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Nudity, inclusivity and racial representation in RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7040429" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>Phew, quite a can of worms you've opened <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>As a first disclaimer, I'm certainly not the target audience of ZWEIHÄNDER, as I'm not a fan of "grim, realistic & gritty". But I do have my opinion on art and RPG art in particular, so I think my feedback could be helpful.</p><p>Also, I'm a German and you know what they say about Germans and nudity... let's just say that our TV shows are generally not R because of nudity or sexual content, but because we have a much thinner skin for depictions of violence. </p><p></p><p>In terms of nudity, I'd include it (with an appropriate warning sign) when it makes sense. Creatures who don't have any need for protection via clothing and/or who don't feel the need to dress because they don't feel any sense of modesty wouldn't wear clothes. However, I'd be cautious to not apply anthropocentric standards or our "usual cultural views" when creating such creatures or art of such creatures. </p><p>My pet peeves here are genders, dimorphism and how to display them. When I look into usual RPG bestiaries, I see either "bestial" monsters who don't display any dimorphism or "semi-humanoid" monsters (including demons, demihumans, undead, horror spawns etc) who display typical human dimorphism. Also, we see a tendency to use a default male anatomy to any "general purpose" monster and a tendency for a female anatomy to be used for a "sexy type" monster (succubus, pleasure fiend, harpy...). And this general trend is just unnerving. Why does every creature have to have exactly two genders? Why does every female of a species have to have breasts and a hourglass figure? Why does every male of a species to be the bigger, broader, more muscular one? We already see more variety in the species we encounter on earth? Why then would a fantasy environment where magical stuff can happen have *less* variety in their living fauna?</p><p></p><p>To fully satisfy me, a creature has to make sense. To pick up your discussion, I'd take breasts and penises, the two organs which were a matter of debate. Human women have rather large breasts when compared to other species. Some scientists say because they are a symbol for matureness, fertility and health and signal the ability to feed children. When you consider this, large breasts (or any kind of breast)don't make any sense on any creature who 1) doesn't breastfeed 2) doesn't stand upright or 3) doesn't want to mislead human(oid) males for specific reasons. Same thing applys to the hourglass figure and/or wide hips when it comes to creatures who don't give birth to large live children. Humans also have rather large visible penises, again a symbol for fertility and a relaxed stance (they shrink when one is in a stressed state). This only makes sense when the creature displaying it is standing upright. Many quadrupedal animals have rather large penises, but they are hidden most of the time. Also, it only makes sense on creatures who happen to use it for reproduction. </p><p>Also, western beauty standards. We rarely see any body hair on humanoids despite having low-magic (or no-magic) systems. Okay, we got the hairy chest guy from time to time, but on WOMEN? Even monstrous women seem to have clean-shaven bodies. And even if they all got magically access to appropriate razors, then why on earth would every (monstrous) humanoid society hate body hair? And yes, I loved the bearded dwarf ladies from ye olden D&D 2e. </p><p></p><p>For diversity, as you can propably guess from my prior exposition, I'm all for diversity. Racial, cultural, sexual diversity. It doesn't have to necessarily be a big giant melting pot and I also appreciate settings which only use specific cultures or races. But there should be a variety in which of them are used and a repeated use of generic "quasi-medieval europe" can get a bit boring when you yourself stem from Europe.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7040429, member: 6816692"] Phew, quite a can of worms you've opened ;) As a first disclaimer, I'm certainly not the target audience of ZWEIHÄNDER, as I'm not a fan of "grim, realistic & gritty". But I do have my opinion on art and RPG art in particular, so I think my feedback could be helpful. Also, I'm a German and you know what they say about Germans and nudity... let's just say that our TV shows are generally not R because of nudity or sexual content, but because we have a much thinner skin for depictions of violence. In terms of nudity, I'd include it (with an appropriate warning sign) when it makes sense. Creatures who don't have any need for protection via clothing and/or who don't feel the need to dress because they don't feel any sense of modesty wouldn't wear clothes. However, I'd be cautious to not apply anthropocentric standards or our "usual cultural views" when creating such creatures or art of such creatures. My pet peeves here are genders, dimorphism and how to display them. When I look into usual RPG bestiaries, I see either "bestial" monsters who don't display any dimorphism or "semi-humanoid" monsters (including demons, demihumans, undead, horror spawns etc) who display typical human dimorphism. Also, we see a tendency to use a default male anatomy to any "general purpose" monster and a tendency for a female anatomy to be used for a "sexy type" monster (succubus, pleasure fiend, harpy...). And this general trend is just unnerving. Why does every creature have to have exactly two genders? Why does every female of a species have to have breasts and a hourglass figure? Why does every male of a species to be the bigger, broader, more muscular one? We already see more variety in the species we encounter on earth? Why then would a fantasy environment where magical stuff can happen have *less* variety in their living fauna? To fully satisfy me, a creature has to make sense. To pick up your discussion, I'd take breasts and penises, the two organs which were a matter of debate. Human women have rather large breasts when compared to other species. Some scientists say because they are a symbol for matureness, fertility and health and signal the ability to feed children. When you consider this, large breasts (or any kind of breast)don't make any sense on any creature who 1) doesn't breastfeed 2) doesn't stand upright or 3) doesn't want to mislead human(oid) males for specific reasons. Same thing applys to the hourglass figure and/or wide hips when it comes to creatures who don't give birth to large live children. Humans also have rather large visible penises, again a symbol for fertility and a relaxed stance (they shrink when one is in a stressed state). This only makes sense when the creature displaying it is standing upright. Many quadrupedal animals have rather large penises, but they are hidden most of the time. Also, it only makes sense on creatures who happen to use it for reproduction. Also, western beauty standards. We rarely see any body hair on humanoids despite having low-magic (or no-magic) systems. Okay, we got the hairy chest guy from time to time, but on WOMEN? Even monstrous women seem to have clean-shaven bodies. And even if they all got magically access to appropriate razors, then why on earth would every (monstrous) humanoid society hate body hair? And yes, I loved the bearded dwarf ladies from ye olden D&D 2e. For diversity, as you can propably guess from my prior exposition, I'm all for diversity. Racial, cultural, sexual diversity. It doesn't have to necessarily be a big giant melting pot and I also appreciate settings which only use specific cultures or races. But there should be a variety in which of them are used and a repeated use of generic "quasi-medieval europe" can get a bit boring when you yourself stem from Europe. [/QUOTE]
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