offending your audience

I'd say you should draw the line when it has bigoted/racist things in the game. Smallworld has dwarves, so what? Dwarves are short. That'd be like saying Operation is a bad game because it depicts a sick person and that's just mean. Besides the word Small in the name Smallworld talks more about how the world is small and there's not enough room. Ticket to Ride wouldn't offend people afraid of trains, it'd scare them. Magic the Gathering makes some sense but then again, there are people that have said Pokemon and My Little Pony are of the Devil and will corrupt your children, training them in ways to control demons. (I'm not making that stuff up)

When a game begins to falsely depict a group of people, this is wrong. If I made a game that made it painfully obvious that the designer thinks that all Muslims are suicide bombers and terrorists, that is over the line. That doesn't mean you can't have a game about terrorists, but that you mustn't try to portray all arabs/muslims as extremist terrorists.

If I made a game about witches, I wouldn't worry mainly because in modern culture, they are the bad guys. Some movies and shows are starting to reverse that view. coughharry pottercough cough

In summary, as long as you don't base a game off of a real group of people, make it obvious who that group of people are, and then misrepresent them or insult them, you're ok.

The only way to avoid offending anyone is to do nothing at all. Imagined slights are everywhere in the days of rampant egalitarianism. (Political correctness often amounts to "everyone must be the same".)

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. --Elbert Hubbard

The more extremes of PC happen with people who don't really understand the group they think they are defending, which often spirals into some surreal oneupsmanship. Almost all of my pagan friends enjoy the "bad witch" vibe, particularly as they truly distinguish themselves as wiccans rather than witches, and see morality as an individual responsibility (but I know more than one of them regularly tie wicked wishes to their yule logs.)

Where is the heartland? I grew up in southern Illinois where I met most of my pagan friends (largely at science fiction conventions, but also in college, sci fi clubs, and various gaming groups.) As a non-practicing heathen we get along well, and I tend to gravitate towards folks wearing a pentagram.

I grew up in Michigan and guess I am sheltered because I have never met anyone of that demographic. Anyway, I highly doubt Witchhunts will dredge up any inkling of offense from anyone, especially with every other offensive theme out there.

I didn't see any backlash at all for Witch Hunt last year.

How about KEEPING with that original title: "Midnight Inquisition"!

There is NO BGG game with this PLUS the domain name is available at $9.99/yr from GoDaddy (www.midnightinquisition.com)

Apparently, there was recently a bombing in a boston marathon. And a girl decided to dress up as a survivor of the marathon for halloween, the reception was so bad that she even received death threats and lost her job. But it's probably the bomber that should have received the death threaths first.

Anyways, I think time is the issue. If you were to make a game about the planning of september 11 it at most 1 year after the event, people would have been offended, but if you were to release the same game today, people would less be likely to be offended.

Wicca witch is not something actual, so I don't think it would be that offensive. If a group of wicca witch made a huge human sacrifice and you were to made a game about that, you might offend people because it's an hot subject.

Another original title would be: "One Minute to Midnight"!

The idea being that at 00:00 (12 Midnight) is the witching hour... And that's when the witches come out to *play*! ;)

So the title is trying to add tension that players only have a little bit of time left before the witching hour! :)

Note: Again no BGG game entry for this title!

Real witches aren't "evil" any more than real Christians are "good"; these are both myths, and they are advanced and supported by the same people. Me? I'm tired of media--including game designers--portraying a false and hateful image of witches, especially when the truth is self-evidently the opposite.