I was a busy bee this past weekend, and created an official Disorganization XIII Flickr page! (LOOK AT IT. GO.) There’s over a thousand photos there of our adventures at cons since 2008.  If you were a cosplayer, feel free to go and tag yourself or something, because while I’m driven enough to download all the pics and then upload them to Flickr, I am not driven enough to go through every one and caption them yet.

OH NOES IT’S LAMPSHADE HEAD (All this and more, kids, when you visit our Flickr page.)

Why? Well, bad memories. Without getting too sappy, I have nearly lost friends due to homophobic violence. I have fought for homosexual rights, getting beaten up for my points of view, and the queer natures of myself and my friends. Some of my best friends are gay, and in fact my co-panelists are gay as well. I cannot truthfully say “I am a homosexual” because I am not, and though I am queer in other ways, I cannot assume to know what it is like to actually be gay and to deal with all that discrimination. However, I have dedicated my life to fighting for equality, even if I tell a few dick jokes along the way.

Why am I saying this? Well, ever since we started Disorganization XIII, there have been people who don’t agree with what we do. We flat out decided that we wouldn’t do panels like other panelists do. We wouldn’t do lectures that drone on and one. We would make our panels highly interactive. We would punctuate every important point with a joke if we could. First and foremost we wanted to entertain, because honestly, that is what most people go to an anime or videogame convention for, to be entertained. If we could impart some wisdom on our fans along the way, then that is just bonus for us.

Aside from that, we also swore to never censor ourselves. This, combined with our admitted tendency to do panels that are edgy, has led us to frequently reference queer culture in our panels. We talk about the motivations behind slash pairings in Fanfiction: From Mary Sue to Shakespeare. We talk about the tendency to make “not quite gay” characters in our RPG panel, and how it is rare for anyone to write a wholly openly gay character. We talked about the duality of Sora’s relationship with Riku and Sora’s relationship with Kairi in our Kingdom Hearts panel, as well as Axel’s relationship with Roxas and how this was complicated with Xion, and how either of these can be considered “queer” depending on how far you wish to stretch it. … and of course we make gay jokes in Spoiler.

However, this has all naturally caused a bit of a problem… and believe it or not it’s not the gay jokes that are causing the problem. We are prepared for that … honestly we are! We are TRYING to insult you in Spoiler: The Panel and somehow that is the ONLY panel people haven’t complained about!

For two years now, two separate people have called our panels homophobic. The first was a Kingdom Hearts panel, and the second was our RPG discussion panel. Both of these individuals posted and re-posted their opinions about our homophobic behavior on the internet, quoting us as saying things that were, quite frankly not true and even more frankly not even said in the first place.

It seems as if these individuals didn’t actually listen to our panels to begin with. They certainly didn’t listen to Rob’s brave tendency to admit his own homosexuality in front of a crowd. They certainly didn’t listen to any of our own experiences in helping the gay community. They certainly also didn’t listen to our disclaimer that said if you were overly sensitive about discussing topics such as, oh I don’t know, gay stuff, to be fucking blunt, that you shouldn’t be in the panel in the first place.

Quite frankly, it seems as if both of these individuals stretched our words to serve their purposes, simply because they didn’t like us! One individual took our analysis of Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4 and said we called him nothing but a “flaming homosexual.” I went over our panel from that NYAF! We said nothing of the sort! We talked about how brave it was to write a character that has to deal with queer issues, and how a large part of his character revolves around coming to terms with his own feelings. We were even accused of calling characters “faggots” and “homos” and get this, upon review, not once, NOT ONCE, did we ever use the words “faggot” or “homo” in the panel. In fact, we never used ANY slang word for homosexual in ANY derogatory fashion. Later, he criticized us for saying Final Fantasy 12 was a bad game and frankly, going back over the panel, we didn’t even say that. Kirk and Jay both said that they thought it was a great game! In fact, while we posited that there were several flaws with the game, all of us played it to completion, and many of us enjoyed doing so.

The other individual bashed us about being anti-gay in our KH panel, and while we do admit we had a lot of gay jokes in that panel, we also addressed the upcoming sequels, talked about Nomura interviews, and much much more. We have to respect this one particular critic, because quite frankly he ALSO does panels and anyone who has the balls to step up and do panels is OK in our book, but his blog almost appeared as if he was begging for us to get in a fight with him. When we did three panels in a row at last years NYAF, he was astounded we didn’t try to start something with him up on stage. Honestly, we didn’t even know who he was! He made a statement about people being disgusted that we were going to Otakon, but we filled house at Otakon! It later turned out that these “people” involved only his close friend that he went to Otakon with. So he too was exaggerating things to serve his own purposes, and we weren’t even sure we knew what those purposes are!

