Do people of color play RPGs?

[KawangaKid]

Hey, Kawanga Kid, that Hinirang site looks pretty cool, but I can't get any of the Literature links to work!

Will message the site moderators - see if they can fix those.

I'm trying to build an RPG campaign set there...

[chillrb]

I grew up in Philly and I know several African-Americans that play RPGs. I've been playing for about 20 years now myself (I'm African-American btw). I will say that our family culture isn't very supportive of games like this. Luckily for me I had some very opened minded parents that allowed me to explore whatever I wanted.

[Worldmaker]

Questions for the African Americans, Philipinos and other people of color who responded: When you play human characters, do you specify that the PC is of your own race? Do you ignore that aspect? Have you ever played White characters, whether to fit in with a White group or just because you wanted to? In fantasy games, have you been attracted to playing non-human characters? Did real-life race considerations play into this decision?

I don't think I've ever given a character's ethnic persuasion any thought at all, except as to how it affects background... though I did play a Rapa Nuian just because no one in my group ever had.

As for playing my own ethnic group, I've never played an Okahumpka Seminole (sorry... for me, "native american" is too imprecise and I despise the term), but not through any sense of self-loathing or anything... its just never occurred to me to do so.

[Old Man]

I'm Japanese (Asian American) and the groups I played with always had asians in them because of the general population of Hawaii.

I most often play fantasy games and if given the choice chose to play Elves. In the modern game game I participated in I played a Japanese woman. That was because I had recently seen pictures of a model and wanted a character that looked like her. I'm sure if I say ads with Jessica Simpson or some such I would have made a stunning blond instead.

[Captain Obvious]

Will message the site moderators - see if they can fix those.

I'm trying to build an RPG campaign set there...

Make sure you keep us posted on that. I'd definitely be interested.

[Chimpira]

This is an adjunct to the thread about female gamers. Are RPGs a White thing or do they have broader appeal? Fantasy games are still mostly based on European folklore. South America, Africa and S. Asia have rarely been tapped as a gaming source. Is there anything in the way RPGs are presented that would put off people of non-Western cultures? Is the racial-spectrum of gamers broad enough?

Thoughts?

I am of african descent, have been playing and GMing for the last 18 years. I have always had a diverse group while playing. When I moved to Los Angeles the guys I played with were all from Korea (really from Korea. First generation american) And we had a blast. I still play with a few of them in my current group. That was 8 years ago and I did not think of the fact that I was anything but another GM and they were my gamers until I read your post. The only time (besides the stuff that gets on your nerves with the occasional "he's not really black" comments) that my race became an issue of concern was when i entered a high level D and D game that had been going on for 16 years. The characters were all evil. I do not like playing evil but i went ahead and made a monk for the game. We were playing in the Greyhawk universe and there was this small write up for the Scarlet Brotherhood so I made one. Well. The GM got ahold of a supplement for the Scarlet Brotherhood and purchased it. What he read was intriguing to him. He had been playing the Scarlet Brotherhood like monks from the Hong Kong movies. The Scarlet Brotherhood were more like Aryans that wanted to dominate the world. One of the players told him not to say anything to me about it. The GM decided that he wanted to use the Brotherhood as written, since they were going to be a major factor and enemy in the game. He told me and gave me the option to change my character. I told him that I would play him as Scarlet Brotherhood and tweaked my origin a little. I was already wanted by them for murdering some of the members (not because of what they stood for but for personal reasons that were at the core of his origin). He was stranded amongst people that he thought of as inferior and little by little he changed his way of thinking. (He still thought of everyone as inferior to him but not because of their race. Hey, he was evil.) He became this great machiavellian villian (and the Scarlet Brotherhood a great evil organization ), that I almost did not play because someone was worried how I was going to handle it.

[Evil Toki]

I am black and I play Role Playing Games... for the last 14 odd years I guess, I can't get enough Give me Geek or give me Death... now pass the fried chicken!

[arcady]

My group has an 18 year old African American gent. We also have an American Indian fellow in our group.

In Isreal?

That's odd.


I'm half native, quarter chinese, and a quarter of what I think is Portuguese and some other 'stuff'.

non whites are very rare in gaming, and it shows in the game design. The settings often have a take to them that shows a definate certain ethnic perspective - namely Anglo 'suburban' middle class -the soccer nerd- with even other Euro knockoffs tending to read as if through Anglo eyes.

That can get really frustrating at times, just as sitting around a table and seeing all the other people are both Anglo-rooted in culture and 'suburban middle class' in roots.

[cyst13]

Arcady,

That's an interesting critique. I'm interested in what strategies you employ to counteract the 'soccer-nerd' bias in gaming. Do you as a GM try to create stories outside of that paradigm, more in line with the perspective of other cultures? As a player, do you create characters outside the usual stock types?

[arcady]

'soccer nerds'
- I can like them, I can enjoy their company and they mine, and that's all good.

I would find it myself racist if I said 'but I don't like that a bit of the shared dialogue is lacking'. Besides with my mixed background there is no such thing and that has given me the perspective that even a desire for such [shared norms] is itself racist.

