The real-world baggage associated with the word "race" - the baggage you're specifically discounting after Memnosyne offered you some research material - is the entire reason the word is being discontinued in official publication. Saying "I only care about D&D" is ignoring the entire reason this is an issue in the first place.
Ophidimancer doesn't have to bare his hurts to you if he doesn't want to. You're not his therapist, you're not his friend or ally. You are a stranger on the Internet asking him to describe in detail his wounds so you can poke around in his psyche and determine if those wounds are worthy. Think on how you would feel if someone you'd never met asked you to do the same.
I didn't, and don't, expect you to change your mind. I don't particularly care if you do. I told you to post here if you wanted to assail my ideas because I'm not going to have this same conversation in my DMs when I'm already having it here. You can be part of the public discourse or you can let me be. Yes, that means you have to mind your manners. So do I, and believe me when I say that benefits you more than it does me.
I told you the same thing I'll tell anyone else who says to me what you said to me. You don't get to decide who is allowed to be hurt by what. You don't get to make that call for anyone at all other than your own personal self. No one does. Enough people argued their case to Wizards over the years that Wizards has finally seen fit to start cleaning up their act (in this area, at least). That is all you're allowed to do - make your case. Moderation staff for DDB has made it plain that they will no longer tolerate anybody trying to assert that their view of what is or is not hurtful takes precedence over the people who've been hurt. You don't get to tell Ophidimancer that he's not allowed to be hurt. You don't get to tell me that. You don't get to tell Memnosyne that. You don't get to tell any-damn-body that except yourself. Not anymore.
If someone cannot make their peace with that, DDB moderation has declared that they are not allowed to participate in this discussion anymore.
I will keep the discussion with someone else Yurei as i believe that the more we talk and the more you recluse yourself in your own vision and some of your answer seem to tend to a predefine vision of what i may have said but didn't. My question to Ophidimancer starts by asking him if he doesn't mind sharing which you disregard into answering me that he doesn't have to share. My answer to Memnosyne clearly defines that the words evolves in the dictionary but you chose to disregard that fact by asking me to read the history of the word. You've clearly said that D&D has used that word multiple time in our private chat which justify such a request but you blatantly disregard my inquiry ...and instead keep talking about what i should or shouldn't do. So i will discuss with others like Ophidimancer and Memnosyne if they feel like doing so and this was the exact reason why i would rather PM someone and discuss with them than clutter this chat...
Can you give me an example if it doesn't cause you harm into doing so?
First of all let me tell you about the wave of fatigue that hit me in response to this question. As a minority it's very very tiring to be constantly asked to have to justify our safety by people who often seem determined to dismiss whatever answer we give anyway. You might not intend on approaching it this way, that remains to be seen, but the aggregate of all the responses online about this amount to a rabid and never ending stream of trolling. I know you're not at fault for that, but you should be aware of the effect it has having, nonetheless. Because even if you're not at fault for it, you are still responsible for the consequences of your actions, be they intended or not.
That way, it could enlighten me in what people are referring to. Because so far, it feels to me that it is the fear of racism that promotes the change...which cause my immediate disagreement but if there is something more specific that i can relate/agree to, maybe it will help me change my mind on the subject.
First of all, there is nothing for you to disagree with. WOTC have decided to no longer use a certain term in their product. They did not consult you, they consulted people whose job is to be consultants about cultural matters, and they have already made their decision to cease using that term. This is not a matter of debate. You can like it or not, but there's technically nothing to disagree with.
Secondly, it's not a fear of racism, it is a response to legitimate, actual, racism. Examples of how D&D has been legitimately racist have been linked previously so I won't link them again. You asked for something more personal. And it is, by the way, personal. However you respond to this, please remember that these are my personal feelings and they are not a matter for debate, either.
My feelings about the term "race" are that it reminds me of how people would casually ascribe certain things to me because of my race. Oftentimes they did not mean to make those statements to hurt me, but it still did not feel good. So when game books use that term it rubs my mind in an irritating manner because it reminds me of those hurts. Rather than being huge gaping wounds, it was more like constant paper cuts. Can I ignore them? Sure ... once, twice, a dozen times, yes. But the hundredth? The thousandth? It adds up. Though honestly after living a lifetime of it I had grown calluses to protect me from it. It wasn't enough to make me quit the hobby I loved, though I have heard stories about people who did just that. I had grown used to it. It doesn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, but I had grown habitually used to ignoring that little sting. It really was only after they announced that they would stop using that term that I felt like I could take a breath of relief from a burden I had forgotten I was carrying.
