Cultural appropriation in gaming

[HawaiiSteveO]

Watching Longmire gave me an interesting idea for an NPC cleric / druid type who would be based on a First Nations type template.

I did a little digging, and made special mention of his spellcasting involving components like smoke, smudging the rest of the group for bless spell, etc. All in all I thought it was a cool idea to flesh out an NPC and make it more interesting than 'He casts Bless on you.'

A few sessions later one the party was recapping an adventure to a new player and mentioned my 'racist' NPC. I was really surprised at that and disappointed as well. I thought I had handled the idea with respect and was trying something different.

The PHB has a whole section on Human Names and Ethnicities, and you don't have to read that closely to see they are at least loosely based on the real world.

Looking at games like Deadlands, Call of Cthulhu, etc you can run the gamut. I don't think there is anything wrong with (in my case) a WASP GM running NPCs from other real world cultures? It would be pretty boring game! No adventures in Chult, that's for sure!

There's clearly a huge difference between mocking another culture and mining others for ideas, as long as they are presented respectfully.

 

[neobolts]

Watching Longmire gave me an interesting idea for an NPC cleric / druid type who would be based on a First Nations type template.

I did a little digging, and made special mention of his spellcasting involving components like smoke, smudging the rest of the group for bless spell, etc. All in all I thought it was a cool idea to flesh out an NPC and make it more interesting than 'He casts Bless on you.'

A few sessions later one the party was recapping an adventure to a new player and mentioned my 'racist' NPC. I was really surprised at that and disappointed as well. I thought I had handled the idea with respect and was trying something different.

The PHB has a whole section on Human Names and Ethnicities, and you don't have to read that closely to see they are at least loosely based on the real world.

Looking at games like Deadlands, Call of Cthulhu, etc you can run the gamut. I don't think there is anything wrong with (in my case) a WASP GM running NPCs from other real world cultures? It would be pretty boring game! No adventures in Chult, that's for sure!

There's clearly a huge difference between mocking another culture and mining others for ideas, as long as they are presented respectfully.

Cultural appropriation is often subjective, and since your motivation was learning about another culture they would hopefully realize you are not intending to offend. Were you and the offended player able to work things out?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

I'd respectfully disagree that it's subjective, or at least perhaps less subjective than it used to be.

In any case, I don't think the player was deeply offended, and when challenged didn't really say how / why it was wrong.

I did see right after I posted this the 'similar threads' and see at least one of them didn't end well. I should have checked!

 

[neobolts]

I'd respectfully disagree that it's subjective, or at least perhaps less subjective than it used to be.

Yeah. "Subjective" isn't quite the word I was looking for. For example, dressing up as a superhero of another race would be fine. But altering my skin tone to match theirs would not. The reason for this is because of cultural norms and a history of how such actions have been used in the past. So it is "subjective" in the sense that the ascribed meaning defines what is acceptable, but it is not "subjective" as to whether or not the action would be offensive. I wish I had a better word here.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Flexor the Mighty!]

Its a silly concept, especially in gaming. Most fantasy RPG are a mishmash of cultural myths and ideas smashed together in order to have a fun and hopefully interesting environment for your PC to explore. The true melting pot.

 

[Morrus]

Thru D&D history, we have had settings based on:

Ancient Rome
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greeks
Europe (middle ages)
Central America (Aztecs)
Far East (Oriental Japan/China)
Middle East (Al-Quann sp?)
Vikings
Celtics
Etc.

Heck, the Conan setting (Hyperboreans) has almost every race/culture/religion of the world within it.

So to say one is only allowed to Role Play a character based on your real life person/religion/gender/etc is insane.

That is like saying an actor/actress can only do a part that they are a race to. So no one can be be a non-human. So we would have to do Lord of the Rings with any Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits... Star Trek, sorry only humans. We cannot have any Vulcans or Klingon. Star Wars... Sorry no Wookies.

Or how about Hollywood do a movie about the Little Mermaid but they CANNOT have a mermaid, as it is not a human. Or making a movie like Kong or Godzilla, but we can not use the monsters as they are un-real/not human.

It’s pretty friggin’ dismissive to equate *real people* with mermaids.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

That is like saying an actor/actress can only do a part that they are a race to.

If you've followed the news in the last year or so, you'll see that indeed is a big deal. Actually, going back longer than that (The Last Airbender comes to mind). It really seems in the last year things that used to be 'taken for granted' are being flipped over.

That being said, I assume it can be difficult finding actors (?) Longmire has several non-native actors playing natives in recurring roles.

On a positive note, there is Eugene Brave Rock playing Chief Napi in Wonder Woman (and Justice League).

I assume you mean the others in jest.

In any event, there's so much great stuff out there to mine for ideas, and I'd like to keep doing what I'm doing. I do realize I need to tread carefully.

 

[Gradine]

I don't think anybody could question your intentions here, which do seem genuinely noble. You definitely appear to at least have done your research and tried to treat the culture with respect (rather than rely solely on stereotypes promoted by popular culture). But it definitely seems like a good idea to critically examine the impact your NPC is having on your game and your players.

Granted, this would be a very different conversation if you were talking about publishing content with such an NPC. But if this is just about what's going on in your home game then all you really have to worry about are dispositions of your players. If one your players called it racist, and that was a comment that was meant to be taken more in seriousness than in jest, then it's possible you crossed a line for that player (whether they are themselves indigenous or not). So I'd just clear the air with your player concerned what about your NPC was troubling to them. Did you affect a "native" voice or syntax when speaking for them (that would cross a line for me, personally)? Does the player have close friends/family members for whom smudging is a particularly sacred ritual, not to be utilized (even fictionally) so lightly? Listen, respectfully, to your player and what they have to say, and work out a solution that both allows them to remain comfortable while still remaining true (or as true as possible) to your original conception of the character. It would probably be a good idea to also ask your other players, individually, to chime in with their own thoughts; not to allow you to dismiss the concerns of the one naysayer, but to at least just check in with their own comfort level regarding the NPC.

 

[Mallus]

It really seems in the last year things that used to be 'taken for granted' are being flipped over.

But not necessarily for the better... like the viral post from the White Brooklyn mom who wouldn't let her daughter dress up as Moana for Halloween because cultural appropriation.

I'm part native Hawaiian - as much as the actress who played Moana -- and I'm delighted at the thought kids want to emulate/honor a Polynesian character. Who the hell is this shiksa in Brooklyn telling people it's a bad idea?

(To be completely honest, I briefly considered joining Twitter so I could yell at, ahem, engage this person. Thankfully, I didn't. It would do either of us any good.)

In any event, there's so much great stuff out there to mine for ideas, and I'd like to keep doing what I'm doing. I do realize I need to tread carefully.

I think the best advice is just be aware of people's discomfort. If some of your players honestly thought your portrayal of an NPC was racist - change it, tone it down. The uncomfortable truth about representation is there's no right way to do it, because no agrees on what constitutes "the right way". Or on who who gets to play gatekeeper over what constitutes acceptable representation.

All you can do is be conscientious when dealing with the people you game with. If someone's offended, don't be defensive, or worse, try to argue them out of their reaction. Just compromise, do better next time. Or at least do differently.