I encountered the announcement by Wizards of the Coast via my Facebook feed (I’m old). In particular, two posts–one by James Whitbrook of Gizmondo, and the other by Jeremy Blum of The Huffington Post. Luck of the draw, I decided to comment on (and read the comments from) the later article. As expected, it was… problematic.
Most people focused on the racial depictions of orcs and drow as evil (rather than the number of other problems I addressed in the previous article). Many people, even those who have played D&D expressed that old pop culture critique: Nostalgia For a Time When [Games] Weren’t Politicized–as if, because we were too young to understand the politics, they simply didn’t exist.
Others shrugged it off, saying they had modified the rules of their own games to avoid the problem; however, as I noted in my previous installment, they are probably the exception, rather than the rule.
One guy, “James Baldwin,” accidentally hits on what a lot of people do in these types of games:
How about the whole concept of adventuring: “We are going to go into this communal multifamily subterranean dwelling, murder absolutely everything, and take all their stuff…. You know, because we’re the good guys, and they dont [sic] look like us.”
This was meant to be tounge [sic] in cheek, but after writing it out, it’s pretty horrifying.
Yes, it’s bad campaign design, but it’s also the attitude we take when running a dungeon, enforced by pretty much every RPG–including computer and console games–since.
A number of people blamed Tolkien. I first responded to a guy (“Jim Bush”) who noted:
I mean, orcs, as envisioned by Tolkien, were literally created by evil, for evil, through an intentional (and evil!) perversion of elves. They are engineered to be evil. They aren’t an evil culture but are literally just designed to be soulless killing machines that can kinda listen to orders….
This is the strangest, dumbest thing I’ve read on HuffPost in……well, in the last 10 minutes anyway. You guys been jumpin sharks for years.
Blaming a decision by Wizards of the Coast on Huffpost is weird. Or maybe he just thinks it’s weird they’d report on it. In any case, I replied, “I get your point RE: Tolkien’s vision and worldview, but the idea that whole races are genetically predisposed to “good” or “evil” ( or “lawfulness” or “chaotisism”)—even in fiction—is hugely problematic, and divisive, on a conceptual level.”
Besides, Tolkien isn’t to blame. A better synopsis of Tolkien was offered by “Kevin Brown,” who said:
I don’t know a damn thing about fantasy role-playing games, but in Middle-earth it was held by the Wise that nothing was created evil. The Orcs were not even created beings. They were bred from existing races, corrupted, and dominated by the will of Morgoth and Sauron who rebelled against God.
So evil races weren’t a Tolkien thing, just a D&D thing. I got mild props for my own statement, “It’s [a predetermined notion of race is] a concept more contemporary artists, as I aspire to be, are attempting to challenge. Works in the vein of Grendel can shift this.” Grendel, of course being the monster from Beowulf, reimagined by John Gardner in 1971 as a misunderstood anti-hero.
A number of fans went straight to a similar model: Drizzt Do’Urden, hero of R.A. Salvatore’s Icewind Dale trilogy, and several subsequent trilogies. Drizzt is a Drow elf and a sword master who rejects the evil of his subterranean, matriarchal society and strikes out for the surface. Although he faces racial persecution at every turn, he makes a name for himself and gains the support of some powerful friends.
The problem with both of these examples are that it’s tokenism, in the same vein as, “Racism isn’t a problem in America because, this one time, we had an exceptional black man as President.” Pointing out one or two exceptions doesn’t disprove the rule. These types of examples are used to support the “Mobility Myth” that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and better themselves–which is a great idea, if you own boots. The point is, not everyone has the means to effectively improve their situation, and the further down you start, the more likely you are to fail.
What we need are more depictions, and more support to create these types of heroes and characters. Yes, it’s about black and African American (and Asian, and Hispanic etc.) representations on screens (large and small) and in books and games. It needs to become so much a part of our visual and cultural field that we don’t notice particular members or trees for the forest they’re standing in front of. Until the race of an actor or character becomes a thing we wouldn’t think to comment on, because it’s so commonplace. Nick Fury is black now? Yep. Yes, there’s a black Stormtrooper. So what? Yes, members of a Rebel bombing run (and tech crew) look Asian. And? There were black Amazons in Wonder Woman? Of course.
A final category of comments I wish to discuss brings us back to “Jim Bush.” Those both in favor of #Blacklivesmatter and opposed thought that this story was inconsequential. “James Culver” notes,
Oh FFS…D&D has ALWAYS been about diversity…stop trying to change the focus of racial bias and inequality from REAL WORLD issues(like police reform and systemic racism) to a fantasy role playing game. Prioritize.
I’ll repeat what I said in the last post,
I’m happy at least that Wizards of the Coast aren’t just parroting #BlackLivesMatter, nor are they just throwing money at the issue. They’re trying to be better when doing what they do. That makes them role models.
These stories matter. If other company’s would do similar things and fix their own houses, a lot of things might get markedly better. And that makes efforts like these “news-worthy.”
Comments? Thoughts? Something I missed?
