The John Wick

I’ve been a professional in the game design business for nearly ten years. In that time:

• I’ve had my life threatened by a “ninja” who felt I violated his religion.
• I’ve been called a plaigerist.
• I’ve been accused of giving my wife co-writing credit because she was my wife.
• I’ve been accused of giving other women writing credits because they let me sleep with them.
• I’ve been sent hate mail and death threats.
• I’ve been brutally parodied (and not in the complimentary “Weird Al” way).
• I’ve been accused of plaigerism (did I mention that already?).
• I’ve been threatened with violence.
• I’ve had fans tell me my wife/girlfriend was cheating on me.
• I’ve been accused of polygamy.
• I’ve been accused of misogyny.
• I’ve had credit taken for things I wrote.
• I’ve been promised payment that never arrived.
• I’ve been called an “abomination” because I have gay and lesbian friends (love the sinner, right?).
• I’ve been cheated, lied to, and taken advantage of by people who told me they were my friends.
• When “fans” feel it’s perfectly all right to hurtle nasty four-lettered epithets at me, and I reply in the same way, they call me “unprofessional” and “hateful.”
• Had an ex-friend/co-worker throw something at me at a con based on a rumor he heard but never bothered to ask anyone else about — including me.
• I got sent a tailored virus to specifically target documents for Orkworld.
• I got accused of making up the above story because I wasn’t actually working on the game (despite the fact it came out on time).
• I got mail from former co-workers asking me if the rumors the company itself was spreading were true (about plaigerism, stealing from the company, stealing credit, abusive language, and other reprehensible behavior).

• And, on top of all of that, someone put a post up on www.rpg.net that I was killed in a car accident — posted it as my wife. Something she saw as “metaphysical assassination”: if enough people believe it, it becomes true. I could say, “it terrified her,” but those words do not convey the horror she felt that someone would be so hateful to do such a thing.

I’ve dealt with all of this and more.

But I’ve never — and I mean never — even once contemplated throwing a punch at someone who pays me money for doing what I love. Not once. Not even if they called it the most miserable piece of shit ever written and wiped their ass with it and sent me back the soiled pages.

Ban them. Ban them all FOR LIFE.