And that is the pain I was talking about. The death by a hundred million papercuts that this change only relieves in a very small way, but if you were singled out to be poked by a needle everyday, I dare you to say that you wouldn't feel better if the needle were removed.
I think i'm pretty reasonable... prove to me that D&D used it in an harmful way (i'll confirm) and i'll change my mind... it doesn't feel like it is too much to ask
What's relieving to me is that actually I don't need to prove anything to you, for a number of reasons. 1) The change is happening and there's not really anything you can do about it. 2) My hurt is valid and doesn't need to be justified to you, and in fact is a gift that I am going out of my way to provide to you. This is an opportunity for you to learn something about your fellow human beings and cultivate some compassion. I recommend you take it in all humility.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I think i'm pretty reasonable... prove to me that D&D used it in an harmful way (i'll confirm) and i'll change my mind... it doesn't feel like it is too much to ask
Sadly, I think you'll find this is a conversation not worth pursuing. Misguided American political extremism is creeping into the game we love, as it is with too many other things these days given American culture exerts considerable outwards influence. For good or ill. You'll only get stonewalled by people with pretentious, close-minded viewpoints. Just another reason to never touch OneD&D, not even with a 10' pole. That said, 5e had already started down this slippery slope when -ve stat penalties for given races were removed. Next thing you know, they'll be adding a field for your character's pronouns!
Maybe...i'm giving it a chance for someone to convince me otherwise and share my vision of things to see if they can bring something relevant that would make me change my mind but i may have asked the wrong person for that to happen...as he stated he didn't care about it ....but he did bring the fact that D&D may have been wrong in its usage in the past...so that feels like something i could pursue to change my mind...but so far...i'm not getting anything on the subject...
One last point, Angelius. Since it occurs to me that it may be relevant.
You are picking at years-old wounds. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of catfighting have been posted on the subject of racism in D&D, and we're exhausted. The mods have made their position plain because they spent years having to deal with far nastier versions of this conversation and they're done being lenient. You are asking for things we have already covered, already provided, over and over and over again. We dealt with hundreds of pages of this when they announced Tasha's Cauldron and started delinking stat bonuses from species. We dealt with hundreds of pages more when Wizards announced that they would no longer hardwire biological Evil into playable species' statblocks, a'la orcs, drow, goblinoids, and other such critters. We dealt with hundreds of pages more again when Monsters of the Multiverse dropped and Wizards finished* delinking stats from species. Every single time Wizards does anything to ameliorate the situation, we get a fresh flare-up of dozens of brand new names demanding explanations, egged on by a few recurring bad eggs, and we have to go through the whole damn thing from the ground up all over again.
We're tired of it.
You don't want to talk to me. That's fine. Hover your mouse over my name next to my post here until you get the dropdown, punch the "Ignore" function, and you'll never again have to see a single word I say (outside of people quoting me anyways). I will endeavor not to address you after this, in deference to your wishes. But it occurred to me that there's an outside chance you're actually sincere in your inquiries, so here's a final explanation from me. Take from it what you will.
Can you give me an example if it doesn't cause you harm into doing so?
First of all let me tell you about the wave of fatigue that hit me in response to this question. As a minority it's very very tiring to be constantly asked to have to justify our safety by people who often seem determined to dismiss whatever answer we give anyway. You might not intend on approaching it this way, that remains to be seen, but the aggregate of all the responses online about this amount to a rabid and never ending stream of trolling. I know you're not at fault for that, but you should be aware of the effect it has having, nonetheless. Because even if you're not at fault for it, you are still responsible for the consequences of your actions, be they intended or not.
That way, it could enlighten me in what people are referring to. Because so far, it feels to me that it is the fear of racism that promotes the change...which cause my immediate disagreement but if there is something more specific that i can relate/agree to, maybe it will help me change my mind on the subject.
