On May 19, BoardGameGeek founder Scott Alden took to his own forum to announce Chad Krizan had been let go from his position as advertising manager. Alden says Krizan “responded inappropriately in a business email to a designer”. More specifically, Krizan rejected an ad campaign for the board game Possess Me, Satan, citing personal experience with “demonic oppression” as a reason.
A member of publisher Falling Whale Games (as confirmed by a Gametrodon journalist) shared screenshots of alleged emails from Krizan to Reddit. The publisher checked in to see if its ad campaign would run before crowdfunding for the game began on May 19, but Krizan replied, “I just can’t in good conscience approve this one”.
“As a follower of Jesus, I routinely help people suffering from demonic oppression, and more occasionally, possession”, Krizan reportedly writes. “It’s absolutely devastating the damage [Satan] does to peoples’ lives.”
“Given what I’ve seen first-hand, the thought of displaying this subject matter makes me sick to my stomach”, the email continues. “IMO, the responsible thing to do would be to pull the entire project, as there are way more people that suffer with this than you could possibly imagine”.
Possess Me, Satan is a new social deduction game where one player, through the hand of the devil, has been possessed by a killer ghost. At time of writing, it’s raised almost $17,000 on Gamefound.
Falling Whale replied, asking Krizan if the rejection “based on religion” was a company-wide or personal decision. Krizan allegedly responded “it’s not over religion, but reality”. “It’s the same reason I would say a game would be in very poor taste if it featured being a sexual predator”.
Krizan compares his role to “site moderation”, saying “there are of course judgement calls to be made when it comes to displaying ads on the site.” “It’s about keeping BGG welcoming to everyone”, the email adds. “Since I’m privy to this subject matter, I know firsthand that this is not friendly content, and incredibly triggering, put in front of some of the population that visits BGG.”
Alden’s statement confirms this was a personal call made by Krizan. “His response does not reflect or represent our company or the way we conduct business”, he says.
Wargamer has reached out to Krizan for comment, and we will update the story when we receive a response.
Source: Wargamer
