Today’s RPGaDay 2021 prompt is “Welcome”; perhaps my professional life (I’m a lecturer for a hospitality degree at a university) predisposes me to think of this prompt in the sense of hostmanship.
To me, it’s crucial that people are welcoming of others in the tabletop RPG scene. Already, as I wrote yesterday, tabletop RPGs are quite intimate in the sense that it takes vulnerability to sit together and act out scenes. To allow this, the space has to be welcoming and open, so that people may feel comfortable enough to empathize with the rest of the group. While a lot of RPGs may put the onus of something like this on the host of the game, I think that it’s a responsiblity that’s shared among the group as a whole.
On a larger scale as well, though, I’m of the opinion that RPG players should be welcoming of others in their space as well. Much like any other group, RPG communities can fall prey to gatekeeping. People feel that games should be played this way or that, or that certain games are good and others are terrible (rather than that being their personal opinions), and so on. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re having fun in your game then good on you! RPGs are about new experiences, so a sense of welcoming and openness should pervade the space.