D&D (2024) What new jargon do you want to replace "Race"?

[Clint_L]

I still don't understand why people care so much. No one seems to really explain that. How are people so invested in this tiny change that a thread can reach 48 pages?

Like, I get why race was problematic, and agree that D&D should avoid mandating terms with serious real-world connotations that we don't need to be debating at our tables. I just don't understand why folks are so invested in the replacement word. Can folks explain why this matters to them?

 

[codo]

I still don't understand why people care so much. No one seems to really explain that. How are people so invested in this tiny change that a thread can reach 48 pages?

Like, I get why race was problematic, and agree that D&D should avoid mandating terms with serious real-world connotations that we don't need to be debating at our tables. I just don't understand why folks are so invested in the replacement word. Can folks explain why this matters to them?

You understand why race is a problem, but don't understand why people don't want the new term to have the same problem?

Replacing a term that people see as a racial slur, with a synonym with with same connotations is not fixing the problem. In fact I would say it is worse than doing nothing in the first place. It makes it look like you don't actually care about the issue, you are just making a token effort to make the problem go away. It comes across as, "Fine we changed it, now shut up."

 

[Micah Sweet]

You understand why race is a problem, but don't understand why people don't want the new term to have the same problem?

Replacing a term that people see as a racial slur, with a synonym with with same connotations is not fixing the problem. In fact I would say it is worse than doing nothing in the first place. It makes it look like you don't actually care about the issue, you are just making a token effort to make the problem go away. It comes across as, "Fine we changed it, now shut up."

There's unfortunately no way to know that that hasn't been their motivation all along. Damage control to cool off on the bad press.

 

[Hex08]

I still don't understand why people care so much.

Because people care about all kinds of things, some silly and some not. Just look at how people react when a sports team changes its name. People who are attached to the old name freak out and those who think it should change will defend their point of view without considering the other guy's emotional attachment. Everyone will come up with all kinds of reasons about why it matters but, in the end, they are just getting arguing about a business changing its name.

Here it's a business, rightly or wrongly, adapting to changing cultural morays and some people don't like change, some don't like the way the change is implemented, and some are fine with it so people express their opinions.

 

[Scribe]

I think the main reason ASIs were de-coupled from race was to allow people to have the stats they want with any race. Avoiding racism at the time was at most a secondary concern.

Which is all nonsense anyway.

Is it wrong to say a Tiger is stronger than a House Cat?

 

[codo]

Which is all nonsense anyway.

Is it wrong to say a Tiger is stronger than a House Cat?

If there was a real world history of the in-group referring to themselves as tigers, and using house cat as a slur to demean other groups, then yes it would be wrong. That's not the case though. Context matters. There isn't a simple black and white rule that you can mindlessly apply, to ensure your not being insensitive and offensive.

These are complicated issues with hundreds of years of history and baggage. If their where easy answers we wouldn't need to keep having these conversations.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If there was a real world history of the in-group referring to themselves as tigers, and using house cat as a slur to demean other groups, then yes it would be wrong. That's not the case though. Context matters. There isn't a simple black and white rule that you can mindlessly apply, to ensure your not being insensitive and offensive.

These are complicated issues with hundreds of years of history and baggage. If their where easy answers we wouldn't need to keep having these conversations.

If though tigers actually  are stronger than house cats?

 

[Scribe]

If there was a real world history of the in-group referring to themselves as tigers, and using house cat as a slur to demean other groups, then yes it would be wrong. That's not the case though. Context matters. There isn't a simple black and white rule that you can mindlessly apply, to ensure your not being insensitive and offensive.

These are complicated issues with hundreds of years of history and baggage. If their where easy answers we wouldn't need to keep having these conversations.

If you consider that a Tiger, is not a House Cat, just as a Goliath, is not a Halfling....then no, I dont need to see it as a 'complicated issue' with hundreds of years of history and baggage.

A Goliath, is not a Halfling, and a Tiger, is not a House Cat. These are not just words, these are (in a fictional land) actual entities with actual differences.

This is not me, calling myself a Tiger, and you, a House Cat, because oddly enough we are neither, we are simply Humans.

It is that easy, and you are correct, we dont need to keep having these conversations.

 

[Vaalingrade]

You understand why race is a problem, but don't understand why people don't want the new term to have the same problem?

Replacing a term that people see as a racial slur, with a synonym with with same connotations is not fixing the problem. In fact I would say it is worse than doing nothing in the first place. It makes it look like you don't actually care about the issue, you are just making a token effort to make the problem go away. It comes across as, "Fine we changed it, now shut up."

Because people aren't considering the reason for the change, just the change itself. They want something the 'feels' like 'race' even though that's literally the issue.

 

[codo]

If you consider that a Tiger, is not a House Cat, just as a Goliath, is not a Halfling....then no, I dont need to see it as a 'complicated issue' with hundreds of years of history and baggage.

A Goliath, is not a Halfling, and a Tiger, is not a House Cat. These are not just words, these are (in a fictional land) actual entities with actual differences.

This is not me, calling myself a Tiger, and you, a House Cat, because oddly enough we are neither, we are simply Humans.

It is that easy, and you are correct, we dont need to keep having these conversations.

You just solved racism is 4 sentences? Who knew it was so easy. Simplistic examples using terms with no history or baggage makes for easy answers.

An orc is not a racial stand-in for racial minorities, except when it is. I don't think I want to again have to go into the details of the long history of deliberately racist products, or statements by the designers of both DnD and fantasy in general.

Once something has an established history, you can't just keep using the same terminology and expect just claiming "no racism intended", will actually address the issue.