From here:
Well here is the thing, did Kwan have a point? Sure people might say "let us have fun" but I suspect that to Asian and Muslim characters, seeing their culture reduced to a theme-park version would be turned off for understandable reasons.
Off course:
But what are your thoughs...was it that bad back in ye olden times?
Wizards of the Coast continue to bend the knee to the people shitting on them! In this case, Daniel Kwan, the guy who threw such a naughty word fit over the AD&D 1E Oriental Adventures book being sold online that it resulted in WotC adding disclaimers to all of their old PDF products and Kwan earning an award, was apparently approached by WotC to talk about Asian representation in D&D. When he said he'd only do it if he was allowed to rehash the "harm" these old, out-of-print books and campaign settings caused, WotC actually said yes!
What the actual naughty word?! Why are they intent on feeding the hand that bites them?! I know they got their ass kicked quite a bit recently for this, Orion Black, several "racist" Magic cards, and who knows what else, but to think that the only lesson they've taken away from this is to say "thank you, sir, may I have another?" is mind-boggling to witness.
Well here is the thing, did Kwan have a point? Sure people might say "let us have fun" but I suspect that to Asian and Muslim characters, seeing their culture reduced to a theme-park version would be turned off for understandable reasons.
Off course:
SO LEAVE THEM ALONE AND DO SOMETHING FOR YOU.
They are no more "stereotypical" than the depictions of the western middle ages in other books.
This was the first thing fans pointed out and the response was basically "lol wypipo's feelings don't matter."
What's even the excuse? They can't claim colonialism or slavery. Historically, their empires, the ones this sourcebook is based on, were more powerful than ours a lot of the time. The Mongols conquered more of Europe than the English did of China, and now China's a world power. Japan only got naughty word with AFTER they declared war on half the world and lost.
Well here's the thing, they are playing with the idea that all Asian cultures are interchangeable. Korean, Chinese, and Japanese cultures are all mixed together and considering their history with each other, is something they wouldn't like. Now saying "western middle ages" is disingenuous since much of Fantasy is based on J.R.R Tolkien and his fictional version of BRITAIN in general. It's not based on a stereotype of Europe as a whole, Middle Ages or otherwise, and either way, this is simply going into tu quoque territory. And really, you are losing quite a bit of nuance and storytelling ideas by doing this.There isn't one? Most people here are sane, rational, reasonably intelligent folks, so legitimate questions like this surely come up pointing out the fallacies in their arguments. What I've taken to reminding myself is these are not rational agents we're dealing with. These are people who are operating constantly in insanely high levels of cognitive dissonance and see nothing wrong with it. To paraphrase Kyle Reese: "they can't be reasoned with. They can't be bargained with.."
But what are your thoughs...was it that bad back in ye olden times?
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