The Ravens Nest

We All Know Lucy When We See Her

How often have we seen this as children?

and I were discussing this in the comments section of my last article, one that you should read and read that exchange as well but I wanted to expand on this because, I felt there was something missing from that last article and I wanted to give what I thought was a reasonable argument with a good metaphor and I’d like to thank for bringing this up because he essentially gave me the missing ingredient.

If you don’t know what this image is, it’s from Charles Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip/cartoon.

The scene itself is the setup.

Lucy sets up the football for a kick, encouraging Charlie Brown to go for that kick. Every time, Charlie backs up, takes a running start and he’s going to punt that sucker way down the line of the yard where they’re playing.

Then, at the last second, Lucy yanks the ball in her expert timing and Charlie’s momentum from the kick works against him. He screams “AAAUUUGGGHH!” as he goes heels over head and lands squarely on his back.

Lucy then laughs at his pain, calls him a blockhead and moves on to whatever it is Lucy has planned next.

It’s funny the first time you see it but then, you start to notice something. She doesn’t just do it once. What was once a bit of a light-hearted jab happens over and over and over again. There are times that Charlie suspects that Lucy will just do it again and he refuses but she swears that each time will be different. Charlie goes for it and the predictable results are predictable, Lucy has lied to him.

It’s easy for us to sit back and call Charlie Brown stupid for falling for it again but consider the other side of things, it’s not entirely Charlie’s fault here. While he bears at least a little responsibility for taking part in an act he knows full well will leave him flipping backwards and landing, painfully on his back complete with possibly having the wind knocked out of him, her constant jeers and name-calling, Lucy is the one that constantly manipulates him for no other reason than for being a mean-spirited jerk of a little girl.

Where are his friends, also? Are they never around to give him fair warning that she’s only going to do it again, call her out on her manipulation of Charlie Brown and tell her that the act, at this point, is morally and ethically reprehensible?

There’s a reason I’m telling you all of this and referring to my last article. I was criticized on my stance on Goodman Games and their bad behavior. Again, someone claiming that my stance was political because I’ve issued my own “or else” ultimatum.

Okay.

Apparently, that makes me no better than Goodman Games or anyone else I criticize.

I don’t recall claiming that but, whatever.

Do I think we, as customers, deserve respect? Yes. Do I think it’s proper for Goodman Games to ignore repeated postings by those of us who’ve bought their games telling them to stop all this nonsense over a few angry voices that can’t look past skin color? No, absolutely not and I think any company that wishes to cave to these people out of fear, they just don’t deserve my money.

The track record speaks for itself here.

Movies and TV Shows don’t do well? Well the fans must be -ists and -phobes.

Comic books not selling? Blame the fans and do more of what has been tanking them.

Magic: The Gathering line not doing well? You know the drill.

Newest D&D book not selling? Do I really need to explain further?

Each and every time these vultures have gotten their hooks into a property, they’ve destroyed it, hollowing it out and wearing it’s skin like Buffalo Bill in Silence of The Lambs, leaving you and me with nothing we want or need and all the while screaming at us that we’re bad people. Inevitably, they go down in financial flames and blame us for it.

To that I say, “Let me stop you right there.”

In terms of comic books, we held out hope that one day the tech would be there to put those stories to screen, faithfully. We have always wanted to see page translated to screen and when we got our first looks at some of the earlier Marvel movies in the 90s, they weren’t by any means perfect, in fact, they were pretty bad but it was a great first step. We wanted people to see these movies hoping they’d be gateways into the comics we were reading and we were called childish for reading them. …at best.

When Dungeons & Dragons first made it to screen in 2000, we hoped that this would be the end of The Panic and people would finally see that this was a close…ish…approximation to what took place in our minds when we played, not what Jack Chick was trying to sell people on. It kinda worked but, many had missed out on the Gygax era and we were all hoping for some type of return to form. In some places it helped but, before that, we were asking anyone and everyone to join our tables. We had rumors spread about us that were entirely untrue but thanks to sensationalized media (hopefully some of you see the pattern here) every bit of smoke was given fire status and many of us found ourselves being bullied well past the days of the schoolyard, having to lead double lives in order to enjoy a game or worse, driven to suicide because there was no one to listen when we spoke. Yes, some of us have been forced to fight and even die for this game. Let that sink in.