First of all, there is nothing for you to disagree with. WOTC have decided to no longer use a certain term in their product. They did not consult you, they consulted people whose job is to be consultants about cultural matters, and they have already made their decision to cease using that term. This is not a matter of debate. You can like it or not, but there's technically nothing to disagree with.
Secondly, it's not a fear of racism, it is a response to legitimate, actual, racism. Examples of how D&D has been legitimately racist have been linked previously so I won't link them again. You asked for something more personal. And it is, by the way, personal. However you respond to this, please remember that these are my personal feelings and they are not a matter for debate, either.
My feelings about the term "race" are that it reminds me of how people would casually ascribe certain things to me because of my race. Oftentimes they did not mean to make those statements to hurt me, but it still did not feel good. So when game books use that term it rubs my mind in an irritating manner because it reminds me of those hurts. Rather than being huge gaping wounds, it was more like constant paper cuts. Can I ignore them? Sure ... once, twice, a dozen times, yes. But the hundredth? The thousandth? It adds up. Though honestly after living a lifetime of it I had grown calluses to protect me from it. It wasn't enough to make me quit the hobby I loved, though I have heard stories about people who did just that. I had grown used to it. It doesn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, but I had grown habitually used to ignoring that little sting. It really was only after they announced that they would stop using that term that I felt like I could take a breath of relief from a burden I had forgotten I was carrying.
And that is the pain I was talking about. The death by a hundred million papercuts that this change only relieves in a very small way, but if you were singled out to be poked by a needle everyday, I dare you to say that you wouldn't feel better if the needle were removed.
I think i'm pretty reasonable... prove to me that D&D used it in an harmful way (i'll confirm) and i'll change my mind... it doesn't feel like it is too much to ask
What's relieving to me is that actually I don't need to prove anything to you, for a number of reasons. 1) The change is happening and there's not really anything you can do about it. 2) My hurt is valid and doesn't need to be justified to you, and in fact is a gift that I am going out of my way to provide to you. This is an opportunity for you to learn something about your fellow human beings and cultivate some compassion. I recommend you take it in all humility.
Thank you Ophidimancer for the time you've took to wrote this answer with a personal touch, i've read it twice.
It is unfortunate that you didn't grew up where i live as i believe this hundred million papercuts would have most likely never happened. In another life, maybe we could have been friend, maybe not...who knows... i have friends of different background and orientation, lets put it this way and this has never even been a question among ourselves....
I understand that D&D is going forward with the change, that i have said already. But as i keep seeing this post over and over, i wanted to give the chance to someone to make me change my mind.
Your comment and my private chat with Memnosyne sure help in understand some more ...I wonder if i'll change my mind....i guess i'm not opposed as i was...maybe i'll reflect more about it tomorrow.
One last point, Angelius. Since it occurs to me that it may be relevant.
You are picking at years-old wounds. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of catfighting have been posted on the subject of racism in D&D, and we're exhausted. The mods have made their position plain because they spent years having to deal with far nastier versions of this conversation and they're done being lenient. You are asking for things we have already covered, already provided, over and over and over again. We dealt with hundreds of pages of this when they announced Tasha's Cauldron and started delinking stat bonuses from species. We dealt with hundreds of pages more when Wizards announced that they would no longer hardwire biological Evil into playable species' statblocks, a'la orcs, drow, goblinoids, and other such critters. We dealt with hundreds of pages more again when Monsters of the Multiverse dropped and Wizards finished* delinking stats from species. Every single time Wizards does anything to ameliorate the situation, we get a fresh flare-up of dozens of brand new names demanding explanations, egged on by a few recurring bad eggs, and we have to go through the whole damn thing from the ground up all over again.
We're tired of it.
You don't want to talk to me. That's fine. Hover your mouse over my name next to my post here until you get the dropdown, punch the "Ignore" function, and you'll never again have to see a single word I say (outside of people quoting me anyways). I will endeavor not to address you after this, in deference to your wishes. But it occurred to me that there's an outside chance you're actually sincere in your inquiries, so here's a final explanation from me. Take from it what you will.
It just felt to me that you kept overlooking what i was writing....which consequently force me to an answer that I will end the discussion in the understanding that it was going to deteriorate and was clearly heading downhill ...
