Racism and you.

[Olither]

So, my character displayed some healthy, setting canonized racism, and I was only met with IC disapproval. I think that this really discourages individualism or a sense that Hillmen and Charali really are looked down upon. Hell, I am pretty sure most players play Hillmen and Charali -to- be looked down upon. It's part of what makes those races unique. Then, I could be wrong, so I'll be quiet and let everyone else discuss this.

[Kinaed]

Yeah, I saw the same thing happen when I threw fruit at a burning mage or when nobles spit on freemen.

My personal stance on it is this:

This is a game where unsavory themes are enacted. This is in theme, and this is okay. BUT the player doing the racism/sexism/classism/whatever-ism needs to be careful to make sure that it's fun for all parties instead of hurtful.

Let's face it, people do get caught up in their characters and echo the feelings of their characters. As long as it's good natured and clearly communicated as such by the handling of the RP by the racist/classist/whatever-ist character, it's fine. If it leaves someone sitting crying at their computer screen unsure why Joe-blow they just met hates them OOCly, 'cause they just walked into the room... that's not okay because it will lose us players. Yes, probably people playing those characters have to be aware of the theme, but even so - no one's playing to make other people feel awful, right? That's not what we get out of RPing our ill-tempered characters, is it?

Some suggestions on handling that are:
- ICly acknowledge that your character is acting the bastard in the text:
Kinaed smirks at /Azarial and says, "Charali are all alike - unwashed." Her racist comment doesn't seem to bother her in the least.

- OOCly forewarn the player
Tell kinaed Er, just so you know, I'm about to RP a pretty racist facet of my character. I just want to let you know OOCly that it's not directed towards you OOCly, 'cause some people have taken offense in the past, and I just want a fun, in-theme character.

- Apologize if someone does take offense
Osay sorry! It's just my character is racist as is in-theme.

Any other suggestions?

[Olither]

The particular player my character was being racist to has expressed that he desires more racism in the game, as well.

[Kinaed]

I think there is a bit of "I want to be the noble hero and stamp out this cruelty" psychology going on in some players. Eg, instead of adopting the mindset of the theme, they want their characters to be better than the theme and mindset based on our modern values.

Not certain how to resolve that, really, but I think it's definitely there. Certainly players trying to play theme ought not to be abused for it, otherwise the game doesn't have a worthwhile/strong theme at all. Maybe the reverse of what I said above should be done by those trying to be the hero?

(EDITS: A few edits to make sure I fit the topic and respond to Olither here.)

[Tribalware]

ive been involved in a couple of racism based events today, which seemed to incorporate an interesting ooc/ic mix of feelings and values.

i dont think rping the theme should be discouraged, however at the same time i dont think its surprising that chars will be expected to offer a somewhat 'frak you' response to blatent put downs based on their race. what i mean is that its easy to rp slinging racism and not so easy to rp absorbing it, we're children of the free world and its hard not to relate even fantasy racism rp to a very real set of circumstances. and all of us know in one form or another how terrible rl racism can be.

there are many many reasons why a player would want to choose a hillman or charalin character other than 'to be a second class citizen'. granted that comes with the territory but hell, i chose my character because i like being of a different mindset in the midst of materialists and money grabbers, and i reflect this when playing my character like i might reflect similar attitudes towards things like racism.

'i dont think much of your kind hillman' and 'you hillman scum' produce very different reactions in a player, a touch of sensitivity when enacting perfectly ic-viable racism will work wonders in ensuring that proper character reactions as opposed to personal ones are adopted during this kind of rp.

[Geras]

For a lot of people racism is a very touchy subject. I'm not going to criticize anyone for playing it up a little bit, but for me personally not being a bigot is one anachronism that doesn't affect my suspension of disbelief negatively at all. This is a game, not a simulation of real life.

[Tribalware]

yes... thanks for that. and yet in real life we are. as kinaed pointed out people naturally put themselves into their characters, sometimes the personal response through the character is a hard one to eliminate, bottom line of it being that any rp situation that elicits a genuinely negative ooc response should be worked around with tactfulness in mind. because it IS a game and we DO want it to be fun with no real drawbacks. telling someone whos upset 'its just a game dude stop being a witch' isnt going to improve things is it.

anyway i think we are getting off topic slightly with the ooc side of things as the problem seemed to be a negative ic reaction from other players? perhaps thats a similar trend to that of nobles holding off public beatings of freeman at every turn even though theyd be entitled to. ie its perfectly valid ic wise but it would upset a lot of newer players to be forced into degrading rp like that. it really does seem to be something that comes with time as well, as a newer player id have hated copping a beating or heavy racism ic but now id see the value of something like this happening as long as it was carried out well.