Do people of color play RPGs?

[DEFCON Clown]

Scientologists (a.k.a. The Clams) freak me the fu** out.

[Susano]

Scientologists (a.k.a. The Clams) freak me the fu** out.

Oh... sorry.

I'll stop jumping on the couch now....

[Vondy]

Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's get bak to the initial topic of this thread.

For all the people who have expressed dismay at the lack of cultural diversity in sci-fi and other genre fiction and films, how are you addressing this in your games? Is anyone on this thread expressly attempting to create games that expand the diversity of cultures addressed in their game world? If so, how?

I'm not. I run the game I run. The players build the character's they build. I don't think RPGs need affirmative action.

At the same time, my Freedom Patrol game was a globe-trotting affair, so it showcased many cultures, not as a matter of design, but as a matter of course. And my science fiction game was (mostly) set in the Sol system, and it was logical to assume other parts of the world would have a hand in orbital manufacturing and colonization in the early days, so it had more of a multicultural flair, though in that case, cultural fusion and genetic mutts were more common. On the other hand, my fantasy game was pretty much "whitebread."

[prodigyduck]

Most of my game current group is white, with the exception of my roommate, who is Greek/Chinese (yet looks so native American, that ACTUAL Native Americans have stopped him on the street to ask when the next tribal meeting is).

Before we moved to another state, one of our most prominent members of our game group was the biggest Mexican you could ever meet.

I used to game with a guy named Greg who was, effectively, Captain Native America. I also gamed with another native, who's nickname was "Chief" (as he was going to be the chief of his tribe, once his father passed away). At my old game store, I gamed with black guys, Hawiian guys...

One of the guys who got me -into- gaming, Justin, was asian (as I was rather young, and didn't understand to different types of asians, I do not know, to this day, what he was... I miss you, man!).

So... NO. Gaming is not a strictly white thing.

[Mencelus]

Well, in my 20 years of gaming, the I've gamed with the following:

I'm a person of color (Black American in my case).

My very first group was me, another black guy, and two hispanics (mother from Colombia, father from Panama, AFAIR).

After that, in Middle school and High School, were a slew of white gamers, though my High School group had me and another black guy, and occassionally one vietnamese and one filipino. All male.

In University it was mostly whites, but that was because of where I went to school (University of Virginia Tech, in Blackburg, which is not racially diverse) but I still managed to game with 2 other black guys there and a filipino (but the filipino lived in a neighboorhood near mine, big coincidence).

At first, especially in Uni, I suffered the usual stuff that others have spoken about occasionally here, but that mayb have been the area. MAde me real picky about who I gamed with - I just wanted to game, not deal with other people's race issues.

After Uni I moved to Japan and it was mostly white again, though my main group had another black guy in it, and we breifly had a filipino and a japanese there too (hmm, I seemed to have gamed with a lot of filipinos - is gaming big on the islands?).

Now I'm in Hungary and it's all "white" though I don't think of them like that (they're Hungarian, after all). So, the usual stuff I put up with in the States doesn't exist here, at least that I've seen so far. Haven't been to a small town yet some who knows? But I see a lot of mixed-race children here in the small city I live in and in Budapest, so maybe it isn't a big deal. Most people are friendly here (I mean, old ladies seem to have the need to talk to me on the train!).

[Kirby]

I don't think RPGs need affirmative action.

[megaplayboy]

I don't think any RPG group ever has quite the same group dynamic as any other. They are generally gatherings of friends, or acquaintances who become friends over the course of gaming together. I've gamed in groups which were quite homogenous ethnicity and gender-wise, and in others that were quite diverse. I've gotten the impression there are more gamers of color than there are female gamers, generally speaking. Odds are, if you come from a demographically diverse area where there is a fair amount of cross-interaction among that diversity, you'll run into more gamers of color than in areas where there's not so much cross-interaction.

[Toadmaster]

I don't think any RPG group ever has quite the same group dynamic as any other. They are generally gatherings of friends, or acquaintances who become friends over the course of gaming together. I've gamed in groups which were quite homogenous ethnicity and gender-wise, and in others that were quite diverse. I've gotten the impression there are more gamers of color than there are female gamers, generally speaking. Odds are, if you come from a demographically diverse area where there is a fair amount of cross-interaction among that diversity, you'll run into more gamers of color than in areas where there's not so much cross-interaction.

pretty much sums up my experience, I have played with far more non-white gamers than female gamers. When I lived in Oakland, CA I was in several very diverse groups. The last 10 years or so the groups I've been in have become more "white" but I'm pretty sure that is due to the local makeup.

Oddly I only knew a few female gamers but ended up marrying one when I wasn't really gaming at all. I didn't even know she was a gamer until after we were married (although the Renfaire, SCA and fantasy novels should have been a clue).