Understand one thing here, every single person that comes here may not have read or even be aware of previous discussion. So just like any teacher, each year they have to start over. So if i'm asking question here, it is merely because i'm obviously not going to read 10 000 pages on the subject just to discuss about it but i'm not going to just accept anything because i haven't read that...i believe that having the major lines is enough to get to a conclusion whether it feels reasonable or not
I'm going to ask because i don't understand; Why brand new names and stats out there are a cause for concern?
It is unfortunate that you didn't grew up where i live as i believe this hundred million papercuts would have most likely never happened. In another life, maybe we could have been friend, maybe not...who knows... i have friends of different background and orientation, lets put it this way and this has never even been a question among ourselves....
Let me point this out for what it is ... a privilege. In this specific aspect of life, you are privileged. Appreciate it, but also be aware of the fact that people who are privileged to not have experienced a certain kind of suffering lack the perspective to understand that suffering and how it affects people who do experience it. That lack of perspective means that you are prone to misunderstand and minimize that pain that you have never felt. That is just how the human brain works it's called cognitive bias, among other things. So in order to combat that human brain failing, when someone speaks about a type of systemic injustice they experience which you do not, you have to tamp down that voice that speaks up to say, "well that doesn't seem bad, why should I respect it?" because you literally lack the experience to know what you're talking about.
To compound matters even further, people in the position of privilege tend to be the ones who build the system and thus tend to be the ones whose voices are listened to more and drown out other voices. What this means is that if you find yourself in the position of relative privilege in a discussion about injustice, your duty is to listen more than speak. To amplify voices that would otherwise be suppressed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
They are changing it to "species" to protect their ass from being accused of racism.
This is a company that claims to want to protect their consumers from racism, but recently created a race of slave monkeys. That didn't go well.
Really, this debate is a tempest in a teapot because WoTC don't care what anyone says, as they have already decided what they are going to do.
The two situations are congruent - just for reasons you ignore and reasons which support the change.
Both are situations where Wizards/TSR/D&D produced racist content—you conveniently ignored that they have used Race in a problematic manner, and the change is because they do not want to use a word which they themselves have used in a racist manner. Both are situations where Wizards explicitly acknowledged they made mistakes and fixed the mistakes—you conveniently ignored that they removed the racially problematic Hadozee content and put new policies in place for ensuring that should not happen again.
When you have done something bad, this is the right way to respond - acknowledge that the thing is a problem, then stop doing the thing. Should they have done better both with decades of depictions of race and the Hadozee? Yes. Should they receive credit for acknowledging their problems and moving away from them? Also yes.
The word is not racist. It only has that stigma now because they have made it that way. In all my years I've never encountered any pushback from using the term race to denote other 'species' of sentient life forms in a completely fantasy or sci-fiction environment.
That's very debatable, but also off-topic for this thread.
It only has that stigma now because they have made it that way.
Who is "they" in this little statement? And are you agreeing that it does, in fact, have a stigma, that a publisher may wish to distance themselves from?
In all my years I've never encountered any pushback from using the term race to denote other 'species' of sentient life forms in a completely fantasy or sci-fiction environment.
Provably false; you are encountering pushback right now, and this thread (along with many many others) is filled with examples of "pushback." However good your experiences with the word have been, you should not simply ignore the experiences of others.
On one hand, the word Race feels like it fits a lot better.
On the other hand it means that you can now perform a lot more sketchy actions because if they aren't the same what used to be called race then it wouldn't be cannibalism if say you got stuck in a wintry mountain pass and you're running out of food.
Lizardfolk would have justification past its what they do.
You can think of more examples if you want.
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[roll]7d6[/roll]
Every post these dice roll increasing my chances of winning the yahtzee thread (I wish (wait not the twist the wish threa-!))
Angelius.
The real-world baggage associated with the word "race" - the baggage you're specifically discounting after Memnosyne offered you some research material - is the entire reason the word is being discontinued in official publication. Saying "I only care about D&D" is ignoring the entire reason this is an issue in the first place.
Ophidimancer doesn't have to bare his hurts to you if he doesn't want to. You're not his therapist, you're not his friend or ally. You are a stranger on the Internet asking him to describe in detail his wounds so you can poke around in his psyche and determine if those wounds are worthy. Think on how you would feel if someone you'd never met asked you to do the same.
