WotC WotC's Chris Perkins On D&D's Inclusivity Processes Going Forward

Over on D&D Beyond, WotC's Chris Perkins has written a blog entry about how the company's processes have been changed to improve the way the D&D studio deals with harmful content and inclusivity. This follows recent issues with racist content in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, and involves working with external cultural consultants.

The studio’s new process mandates that every word, illustration, and map must be reviewed by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication.

Leveling Up Our Creative Process: Learnings From Spelljammer

In this blog post, I'll talk about how we in the D&D Studio are changing our review process following the problematic content that appeared in Spell...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I am always shocked by this... I always think that since our hobby is getting into alien roles and thinking like someone other then ourselves that we would be able to put our feet in other peoples shoes and have empathy when a fellow RPer was offended.

 

[Minigiant]

Thats dodging the question though.

Dodge nothing. I am one of the biggest proponents on ENWorld of ditching old setting with their stereotypical resentation of culture and promotion of a new setting with modern views on race, class, culture, and lore design. One almost every "OMG official reprint of old setting" you can see more lamenting that it isn't an announcement of a new setting and bemoaning reuse of old material full of dated storytelling and gameplay elements as gently as I can to not be a threadcrapper. I severely tone down my views to follow the rules.

We also know for a fact that some religious Christians have a problem with magic and demons in D&D, see the Satan panic. Why not feel offended on their behalf?

Offense of depiction and Offense of existence are two very different things.

 

[Minigiant]

I am always shocked by this... I always think that since our hobby is getting into alien roles and thinking like someone other then ourselves that we would be able to put our feet in other peoples shoes and have empathy when a fellow RPer was offended.

The truth is a lot of people in our hobby don't want to get into alien roles. They want to be humans with rubber foreheads and fake ears. That's why the exploration of race, class, culture, and worldbuilding has been turtely slow despite being 50 years old. And why bad official and homebrew rules permeate the hobby.

Unless paid to do so, a huge chunk of D&D fans, even the hardcore ones, wont dive deep into the guts of the game.

 

[Remathilis]

I am always shocked by this... I always think that since our hobby is getting into alien roles and thinking like someone other then ourselves that we would be able to put our feet in other peoples shoes and have empathy when a fellow RPer was offended.

This hobby has also given rise to some of the most megalomaniac DMs and entitled players as well. In gaming, as in all endeavors, empathy is in short supply.

 

[Ixal]

I am always shocked by this... I always think that since our hobby is getting into alien roles and thinking like someone other then ourselves that we would be able to put our feet in other peoples shoes and have empathy when a fellow RPer was offended.

Thats exactly the point though. People assume, or rather, expect that someone else will be offended and speak (get offended) on their behalf. So much so that it seems that the people getting offended on other people behalf vastly outnumber the affected people who are offended. So was it even warranted to feel offence on other peoples behalf, or are you projecting your feeling of offence onto them and in the end silencing their opinion?

 

[Incenjucar]

I am always shocked by this... I always think that since our hobby is getting into alien roles and thinking like someone other then ourselves that we would be able to put our feet in other peoples shoes and have empathy when a fellow RPer was offended.

Incidentally one of the things that makes me such a big Planescape fan is that it takes stereotypes and strict stratification and throws them out the window. Tieflings and aasimar are great challenges to judgement based on ancestry without being a direct allegory for real world stuff, and the whole "an angel and a devil play chess at a bar" thing is a great demonstration of bridging "impossible" divides. Not to mention the power of community belief to drive real change.

As much as it's steeped in some outdated tropes, D&D is full of stories about people of all shapes and sizes overcoming assumptions and changing the world.

 

[Irlo]

Thats exactly the point though. People assume, or rather, expect that someone else will be offended and speak (get offended) on their behalf.

EDIT: Sorry, bad tone on my part. Let me try again:

I hear people say things like your saying, but that's not my experience. Often, this sort of comment appears to be an attempt to dismiss others' concerns as misplaced or exagerated or faked. No one gets offended on behalf of someone else.

 

[Azzy]

Thats exactly the point though. People assume, or rather, expect that someone else will be offended and speak (get offended) on their behalf.

Again, let's ignore the actual people who are actually offended for smoke and mirrors arguments.

 

[Ixal]

Again, let's ignore the actual people who are actually offended for smoke and mirrors arguments.

You mean like the quote from page 4 from the guy offended by other people speaking for him and making the correlation between monkey and African American? He seems to get ignored a lot by people who feel offended on other peoples behalf.

 

[Remathilis]

The truth is a lot of people in our hobby don't want to get into alien roles. They want to be humans with rubber foreheads and fake ears. That's why the exploration of race, class, culture, and worldbuilding has been turtely slow despite being 50 years old. And why bad official and homebrew rules permeate the hobby.

Unless paid to do so, a huge chunk of D&D fans, even the hardcore ones, wont dive deep into the guts of the game.

On the one hand, I don't feel it's D&D's place to have outrageously alien roles. I think a lot of people are happy enough with Vulcans and Romulans level alien design; humans with an exaggerated feature are relatable enough to play for an amateur player or child. On the other hand, it's very easy to fall back on stereotypes and tropes that are inaccurate and unacceptable today.

I don't know where the middle ground is. Nobody does. We're all going to fumble around in the dark until we find the path. As long as we keep trying to do better, I don't think we can ask for much more.