Trans Paizo employee fired for complaining about trans Iconic?

[Alzrius]

So I was in link-freefall across the web, and somehow ended up in this pastebin, where the writer asserts that:

Quote:

I have a friend that works at Paizo, creators of Pathfinder, who complained that their new "iconic character" - a sort of example for whatever new character class is getting a book - was a very hamfisted attempt at pandering to the trans community. This friend is trans herself, and her complaints led to her losing her job.

I really hope that this isn't true. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Calex]

I doubt you'll get any kind of official response. No company of any type would discuss its firing/let go of any ex-employee due to privacy reasons. Unless the person themselves come forward, and even then they would probably get locked out pretty quick. I'm not saying this just for Paizo- ANY company would probably do this. It would be a legal and P.R. minefield otherwise.

[thejeff]

Calex wrote:

I doubt you'll get any kind of official response. No company of any type would discuss its firing/let go of any ex-employee due to privacy reasons. Unless the person themselves come forward, and even then they would probably get locked out pretty quick. I'm not saying this just for Paizo- ANY company would probably do this. It would be a legal and P.R. minefield otherwise.

Unless it's complete bull. In which case someone might say something.

Like "We don't know what this random blogger with a chip against SJW is talking about. We haven't fired anyone since the trans iconic was revealed."

Seriously, I wouldn't pay any attention to this unless some more info comes out. It doesn't match what we know of Paizo. The iconic was created by Crystal, who is trans, which makes the accusation of "a very hamfisted attempt at pandering to the trans community" kind of odd. The blogger definitely has a chip on his shoulder about SJW and such things. It's a friend of a friend story at best. Hardly a reliable source.

[Calex]

Valid point- this IS the interweb after all.

[James Sutter]

That is absolutely not true.

While Calex is right that we don't discuss why anyone is let go, let alone our employees' gender/sexuality/etc. (talk about a breach of confidentiality!), to my knowledge this claim is completely baseless.

That said, I *do* challenge anyone to read Crystal's awesome write-up of Shardra and call it hamfisted. She did a rad job.

EDIT: When I say we don't discuss our employees' personal details, I mean as a company. Many of us at Paizo are pretty publicly GLBTQwhatever, and if individuals want to talk about it, that's totally cool. :)

[Terquem]

Didn't one of th employees of Paizo leave the company just before the iconic went public? Seems I remember this person talking about that in the LGBT thread

[Drejk]

Terquem wrote:

Didn't one of th employees of Paizo leave the company just before the iconic went public? Seems I remember this person talking about that in the LGBT thread

Well, one know trans employee left Paizo recently... The catch is it was Crystal herself, the creator of the trans iconic write-up in question - who left to pursue freelance career (or so she said). I don't think that she was fired for complaining about "pandering to trans community" that she wrote herself. *insert a condescending look from behind glasses toward the author of the "news"*

Has anyone else except her and Sean left recently?

EDIT: Vanishing posts... Vanishing posts...

[Mikaze]

Shardra's backstory is about as hamfisted as a vegan salad.

Seriously pastebin user, how do you even.

[Sara Marie]

Some posts were removed. Not cool.

[TriOmegaZero]

Drejk wrote:

EDIT: Vanishing posts... Vanishing posts...

i regret only that I have but one post to give for this thread.

[Drejk]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Drejk wrote:

EDIT: Vanishing posts... Vanishing posts...

i regret only that I have but one post to give for this thread.

Bad TOZ! Bad!

[ShadowcatX]

Seems fishy to me. It isn't like this is the first trans iconic.

[Erik Mona]

This is absolutely, categorically untrue.

No employee has even left the company since we published our trans iconic, so the theory is nonsense on its face.

[thunderspirit]

James Sutter wrote:

That said, I *do* challenge anyone to read Crystal's awesome write-up of Shardra and call it hamfisted. She did a rad job.

I don't know that this could be said any better.

Mikaze wrote:

Shardra's backstory is about as hamfisted as a vegan salad.

