D&D General Settings of Hope vs Settings of Despair

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Once things start to get real, we see what people are really about.

Folks in the midst of natural disasters -- real ones, not ones in movies -- tend to be incredibly empathetic and helpful, even toward strangers.

People are better than we think.

 

[overgeeked]

Maybe empathy isnt the right word, I'm struggling to find.

If I cannot provide for my kids, I'm not going to provide for yours. I would starve for my kids, but at that point I'm not making donations to the local soup kitchen.

Communities banding together, supporting eachother, I get that. I guess I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for is for when a society in decline, has people start to look out for themselves first.

I’m not sure empathy is the right word either. But I know what you’re getting at. Check out Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

You have to fulfill your basic needs before you worry about “higher needs” and the basic needs of others.

If you have to tighten your belt a little to help a neighbor, you will. If you have to starve to prevent a neighbor from starving, well…sorry neighbor.

General you throughout.

 

[overgeeked]

Folks in the midst of natural disasters -- real ones, not ones in movies -- tend to be incredibly empathetic and helpful, even toward strangers.

People are better than we think.

Yep. Happens every time.

 

[Celebrim]

Actually, that tends not to be true? Empathy is about understanding somebody else's internal state and tends to be correlated with pro-social behavior; some studies suggest that the more power and status somebody has the less empathetic they are while those from lower social strata have sometimes been observed to exhibit higher empathy.

Cf: studies on empathy and altruism in communities struck by natural disasters & etc.

"Empathy" is a very slippery term because it's a feeling and not an action. Altruism is generally a better measure because you can actually measure it somewhat objectively. "Empathy" or "Pro-Social" studies are all over the map in their conclusions with respect to how income and status effects it, I think in large part because what counts as "empathy" or "pro-social" heavily varies according to the constructor of the scenario or test.

cf: Higher income individuals are more generous when local economic inequality is high - PMC

 

[zakael19]

"Empathy" is a very slippery term because it's a feeling and not an action. Altruism is generally a better measure because you can actually measure it somewhat objectively. "Empathy" or "Pro-Social" studies are all over the map in their conclusions with respect to how income and status effects it, I think in large part because what counts as "empathy" or "pro-social" heavily varies according to the constructor of the scenario or test.

cf: Higher income individuals are more generous when local economic inequality is high - PMC

Empathy is the ability to perceive and understand the feelings of others. Empathic-altruism is the act of helping others because you understand that they're suffering. Empathy is correlated with pro-social behaviors because one part of that is understanding how others are affected by what you do.

Charitable giving is an entirely different thing, and may be more motivated by pity/sympathy (which is not quite the same thing).

A setting high in empathy suggests a place where people strive to understand each other, something which is often easier when you share relative backgrounds ime. Probably also scores high on community, working together, etc.

If you have to tighten your belt a little to help a neighbor, you will. If you have to starve to prevent a neighbor from starving, well…sorry neighbor.

And yet we have stories like the Choctaw, a tribe that had recently been on the edge of starvation and was still struggling to make ends meet sending money to the starving Irish in recognition of their suffering. We have plenty of stories both current and in fable of people giving the shirts of their backs, or splitting their limited food.

Humans are complicated. Your fantasy setting may not track human interactions directly, and your fantasy cultures and species may have different expressions of what empathy/caring/interactions demand.

What I think defines Hope vs Despair for the purposes of this thread is more about the ability to affect change. Dark Souls is a setting of Despair because ya ain't realy making things better due to the weird metaphysics of that land. Blades in the Dark is a setting of despair, because you're not going to (at least within the confines of the base game) really change the political and power dynamics of the Empire.

Eriador of the space between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings walks the line, I think, depending on what you focus on - but it's at least a land of melancholy.

 

[Clint_L]

Folks in the midst of natural disasters -- real ones, not ones in movies -- tend to be incredibly empathetic and helpful, even toward strangers.

People are better than we think.

I agree. It's usually when people have time to be ideological that they get terrible, at least at a systematic level.