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<blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 4662215" data-attributes="member: 6533">I teach writing courses as well, and I have to say that I have a divergent opinion.&nbsp; That might be because I also work at shelter for victims of domestic violence, but I don't think its fair to require someone who has already dealt with an issue of trauma in a real way to then deal with it in a fictional way. To enjoy, in some sense or another, a recreation of their trauma.&nbsp; As a social exercise it's flippant, callous, and an abuse of power.&nbsp; And I would willingly sacrifice verisimilitude - were that necessary - in order to avoid such issues in the classroom.DnD is similarly less a work of fiction than a social activity.&nbsp; Certainly, rape can be treated very well in such a context, but including a race that has its origins in rape is neither necessary to such a treatment not particularly tasteful.&nbsp; It opens up the issue of social abuse by hardcoding the trauma into a game choice put forward by the publisher.&nbsp; It's not a cut and dry situation.&nbsp; If WotC chooses to include rape as a character origin then that's an artistic decsion that must be justified.&nbsp; If WotC chooses to eschew such tactics than that's a moral decision to be commended.I'm far from convinced that the Embrace is a rape-proxy.&nbsp; In the context of the game and vampire lore in general it would be far more accurate and fair to call it a sex proxy.&nbsp; There is the possibility of violation inherent in the act, but it's certainly not necessarilly rape.&nbsp; Certainy, it isn't treated as rape in the game or the lore.That said, in the Lunar Exalted source book by that same company - at least in the first edition of the game - the subject of rape as an origin story for a character and a common practice by a character's culture is brought up.&nbsp; It's also dealt with with an extended sidebar discussion of the ethics and considerations of bringing rape into a RPG environment.So I would argue that White Wolf is very aware of the ethical and social weight behind the subject and its unique qualities in a game that is otherwise dedicated to violence.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dr. Strangemonkey, post: 4662215, member: 6533"] I teach writing courses as well, and I have to say that I have a divergent opinion. That might be because I also work at shelter for victims of domestic violence, but I don't think its fair to require someone who has already dealt with an issue of trauma in a real way to then deal with it in a fictional way. To enjoy, in some sense or another, a recreation of their trauma. As a social exercise it's flippant, callous, and an abuse of power. And I would willingly sacrifice verisimilitude - were that necessary - in order to avoid such issues in the classroom. DnD is similarly less a work of fiction than a social activity. Certainly, rape can be treated very well in such a context, but including a race that has its origins in rape is neither necessary to such a treatment not particularly tasteful. It opens up the issue of social abuse by hardcoding the trauma into a game choice put forward by the publisher. It's not a cut and dry situation. If WotC chooses to include rape as a character origin then that's an artistic decsion that must be justified. If WotC chooses to eschew such tactics than that's a moral decision to be commended. I'm far from convinced that the Embrace is a rape-proxy. In the context of the game and vampire lore in general it would be far more accurate and fair to call it a sex proxy. There is the possibility of violation inherent in the act, but it's certainly not necessarilly rape. Certainy, it isn't treated as rape in the game or the lore. That said, in the Lunar Exalted source book by that same company - at least in the first edition of the game - the subject of rape as an origin story for a character and a common practice by a character's culture is brought up. It's also dealt with with an extended sidebar discussion of the ethics and considerations of bringing rape into a RPG environment. So I would argue that White Wolf is very aware of the ethical and social weight behind the subject and its unique qualities in a game that is otherwise dedicated to violence. [/QUOTE]

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