JR Honeycutt Banned From BGG.CON 2019

If they can stop paying him royalties they can remove his name from future printings I bet. That said, it all depends on what was in his contract; if allowed it means he had a pretty shitty contract unless there was some sort of morals clause, which I'd be surprised at.

Vysetron wrote:

charlest wrote: Here's my question - what do we do about his games? When I play Fireball Island with my daughter am I going to think about this? What about Unmatched which I have ready to go and need to review? Restoration said he's not receiving royalties from these games but is that enough?

I think the Restoration case is fine. There's not a single game in their catalog that was only designed by one person, and if he's not profiting from continued sales I feel no guilt.

As far as work he'll actually profit from, leave it. It's not like anyone's buying Machi Koro Legacy anyway.

I'm pretty sure I read that Rob Daviau was going to donate his royalties from sales of MK Legacy to an appropriate charity/organisation. Going off memory - you'd have to check the tweets - it sorta looked like most of the games Honeycutt wasn't getting anything, but maybe this one he was.

Michael Barnes wrote: I would definitely like to see his name removed from all future printings, if they are legally able to do so.

Let's render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's. Creative workers deserve credit for their work, even if they are bad people or abusive. I believe accreditation to be a laboral right and those rights do not go away for commiting a crime.

I must admit I'm very uneasy with this whole topic. I do not support paralegal justice and do not think public statements by boardgme companies and content creators are a proper way of handling crimes. Because we are talking about crimes here: Sexual abuse, rape and even attempted murder. This is way beyond what boardgame personalities can or should handle.

The fact that victims of crimes of such gravity have to resort to posting on Medium or Twitter reflects a broken judicial system. We shouldn't be here talking about what's the proper way to handle this. In a better world, the people discussing the matter would be judges, juries and lawers and not gamers posting online.

I specially don't believe for-profit corporations should be part of that discussion. I believe them to be inherently amoral organizations and can not and should not act as moral arbiters. If a wider response is needed, it should come from goverments, not toy makers or Reddit.

I know this is easier said than done. And there's a very large cultural gap in play between the Americans reading about this topic and a Spaniard like me. For me this is a criminal matter and private companies weighting on it in any way would be a massive overreach of their authority.

Ultimately, I just think one ought to minimize harm on the parties involved. And I'm not sure this way of handling the issue is the most conductive way to do so. I don't know all the answers, but I do believe in that principle and I'll always be unhappy at not being able to handle this better.

Ethical board game buying ended with Made In China.

Anecdotally, I don't think anyone needs to worry about JR getting fat royalty checks. I don't think very many people making games are getting paid well for it.

Or maybe it's just me.

ubarose wrote: Here is a more complete report which might possibly clear up some things, especially for people who aren't familiar with all the players.

Abuse Allegations Lead Board Game Industry To Distance Itself From Prolific Designer (Fandomentals)

I think that article has its heart in the right place, but failing to contact the accussed is a serious ethical breach. I think it's an example of how the industry is falling short of its obligations. Unethical reporting helps no one.

I don't want to derail this conversation and I derive no joy in being rigid. I just think I would be a massive hypocrite if I kept ranting about how game critics get cozy with publishers and did not comment on a far more serious ethical breach. I just hope this is in line with the discussion you wanted to have on the industry's response and is not intrusive.

I wouldn't worry, you're pretty far from being out of line from my perspective.

You aren't off base, Eric. Victoria already called out one news story on Twitter for never reaching out to her. It might have been this one actually, but I don't think so.

Don't worry, I've got a special place for him down here. (Points at crotch)

I have no idea who this douche is but he sounds like a piece of shit, and his name sounds like H.R. Pufnstuf.

ubarose wrote:

Erik Twice wrote: I think that article has its heart in the right place, but failing to contact the accussed is a serious ethical breach.

They probably should have made a note of the fact that Honeycutt has not been responding to requests for comment. He's pretty much been laying low.

As he should. He has lost control of the narrative and nothing he can say will validate his actions. He made a statement and that is probably sufficient information to make a superficial summary of the situation this early on.

I'm not sure there is much "ethics" going on here. This type of accusation is almost impossible to take to court and there isnt really a robust professional organization involved (like a state medical board for example)so the court of public opinion is about the only venue for it. Ms. Mann has sympathy in her favor currently but is it important to bear in mind that in a few years the story could devolve into "she slept with a man she KNEW was married, started an affair with him, went to work for him and gained traction within the industry, and then hashed out their private issues in public after they broke up and she had no more use for him."

JR knows he has no future in this industry right now, his only hope would be redemption though time, forgiveness, and a clear demonstration of change which I doubt he will do. At best he may become a silent and invisible contributor to games if he has much talent for it (and his ego can tolerate it) and folks allow it.

Be interesting if this opens Weinstein level floodgates of accusations against other prominent board game members. I'd like to think our industry doesnt attract those types but unfortunately I'm sure they are out there.

jason10mm wrote: Ms. Mann has sympathy in her favor currently but is it important to bear in mind that in a few years the story could devolve into "she slept with a man she KNEW was married, started an affair with him, went to work for him and gained traction within the industry, and then hashed out their private issues in public after they broke up and she had no more use for him."

So you think the truth will come out that he's the real victim of her master plan to manipulate him in order to destroy his marriage (he chose to cheat), ruin his reputation (he confessed) and count on people taking her side (surprised everyone else) all to further her career in the board game industry? Dude, take a few hours for some introspection about your feelings towards women. Because your focus is clearly on her being a villain while completely ignoring all the shit he did.

Not what in saying at all. But just think about how this story would have been received 10 years ago, hell, maybe even 2 years or less ago. We may be in a unique conjunction of social media, #metoo awareness, and cancel culture (for lack of a better term for it) that permits this outcome.

Hasn't always been this way and it may not stay that way. Up to us to set up systems to ensure that predators cant infiltrate our space AGAIN if/when people move on to some other cause or issue and this particular thing gets forgotten.

Consider Roman Polanski. People forget/overlook/ignore this stuff and it doesnt take much to discredit Ms. Mann voice in this if folks choose to.