4 Reasons Black People Don't Play Tabletop RPGs

[billd91]

When I was in high school, a rural Wisconsin high school about a half hour outside of Madison, two of the most enthusiastic D&D players I knew were black. But since the black:white ratio in the school was something like 1:80, they were largely isolated from black peer pressure. And while I don't really know the family situation of one of them (he moved away relatively early), I played a lot of D&D (and other RPGs) with the other one. He came from a multiracial household. His father was black and largely just tolerated us, but his white mother (who came from an even smaller rural town in Wisconsin) was happy to play host. She was disabled and, I think, just really liked having the company and her son having a social outlet even if it was of the geekiest sort.

So, yeah, kind of outliers because of their circumstances - and thus allowed to be more comfortably outside the conformist norm.

 

[aramis erak]

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

Great video!

#3 was absolutely no surprise to me. #4 likewise.

It's also worth noting #4 (Religion) isn't entirely satanic panic... A large minority of adult gamers are neopagan, and a large number atheist or agnostic; many communities take to heart the prohibitions in the epistles on associating with pagans. Others see games in general as a worldly pursuit, and which is to be purged.

I've had a bunch of persons of color, but only 4 who were of African ancestry. None of those three raised in "Black Culture" - one was raised by a white stepmother. One was biracial white/African-American. One was African American/Korean born in Korea and adopted into a US mixed couple. I forgot one - he was clearly not particpating in "Black Culture"...

One of my current FTF group looks to be of African descent... but isn't. She's Native American. As is her mother, who was part of the group for a while, too. Tho', it's possible that her great grandfather might have been...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's also worth noting #4 (Religion) isn't entirely satanic panic... A large minority of adult gamers are neopagan, and a large number atheist or agnostic; many communities take to heart the prohibitions in the epistles on associating with pagans. Others see games in general as a worldly pursuit, and which is to be purged.

I think what he’s saying in #4 is that in the American black community, the concern that subculture X, Y, or Z is “satanic” can be a major factor. Especially among those who are members of Protestant or Evangelical faith traditions. I literally cannot recall any strong reaction to my gaming (or musical preferences) from a black Christian from a faith tradition other than those.

And make no mistake, the vast majority of religious American blacks are Christians in one of those traditions. From Wikipedia:

Religious affiliation of African Americans

Black Protestant (59%)
Evangelical Protestant(15%)
Mainline Protestant (4%)
Roman Catholic (5%)
Jehovah's Witness (1%)
Other Christian (1%)
Muslim (1%)
Other religion (1%)
Unaffiliated (11%)
Atheist or agnostic (2%)

My own family is from New Orleans, which is an unusual city in many ways, including having a predominantly Roman Catholic black culture. The only family that gave me guff about my satanic hobbies were converts to other denominations.

 

[aramis erak]

I think what he’s saying in #4 is that in the American black community, the concern that subculture X, Y, or Z is “satanic” can be a major factor. Especially among those who are members of Protestant or Evangelical faith traditions. I literally cannot recall any strong reaction to my gaming (or musical preferences) from a black Christian from a faith tradition other than those.

And make no mistake, the vast majority of religious American blacks are Christians in one of those traditions. From Wikipedia:



My own family is from New Orleans, which is an unusual city in many ways, including having a predominantly Roman Catholic black culture. The only family that gave me guff about my satanic hobbies were converts to other denominations.

Many of Anchorage's Black/African-American families are Catholic, as well. it's probably the largest chunk of any given denomination. More than half the blacks I've met in Anchorage were Catholics. (My dad was the Cathedral's Deacon for 20 years... then moved to the bigger St. Andrews because Mom asked the bishop to post him closer to home. So there's a bias in my experience. I know that Cathedral had about 5% black parishioners - about 40 families of the 800. The state only has 3.8% black in 2010; it was less in the 80's.)

At least in Anchorage, there's a good strong "keep the faith by keeping with the faithful" aspect to much of the Black community, be they Catholic or other. And, prior to Vatican 2, for Catholics, it was forbidden by Canon Law to associat with non-Catholics outside of work and school. How much that was enforced? I don't know - I'm not THAT old. But I've heard that it was not terribly well observed by the mid 1950's in most places.

The growth has been largely immigrants from two nations - Ethiopia and Nigeria. The Ethiopians are a mix of Muslims, Ge'ez Catholics, Roman Catholics, and Tehwado Orthodox. The Nigerians are either Muslim or Roman Catholic. All of whom are culturally introspective, avoiding bonds outside the communities as part of religious faith praxis.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Many of Anchorage's Black/African-American families are Catholic, as well. it's probably the largest chunk of any given denomination. More than half the blacks I've met in Anchorage were Catholics. (My dad was the Cathedral's Deacon for 20 years... then moved to the bigger St. Andrews because Mom asked the bishop to post him closer to home. So there's a bias in my experience. I know that Cathedral had about 5% black parishioners - about 40 families of the 800. The state only has 3.8% black in 2010; it was less in the 80's.)

I wouldn be surprised to find it’s at least in part because of Alaska’s proximity to Canada. An unusually high percentage of the black Catholics in New Orleans- including my family- can trace part of their ancestry to blacks who emigrated southward from various parts of Cananda.

…but back on point

Religious doctrines like keeping apart from others following different faiths apart from work and school* would definitely have an impact on getting into “white” pastimes, especially if your faith was as much a minority as your race. I mean…insular subcultures are insular.




