Tabletop Games Blog · April 21, 2026 · 10 min
Gatekeeping the Gatekeepers - discussing standards in our hobby (Topic Discussion)
Gatekeeping has long been a concern within the board game hobby. For decades, our hobby was shaped by small communities, often dominated by white men of a certain age. They decided who was allowed to call themselves a board gamer and who couldn't. However, as the hobby grew, it also became more diverse. Nowadays, welcoming newcomers and making the hobby accessible to a wider audience has become a highly important goal, a goal which I strongly support and feel very passionate about. Unfortunately, some people have started to use the term gatekeeping in such a way as to become gatekeepers themselves. In this article, I want to look at this paradox more closely. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/04/21/gatekeeping-the-gatekeepers-discussing-standards-in-our-hobby-topic-discussion/ Music Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot ( https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/ ) Music: www.purple-planet.com Support If you want to support this podcast financially, please check out the links below: Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/TabletopGamesBlog Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tabletopgamesblog Website: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/support/ (Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash)