RPGs Can Survive Learning Some New Tricks
A friend responded to my articles on artwork in RPGs being sexist and the sexism that I felt was apparent in my review of an RPG aimed at children with the following:
While I agree with you that sexism is bad, I don’t think it’s something that can be divorced from RPGs. RPGs are essentially an attempt to vicariously emulate leisure class status gaining behavior and unfortunately clannishness (racism and sexism) and treating others as property (sexism and slavery) are very tied into those concepts. I think the difficulty is that if you remove those elements from RPGs, they become less effective means of emulating the leisure class and thus less desirable games to play. ie: it makes them less desirable RPGs.
Now I feel that my friend is wrong. In fact, my response to him was “Bullshit. Total bullshit.” I think that he is good person though, despite being way off base here.
The issue I have with this response is that if in order to survive RPGs must have elements of racism and sexism within them then let RPGs drop off a fucking cliff and die already. Seriously, I will gladly let them rot in a ditch if they are products that must contains sexist and racist elements. Luckily RPGs do not need racist and sexist elements within them in order to survive. I feel that in order for RPGs to survive those racists and sexist elements need to be removed.
This is not about the bullshit of tolerance. I do not expect, nor want, everyone holding hands and agreeing with each other while avoiding anything that might hurt another person’s feelings. I do not want false fronts put up like “Well it is okay for the Catholic church to be against homosexuality, because that is their right to believe what they believe.” Fuck that! It is not okay to be against homosexuality. It is wrong, but they do have a right to believe that and to believe that I am wrong. I am not going to tolerate that crap in my house though. I do not expect you to tolerate my superior wisdom (that is code for saying “my crap” by the way) in your house.
What I am talking about is that these elements of racism and sexism make RPG products less appealing to a larger audience. You want RPGs to survive? Do not keep those elements, but eliminate them. Then maybe after you lose any douchebags who actually want sexism and racism in their RPGs you might gain a whole bunch of customers who are women or of other races.
Look, we RPG tabletop gamers are already a niche market. We claim to be “super-friendly and accepting” people (I have met many gamers who are not), so why would we lose players and GMs if we were to actually eliminate things that keep others from perceiving us as “super-friendly and accepting” people? We would not. Or maybe we are not all that fucking “super-friendly and accepting” (GASP!) and how would it hurt to make our products less appealing to people who want sexist and racist bullshit in their RPGs when we might then attract new players and GMs by doing so? It is a win either way!
You can even keep those “classic” elements by just calling them what they are in the actual texts. Instead of “Dwarves do not get along with Elves, and Elves look down upon Dwarves.” change that line to “Most Dwarves and Elves are racist towards each other. It makes no sense that they are, but that it is why it is called racism. Use this as an element to cause social tension in the game with.”
Or maybe “The female warriors in this game must expose their cleavage and suffer armor penalties, because the people who produced this game just want to see boobs.” At least if you are honest I can then make an informed decision as to why you put Madam Hooters on your book’s cover.
I am so freaking tired of those types of covers on RPG books.
“Oh. They could not be creative, so they are using the appeal of breasts to sell me on their book. Hmm. I do like breasts, but my wife will show me her breasts if I ask nicely. I think I will get the non-boobs on the cover book instead because that one looks like the publishers are trying to do something different.”
Anyhow, RPGs will survive if we start thinking outside of the box of tradition. They may change and they may not have same appeal as they used to for some customers, but they will survive. If you believe differently you are wrong. Trust me.
Now go have a good game and think about that, eh?
I agree with your friend for different reasons. It comes down to the setting of the game. While sexism, to an extent, would fit the classic series of Star Trek, one of the elements of any great story is conflict.
If science fiction does anything well, it portrays themes and ideas that we can relate to in our modern world, while providing a unique setting to explore why those things can be an issue with humanity.
In regards to racism, the Warhammer world provides “The War of the Beard” as the perfect reason why there is conflict between the elves and the dwarves and it’s not just simply racism.
You can’t change history by taking the word “nigger” out of a Mark Twain classic just to replace it with “slave.” It alters the meaning and the message. As this article states (http://blog.erace-inc.com/2011/02/nigger-please/), boiling it down to “shit happens” drowns out the roots of the original writings. In the case of RPGs it rips out the roots of the genre.
Art appreciation is subjective. Misogyny and sexism are not. There is no inherent sexism in the enjoyment of beautiful art. Misogyny is in the deed, not the snapshot of the view. When Tess puts on an apron that was not made for the kitchen, I know there is no need to ask permission to see her breasts. So whether it’s an apron, a chain mail bikini (http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/), or whatever gets you off, it is important to recognize that sexy artwork is not sexist.
Again, regardless of these elements, what makes a good story, and in this case what makes a good RPG, is conflict we understand. Even our conversations are more interesting reading than skimming over a bunch of “yes men” comments, because of the conflict present.
Yes, you could pull all of that out of an RPG and come up with creative ways to homogenize conflict. Your idea of a team violating the Prime Directive with their use of teleportation on an alien planet, could fit that example.
Racism and slavery are useful in RPGs because types of conflict like the Prime Directive require the construction of a complex moral and legal system on an alien planet which no one has the time or patience to learn for one game module, or session.
Most people throw out setting material left and right. To try and do that for them creates more work for the DM and players. Putting racism, slavery and sexism back into your game where it belongs eliminates that problem.
@burnedfx: Did you read this part of the post?
“You can even keep those “classic” elements by just calling them what they are in the actual texts. Instead of “Dwarves do not get along with Elves, and Elves look down upon Dwarves.” change that line to “Most Dwarves and Elves are racist towards each other. It makes no sense that they are, but that it is why it is called racism. Use this as an element to cause social tension in the game with.”
You want elements to have conflicts over in a game that is fine. If you want it to conflicts fueled by racism and sexism that is fine too.
If your product promotes racism and sexism that ain’t fucking fine!
Here is a great example of a game that uses racism and slavery as the very core for what the game is about:
http://www.stone-baby.com/wordpress/?page_id=102
I have no problem with Steal Away Jordan because it does a great job of embracing the actual history of slavery in order to emulate that experience onto the players.
Putting scantily clad women on the cover of a book is just using sex to sell your product even though your product is not about sex. That is just plain old bullshit. It is how the airlines and the auto industry used to sell their products, and what did they learn?
“Hey Bob, did you know that these women who fly for their work and buy their own cars don’t buy our products when we use women as sex objects in our ads? I wonder why…”
There is a huge difference between addressing the issues of sexism and racism, and making something that is racist and sexist. When Mark Twain wrote the word “nigger” he was showing this nation just how ugly it could be, but when the KKK uses it is racist. Same thing when it comes to art versus just plain old dirty pictures.
Now you can have your racist and sexist products if you want them. My point is that those are the products that will keep RPGs a small and niche hobby. You want more gamers who play tabletop RPGs? Make the games more appealing to non-traditional tabletop RPG players, and weed this sort of shit out.
@Patrick Benson: I did read that part. Just like your example of “Steal Away Jordan,” the “War of the Beard” provided an excellent example of in game racism that was more interesting than “Dwarves do not get along with Elves, and Elves look down upon Dwarves.” I thought it helped emphasized your point.
(http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/War_of_the_Beard)
If your product promotes racism and sexism that ain’t fucking fine!
100% agree. No way in hell, would I want a product, RPG or anything else, that promoted any of these things!
Your dislike for using sex to sell products, from RPGs to airline tickets, is noted. You still are confusing it with sexism in your main article, your comments and in the post “If I wanted Boobs . . .” with the tag “sexist art.”
Again, art is subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What you or my mom might consider “plain old dirty pictures,” others would consider gorgeous pin-up art from the 60s or a fantastic rendering of the human body or an exceptional piece by a photographer. Yet, in all cases, the art is not sexist.
