Kazakhstan Has First Ever Tabletop RPG Convention


Last week I posted about how we "need" more gaming conventions, today I woke up to talk on social media about the first ever tabletop role-playing convention in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a former republic of the Soviet Union that declared their independence in 1991. This wasn't a very large convention, but I think that we should consider it to be a big deal.

Eight people showed up to game at this convention, and two games were run at it. There was a Dragon Age RPG session that was run in English and a game of Numenera that was run in Russian. On Twitter, James Harland said "In 50 years we'll be as big as Gen Con!" These photos were reprinted from his Twitter post with permission.

The world is a much smaller place when bound together by commonalities.
 
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K

knasser

First Post
Desh-Rae-Halra said:
I was waiting for someone to photoshop Borat in there
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Sorrowdusk said:
This is wrong but....I want to see Borat sit at a table and play Dungeons & Dragon: Satan's Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPvLykRfSi0
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Please do not photoshop "Borat" in there. "Borat" is an offensive and really, really ignorant character / movie.

This is Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan:

View attachment 86233

View attachment 86234

Borat depicts Kazakh people as backwards inbreds who are proud of their sisters being top-rated prostitutes, as racists and ignorant of the modern world. Borat is an offensive, racist mockery and that so many Americans think it remotely connects to Kazakhstan says more about the international awareness of the average US citizen than it does about actual Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is a beautiful country with wonderful and educated people. Yes, there is some poverty. Yes, not everything is perfect. But there is not "town rapists" and things like this. Borat is this to Kazakh people:

View attachment 86235

It's not funny.
 
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J

Jhaelen

First Post
knasser said:
Borat is an offensive, racist mockery and that so many Americans think it remotely connects to Kazakhstan says more about the international awareness of the average US citizen than it does about actual Kazakhstan.
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And that's exactly why it's funny: The movie doesn't try to make fun of Kazakhstan, it (successfully) makes fun of ignorant Americans who take him for real.

But I fully understand why you aren't exactly happy about the movie. I feel the same way about movies reducing Germans to tipsy Bavarians stemming beer mugs and doing folk dances in Lederhosen...
 

K

knasser

First Post
Jhaelen said:
And that's exactly why it's funny: The movie doesn't try to make fun of Kazakhstan, it (successfully) makes fun of ignorant Americans who take him for real.

But I fully understand why you aren't exactly happy about the movie. I feel the same way about movies reducing Germans to tipsy Bavarians stemming beer mugs and doing folk dances in Lederhosen...
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I think there is a substantial difference between a teasing caricature based on exaggerating minor national pasttimes or national costumes and making jokes about "the town rapist" and anti-Semitism. So I don't think you do feel exactly the same way. Most Americans have an idea of Germany. That awareness seems grossly lacking when it comes to Kazakhstan. When you say "German" to most North Americans, it's not as if National Lampoon's European Vacation is their primary source for their impressions of you. But say "Kazakh" and most Americans are so unaware of anything about the country that Borat is their only understanding. You missed the closer analogy in comparing it to German dealing movies. Instead of saying "but I am not offended by depictions of Germans being in lederhosen", ask yourself if you would like a film depicting modern Germans as Jew-hating. Not as funny now, is it? Would you still say such film is making fun of the viewer for depicting of Germans as jew-hating nazis? No. I think you would not. I hope you would not! Borat does this to Kazakhstan though.

Borat was a very popular movie in America. I do not agree that this is because the majority of those audiences enjoy it as a commentary on their own ignorance of world affairs. I believe most people who went to see Borat in America laughed because he says: "my sister is number one prostitute", not because he says this and they think 'ha! look perfectly this sends up my lack of awareness of this country by saying things that are not true." You have a very elevated opinion of popular American entertainment if you think the latter is the default assumption with a movie that mocks the people of another country.

But this is my opinion. But I think it is not as mild as "ha! Lederhosen!" The subject is far crueller. And also Americans have enough other sources of information - news and other films - to think such things with Germany are fake. With Kazakhstan, Americans only think of Borat. So yes - they know it is comedy, but they also think it is only exaggeration.

