Ultimately locks are just suggestions. If someone is determined to get in, they will.

Release an incomplete game, in an unplayable state? Best selling game your studio has ever made. Feel it helps to include perspectives, from a diverse group of people, in your product creation? Beg for forgiveness.

Yeah, he even quoted Gary Gygax’s statement about wanting women to stay away from DnD and war-games, in that e-mail. It was wild shit, and certain lines from that e-mail became running jokes at our game sessions.

20 years ago, our DM invited a guy he knew at work. Dude was new in town, moved there for school, and they got to talking about DnD. After a few months, seemed like a nice, reasonable, guy with compatible interests. Dude was immediately weird once he showed up. After a few games he stopped showing up, much to the relief of the group.

Few months later DM said the guy came to him, angry, that he didn’t tell him that half the party were “feeeemales”. This was before the archetype of an incel/neckbeard was a thing. So, he was just an awkward loser. Seems he felt like DnD was not something for “feeeemales”. We were just glad he came off as kinda cold, maybe a little hostile, for the couple games he showed up for. That could have been a much worse situation, but he showed his ass quickly, in private. DM said the guy stopped talking to him after he told him that if he felt that way, he wasn’t welcome. Then, at the end of the school year, he left DM an e-mail just going on an unhinged incel rant.

Edit: holy shit, this was 25 years ago now. gonna go not think about this now.

Are the protagonist characters men, or political?