I seem to be living in a time lag. It’s been a few days since the blog “fight” over sexism in roleplaying games kind of burned itself out and I’m only getting around to writing about it now. It ended like how all good fights end: nobody really “won”, people ended up limping away and nobody hates each other.
I must say I felt sorry for Matt over at lategaming.com, because he got called names by a feminist blogger and was described as an example of a chauvinist! I also posted on Irish Gaming LiveJournal and it got two responses, which pretty much says it is not an issue. Now, if I had critised a convention, the discussion would have exploded. (Admittedly I could have posted on “igaming” or the “irishgaming.com/forums” but I have to say not much real discussion goes on there any more and I really didn’t feel the need to push the issue that much). I guess it’s typical of our end of the “blogosphere” (that being the Irish online gaming community). People are more concerned with getting out and on with it and having a good time than if the wording of roleplaying books can be interrupted as sexist.
As an extended footnote, Fed Hicks, one of the master-minds behind Evil Hat, makers of Spirit of the Century, commented on my blog to tell me:
Interestingly, it was that whole virtual flare up that (indirectly) lead to Bruce Baugh committing to write a supplement that tackles the issue head-on for Spirit of the Century.
The supplement is called “New Horizons” which you can read about over on Bruce’s LiveJournal page (you can read specifically about New Horizons here). It does sound like an interesting idea for a game, I must admit. I can’t, sadly, imagine getting my group to play it and I’m not sure I’d be mad into it either… but I’d really be tempted to get it anyway. I love those kind of books that full of information, laid out in a way that’s really useful for gaming and writing. Even if you never use it, it ends up inspiring you directly or indirectly. Let’s see how it goes.
New Horizons doesn’t so much deal with the issue any more than a simple RPG supplement can undo the evils wrought by all nations during the period. It just informs the player that in order to be authentic, Westerners are imperialistic and bigoted, the chinese are discriminated against, etc.
Defanging the genre means actually belittling the heroes. If you remove the bigotry and sexism then players who associate with social outcasts are not progressive, you’re removing part of what makes them different, part of their heroism.
Alternatively, informing the players of the norm might actually encourage them to be pro-active about it. That’s going to make everyone smile. Not.
Yes, but thats an element we often overlook playing historical-based games. We play the rose-tinted romantised version of the period. It’s a normal thing to do.
I’d have to agree, I think. Part of me wonders how much it would actually add to the experince of a pulp-based game, except for providing inspiration?
Hey, it’s going to ride the hype but we’ll see how that pans out in sales.
In a recent Delta Green game, my character (an ex-Gulf War 1.0 interrogator) was asked to get information from a suspect in a murder. His reply (which was totally of the cuff) was “I don’t think I could do that to an American.” Now, if I was an American, that would be wholly inappropriate. But I’m an Irishman playing an American character who evidently has a problem with foreigners. The other gamers in the group were struck by this though. A simple sentence like that had deep-reaching political echoes especially in the wake of Gulf War 2.0.
Are subjects like racism or sexism to be treated like rape? Adult themes that are not to explored in a game? Is your game for enjoyment or for exploration or for improvisational theatre? Mine is for a bit of all three and I’m not ashamed to say that like my movie preferences, my games contain an adult theme and distasteful subjects. Rapists are people to be brought to justice, racists to be defeated and sexists to be humiliated.
Character inspiration, now, there’s a live issue. That’s what started this issue in the Irish section of the blogosphere. I don’t rely on archetypes inside a game for my characters. An example being that we’re going to be starting a Gaslight game soon and we have the usual run of characters: an academic, an ex soldier, a defrocked priest. When I was asked what I wanted to play I replied “Batman”. I explained that I wanted to play a version of Sexton Blake with a mask. Something like the Shadow. A real-life version of the penny dreadfuls of the era. Is there a precedent in the game for this? Course not. We’re a group of all guys, we’re playing all male characters (though one of the guys is playing a female character in the current DG game) and there is some question of sexuality and the like as half the team are public school educated…
It’s nice to see some grown up conversation about gaming as opposed to the crazy rants on RPGnet.
It really depends on your group and the games/stories they like to play. I think you can do it certainly, but you got to have the right game and players. People can get offended, especially if it’s sex, religion or race-related. You need to warn them in advance about it. If you said to the other players, that your character was a racist patriot then the other players would have known, I think.
That’s a minefield in a sense. Getting a good character idea that gels, not just with the genre you’re about to play but with the other players and GM, can sometimes be difficult… example below…
That’s another issue isn’t it?
I have played a number of female characters in the past. I’ve liked all of them. I particularly like it because it forces me to play something other than myself or those kind of standard stereotypes I would play. It’s more interesting roleplaying. I’m not the only guy in my group who has played female characters… however our current GM seems to have some issues with male players playing female characters, to the point that we end up avoiding such characters in the future games. He makes bad jokes about it all the time, and if he’s the GM he tries to force stories and character decisions on the player based on his perception of what a female character should be. Of course, no issues with female players playing male or female characters though.
I was reading some of Fred Hick’s posts on his blog about New Horizons… and he was quoting some posts from RPG.net where people were saying, by default, they would play characters not of their ethnicity. Being Irish, I don’t seem to have this issue. I’ve played a good mix of characters, many Irish, some American, many European… hell even a few English!
Depending on the game and the location of where the game is meant to take place. However I’ve never tried to play someone of a completely different ethnicity, if you know what I mean. Just never occurred to me.
I’ve played a good mix of characters, many Irish, some American, many European… hell even a few English!
That’s easy. Just become monosyllabic and you’re perfectly English. (Disclosure: Technically English on account of birthplace)