I stand (well, okay, sit) corrected.*

*:

While not necessarily written better, Mikaze's is more succinct than Sutter's, and made me laugh out loud. But then, I'm easy. :-)

[Drejk]

Erik Mona wrote:

This is absolutely, categorically untrue.

No employee has even left the company since we published our trans iconic, so the theory is nonsense on its face.

Hypothesis... Story... Factoid... Blatant lie. But not theory!

*sigh*

Sorry, but misuse of the term theory is slowly joining my pet peeves list :/

[Steve Geddes]

All brontosauruses are skinny at one end, much much bigger in the middle...

[Alzrius]

Erik Mona wrote:

No employee has even left the company since we published our trans iconic, so the theory is nonsense on its face.

But perhaps there was an employee who left sometime between the conceptualization of the character and its publication, and that would explain...wait...

*checks*

Doggone it, which one of you jokers put this tinfoil hat on my head again?!

Seriously though, it's nice to have this so quickly and thoroughly debunked. Nothing more to see here, people! Carry on!

[Albatoonoe]

Oh, someone lying to try and make social justice look bad. Looks like business as usual on the Internet today. Nice to see this stuff firmly debunked by the Paizo guys. No need to start crappy rumors about one of the most socially conscious companies in gaming.

[Drejk]

Does post with such false claim on that pastebin thingie constitute a possible defamation?

[Erik Mona]

I wouldn't worry about it. Lies and hearsay are pretty common on this here internet.

[archmagi1]

Impossible! They can't put anything that's not true on the internet!

[thejeff]

archmagi1 wrote:

Impossible! They can't put anything that's not true on the internet!

Even all the contradictory things are true.

[Mikaze]

Drejk wrote:

Terquem wrote:

Didn't one of th employees of Paizo leave the company just before the iconic went public? Seems I remember this person talking about that in the LGBT thread

Well, one know trans employee left Paizo recently... The catch is it was Crystal herself

! Wha-?

:(

Quote:

- who left to pursue freelance career

:)

keeps an eye out

Crystal's good people. Always been friendly and informative, her IC Imrijka posts were a hoot, her art is insanely cute, and she drew one of my creature entries for Wayfinder. :D

Best of luck out there, Crystal!

[Mike Selinker]

Shardra is one of our favorite characters. Crystal did a brilliant job of making a trans character work in a complex setting. You'll be seeing her in a PACG game someday soon.

[Damon Griffin]

Steve Geddes wrote:

All brontosauruses are skinny at one end, much much bigger in the middle...

Please remember to include the attribution to which Anne Elk is entitled.

[Crystal Frasier]

James Sutter wrote:

That is absolutely not true.

While Calex is right that we don't discuss why anyone is let go, let alone our employees' gender/sexuality/etc. (talk about a breach of confidentiality!), to my knowledge this claim is completely baseless.

That said, I *do* challenge anyone to read Crystal's awesome write-up of Shardra and call it hamfisted. She did a rad job.

EDIT: When I say we don't discuss our employees' personal details, I mean as a company. Many of us at Paizo are pretty publicly GLBTQwhatever, and if individuals want to talk about it, that's totally cool. :)

Sutter tells the truth on this: I am rad.

only two people left Paizo in between Shardra being conceptualized and now, and I'm the only woman or trans person. This claim from "Little Mac" is 100% a lie. I am (to the best of my knowledge) the only trans woman who has left Paizo. Ever. And I left for a variety of personal and professional reasons (the fact that I'm still contributing to the boards and still writing and mapping for them means there's no bad blood and I didn't leave over something petty), none of which involved me being fired for complaining the company was too PC or that trans inclusion was "hamfisted."

I wrote Shardra myself. And every trans person I've seen feedback from about the character has been ecstatic about her (and believe me, I am an egomaniac so I have been stalking a LOT of blogs and forums since her release to see what people say about her). The only people who've expressed any "concern" that she exists just to pander to the transgender community have been a teensy, tiny minority of straight males who show the same kind of "concern" that feminism hurts women and racial justice holds all black people back, and who bemoan the blight of "fake geek girls" ruin the community. Not people whose opinion on the subject seems especially informed.

