To boycott or not

As a dude who is ready at any moment to do what little I can to economically retaliate against bigots, I'm pretty easy to talk into joining a boycott. I'll admit, however, that very often the considerations that come into play are more nuanced than what may seem to be the case at first. I found this very interesting and thoughtful article by Christian Nutt at Gamasutra in which he discusses his thoughts on whether or not to abstain from buying the game Shadow Complex because it is based on a premise by Orson Scott Card who has chosen to be a freakily rabid crusader against equal rights under the law for gays. (The article's writer, by the way, is a gay guy who was really interested in the game--go over there and read it. It's a very intelligent piece).

I'm not sure where I would come down on it myself. I do not play video games, but if I did and if I were really interested in Shadow Complex, I might play it anyway since whatever royalties Card is getting from that game are certainly not by themselves the funding linchpin of any kind of whacko anti-gay campaign. On the other hand, I am a reader of fiction. This game is based on the milieu of Card's novel Empire which is absolutely the single worst book I have read during this decade. So...hmm...I guess I might boycott it on those grounds then. Which would make my participation in the boycott no real sacrifice at all, rather like my participation during the 1990s in boycotts of the Wendy's fast-food chain and Domino's pizza (I hate the food from those places anyway). "I don't know about the game," I'd say to my imaginary gamer friends, "but have you read the book? Bleccchhh!"

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