Erik Mona said:
Wow.
Out of curiosity, will a single black person be involved in the creation of this game?
Me, I'd feel better about the product (at this early stage in the game) if I knew that at least one black person had found it inoffensive.
I figure a product like this must walk a pretty fine line. A bunch of white nerds (like myself) sitting around a table pretending to be Shaft is somehow more unnerving than, say, the same group playing Feng Shui and pretending to be Jet Li.
And here's why: blaxploitation has its camp aspects (outdated fashion and slang always does), but it also has a very serious side. Some of the better films in the genre were tackling the heavy issues of the day.
On the other hand, take Thunderball Rally. I always think of "Smokey and the Bandit" and the rest as sort of "hicksploitation" films --- truckers and Southerners were caricatured. But as far as I know, these movies did not have a message. So I say, play the game and laugh it up.
So...are we looking at a Pimp prestige class here? How about a Ho prestige class? Or will this game also address some of the real social issues (racism, the Black Power movement, urban crime) underlying the genre?
Speaking again as a white nerd --- is this just going to be a white nerd's vision of being cool and black?