Quidditch, (the game played by people based on Rowling’s nonsensical ruleset) is changing it’s official name within the main US leagues that play it due to JK Rowling’s “bigotry”. I don’t know what the SDMB will make of this, (although I can guess.) To me, this is ridiculous though.
Well the game itself is ridiculous. So changing the name isn’t really any more ridiculous.
They take themselves so seriously.
I’m sure the league’s expansion was limited by WB’s trademark, and not the fact that you run around with a broom in your crotch.
Yeah, trying to recreate Quidditch within the constraints of the Muggle world just looks silly, but I have to admit it would be an awesome idea for a VR game. Which it looks like there is already a proof-of-concept version out, but like you said, this one is also hamstrung by trademark issues with Warner Bros. We can only hope that a first-party video game studio owned by WB takes up the mantle sometime in the future.
I had never read any of the Harry Potter books or seen the movies until a month ago, when my wife and I binge watched all of them in a row.
Quidditch is a dumb game. Catching the snitch to win the game is completely divorced from putting the quaffle in the hoop. By the third movie, I was done with quidditch, and moaned aloud whenever it was shoehorned into the plot. It is by far the weakest writing in the franchise.
I was interested in how they adapt this to real life. Apparently the snitch is just attached to a neutral and you have to grab it like in flag football. The other thing is that the snitch is only worth 30 points instead of 150, which is an admission that it’s broken as written in the books.
What is there to say? It makes sense to me. I’ve pointed out before that the people who love Harry Potter are the exact demographic that is going in on trans rights. They grew up at the right time, and they’re more likely to lean liberal than conservative. Inclusiveness has always been preached at any gathering of HP fans that I know of.
Those who actually play a sport created by the books, even though it may make them look silly, are probably even less conservative. Plus the only places that tended to have enough people to play were colleges, which also will lean that direction.
It makes perfect sense that they are part of the movement of people who have decided to try and keep what they love about the series, but leave JK Rowling out of it. They don’t even have to worry about the trans athlete issue since they don’t have separate men and women’s leagues. They pride themselves in being inclusive more than they do about being highly skilled athletes. It’s more like an intramural league.
I’ve no opinion on the name change, but I can’t help but feel that if I were JK Rowling, and I found out I’d been disowned by people who run around with broomsticks between their legs playing a fake game I’d made up for 12 year old wizards, my immediate reaction would’ve been one of immense relief!
As long as they don’t try to change the name to Squamish, it’s okay with me.
I still say that quidditch only seems sillier than Muggle sports because it has all of the weirdnesses. There is no single aspect of quidditch that is so weird that one can’t find Muggle sports that are weirder.
I think that if someone has a problem with what JK Rowling says, then you stop with your silly quidditch matches. You don’t say “Oh, I have to make a stand, but not a stand that actually impacts my life, you know? That’s hardcore, ha ha. Let’s just change the name and keep on playing the game JK Rowling created.”
Fucking weak.
Do you feel the same way about Wizards of the Coast distancing itself from Gary Gygax?
I don’t know about that. But the name Gary Gygax rings a bell. Early 80’s something? Author?
Dungeons & Dragons
Put me down as another vote for “Instead of changing the name maybe just stop playing it altogether.” Yeah, Harry Potter was a big cultural deal but I promise there are other books to read and other sports to play.
Huttball!
(Thanks for filling in the blank!)
Did he do something weird? I seriously don’t know. But playing quidditch by a different name is one weak sauce protest against JK Rowling.
Gygax has had a number of controversies, but I think the main one is the alleged misogyny both from early D&D material written by Gygax, and from comments he made during interviews. For example:
The problem isn’t how weird it is. The problem is the scoring system is broken.
Distancing themselves from transphobia make sense though. So would fixing the game.
OK, am I a fogey if I say that unless you have a flying broom, you’re not even playing fucking quidditch anyway?