WotC WotC's Chris Perkins On D&D's Inclusivity Processes Going Forward

Over on D&D Beyond, WotC's Chris Perkins has written a blog entry about how the company's processes have been changed to improve the way the D&D studio deals with harmful content and inclusivity. This follows recent issues with racist content in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, and involves working with external cultural consultants.

The studio’s new process mandates that every word, illustration, and map must be reviewed by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication.

Leveling Up Our Creative Process: Learnings From Spelljammer

In this blog post, I'll talk about how we in the D&D Studio are changing our review process following the problematic content that appeared in Spell...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Azzy]

And I promise you that everything is offensive to someone.

So that's your argument against trying to do better?

 

[FrogReaver]

Believe that one person is offended and that the other person is not.

The question is about the content. Should I believe that content is racially offensive in That situation or not.

 

[FrogReaver]

So that's your argument against trying to do better?

Nothing. The question is more whether what’s being attempted is actually better.

 

[Ixal]

You said "Censor"

Where you intending on using "Censure"? Which is a very different word.

The only time I said it was in regards to the bullying example, not in regards to WotC publishing.

Also I assumed "censoring a behaviour" is a synonym to punish said behaviour.
Although its very late here so I was probably wrong.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Unlike Africans Americans and Asian Americans, I haven't heard from Norwegians saying that they were not fine with various D&D Not-Vikings or saying that they are deeply offensive. However, were I to hear such complaints from Norwegians, I would support them if they asked WotC to create better representation.

As an American descended from people from Norway and Sweden that immigrated to the USA, I have heard some other people of Nordic descent complain about misrepresentations of their ancestors in the media. Not major complaints, but just small ones like Vikings having horned helmets or all Vikings being perceived as brutish barbarians when most were traders and farmers. And there is the larger issue of white supremacists using runes.

But, note, these issues either don't exist in D&D (white supremacist runes) or are really minor (frost giants having horned helmets). There is absolutely no valid comparison between "horned helmets are probably not historically accurate and not all Vikings were barbarians" and "hey, this lore and art echoes a lot of racist propaganda that has been used to justify systemic oppression against our people for hundreds of years".

That's the main point. Black people have been subjected to centuries of discrimination, including chattel slavery, for hundreds of years and the fallout of this discrimination is still a part of our modern culture. Norwegians are mildly annoyed about their ancestor's culture which did include raiding, raping, and stealing being a bit misrepresented in pop culture.

There is no good faith comparison between these two situations. Trying to compare the two shows a lack of education on the topic and extreme privilege.

 

[Mecheon]

Also I assumed "censoring a behaviour" is a synonym to punish said behaviour.

That'd be Censure, not Censor. Censoring is, well, censorship on the situation

 

[Azzy]

How many people need to be offended before WotC must change something? Again in regards to the Satan Panic people.
And how can this number even be determined? Twitter noise?

Are the religious fundamentalists (who have a storied history of oppressing others and actual censorship) being denigrated within the content? No.

The question is about the content. Should I believe that content is racially offensive in That situation or not.

When the content mirrors actual racist depictions and epithets, you should definitely believe it's offensive

 

[Ixal]

That'd be Censure, not Censor. Censoring is, well, censorship on the situation

I stand corrected, but at least I was not that far off.

 

[Azzy]

Nothing. The question is more whether what’s being attempted is actually better.

Not mirroring real world racist depictions and epithets is always better.

 

[Minigiant]

Because that is not what is happening.
Its not the 3 kids saying they are being bullied, its the 15 kids saying the 3 must feel bullied by the 2.

I agree, let the 3 kids speak up. But that is not what happened with the Hadozee or Oriental Adventures.

That's exactly what happened.

It desn't feel that way becausee Social Media is biased against POC voices and members of other groups are given more publicity.