Modern gaming isn’t “broken”. It’s not “pandering”. And diversity doesn’t “ruin” games. I’m so tired of this. Let’s talk about it.
Background
Just before the new year kicked off, a mainstream website released a clickbait-y article that toed the reactionary line that orcs had to be orcs and that making them “friendly” wasn’t going to make “anyone” happy. It wasn’t a good article. But it drew attention back to the perennial problem in D&D and many of its descendants. Racism.
Racism in Gaming Persists
Racism has been, and remains, a persistent problem in the tabletop RPG world. And as conservatives and their reactionary followers ramp up the culture wars to “reclaim” (read: to bring racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc… back into acceptance as “norms”), we’re seeing the pushback against diversity and inclusion increase. Whether it’s attacks on actual play cast members, critics, creators, we’re seeing it all ramp up. Why? Because they think they have a chance to turn back the clock.
Diversity Made Games Better
Between the massively more diverse (in every way) consumer base, and the advent of the internet and social media giving use voices that can’t be as easily ignored as they were in the past, games got better. The quality improved. The stories they explored got better. More people than 15 to 30 year old cis white males got to see themselves in the games and join in having a power fantasy. And nuance started to be normalized. But reactionaries saw it all as personal attacks. It didn’t matter that they could just practice what they preached, the classic “If you don’t like it, fix it at YOUR table!” The mere fact that games weren’t catering exclusively to them anymore was an affront. And now we’re in the fallout.
What do they want?
To be blunt, what they want are games and systems that narratively and mechanically facilitate racism and other forms of discrimination. They want to be able to use fantasy slurs and engage in fantasy racism and fantasy genocide. Why? Because it’s not socially acceptable for them to do it in public in most spaces. They want to act out their worst impulses and beliefs in a system that supports them. They’ll call it “having fun”.
What can we do?
As creatives and consumers, we have to walk the walk. We have to support the creatives and publishers who are maintaining the line and not caving to perceived public pressure. Watch actual plays and listen to podcasts that support diversity and show it. Share posts, like videos, and subscribe/follow them online. Passivity is death in this instance. There’s no “I’ll sit this out and see how the dust settles.” That’s the minimum that reactionaries want. Because if you take yourself out of the equation, you’re handing them an easier victory and making the fight harder for the rest of us.
Final Thoughts
I’m sick to death of the mantra “go woke, go broke” getting thrown around when every metric indicates that diversity brings greater success. And I’m tired of clickbait from bigger platforms trying present the issue as something that “leaves no one happy.” The only people who aren’t happy are racists and people who wanted them to go further. And those are not equal ends of a spectrum. Games do not NEED to have racism in them. And we need to draw a line. We need to stop supporting the people who write this trash, and redouble our support for people who are pushing for the diverse gaming future we deserve.
Huzzah!
Well said.