Venus de Milo. David. Rembrandt. Caravaggio. Mapplethorpe. John Rankin Waddell.
Just like you, I do not want a product that promotes sexism, racism, or slavery as a positive thing in my house. These elements in RPGs provide a great source of conflict for the players to be up against, not for.
Understood conflict should not be removed from RPGs.
If your point is that promotion of racism, sexism, and slavery is keeping RPGs a niche hobby, I have to ask which RPGs you are talking about?
Where are the examples that are scaring off potential new players?
I am not suggesting they do not exist, but both of us have only provided great examples of racism and slavery put to good use. Where are these products promoting the subjects as something that should be acceptable? And what local game stores are providing shelf room for these products?
@burnedfx: Let’s see, how about these:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?keywords=Hot+Chicks&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=
Or maybe we can discuss how it is such a trope that it is actually a bit of a joke?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ContemptibleCover
Notice how the above site actually has a section on these covers for tabletop games!
Or maybe we can refer back to what I said in a previous post about the 4e cover? Or maybe the cover of Goodman Games’ “Dragoria’s Dungeon”?
Need more examples? Go look at the covers and notice how women are portrayed as opposed to men. Can’t see what the tendency is? I call bullshit. You are either in denial or blind.
The racism tends to be less obvious, but notice how so many games tend to portray characters in heroic roles as predominantly white? Take a count there as well, and holy shit you’ll notice that RPGs tend to be about white guys. At least the ones doing things the old way are.
The more progressive games are not doing this shit, and those are the games that are winning the awards and pushing boundaries. These are the games that will expand the market.
Regarding art, Venus de Milo is a unique sculpture that displays an amazing technique behind its production from an era when bare breasts were pretty common sights in everyday life for the region the sculpture came from. More importantly though is that art is something different. When something is common the art argument falls apart. It is no longer different, but just marketing. Crank another bland product, throw a pair of tits on the cover. Art? Fuck no. Art makes you think. This shit is just the same old, same old.
@Patrick Benson: I have already acknowledged that you dislike the use of sex to sell products. The laughable products that you linked, the 4e cover, the cover of Dragora’s Dungeon are all using sex to sell their products in some form. However, that was not the premise of your post.
You specifically said your point is that the promotion of racism, sexism and slavery in RPGs is keeping RPGs a niche hobby.
Again, where are the products in RPGs that are promoting sexism, racism and slavery as a positive thing to be for and not against? Where are the products that are presenting it as something acceptable and not a source of conflict?
I see products that are using sex to sell, a tried and true method. Whether it makes you squeamish or goes against possible religious views, it still does not promote the discussed triumvirate.
@burnedfx: There are schools of thought that say if you are using sex to sell a product that isn’t about sex you are practicing a form of sexism. Such as the infamous “Fly me!” ad campaign of one airline where attractive stewardesses (they were not yet called flight attendants) told potential customers in sultry voices to “Fly me!” if they chose to fly that airline.
That is using sex to sell a product. Are you saying that that is not sexist? If you do not feel that is sexist then you are wrong. Done. Nothing to talk about. You are wrong.
Go investigate your life. You need to.
When I flip through my old games and my newer games I see mostly white heroes. So which games am I talking about in particular? I’ll excuse the original D&D because it was something so new and different that it was art. But the TSR/White Wolf products that followed such as Top Secret /S.I., AD&D 2nd Edition, D&D 4th Edition were just “white guy hero” products with their art. It just gets worst when we stray from the biggest publisher.
You dont’ see that in those games? You don’t see a predominantly Anglo-Saxon favoritism? Again, you are wrong. Done. No point talking about this.
Get back to investigating your life. You are missing something.
I’ll give credit to White Wolf – their stuff represented a fucked up world but they had a cohesive portrayal of a world where sex and race were merely touch points on the surface. Scantily clad women and men of all races in the end were all just monsters. It truly was something different when it first came out. It was art.
As for religion, I’m an atheist skeptic. Go make assumptions elsewhere.