4 Reasons Black People Don't Play Tabletop RPGs

[Mezuka]

It's not what you think. Before you comment WATCH the video. This is very illuminating.

RPG Elite:

 

[Dire Bare]

Thanks for posting that video, it was a good discussion on the topic from the perspective of a black man. If you read through the comments for a bit, and you should, there are a lot of positive comments from other black gamers and also from a lot of Hispanic gamers with similar experiences to RPGElite. It was also nice to see a few comments claiming they've played with majority black tables for decades!

I'm white, so going in I assumed he would talk about representation in RPGs . . . and he didn't really. I do think that the fantasy genre, and D&D-style games definitely have a representation problem, but . . . that isn't one of the main reasons black people don't play RPGs according to RPGElite.

While watching, I found myself thinking that while RPGs are not big within the African-American community, Star Wars and comics are more widely accepted . . . why is that? Again, I'm white, so this is from an outsider perspective, but . . . I think its representation. Comics made a push for more diversity decades ago and created a number of prominent black characters. Most of these characters were created by white writers/artists and were sometimes painfully stereotypical, but these characters opened the door. For Star Wars . . . it's Lando! Lando was, in a sense, the "token" black character in the original trilogy, but as played by Billy Dee Williams, his impact was greater than his screentime.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Thanks for linking to this. I normally don't watch RPG videos, but I found this one really surprising and interesting.

One thing I found surprising is that he focused entirely on societal pressures rather than the history of RPGs. It's definitely a perspective I haven't seen represented often, and worth listening to!

 

[Ixal]

Hm, not sure what to make of that
1+2 are universal. When you don't know it or are not interested in it you don't play. Nothing to do with skin color.
3: Not sure if there is a difference, but RPGs long had a nerd/weirdo stigma for whites, too. Not sure if the black culture he speaks of really exist and if its worse
4: Sounds a bit like stereotyping how important the church is for black prople (all/most of them). But no idea how close to the truth it is.

And if you want to "fix" that, just concentrate on 1+2. 3 and 4 will then follow.

 

[Greg K]

Leaving 1 and 2 aside, because as @Ixal wrote has nothing to do with skin color.
Number 3, I have long been aware of. I had seen directed at a friend back in the early 80's. After playing basketball during recess, some of the guys with whom we played (and bussed in from the inner city) pulled me aside and asked me why he did not act more "black". Among the things mentioned was his playing rpgs. In recent years, another friend has commented upon experiencing it from his own family which led him and other members of his group (whom were black and also experienced it) to keep it "on the DL".

 

[Mezuka]

The point about ignorance still stands. I think what he means is that RPGs are (were) far more underground in the black community than in the white population. He seems to imply that black religious groups managed to thwart the natural growth of RPGs far more effectively. Hence the discrepancy in the number of players.

 

[Sacrosanct]

3: Not sure if there is a difference, but RPGs long had a nerd/weirdo stigma for whites, too. Not sure if the black culture he speaks of really exist and if its worse

From my experience (having a mixed raced family), he's spot on with that. While yes, there was a negative stereotype for us when we were playing in the 70s and 80s, and it was pretty bad, we were just called "not cool" or "nerds". We were never called "not white" or inferred we were betraying our race. That does exist in parts of black culture. It's a lot more complex as to the causes of that (I believe a lot has to do with generations of pigeonholing black people into certain "categories" due to racist policies we've had for centuries. I.e., white America has tried to oppresses the identity of black people for so long, that reclamation of that identity as become a unifying part of modern black culture. But that's another topic).

 

[CleverNickName]

I wouldn't say that Points 1 and 2 have nothing to do with skin color, as some have suggested. But I'm a white person from the American South, so my view is clouded. I'm going to trust the speaker's assessment--if he says it is an issue for people of color, then I'm going to believe him.

I can speak to Point 4, though. Yes, religious stigma is a big deal in the American South. I grew up in a Protestant, charismatic church, and the attitudes and judgments that he speaks of are very real indeed. I've sat through sermons that compared D&D to witchcraft, I've had youth pastors show up at my house on game nights to "intervene," I've had players leave my gaming group because of social pressure from the clergy. "They said they'll kick me out of the choir if I don't stop playing D&D." When all that nonsense from Sean Sellers hit the news, parents in the church started burning their kids' gaming materials.

That was the late 1980s - early 1990s. I left in 2000 and I haven't been back for more than a day or two ever since, so I'm not sure if that stigma is still as strong as it was in my teenage years. But yeah, can confirm: Point 4 is a big one in the South.

 

[payn]

Thanks for linking to this. I normally don't watch RPG videos, but I found this one really surprising and interesting.

One thing I found surprising is that he focused entirely on societal pressures rather than the history of RPGs. It's definitely a perspective I haven't seen represented often, and worth listening to!

Societal pressure used to be huge even for white folks. The satanic panic, nerd hate, etc..

 

[BookTenTiger]

Societal pressure used to be huge even for white folks. The satanic panic, nerd hate, etc..

Oh definitely. I just expected the video to focus more on things D&D might have done to alienate people of color, rather than observing how culture and society have alienated people of color from D&D. I appreciated seeing a perspective that I hadn't thought about.

I also think perspectives like these can help bridge people of different cultures. Saying "oh yeah, I had a similar experience" despite not identifying as black can help build empathy and understanding.