After voicing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, renowned board game designer, Eric Lang, has had his Twitter account suspended due to unknown reasons. Lang claims he had been the victim of a targeted harassment campaign, and that his suspension likely stems from using a chain-blocking program to halt the personal attacks.
Lang has had a storied career in tabletop game design, working with developers such as Fantasy Flight and WizKids, where he has adapted high profile properties such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones into board and card games. He currently serves as the Game Director for CMON. Notably, he is also one of the few prominent members of the tabletop design community to voice his wholehearted support for the Black Lives Matter movement; a topic that has been fraught for the gaming industry as a whole.
Various video game publishers and developers like Square, Valve, Activision have come forward to voice their support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and numerous gamers have joined in with surprising forms of activism. But many Twitter users have noted that the board game industry and associated design community have been conspicuously silent on the issue.
The largest sea change to come out of the tabletop space to date is Wizards of the Coast's recent announcement that it will be radically reassessing the way race and diversity are presented in Dungeons & Dragons.
Known for popular titles such as Blood Rage, Rising Sun, Arcadia Quest, and more, Lang said that he became the target of a "scumbag serial harasser," but refused to name his assailant to deny them free publicity. Despite this omission, Lang's claims seem extremely plausible.
Lang has a long track record of speaking out against bigotry, sexism, and social injustice, originally coming under fire for his outspoken criticism of the Gamergate movement, which has a history of being notoriously violent and viciously hostile toward detractors.
At time of writing, Twitter has not responded to Lang's inquiries as to why his account was suspended, nor have they issued a statement on the subject.
Source: Kotaku