I’m going to be at https://t.co/plYFgrjxYP again this year. I had read books from and twitter-interacted with three of the authors (more since!), but I wasn’t sure what to expect last year. It turned out fun, in a grass-roots con way that reminded me of the old Space Access days.
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) May 17, 2023
As the Tweet above indicates, John Carmack, the mind behind dozens of important legacy titles, has announced they will be attending and participating as a keynote speaker at BasedCon. Rather than make an effort to summarize what BasedCon is I'll let the event's own website do the explaining.
If you're curious as to what the link at the end directs to or what BasedCon's overall philosophy might be, I did you all a favor and read it myself and I think the following paragraph says everything you want to know about the event.
Cons became increasingly dominated by a small clique of authoritarian jerks who made them into venues for pushing social justice dogma and, in the name of “inclusiveness,” shut down any opinions that didn’t align with progressive orthodoxy. You may remember the Sad Puppies saga, which culminated in WorldCon voters selecting “No Award” in several categories of the Hugo Awards rather than reward people outside their tribe. Maybe you’re familiar with the Gamergate debacle. You probably heard about Gina Carano being fired from The Mandalorian because she voiced thoughts outside the acceptable range of opinion. Undoubtedly you’ve heard about the push to get Critical Race Theory and other social justice garbage into schools.
It's also worth noting that attending BasedCon costs slightly more than a PAX 4-day badge. If you want an idea of what the event was like last year, I found an image using Google. I should note, this year will be at a secret hotel you only learn the location to until after you register.
Oh, and this is what their badge looks like.
When sharing this information to others in different channels, many pointed out to me it should not be too surprising considering Carmack has repeatedly shared viewpoints that aligned towards libertarianism or conservatism. John Carmack donated to Ron Paul's president campaign in 2012 and he was a major driver in convincing the American Libertarian Party to accept Bitcoin donations. While I certainly get that, I still think the leap towards the alt-right and "anti-woke" crowd is one that is always disappointing to see, especially when it comes from someone with such a legacy as Carmack's.
Now, I do want to say something for the sake of my own sanity. Many of the viewpoints shared and echoed by speakers at BasedCon are antithetical to the Community Rules and guidelines of Giant Bomb. Women, people of color, and those that are part of the LGBTQIA communities are not villains and their calls for better representation in games and media are and have been needed as such representation is long due.
NEW EDIT: So, after dealing with a considerable amount of blowback, Carmack has issued a statement clarifying that he agrees with some of the criticism that BasedCon was indeed too inflammatory and was not inclusive. As a person paying for their Blue checkmark on Twitter, they were able to pen a MASSIVE explanation detailing their perspective.
Personally, I think friend of the site, Danny O’Dwyer, had the best response to Carmack's response to the controversy.
it sounds as if John has come to the realization that somebody he professionally admires and follows on Twitter is a myopic dipshit when it comes to politics. a feeling many of John's followers can now sadly relate to. https://t.co/qFVW66Hq7F
— danny o’documentary (@dannyodwyer) May 19, 2023
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