In the wake of the US election, tabletop developers and fans are abandoning Elon Musk's X and switching to alternatives like Bluesky. While alternatives like Thread and Mastodon also saw growth during this social media exodus, Bluesky's unique combination of content curation tools, moderation protocols, and overall ease of use gave tabletop creators the opportunity to rebuild communities that align with their ethics and goals.
The microblogging site Since Purchased Through Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billionthe website has undergone a number of significant changes – including, but not limited to, Laid off 80% of its employeesrotating Verification badge into one paid systemInvert and dismantle Moderation protection (in line with Musk's “Absolutism of free expression“), a documented increase in Hate speech as well as MisinformationAnd Musk's involvement in the re-election of Donald Trump – causing users to abandon the once-important community and industry hub. According to NPRAfter the election, as of November 19th, over 115,000 had
Bluesky, which launched in early 2023, has grown 9 million users in September to 21.2 million users at the time of publication, growing at a rate of approximately 8 new users per second. This includes large swaths of the tabletop ecosystem leveraging the new platform's tools to reconnect with their community and rebuild their audience while protecting themselves from malicious actors.
Bluesky's lack of a centralized algorithm is both an advantage and a hindrance for new users. Instead of engagement farming through controversial posts, users put together “feeds” that can offer a curated series of posts around a central topic. Additionally, each Bluesky user can put together a “starter pack,” a collection of accounts under a single umbrella that users can follow — or block — en masse, rather than searching for individual posters. According to the independently created aggregation tool Bluesky directoryThere are currently 40 different feeds and over 200 starter packs specifically for tabletop gaming, with the vast majority of them focused on tabletop roleplaying games. However, these discoverability and curation tools can also be used to target marginalized people, which is a growing problem as the site grows in popularity – although Bluesky's powerful (if imperfect) moderation tools like blocking and reporting provide significant protections that Twitter lacked.
It's unclear how the migration to Bluesky will affect tabletop developers in the long term, although in the near future many are happy to work on a platform that isn't bordering on the levers of a new government declared authoritarian goals. It remains to be seen whether Bluesky will provide a sense of community and opportunity like Twitter once did, or be able to maintain stability amid such massive growth.
