Sure. I will warn, however, that I have no patience for rhetorical games.
Nothing I've said has been rhetorical. (And let's be honest, we're on a message board, so whatever attempt is being made to seem tough is laughable.)
So, with that in mind, I'll ask what I've said elsewhere: how does the construction of the fantasy world intersect with trying to adhere to real-world concerns?
Personally, I agree with your espoused view that the in-game workings of a fictional world should be considered when looking at how that world works.
Though, I would also add the caveat that I do not believe that gives a designer an excuse to write racism into the game. For example, I do not believe that a game should be able to be designed a world based around saying Nazis were actually the good guys and expect that to be palatable to the real-world audience; something like that should (imo) be shunned.
So, as I understand it, that means there is somewhere that a line is drawn between real-world and the narrative world. For you, that line (as I understand it) is drawn at beings made from other elements. For others, there has been a position taken which seems to imply that saying sentient beings -even those with no real world analogy- who are categorically bad or "evil" means racism.
I'm inclined to believe many of those things exist on a spectrum. However, there seems to be little consensus concerning where the generally acceptable ballpark of drawing the lines is.
So, I ask questions: questions which aren't rhetorical. Sometimes that may mean bringing up an example which you (or someone else) feels is silly. But it may not be silly to someone else, and a lot of this thread has revolved around offensive elements existing in the game exactly because questions weren't addressed.
At some point, people write a piece of media need to sit down and create the product. In the context of a game, this includes creating the fictional world and the components contained within.
So, looking back at my questions, my point has been (consistently) to explore how the design of a TTRPG (D&D in this case) addresses real-world concerns while also acknowledging that the product includes a fictional world.
In my opinion, dismissing those questions or acting as though they are somehow beneath a value required to consider them is why most of the threads about this topic go in circles.
I want to know what ideas people have for steps forward. I want to hear thoughts concerning when it's acceptable to draw inspiration from the real world and when it isn't. I want to explore what actual tangible steps are involved in moving forward. That's likely going to include questions which make people uncomfortable, but change often is uncomfortable.
So, for you -for you personally- where do you place lines concerning what is acceptable?
