depicting a man vomiting worms that chew away a child's face, as well as the same fate happening to a woman and an infant. DT's disclaimer for this? "Note: Recommended for mature readers."
It's also interesting to note that when these were both published, WW was owned by the current owner of DrivethruRPG.
Given that this only the tip of the iceberg of what DTRPG allows to be sold with no issues whatsoever, why not allow ALL of Lamentations to be sold there then? (This is not a call for any further censorship, but an equal and neutral application of their content policies.)
I don't need Jeff Rients to decide for me what I should be allowed to buy for myself. If Jeff does not like the LotFP products, Jeff is free to not buy them. Trying to block access for the rest of us indicates a certain level hubris on Jeff's part. That is not for him to do, just as it is not for me to encourage DTRPG to not sell material that I would prefer to not buy, but that he might. Shame on Mr. Rients for joining the ranks of those who feel sufficiently morally superior to the rest of us to choose to seek to control OUR options. Get thee behind me, Enemy Of Free Choice!
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