A couple theories have been kicked around. Some of us think that this is all sensationalism. That perhaps hating on popular panelists will get more publicity than liking them. One of our critics did a panel on best and worst games of all time, and while he named Tetris as the best game of all time (and many of us are with you on that one), he named the worst game of all time as Final Fantasy 7, which… is just ludicrously insane, and quite biased against RPGs. Fuck, we even think Final Fantasy 7 is over-hyped, but … the worst game ever? Has this guy ever played ET for the Atari 2600? Has he ever played Superman 64? Has he ever played Desert Truck!?!? We couldn’t fathom him saying that for any reason other than to get a rise out of the audience, and perhaps he was hating on us for the same reason.

Now, just like anyone else in the convention scene, we are prepared for our lumps. Not everyone has to like us, and quite frankly we know a LOT of people will dislike us. However, there is a big difference between saying we suck and saying that we are a bunch of raving homophobes. In fact, it was even claimed that we would be in support of the Matthew Shepard beatings. This is NOT cool.

You see, even though the internet loves to shield us all with anonymity, there are very real repercussions to publishing your words. We at Disorganization XIII have never been ashamed of what we do and so we do not hide our real names at conventions. However, once we were accused of being homophobes with our real names attached to the article, several of our members started run in to trouble at their jobs, being questioned by their bosses and superiors about the allegations. Now, this was cleared up by simply showing the actual footage from the events and question, and through support from the staff and executive boards of the conventions we perform at, but it’s still fucking frightening. If we weren’t as responsible as we are with our record keeping and disclaimers, a random blog post like that could have cost innocent hard-working people their job, and that is just not right.

What could we have possibly done about this? We weren’t even going to mention this on our site until we started having to deal with real world consequences once more. We could have started a flame war, but that never accomplishes anything. We could have openly called out our attackers, but that would have just given them more attention. Heck, after we sought out some legal counsel, it even turned out that we had a pretty good case for suing for libel, but getting the law involved would be massively dick of us, and a long trial is not only expensive, it is potentially life ruining for either party involved. If we won, the best we could do is ruin some poor schmuck’s life who probably thought he was posting something totally innocent to an internet blog, much as we thought our panels were totally innocent as well. That wouldn’t make us better, in fact it would make us bigger dicks than we could possibly imagine.

The fact of the matter is, we can’t keep people from making defamatory or malicious comments about us, and since we wear the badges of “professional geek” proudly on our chest, we won’t stop using our real names too. We have repeatedly offered to have a public debate about the topic with our critics at a convention but both have turned us down. I don’t blame them, having the debate probably would prove nothing other than who is better at working a crowd, and since we already have the full support of several anime conventions and plenty of fans, a debate is pretty much a losing proposition.

So our only recourse is to just not be intimidated. Rob said it best after the first allegation when he said this was incredibly insulting to him. As a gay man, he found the fact that the anime community allowed him to talk about homosexual topics to be an inspiration. He, like myself, felt that we were being labeled homophobes simply because we had a panel that had the word “gay” in it. He was not going to be silenced about his own sexuality because other people felt uncomfortable about it. That is more homophobic than anything we could ever say.

If you search for Disorganization XIII on the internet, you can still find these articles, and whenever we Google ourselves … yes we are that vain … it is always depressing to see the amount of websites these articles have wormed their way on to. They will always be a stain on our convention record and that stain won’t come out. Lest their authors have a change of heart, we will always have to deal with the consequences including whatever drama may happen at work, increased difficulty in finding new jobs if our prospective employer sees those articles, and general animosity toward us by people who do not understand us and who have never even seen our panels in the first place.

So in response, we will handle this in the Disorganization XIII way. So, Rob himself has decided to create a new panel for our lineup this year, entitled “This Panel Is Gay”. The panel will be a serious discussion about the queer community in anime, manga, videogames, and geek culture. If you want to talk gay, let’s talk gay. I really want to hear you guys call a whole panel of gay and queer individuals homophobic for a third time. I really do.

I will unfortunately not be joining this panel, because quite frankly, I admit, I am scared. I have been called a homophobe and have had to deal with the consequences one too many times for my liking. I have an immense amount of respect for Rob, for being strong where I cannot be.

So, if you really want to know what it’s like being queer in the geek community, then check out our panel. I assure you it will be more than just another bunch of dick jokes.

