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Something I'd been mulling around in my mind for a while now, is how we really talk enough about just how alienating and isolating it can be to be expected to "leave your politics/identity at the door" when it comes to entering certain nerd spaces. It's like a negative peace. https://twitter.com/Enichan/status/1326630084254560257
One of the best things I've done for myself in... well, ever really, has been to be openly, unapologetically, and outspokenly trans, and make my spaces such as my twitch streams explicitly LGBT friendly.
Why?
Because before, I was lacking connection with other queer gamers.
Why?
Because before, I was lacking connection with other queer gamers.
Spaces that are all "everyone's welcome, but don't bring ____ into it, we just want to game" are so passively hostile because they can make you feel like you can't even speak openly with people that are supposed to be your peers you may share these spaces with.
Being asked to leave it at the door makes it harder to trust others in our online lives, it isolates us from each other. This only got worse after the whole "ethics in games journalism" harassment campaign, lots of folks ended up feeling they had to hide who they were... Or quit.
I'm still continually surprised that fellow LGBT folks share certain interests, because those interests have been (often unjustly) laid claim to by folks who enforce the status quo through gatekeeping, and everyone else is expected to keep an uneasy peace with them.
Recently I got into painting Warhammer minis, and I was astonished by the response. I know I shouldn't have been, but that enforcement of hobbies; of nerd spaces, as the domain of cis straight white guys? That got drilled in hard over the years, so even I expect the status quo.
And y'know, while my streams are never about discussing political topics, they're very much a space where folks can come and chill and relax while I talk about games, it's still a political space because of how openly and unashamedly LGBT friendly it is.