I didn't, and don't, expect you to change your mind. I don't particularly care if you do. I told you to post here if you wanted to assail my ideas because I'm not going to have this same conversation in my DMs when I'm already having it here. You can be part of the public discourse or you can let me be. Yes, that means you have to mind your manners. So do I, and believe me when I say that benefits you more than it does me.
I told you the same thing I'll tell anyone else who says to me what you said to me. You don't get to decide who is allowed to be hurt by what. You don't get to make that call for anyone at all other than your own personal self. No one does. Enough people argued their case to Wizards over the years that Wizards has finally seen fit to start cleaning up their act (in this area, at least). That is all you're allowed to do - make your case. Moderation staff for DDB has made it plain that they will no longer tolerate anybody trying to assert that their view of what is or is not hurtful takes precedence over the people who've been hurt. You don't get to tell Ophidimancer that he's not allowed to be hurt. You don't get to tell me that. You don't get to tell Memnosyne that. You don't get to tell any-damn-body that except yourself. Not anymore.
If someone cannot make their peace with that, DDB moderation has declared that they are not allowed to participate in this discussion anymore.
Please do not contact or message me.
I will keep the discussion with someone else Yurei as i believe that the more we talk and the more you recluse yourself in your own vision and some of your answer seem to tend to a predefine vision of what i may have said but didn't. My question to Ophidimancer starts by asking him if he doesn't mind sharing which you disregard into answering me that he doesn't have to share. My answer to Memnosyne clearly defines that the words evolves in the dictionary but you chose to disregard that fact by asking me to read the history of the word. You've clearly said that D&D has used that word multiple time in our private chat which justify such a request but you blatantly disregard my inquiry ...and instead keep talking about what i should or shouldn't do. So i will discuss with others like Ophidimancer and Memnosyne if they feel like doing so and this was the exact reason why i would rather PM someone and discuss with them than clutter this chat...
First of all let me tell you about the wave of fatigue that hit me in response to this question. As a minority it's very very tiring to be constantly asked to have to justify our safety by people who often seem determined to dismiss whatever answer we give anyway. You might not intend on approaching it this way, that remains to be seen, but the aggregate of all the responses online about this amount to a rabid and never ending stream of trolling. I know you're not at fault for that, but you should be aware of the effect it has having, nonetheless. Because even if you're not at fault for it, you are still responsible for the consequences of your actions, be they intended or not.
First of all, there is nothing for you to disagree with. WOTC have decided to no longer use a certain term in their product. They did not consult you, they consulted people whose job is to be consultants about cultural matters, and they have already made their decision to cease using that term. This is not a matter of debate. You can like it or not, but there's technically nothing to disagree with.
Secondly, it's not a fear of racism, it is a response to legitimate, actual, racism. Examples of how D&D has been legitimately racist have been linked previously so I won't link them again. You asked for something more personal. And it is, by the way, personal. However you respond to this, please remember that these are my personal feelings and they are not a matter for debate, either.
My feelings about the term "race" are that it reminds me of how people would casually ascribe certain things to me because of my race. Oftentimes they did not mean to make those statements to hurt me, but it still did not feel good. So when game books use that term it rubs my mind in an irritating manner because it reminds me of those hurts. Rather than being huge gaping wounds, it was more like constant paper cuts. Can I ignore them? Sure ... once, twice, a dozen times, yes. But the hundredth? The thousandth? It adds up. Though honestly after living a lifetime of it I had grown calluses to protect me from it. It wasn't enough to make me quit the hobby I loved, though I have heard stories about people who did just that. I had grown used to it. It doesn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, but I had grown habitually used to ignoring that little sting. It really was only after they announced that they would stop using that term that I felt like I could take a breath of relief from a burden I had forgotten I was carrying.
And that is the pain I was talking about. The death by a hundred million papercuts that this change only relieves in a very small way, but if you were singled out to be poked by a needle everyday, I dare you to say that you wouldn't feel better if the needle were removed.
What's relieving to me is that actually I don't need to prove anything to you, for a number of reasons.