Anyway, only my opinion. This is off-topic and not a pleasant diversion. We can agree to disagree. I only wanted to make you understand how I see it. We should return to the happy subject of Kazakhstan's first RPG Convention! :)
 

J

Jhaelen

First Post
knasser said:
Borat was a very popular movie in America. I do not agree that this is because the majority of those audiences enjoy it as a commentary on their own ignorance of world affairs. I believe most people who went to see Borat in America laughed because he says: "my sister is number one prostitute", not because he says this and they think 'ha! look perfectly this sends up my lack of awareness of this country by saying things that are not true." You have a very elevated opinion of popular American entertainment if you think the latter is the default assumption with a movie that mocks the people of another country.
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As you may have guessed, I'm not from the US, I'm German. Hence, I mentioned, why _I_ thought the movie was funny. I wasn't even thinking about if or why the movie may have been popular in the US. I agree, that the reasons may be different.

And the comparison with modern Germans being Nazis is off. And the reason is rather unfortunate: Extreme right political ideas have actually been on the rise in Germany. So, there would be a kernel of truth in a movie making fun of that by exaggeration.
Borat, however, isn't really about Kazakhstan at all. Imho, Sacha Baron Cohen just picked it because next to nothing was known about Kazakhstan. He could have picked a number of different countries without having to change anything about the movie.

Do you know the movie Wag the Dog? In the movie they're staging a fake war in Albania to distract from the US president being involved in a sex scandal. Why did they pick Albania, you may wonder? Here's the quote from the movie:
Winifred: "Why Albania?"
Conrad: "Why not?"
Winifred: "What have they done to us?"
Conrad: "What have they done for us? What do you know about them?"
Winifred: "Nothing."
Conrad: "See? They keep to themselves. Shifty. Untrustable."
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And according to the wikipedia entry about Borat, I'm not alone with my opinion:
The Kazakh tabloid Karavan declared Borat to be the best film of the year, having had a reviewer see the film at a screening in Vienna. The paper said that it was "...certainly not an anti-Kazakh, anti-Romanian or anti-Semitic" film, but rather "cruelly anti-American ... amazingly funny and sad at the same time
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But as you say, this is rather off-topic, and I'm fine to drop it.
 

K

knasser

First Post
Jhaelen said:
But as you say, this is rather off-topic, and I'm fine to drop it.
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I think that's best. I find the movie very offensive. So do very many other people. It's not for others to tell us we should be fine with someone portraying Kazakhstan as a nation of bigots. And I would never portray Germans as a nation of anti-Semites nor try to justify doing so by saying there was a kernel of truth to it because there are such people in the country. So that comparison is a poor one. Yes, I saw Wag The Dog. Very long time ago. I don't see it alters anything about Borat. Going in search of a quote from a Kazakh person saying they are positive about it also alters nothing. Kazakhstan is a nation of many millions. What meaning does one voice have? I have said I find the movie offensive. I have given good reasons why very clearly explained. As you agree, the reasons in the USA may be very different. I do not know how popular it was in Germany. Maybe there it is only popular with intellectuals who watch it and interpret it solely as a satire on Western ignorance. Maybe Germany doesn't have lots of people who watch it and it is their sole exposure to Kazakhstan and who laugh at the ignorant character rather than themselves. Maybe Germans are much smarter and worldly than Americans. But I think lots of people around the world who know nothing of Kazakhstan and its people watch it and laugh at the stupid Jew-fearing Kazakhs they see on screen.

Which of us is right? Me who thinks the world has lots of ignorant people or you who thinks the film was popular because everyone wanted to laugh at themselves? We cannot know. But usually the cynic is right. I find the film offensive. Maybe as you say it is because I do not get the joke and realise it is funny to show the nation as it isn't. Maybe the fault is mine for not understanding. But there are very many people if so.

Let this be the last post on the subject. I have already suggested we drop it once.
 

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