Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Malmuria" data-source="post: 8578157" data-attributes="member: 7030755">See my original point:If someone were to write an rpg setting based in appalachia in the early twentieth century, for example, they would still need to do some research even if they are from there.  But they would have access to cultural knowledge that would make that process easier.  They would be able to come up with names for npcs.  They could think of figures in their own life, grandparents for example, to use as inspiration.  They would have really fundamental understanding of the geography and topography, flora, fauna, and weather; not just what it is, but what it feels like, how to evoke it.  And, they would have access to different sorts of cultural memory: slang, family stories, music, etc.The cultural memory that other people grow up immersed in can be researched and acquired.  You can learn languages, listen to stories, read literature and history.   I know people who have PhDs in South Asian literature or history who are not from South Asia but have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of their area of focus.  But then, they've spent the better part of their life devoting themselves to study, and I'm not sure that's in the scope of most rpg producers.  If an rpg producer wanted to hire who had someone of that level of knowledge, whether they were ethnically South Asian or not, that would be great! and I think do a great service to the end product.  Though, my other points, especially (1) above, still stand.  And potentially (3), though I think/hope scholars are more aware today about the problematics of appropriation.</blockquote>

Verification