Checking through the original Pastebin post for more context, it's all either false or so vague it doesn't matter. Nothing in this rant is worth responding to, especially if the rest of it is as accurate as his comments on Paizo.

[Crystal Frasier]

This post honestly has me fairly angry. This random anonymous jerk is trying to use me as a handpuppet to undermine my own efforts at inclusion.

[LazarX]

Drejk wrote:

Does post with such false claim on that pastebin thingie constitute a possible defamation?

Theorectically, yes, but it's not a good enough case that prosecuting it would do more good than harm.

[LazarX]

Crystal Frasier wrote:

This post honestly has me fairly angry. This random anonymous jerk is trying to use me as a handpuppet to undermine my own efforts at inclusion.

I've been reading up on GamerGate recently, you've become the latest victim of the pushback against gaming that doesn't specifically cater to the undersexed boys who up until now had the privileged lions share of attention from the gaming industry. They see the progressive wave of gaming as a decrease in the monopoly of attention they've enjoyed up to now.

They could and just might be doing far worse to you right now, if you were more publicly known.

[Crystal Frasier]

LazarX wrote:

They could and just might be doing far worse to you right now, if you were more publicly known.

I suppose I should be grateful fewer people care about the tabletop industry, but that still somehow feels like the coward's way out.

[The 8th Dwarf]

Errrgh why did I go there and read that.... It a very strange post, it looks like it has 100% troll DNA.

On a happier note - congrats Crystal on going freelance, I didn't know you had left, knowing your talent there should be a very long que forming to send you work.

[MeanDM]

I don't usually read the iconic back stories, but I read this one because of this thread. I thought it was awesome, Crystal!

[Terquem]

Let's just take a step back here for a moment and acknowledge some truths

Isn't anything writen about a Dwarf, technically, hamfisted, technically, I mean come on, have you seen their fists?

[Drejk]

Terquem wrote:

Let's just take a step back here for a moment and acknowledge some truths

Isn't anything writen about a Dwarf, technically, hamfisted, technically, I mean come on, have you seen their fists?

Say that to Ceirlian dwarf and you have a small feud organized against you...

[Drejk]

Mikaze wrote:

Shardra's backstory is about as hamfisted as a vegan salad.

Seriously pastebin user, how do you even.

Cabbage-fisted?

[TOZ]

Drejk wrote:

Bad TOZ! Bad!

I get that a lot.

[Terquem]

Drejk wrote:

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Drejk wrote:

EDIT: Vanishing posts... Vanishing posts...

i regret only that I have but one post to give for this thread.

Bad TOZ! Bad!

When did we decide we would start addressing each other so formally? using his full name and all

[Damon Griffin]

Crystal Frasier wrote:

This post honestly has me fairly angry. This random anonymous jerk is trying to use me as a handpuppet to undermine my own efforts at inclusion.

Let it go.* Jerks will always be with us, and this one has no credibility.

*also, do you want to build a snowman?

[Drejk]

TOZ wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Bad TOZ! Bad!

I get that a lot.

People slapping your nose with rolled newspaper?

[Gargamel the Evil Wizard]

Drejk wrote:

TOZ wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Bad TOZ! Bad!

I get that a lot.

People slapping your nose with rolled newspaper?

Wait, we're not supposed to use bricks to hit TOZ?

[The NPC]

Erik Mona wrote:

I wouldn't worry about it. Lies and hearsay are pretty common on this here internet.

Really?! My entire world view is shaken. Next thing you'll tell is that pro wrestling is fake.

[Drejk]

You really want to end like TOZ, don't you?

[Sara Marie]

Please do not speculate about people's gender identity, I understand you think you're just joking around, but its not cool.

[KestrelZ]

On a tangent, when will we have a write up of the iconic stats from APG, ACG, UM, and UC?

I hope someone is starting to work on the NPC codex 2 (though monster one sounds good as well).

[Drejk]

We really should get Sara Marie a rolled newspaper today...

[Rolled-Up Newspaper]

Yes?