D&D General Problematic issues with TSR era D&D from a modern lens

[VelvetViolet]

I’m more concerned by what people will find offensive 50 years from now that we all participate in.

Everything?

 

[Lylandra]

"Chris, the non-binary-identifying rogue, stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten cis-white-men. They had a Wand of Fireball, and they were willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and they died a fiery death."

See the problem here?

Let me edit this for you...

"Chris, the rogue, stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they were willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

first, this is certainly not how you'd introduce Chris' nonbinaryness, this would have to be made clear in a different context. So I'd use a gender-neutral pronoun and leave everything else up to the reader's mind (who would probably thing "huh? Why isn't Chris a 'he' or 'she' " anyway). Same with the men. You don't have to specify if they are cis or trans, for that context they are just men. And using too many pronouns isn't good style after all, so just switch to alternative descriptors like "rogue" or "Chris" or "insert previously used descriptive adjective".

 

[Haldrik]

you’ve got much more faith in AI than I do.

Unless we hit a technological breakthrough soon computers won’t get that much more powerful than they are now.

Language capability of AI seems on schedule.

I still expect Turing Test by roughly 2025.

Singularity, when AI designs future generations of AI, around 2040 or 2045, seems plausible.

Our generation will experience the end of the world as we know it. Yet the buildings that we live in will still look moreorless the same.

 

[FrogReaver]

Language capability of AI seems on schedule.

I still expect Turing Test by roughly 2025.

Singularity, when AI designs future generations of AI, around 2040 or 2045, seems plausible.

Our generation will experience the end of the world as we know it. Yet the buildings that we live in will still look moreorless the same.

you have much higher hopes for ai than I do.

 

[Haldrik]

you have much higher hopes for ai than I do.

When I read about a recent debate between AI and human experts, I was impressed. The AI was better at technical details, while the humans were better at emotional appeals. Observers considered it a wash.

 

[VelvetViolet]

Let me edit this for you...

"Chris, the rogue, stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they were willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

first, this is certainly not how you'd introduce Chris' nonbinaryness, this would have to be made clear in a different context. So I'd use a gender-neutral pronoun and leave everything else up to the reader's mind (who would probably thing "huh? Why isn't Chris a 'he' or 'she' " anyway). Same with the men. You don't have to specify if they are cis or trans, for that context they are just men. And using too many pronouns isn't good style after all, so just switch to alternative descriptors like "rogue" or "Chris" or "insert previously used descriptive adjective".

Let me edit it further:

"Chris stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they was willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

If a verb conjugates differently based on number, then use the singular form for singular pronouns.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

you have much higher hopes for ai than I do.

People didn't have high hopes for computers when they first were invented. Come to think of it, most revolutionary technologies had plenty of doubters.

Besides this being a bit off topic, I think a lot of the stuff we think is fine will be seen as offensive as the future, because that's how civilization works. We evolve.

 

[FrogReaver]

People didn't have high hopes for computers when they first were invented. Come to think of it, most revolutionary technologies had plenty of doubters.

Besides this being a bit off topic, I think a lot of the stuff we think is fine will be seen as offensive as the future, because that's how civilization works. We evolve.

Most epic failures when it comes to revolutionary technologies have plenty of doubters as well.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I’ve come to the conclusion that the word "problematic" is almost entirely useless if you actually want to address and solve issues. Everything is and isn’t problematic, and we can spend years in pointless debates. In my opinion, what really matters is what some people may find offensive, and that’s best dealt with by every gaming group, and what’s oppressive, and that should be dealt with by WotC.

 

[Raduin711]

Let me edit it further:

"Chris stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they was willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

If a verb conjugates differently based on number, then use the singular form for singular pronouns.

I would personally advocate for using the more natural-sounding conjugations. Nonbinary folks are already fighting an uphill battle getting people to use they instead of he or she, and getting people to use funny-sounding conjugations like "they is" and "they was" might be a bridge too far. The rules of language are based on usage... I suspect we will see "they are" being taught as the appropriate conjugation for a singular nonbinary person before we see "they is."