[Narratio]

I've a midget (4'3"... I think that counts) in my gaming crew. Judy is a "Nice" lady. She holds 4 degrees in industrial chemistry, process engineering, maths and mechanical engineering. She's a Chartered Engineer in the UK, a P.E. in California and Texas (sat both exams instead of just getting reciprotcation) and is out ultimate guru for all things hydrocarbon related. I don't think she's a scientologist though.

She likes to play Dr.Doom level nasties as relaxation.

Current gaming crew is 2 Thais, a Filipino, a Chinese, 3 Europeans, an arab (from Dubai, insists he's "...not a towel head - pass me the Jack Daniels"), a Nigerian and a guy who says his father was Welsh, his mother was Ethiopian and he was born in Argentina... Do we wish to make something of it?

One good thing about working international. I can get a damn good belly laugh over the racist rubbish I hear, as well as a good snigger at all the PC fools who tiptoe around the subject of differences in skin pigmentation and culture.

[ShinHakkaider]

I've been reading this thread and I wasn't going to post a reply here until I saw this post.

That may just be the most paranoid, ignorant, and just plain dumb thing I've ever read. Yes Static Shock was cancelled so was X-Men Evoultion another god show. Lots of TV shows pop up, are great, and then they get canned. Firefly anyone? Hell Batman Beyond was cancelled too. Futurerama, Family Guy, the list goes on. The Tick for crying out loud!

Seriously Shinhakkaider do you really think Static Shocker was cancelled because they didn't think that people would buy a black action figure?

http://thevhive.com/forum/index.php?...DWAYNEMCDUFFIE

The above link is to the Boards of the guy who created Milestone Media and therefore Static Shock, Dwayne McDuffie. He was also a writer on Justice League, Teen Titans and JLU as well as one of the story runners on JL and JLU.

Register on the board and ask him what were the reasons he was told as to why Static Shock was cancelled and then be sure to ask him why he thinks that it was cancelled.

He goes under the handle Maestro and he's really approachable.
Just ask him.
Go ahead.

[Sir Ofeelya]

Most of the people in my regular group are Maori. I have to be careful not to oppress them too much.

[Mojo_Bones]

Well, I get had a tough time reading this entire thread so to be honost.... I didn't.
To the first question, I have gamed with African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, gays, women and some I was not sure what the heck they were.

I have 2 stories that relate somewhat to the discussion. One good, one bad ( you decide which is which.)
I was in collage when Milestone Comics first came out. I read Static (just called Static back then) and Icon. Anyway, I started working in a mall that had a comic book store. Since I had moved, the one I usually went to was a bit out of the way so I thought I would start going to the closer one. I had gone in there a few times and talked to the owner who seemed pretty nice and had a good knowledge of comics. I should note that I am a blond haired, blue eyed, very very white boy. I went in to get some comics on my break and noticed the new Icon and Static where there so I picked them up. The owner asked me why I was looking at those books? I asked him what he meant at he told me those comics weren't "for us". This was the last time I entered the store.

[Mojo_Bones]

The second story is about the first gaming group I was in with an African American. The current group had been together for a few months, with certain members knowing each other longer than others. (names have been changed) Mike, the African American, knew one other person in the group, but only for about 6 months. The first few months we played we strictly gamed and nothing else was really discussed. The issue of race was never mentioned by anyone.
Everyone would frequently bring snacks along for the entire group, so bags of pretzels, chips and such were common. One evening, someone came with a box of Ritz crackers that were then being passed around. Mike turned to another player, Ben and offered the box simply saying:
"Cracker"
To which been gave Mike a stern look and shot back "Nig***!"
Silence fell in the room for a second, followed by howling laughter from Ben and Mike, then by the rest of us. From then on, the group had a lot more open conversations about things other than gaming.

[Susano]

Well, I get had a tough time reading this entire thread so to be honost.... I didn't.
To the first question, I have gamed with African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, gays, women and some I was not sure what the heck they were.

I have 2 stories that relate somewhat to the discussion. One good, one bad ( you decide which is which.)
I was in collage when Milestone Comics first came out. I read Static (just called Static back then) and Icon. Anyway, I started working in a mall that had a comic book store. Since I had moved, the one I usually went to was a bit out of the way so I thought I would start going to the closer one. I had gone in there a few times and talked to the owner who seemed pretty nice and had a good knowledge of comics. I should note that I am a blond haired, blue eyed, very very white boy. I went in to get some comics on my break and noticed the new Icon and Static where there so I picked them up. The owner asked me why I was looking at those books? I asked him what he meant at he told me those comics weren't "for us". This was the last time I entered the store.

I don't get it. What's Icon and Static?

[Mojo_Bones]

Milestone Comic titles. The comics were mostly about African American superheroes. Static later became Static Shock, the Saturday morning cartoon, and Icon was Milestone's Superman. He was an alien who came to earth and his lifepod made him look like those who found him. He was found by Slaves, IIFC so he looked like them. The company was owned by African Americans, I believe. It was aimed to bring some more minority characters into the comic world as main characters, rather than the token minority many are in other comics.