… and remember. Words always have consequences, so think before you go accusing people of being bigots. Honestly, calling someone a fucking asshole is way more cathartic and has less real world repercussions anyway.

Don’t be a fucking asshole.

Until next time. Stay way past cool loyal fans. We will see you on the con circuit.

Angelo M. D’Argenio
Proud President of Disorganization XIII

So JohnCon, over at Johns Hopkins University was nice enough to invite us over to perform for them in our usual screwed up way. So, through the goodness of our hearts (and not at all due to the fact that they are paying us a nice speaking fee) we will be performing both Spoiler: The Panel 3, and Fanfiction: From Mary Sue to Shakespeare at the convention.

Not only that but the convention doubles as a gaming convention of all varieties. So beyond Anime being played in what I am assured is a humongous theater, there will also be videogames played in, what I am assured is a humongous theater (BlazBlue FTW!) Videogames played on a theater screen? Kickass!

Of course when we say gaming we also mean roleplaying, card gaming, and other tabletop affairs of which we are assured there are a shit-ton of. In fact, we were assured this so much that we, ourselves will be running games there! So aside from our panels, be on the lookout for Disorganization XIII productions of Toon, Don’t Rest Your Head, and the Infinity Games Homebrew Production of Broken Sky. Come on, you know you want us to GM for you. You certainly won’t be eaten by a grue!

But perhaps the coolest thing about this convention is that it runs 24/7 (well, 24/3 considering its just one weekend). Yes, all day and all night its non stop anime, gaming, and other cool shit. That’s phenomenal. That’s way more geekery than even some of the big conventions can brag about.

JohnCon is going down the weekend of April 16th-18th. They are expecting a big turnout guys, so let’s give it to them. Check out these sites for more info.

Baltimore Gamer

*sigh* Some day people will learn how to list our panels right.

SPOILER AND FAN-FICTION ARE TWO SEPARATE PANELS CON-STAFF!!!

Geez…

What is a pro gamer?

A pro gamer is…
1. Someone who enjoys a particular game enough to want to be good at it.
2. Someone who uses every game they play as an excuse to learn more and increase their skills.
3. Someone who always plays their hardest, just to see how far they can push themselves.
4. Someone who treats the games they play as a sport, complete with all the rules of good sportsmanship and polite competition.
5. Someone who wants to share their gaming passion with others, especially their friends and other likeminded individuals.

On the flip side, a casual gamer is…
1. Someone who doesn’t particularly care about being good at a game, even if they enjoy it.
2. Someone who only looks for fun and gratification without asking why the games they play are fun or gratifying.
3. Someone who plays only hard enough so that they don’t have to spend any sort of effort.
4. Someone who treats the games they play as a random distraction, rather than a forum for skill and competition.
5. Someone who is totally willing to shun their friends who are better than them, to the extent of not playing games with them at all, simply due to a gap in skill.

Well when you look at it that way it sure seems like the pro gamer, has the better values doesn’t it. That’s not necessarily true though. You can spin anyone’s likes and dislikes into something that can be either loved or hated. In fact, it is the negative spin on the pro gaming point of view that labeled pro gamers as assholes in the first place. In short, these lists, and the entirety of my article, pretty much mean nothing. It is not better to be a pro gamer or a casual gamer. Games will always mean different things to different people.

There are some pro gamers that are real assholes out there. They will smack talk you, even if you are just a casual observer, look down on you if you make any sort of mistake, and generally act like pretentious assholes when all you are trying to do is have fun, but these guys are just dicks and dicks exist in any sort of social group. Most pro gamers through, are not trying to make you feel bad when they stomp you in your favorite game, they are just trying to play the best they can. Before you go spitting at a pro’s shoes the next time you are in an arcade, imagine if you were in them, and people became made at you, just because you were good at something.

Pro and casual gamers probably won’t ever find a middle ground that will allow both to exist in harmony, but there is hope. Pro gamers of the world, there is one role that you are best suited for, the role of the teacher. There are many people out there that are willing to hear your tips, tricks, and strategies, so that they might become better and one day challenge you. Have patience, and teach them without looking down on them and you might find your gaming circle increasing in size. Consequently, casual gamers, you also would fit well in the role of the student. Don’t scoff at people who try to give you advice. Don’t get frustrated and scream about how “the move isn’t working” or “the controller is broken.” When a pro is trying to teach you something, it is not because he is showing off, it is because he finds some joy in making another gamer better.

