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*If* things proceeded between Tom and Black Library the way he lays them out, then it admittedly seems a bit of an odd decision on the surface of things, especially given the company's recent 'You will not be missed' Statement.
Note before I go further that I am not doubting Tom at all - he seems a decent, compassionate guy & he appears to have leapt to the defence of someone in distress being harrassed by a so-called 'fan' of the company. I am merely saying there is usually a fuller context to things
The old 'two sides to a story' thing, whereby perhaps from BL's perpsective there were other factors to account for. Tom says, for example, that he made some 'lore' comments including (but not limited to) that Space Marines are eunuchs.
This is indeed a long-held trusim among older fans such as myself, but like Star Wars, we have never been the 'Target Demo' for the hobby. It is designed to skew towards younger audiences, especially today. It makes laudable efforts to keep us oldies involved of course.
But it mainly needs to be as widely inclusive as possible. That comes with compromises, just like any business. That means you really want to avoid sexualisation of your product in any way possible (witness the long absence of Slaanesh for example)
Eunuchs are - by definition - not sexual, but to understand that is to have a conversation about sexualness (NOT sexuality - different convo) in the first place. You are introducing an 'adult' theme into what's supposed to be a hobby aimed widely including at kids.
Pushing deeper (I won't speak to other comments Tom may or may not have made as he doesn't provide examples & I am not here to speak for him) Tom regularly engages with the fanbase in the form of polls and extended lore theorising, which can be fun!
However, you will note that other authors tend to avoid this, & my take is that's because they're told to. GW likes to keep the edges of the fluff nice and vague, because that makes expansion, changes & yes retcons occasionally easier to do.
Having someone who is 'officially' associated with the brand making any sort of statement that might be construed as a 'pronouncement' (again not saying that's what Tom did, just saying some could potentially *perceive* it that way) can make it seem that things are nailed down
that GW doesn't want nailed down for whatever reason. We as a collective tend to be a details-focused, possibly obsessive bunch as fans, & these are the sorts of things which may cause issues later. So best to avoid anyone who hasn't been signed off in triplicate saying anything.
Also also, authors are often told to avoid forums & engaging with feedback, & have been for some time. Again that's partly to avoid the above but also just because the internet breeds a certain recklessness in people that leads to nastiness. Stuff escalates quickly.
Certainly it did in relation to Kirioth's harmless joke that someone clearly took issue with. That they did so & then felt able to harass Kirioth & issue death threats is appalling & were it up to me, said person would be kicked from the hobby for that alone.
But the point is, NO company, whoever they are, wants their author to be perceived as involved in that sort of thing. Again it comes down to perception - Tom is one guy on his own, but when he's also a listed BL author, fairly or not, he's seen as an ambassador of that brand.
That includes a perception that he brings the force of that brand with him when he gets involved in something. It's easy for bad faith actors to then make that seem like punching down, to portray a victim narrative, & suddenly you have some real bad optics for the shareholders.
In an ideal world, companies would easily be able to distinguish between those bad faith actors & genuine grievances, & the good guys would always win. But GW is a company, with a company's reluctance to get involved in mess & a company's drive to keep shareholders happy
Which means keeping out of anything potentially messy & making sure their 'ambassadors' do too. For what it's worth, it's entirely likely the person who had to tell Tom the decision - hell even the person who had to make it - agreed with his position & what he did.
But they still have to toe the company line & protect the brand. It's shitty, but it's the harsh truth of where we are. It's easy, in a hobby like ours, to get so passionately involved that you forget it's all a corporate enterprise, subject to the limitations that imposes.
I've been entranced by the 40k universe since I was around 12 years old (I'm nearly 40) - it's literally one of the core aspects of my whole life. Even *I* can forget at times that it's ultimately just a toy company making money out of me by giving me what I want.
I feel desperately sad for Tom, who has acted in the way any normal human being would in the circumstances, & epsecially given his recent loss of his beloved pet & with other stresses in his life, this couldn't have come at a worse time. I will be supporting him any way I can.
I feel like BL would be well-served in terms of a lot of fans like myself & how we are feeling watching this play out making at least some sort of statement as to what occurred but I think it's unlikely they will.
This is about reputational & brand management & companied will always trend towards the conservative when that's the case. I absolutely *don't* think this reflects the company's employees' own stance on the particular issues raised, nor that of the company itself.
I don't believe that it's a nudge & a wink to the racists, homphobes & other awful people who inevitably will form some portion of the fanbase. I think they're trying to keep their corporate noses clean & that Tom has made decisions that perhaps more experienced
and/or less passionate authors in his position would not have made. I applaud his willingness to go to bat for a friend, to stand firm against a toxic element in the fandom, to try to use the platform he had for good. I wish that BL had felt able to back him instead of doing this
Lastly, I would point out that going after Warhammer Community Team on this is as misguided as it is pointless. They didn't make this decision or The Statement for that matter - they just put out something the GW management had approved. If you feel like writing to BL about this
I'd suggest keeping it respectful & businesslike rather than sending emotional screeds that will likely be ignored. Passion has its place, but this is a scenario where it won't be heard.
Let's remember that ultimately, we all love this hobby for whatever reasons we have, & that means we should celebrate it, enjoy it, & absolutely make our best individual & collective efforts to keep bigotry & hatred away from it wherever we can.
The hobby shouldn't be a place where anyone is made to feel unwelcome or afraid because of the colour of their skin, who they love or any other portion of their identity. Excluding people who DO have issues with those things isn't intolerance as some will try to claim.
It's refusing to allow a human being to set some arbitrary value on the life or rights of another human being based solely on some arbitrary characteristic. Sexuality, ethnicity, gender identity and so on are natural parts of someone's identity. Racism & bigotry are choices.
Apologies for the essay, but it felt like there was a lot to unpack & I felt like doing it properly. Please do go support Tom here: https://ko-fi.com/thomasparrott if you feel able & please don't allow this to start driving wedges into the community as a whole.
We know who the bigots are, neither they nor their bile are welcome, & once they are gone, they will not be missed.