* given the relative liberality of the American branch of the Roman
Catholic Church, I would suspect that edict was seldom enforced except as an “escape clause” to avoid social events.

 

[Jd Smith1]

And, prior to Vatican 2, for Catholics, it was forbidden by Canon Law to associat with non-Catholics outside of work and school. How much that was enforced? I don't know - I'm not THAT old. But I've heard that it was not terribly well observed by the mid 1950's in most places.

'Forbidden' is a extreme interpretation (although there were regions that took that line).

But as a lifelong Catholic, I haven't seen any pushback against the hobby on religious grounds.

I think the 'weirdness' of the hobby was what caused the main issues in the 80s; given the actual cults that were popping up around then (remember the Moonies? Jim Jones?) and the difficulty in exactly explaining the hobby to other people.

Now video games and movies have mainstreamed a lot of the concepts.

 

[Bedrockgames]

My own family is from New Orleans, which is an unusual city in many ways, including having a predominantly Roman Catholic black culture. The only family that gave me guff about my satanic hobbies were converts to other denominations.

My mom was Catholic and my dad wasn't (my family background is a mix of Italian, Jewish and Irish). And this matches my experience with Catholicism and gaming, where the period where D&D was off limits for me, we were going to a high episcopal church (because among the protestant church's, high episcopal felt closer to a Catholic mass, for my mother it was a comfortable fit), in an area of southern california that was dominated by evangelical churches (most of my friends went to what I would call megachurches, but I don't know if that terminology is correct, they just looked like megachurches to me). But we were east coast transplants, and during that period we were pretty steeped in the Episcopal Church community we attended but also just part of a local community that was intensely religious (and very, very evangelical, born again). Generally on the east coast, the Episcopal Churches seem a little more laid back than this one, I don't know if that is a coastal thing or just a product of the town we were in at the time. But as soon as we moved back, and we were among Catholic family (and Jewish) and no longer in a community like that, my mother was persuaded to let me play D&D by one of her Catholic cousins. I even had a cousin who was a nun and I don't think I ever heard her comment on D&D or roleplaying (and she would have been aware I was involved in that). I don't know if there is any official position the church has taken on the matter, but for a time I worked in a campus Catholic ministry office when I was in college (initially under a nun then under a lay minister), and I used to prepare for my D&D sessions in the office between doing things (there was a lot of down time), and I never got the impression this was a problem.

Part of that though could have been the difference in the particular area of California and Boston (culturally these were two very different places). But I remember in California (at least where I was) the D&D thing was a huge deal. My mom had friends who told her it was satanic, that it would lead to taking drugs like PCP and killing each other with swords. The panic part of it, i think was very real (also sincere, I think, and I am not quick to judge people who were probably reacting out of fear for their children's safety). Most of the people were kind and well intentioned, but I just think they were reacting to an exaggerated sense of danger around the game, and there was also something in the air in the culture at the time where maybe a lot of fears lurking in the back of peoples minds were being expressed in this fear of satanic cults.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm a black RPG player from a major city and lived hood adjacent.

My family and friend session I DM is probably one of the 100 75% black D&D groups (Latinos, Asians, and Whites are all in the other 25%) in the USA before 2010.

I predicted #1-4 and expected a 5th (The RPG design community makes little attempt to put Black elements in their games). He is right more or less.

 

[MGibster]

I predicted #1-4 and expected a 5th (The RPG design community makes little attempt to put Black elements in their games). He is right more or less.

The only one I predicted was your hypothetical #5 and I wonder if it wasn't included because of Servant of Shiloh's age. He's not a young man, he's a few years older than me I think, and he grew up in an era were diversity and inclusion just wasn't an overriding concern for television producers, publishers, or game creators. (I don't mean to imply that nobody cared about such things just that it wasn't a big part of the mainstream discussion.) Heck, publishers of fiction sometimes hid that the characters in the book were black.

Street Lethal is a cyberpunk story by Steven Barnes that was released in 1983 but I didn't get around to reading until the late 80s and this is what my copy of the book looked like. I don't know who that's supposed to be on the cover, but the main character is black.

So I wonder, would he think the lack of any any attempt to put black elements in the game would contribute to #1, ignorance of the game. Or if perhaps he was so used to a lot of mainstream media not targeting black people that he just didn't consider it a factor?

 

[Minigiant]

The only one I predicted was your hypothetical #5 and I wonder if it wasn't included because of Servant of Shiloh's age. He's not a young man, he's a few years older than me I think, and he grew up in an era were diversity and inclusion just wasn't an overriding concern for television producers, publishers, or game creators. (I don't mean to imply that nobody cared about such things just that it wasn't a big part of the mainstream discussion.) Heck, publishers of fiction sometimes hid that the characters in the book were black.

That might be it. Inclusion of black characters into a the crew of main characters in a mainstream series wasn't really a thing until I think the 80s. And even then the character's blackness would barely be shown. Media for different groups were heavily separated by race well into the 90s. But the 90s graduated to including "black characters who danced, listen to black music, and played sports". Major discussion about real inclusion wasn't into recent times.

Even now there are few African, Black American, Caribbean, and Afrolatino elements in most RPGs. And now due to racial sensitivity issues in RPGs, I don't know were it will go. But I think video games are far ahead of TTRPGs on this one.