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).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
Societal pressure used to be huge even for white folks. The satanic panic, nerd hate, etc..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!
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.Societal pressure used to be huge even for white folks. The satanic panic, nerd hate, etc..
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.
And if you want to "fix" that, just concentrate on 1+2. 3 and 4 will then follow.
Spoken from a position of a total outsider, I'd like to express my gratitude for posting the link. Youtube would have never recommended this to me, I get barely any City of Mist stuff, and that's it.It's not what you think. Before you comment WATCH the video. This is very illuminating.
RPG Elite:
Historically, churches have had a very important place in the African American history in that they were one of the few public spaces available to blacks where they could interact without interference from whites. We typically think of a church as where you go for religious services or community activities, but for blacks in the 19th and 20th century, the church was also where they went to discuss political issues and make plans. And black clergy were often one of the better educated members of their communities having gone to college in an era where even most whites didn't go. There's a reason the face of the Civil Rights Movement was The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Anecdotally speaking, none of my black friends are church goers. But, boy, their mothers are. And all of my black coworkers are church goers with one whose husband is a pastor.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.
I don't usually talk about gaming with anyone at work. Thanks to Zoom meetings and COVID, they know I paint silly robots, dinosaurs, and other models. During new employee orientation, when I went over accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance I once made a joke along the lines of, "I thought this stood for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons but it's actually accidental death & dismemberment. And it has to be accidental so don't get any funny thoughts." For most of my life, I have kept gaming a secret from most of the people I know.I DO go over to co-workers and others to introduce them to RPGs if I think they would be receptive or enjoy that type of gaming. I'm still very careful around others though.
This is the view from my laptop camera. My office is also the spare bedroom, and if they can't figure out I'm a geek by now, well, ...I don't usually talk about gaming with anyone at work. Thanks to Zoom meetings and COVID, they know I paint silly robots, dinosaurs, and other models. During new employee orientation, when I went over accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance I once made a joke along the lines of, "I thought this stood for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons but it's actually accidental death & dismemberment. And it has to be accidental so don't get any funny thoughts." For most of my life, I have kept gaming a secret from most of the people I know.
To be honest, I've always felt that there is nothing more boring than someone telling me about a hobby I don't share, so I've never talked about mine, unless they bring it up first.I don't usually talk about gaming with anyone at work. Thanks to Zoom meetings and COVID, they know I paint silly robots, dinosaurs, and other models. During new employee orientation, when I went over accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance I once made a joke along the lines of, "I thought this stood for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons but it's actually accidental death & dismemberment. And it has to be accidental so don't get any funny thoughts." For most of my life, I have kept gaming a secret from most of the people I know.