In conclusion, the reason why pro gamers are assholes, is because we think they are assholes. Get good enough, and you’ll end up being the asshole too. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to the arcade to teach some kids how to play Tager in BlazBlue Continuum Shift. Go Go Gadget Finger!!!

When I was formulating this article, I postulated my “pickup basketball game” analogy to one of my casual gaming friends. For those of you who don’t remember part two, the analogy was “you don’t go to a pickup basketball game and then act surprised when there are basketball players who are better than you there. Everyone is there to play basketball and everyone has trained long and hard to do so. If you aren’t good enough, that is because you haven’t been training hard enough.” I made the analogy because I wanted to find a clever way of saying you can’t expect to always be the best without practice. Essentially, if you partake in a game that by its very nature is competitive, like a fighting game, then you should expect people to play to win, rather than be content with randomly mashing buttons.

Well the rather expected response from my casual gaming friend was “I’m not at a pickup basketball game.” Now, this is about the time I would normally throw my hands up in the air and shout “You missed the whole point of the analogy!!!” followed by smacking my casual gaming friend in the face with a fish, but he actually has a good point. He isn’t at a pickup basketball game. He is at home, in his living room, with a very small and select group of friends. A better analogy would be, say, backyard basketball, where a few friends play a simple game of horse around a stand up hoop. You could reasonably assume that everyone in your friendly little backyard game is around your skill level, most notably because you probably wouldn’t invite the semi-pros from the neighborhood park pickup games to your house.

This got me thinking. If the random splatter of friends sitting down to some games of BlazBlue is not the equivalent of a pickup game, what is? The answer? The arcade. An arcade is filled with a bunch of like-minded gamers who are willing to actually spend money on the prospect that they are better than the other gamers around them. It’s all cutting room floor at the arcade. If you lose a game, you lose your hard earned money. Gamers are basically forced to be competitive or be poor, which, is pretty much exactly what pro gamers are looking for.

So when my casual gamer friends tell me to fuck off and go to the arcades if I am looking for the hardcore gaming experience, they actually have a point. There is only one problem though. Arcades are rapidly failing. How many of you have an arcade nearby that has any sort of modern competitive games. Heck, I live in Jersey, and I’ll be lucky if I see anything other than skeeball or crane games in my arcades. I have to go to New York to find even one BlazBlue cabinet. The fact of the matter is, I can’t go to arcades to get my competitive gaming fix because they don’t exist anymore.

There are lots of reasons why arcades are failing. Inflation has caused arcade games to go up from 25 cents a pop to a dollar or more for recent releases, which has discouraged many people from bothering. It is not only cheaper in the long run to pick up a console version and an arcade stick, it is also more accessible and carries less of a penalty for losing when you are still learning the game. Add to this the fact that home console ports of games generally feature a plethora of new modes, stages, characters, and other extras that make arcade ports basically null and void. The home version of Tatsunoko VS Capcom for example, features 8 new characters that you simply can’t play in the arcade. Arcade ports don’t benefit from balance patches, nor do they allow for online play. They don’t allow players to enter training mode, or most of the time any other mode other than the appropriately named arcade mode. They are, for all purposes, worse than home console ports, and even if you stay in and beat every challenger, when the day is done you will have still lost the dollar you spent to play the game in the first place.

Not only that, but arcades are primarily a social gathering and gamers are getting less social by the day. The internet allows us to find suitable opponents all over the world without leaving our living room. Not only that, but we can turn off the sound on internet opponents if they are annoying, something you can’t do in real life. Gamers are also getting poorer by the day. With the economy steadily tanking, losing a dollar here or there due to bad play is just not an option. In short, as much as it would be cool to have a place to hang out and game on a regular basis, it just isn’t economically feasible.

So pro gamers have basically been driven out of their natural habitat and have stepped into the realm of the casual gamer: the living room. It’s the only place we can go, and there we meet the inevitable resistance of the casual gamer. The sad truth of the matter is, pro gamers don’t have a place that naturally accepts their competitive nature, and have to work extra hard to find a playgroup that wants the same thing.

So no arcades means less competitive gaming and more casual gaming. Does this mean that the world of videogames is fated to get more and more casual as we push on toward the future? Has the noble pro truly lost his place in the world? What does it all mean?

Well stay tuned for the conclusion, where I put all of my rants together and figure out just what this has taught us all.

I wanted to respond to this, but the gaming community was all over it like white on rice.

So here, check it out, both video and response right here at this link.

http://trueslant.com/tassi/2010/02/16/why-my-life-filled-with-video-games-is-not-a-waste/