Once again, we’re being called children, we’re back in the high school and junior high school halls again, virtually this time, being picked on, bullied, harassed and the people claiming that they love these properties so much and they’re such fans, well, you know the rest.

Truth is, we’ve been Charlie Brown, offering gestures of good will and trying like crazy to tell anyone and everyone about how great these properties were and then, these people join when it’s “safe” and popularized by the very media that made libelous claims before, irresponsibly, may I add…but I repeat myself and now we find ourselves with Lucys everywhere.

Every one of them swears this time will be different. They manipulate and deceive and then, when we go for it, we have the ball yanked away, we end up in pain and we’re mocked and ridiculed for extending yet another gesture of good will.

We’ve learned from that. We may be the Charlie Brown character here but we’re not stupid enough to trust Lucy again. We have to set some healthy boundaries and insist that you do not cross them. Ruin one property, we’ll create another. This is where you messed up, Lucy. You’re no longer the one with the ball anymore. Someone else can hold it. Eventually, my foot will reach that ball with great Newtonian force and maybe it goes skipping down the yard or maybe it becomes a great arc that leaves everyone going “Whoa!”

The same person who issued criticisms about my stance also wanted to invite me to his Actual Play Live Stream. I immediately said “No Thanks.”

I know some of you just heard the record scratch noise and went “Wait…What?! You turned down a game?”

Yes, I did. There are some reasons I can’t get into right now but, for the ones I can get into, this person was hoping to put the Gen Zs, sparkly ones and grognards together for a game. I have no doubt in the GM’s ability to run the game and run it fairly, that’s not the point. On top of the real-life issues that have taken me away from the channel at the moment, I know there’s a Lucy at the table, perhaps more. I know I’ll probably spend the game having to be polite to these people. There is one place where I have to deal with people just like that for eight hours or more per day and, the closer we get to Christmas, the worse they become in terms of behavior. As the days progress, I’ll be going home with bigger headaches wishing I had a bottle to crawl into even though I know that won’t make it any better whatsoever. So what’s the difference? I should be used to that, right? No. In one of those scenarios I am being paid (granted, not nearly enough) to have to deal with these people. I do not want to, nor will I be dealing with them in a customer service manner for free or during my recreation time. I would rather write one of these articles, play a solo game or have to clean up another instance of Mr. Bub (the cat) mistaking my crystal grid for a smorgasbord of new toys.

It’s not that I don’t want old-school and newer players to unite but I do have a fairly good cross-section of people that follow me on Twitter from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, etc. I know them and they know me. If I really wanted to put a game like that together and had the time, I’d do it with them just to show that it’s possible. In fact, I have once where we played Four Against The Great Old Ones on my live-stream.

We really had a blast with this one and we really need to finish this adventure up someday. Let’s hope we can do that in the new year.

Anyway, playing this rules-light game was absolutely great solo but was even better with friends and showed just how stupid I could be when my mic decided to …okay I didn’t have my proper mic hooked up and it was the mic on my webcam that was doing the terrible job it was doing that day.

Back to the point here, we see you, Lucy and yes, the thought of sending that ball down the line or into the air is tempting. The glory associated with it makes all the sense in the world. Why would I not?

Your repeated yanking of the ball. Your constant scorn and ridicule. That’s why. You’re not going to keep calling me a Nazi. You’re not going to keep calling me whatever -ist or -phobe buzzword is trending today and you’re not going to keep throwing shade at me over my skin color which I did not choose nor could I control. You’re also not going to keep destroying the things that I love and erasing history in hopes of controlling the narrative.

If those are the things you’re hoping for, and you’re claiming you’ll do them anyway, then you will do them absolutely for free.

Now and forevermore, these Charlie Browns won’t be going for that ball.