TheSword
Legend
I would like d&d to follow the general consensus in the industry... which seems to be about confounding stereotypes; creating representation in the hobby at all levels; and changing monolithic ideas that make people think about real world racism they suffer when they play the game. I see these things a making real steps to make the hobby inclusive.That is a good question. Since you initially brought up being ahead of the curve, presumably you can answer: who do you think decides where it lies?
And was my expectation unreasonable that our hobby considers its placement along the curve? Is it unreasonable to expect that hobby walks forward on its own without having to be dragged along as dead weight by the rest of popular culture, to which D&D belongs? Are you suggesting that our hobby should remain ignorant of the curve and its placement therein? Should we not know its contours? Or is the question of “who decides?” not really being asked in good faith? Is it yet another rhetorical stonewalling tactic meant to send the conversation down an irrelevant spiral of slippery slope arguments? So what purpose does your question here really serve in this discussion, TheSword?
What do you really want TheSword out of this conversation? That things stay the same in our hobby? You can be honest if that’s truly what you want. That we all refrain from thinking critically about our hobby? Why does it clearly make you so clearly uncomfortable that people are reflecting on our hobby’s reliance on problematic pulp tropes and language? Why does a hobby that relishes in vanquishing undead in deepest, dark dungeons so afraid of confronting the skeletons in its own closet?
All that said, I apologize that asking people in our hobby to think about our use of language in tropes in our fantasy elf games. I realize now that this apparently an unreasonable request that is tantamount to asking for the moon.
I’d like WoC to canvas opinion and obtain reactions and sort through the positive and negative to decide what is best for the hobby as a whole. Not be beholden to a small but vocal crowd on twitter or forums.
I’d like measured progress that genuinely benefits people not knee jerk reactions and hand wringing, based on white room progress. In short progress is great, and I’m all for it. Let’s make sure it really is progress though.