These people ruin my fun, by me having to play by their rules.
Now I am able to ruin their fun, by them having to play by my rules!
This sounds a bit childish to me.
"Communication failed. Let's not try to fix it."
My points about your commentary haven't changed, btw
I mean, sure – I could make up something and pretend that someone else said it and take loud objection to it, but that would be an asshole thing to do, wouldn't it?
That's pointedly not what Grim said, and it's an aggressive misconstruction. You have to go out of your way to phrase things so deliberately wrongly. I'm very impressed.
The whole point is not to force people to have their fun ruined by forcing them to play by anyone's rules. That's literally the point. In fact, it is an active affirmation of communication to say, "yes, there are themes that are probably going to happen here that you may be uncomfortable with. Feel free to bail now. If you stay, don't be an ass – if you have a problem, you can go take care of you. That's not my job."
Maturity. It's the opposite of being childish.
There has been a particularly good article making the rounds lately that I think speaks directly to this issue:
We Are Not Therapists
If anything, it's far too kind to the folks who think of the X-Card is a mandatory part of social interaction. It speaks at length about why it's not my problem and not my job to worry about you at my table, whether I am a GM, a facilitator, or just a player.
You, as another person, do not have the inherent right to stop everyone around you when you are uncomfortable. That thought may make you uncomfortable. You might not be able to function in environments like that – but that's a dysfunction. That's a problem for you. That's something that you need to look out for yourself.
That you need to put on a thick helmet and knee pads every time you go out to ride your bike does not give you the right to insist that I do, or that everyone else does. But that's the underlying expectation.
I am not your therapist. Nor is anyone else. You have an inherent responsibility to yourself to look after your needs. I don't have that responsibility to look after your needs. Insisting that I do – that's childish. It's worse than childish, it's foolish.
When it comes to my gaming, there is a huge sign that says "you must be this tall to ride this ride, and if you fall off – that's on you." But it's a bit large to carry around to every convention, so the M-Card will suffice.
For now.
Okay. Alternative version:
Which is gatekeeping …
Which is … what you're saying, come to think of it.
You don't want to gently introduce newbies who don't know what they're up for, or in general just have a lighthearted time at a convention.