What bothers me in the lack of other types around the game table is that I see less perspectives being shared than I would like.


Michael Moore in his book 'Stupid White Men ...and other sorry excuses for the state of the nation!' says on page 79:
(and remember this guy speaks -over the top- to make his point with exagerations, reaching all the right conclusions in all the wrong ways. He's the idiot savant of the middle-left.)

"Really. Black people are onto us. They know we say and do things to make it look as if progress has been made. They see us working hard to show how not-prejudiced we are. Skip it. We haven’t made real progress. We’re still bigots—and they know it.

Cut the crap about all your "black friends." You don’t have black friends. A friend is someone you have over for dinner regularly, someone you go on vacation with, someone you ask to be in your wedding party, someone you go to church with on Sundays, someone you call often to share your most intimate secrets. That kind of friend.

Your black "friends" know that the chances of your dropping your toddler off with them in their part of town while you go on a weekend trip is about as good as your inviting them to go on the trip with you.

I’ve heard liberals say dumb things like, "There are no black people on Friends." I like it that there are no black friends on Friends, because in real life friends like that don’t have black friends. It’s an honest, believable show.

So let’s dispense with this ruse that blacks and whites are now all part of that big multi-cultural quilt we call America. We live in our world, they live in theirs. And that’s what we’ve grown comfortable with, like it or not. This wouldn't be so bad if their world existed on a financially and socially parallel plane. If it did, then we could just mix and mingle however we saw fit—as equals, the way we already do with other white people. For instance, I don’t have much desire to hang out with Young Republicans. That’s okay, because they’re going to do just fine without me, and my decision not to associate with them doesn’t affect their standard of living or quality of life. (In fact, it probably improves it.)

Isn’t it better not to coddle each other with the delusion that African-Americans are finally part of the mainstream? Isn’t it smarter to lift the veil of false hope we give African-Americans, so that we don’t waste any time fooling ourselves? The next time you’re talking to one of your "black friends," instead of telling him how you’re really "down" with the new Jay-Z CD, why not put your arm around him and say, "I love ya, bro, you know that, so I gotta tell you a little secret we white people have: Your people aren’t ever going to have it as good as we do. And if you think working hard and trying to fit in is going to get you a seat on the board of directors when we’re already got our black seat filled—well, friend, if it’s equality and advancement you seek, try Sweden."

The sooner we all start talking like that, the more honest a society we’ll all be living in."

The full chapter is quoted here.

He's also got an interesting idea - the only real way to end racism is to end races; breed across the lines.

I've quoted him there to get at something about the denial nature of all this. As he says, we do live in denial - we pretend it's all over, but we've really never ended segregation.

We need to face up to that, accept it, and only then will we be able to either solve it or admit we don't have any desire to solve it.


As for trying to 'multi-culturalize' my players, as a GM, I accept that a certain amount of my plots, story innuendo, and so on will be lost on players simply for coming from a different perspective. When I play, I deal with the same thing. It's not something that's on an obvious surface level - or it would be easy to adjust and correct. It's more melded into an overall shade to things.

The majority of players I will be able to gather will see the world through glasses with one tint, and I will have a slightly different shade to my glasses.

It frustrates, and I'd like to see more variety in the people at the table even if that does introduce some lost points of perspective - it also helps to breed something of a commonality (or whatever). I do see some benifit to 'mixing it up' but putting that in conrete terms is not easy.

[Worldmaker]

I am of african descent, have been playing and GMing for the last 18 years.

Something that just occurred to me.

You say "I am of African descent".

What kind of African?

Ever hear of Ernst Vanderluut? His mother and father were born in South Africa and Kenya, respectively, and he's as white as Al Gore. But all the UNCF was looking for was "of African descent", with a GPA above a certain point and an economic status below a certain point.

But when they found out his skin tone was somewhat lighter than cafe au lait, they pulled the funding. He sued. He won.

So... when you say "of African descent", just what do you mean?

[Worldmaker]

I'm half native, quarter chinese, and a quarter of what I think is Portuguese and some other 'stuff'.

Half-native what?

[arcady]

Native American. What else, given my location in the Americas?

If I was in Australia and I said 'native' I'd mean an Aboriginee. If I was in Europe and I said it, I'd mean Caucasian, etc...

[Worldmaker]

Native American. What else, given my location in the Americas?

If I was in Australia and I said 'native' I'd mean an Aboriginee. If I was in Europe and I said it, I'd mean Caucasian, etc...

Given the large numbers of non-caucasian native europeans, I find your last statement incredibly narrow-minded. Ever hear about Richard Pryor's search for his roots? Turns out he's not an African American... he's an Italian American...



Also, what the hell is a "native american"? I don't know anyone from that tribe.

I mean, seriously... my wife was born in Orlando, Florida... Florida's part of North America... that makes her native to North America. A native American, in other words.

"Native American". Idiotic phrase cooked up by people too lazy to learn the names of the tribes they were talking about. About as insulting as some people used to consider "Indian".

So, where would I find the "Native American" tribe's lands?

[Doug McCrae]

So what word or phrase would you use to refer to the people that inhabited North America prior to the arrival of the Europeans?