1) The change is happening and there's not really anything you can do about it.
2) My hurt is valid and doesn't need to be justified to you, and in fact is a gift that I am going out of my way to provide to you. This is an opportunity for you to learn something about your fellow human beings and cultivate some compassion. I recommend you take it in all humility.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Maybe...i'm giving it a chance for someone to convince me otherwise and share my vision of things to see if they can bring something relevant that would make me change my mind but i may have asked the wrong person for that to happen...as he stated he didn't care about it ....but he did bring the fact that D&D may have been wrong in its usage in the past...so that feels like something i could pursue to change my mind...but so far...i'm not getting anything on the subject...
One last point, Angelius. Since it occurs to me that it may be relevant.
You are picking at years-old wounds. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of catfighting have been posted on the subject of racism in D&D, and we're exhausted. The mods have made their position plain because they spent years having to deal with far nastier versions of this conversation and they're done being lenient. You are asking for things we have already covered, already provided, over and over and over again. We dealt with hundreds of pages of this when they announced Tasha's Cauldron and started delinking stat bonuses from species. We dealt with hundreds of pages more when Wizards announced that they would no longer hardwire biological Evil into playable species' statblocks, a'la orcs, drow, goblinoids, and other such critters. We dealt with hundreds of pages more again when Monsters of the Multiverse dropped and Wizards finished* delinking stats from species. Every single time Wizards does anything to ameliorate the situation, we get a fresh flare-up of dozens of brand new names demanding explanations, egged on by a few recurring bad eggs, and we have to go through the whole damn thing from the ground up all over again.
We're tired of it.
You don't want to talk to me. That's fine. Hover your mouse over my name next to my post here until you get the dropdown, punch the "Ignore" function, and you'll never again have to see a single word I say (outside of people quoting me anyways). I will endeavor not to address you after this, in deference to your wishes. But it occurred to me that there's an outside chance you're actually sincere in your inquiries, so here's a final explanation from me. Take from it what you will.
Please do not contact or message me.
Thank you Ophidimancer for the time you've took to wrote this answer with a personal touch, i've read it twice.
It is unfortunate that you didn't grew up where i live as i believe this hundred million papercuts would have most likely never happened. In another life, maybe we could have been friend, maybe not...who knows... i have friends of different background and orientation, lets put it this way and this has never even been a question among ourselves....
I understand that D&D is going forward with the change, that i have said already. But as i keep seeing this post over and over, i wanted to give the chance to someone to make me change my mind.
Your comment and my private chat with Memnosyne sure help in understand some more ...I wonder if i'll change my mind....i guess i'm not opposed as i was...maybe i'll reflect more about it tomorrow.
It just felt to me that you kept overlooking what i was writing....which consequently force me to an answer that I will end the discussion in the understanding that it was going to deteriorate and was clearly heading downhill ...
Understand one thing here, every single person that comes here may not have read or even be aware of previous discussion. So just like any teacher, each year they have to start over. So if i'm asking question here, it is merely because i'm obviously not going to read 10 000 pages on the subject just to discuss about it but i'm not going to just accept anything because i haven't read that...i believe that having the major lines is enough to get to a conclusion whether it feels reasonable or not
I'm going to ask because i don't understand; Why brand new names and stats out there are a cause for concern?
Let me point this out for what it is ... a privilege. In this specific aspect of life, you are privileged. Appreciate it, but also be aware of the fact that people who are privileged to not have experienced a certain kind of suffering lack the perspective to understand that suffering and how it affects people who do experience it. That lack of perspective means that you are prone to misunderstand and minimize that pain that you have never felt. That is just how the human brain works it's called cognitive bias, among other things. So in order to combat that human brain failing, when someone speaks about a type of systemic injustice they experience which you do not, you have to tamp down that voice that speaks up to say, "well that doesn't seem bad, why should I respect it?" because you literally lack the experience to know what you're talking about.
To compound matters even further, people in the position of privilege tend to be the ones who build the system and thus tend to be the ones whose voices are listened to more and drown out other voices. What this means is that if you find yourself in the position of relative privilege in a discussion about injustice, your duty is to listen more than speak. To amplify voices that would otherwise be suppressed.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Noted, it can be something to think about, makes sens
Full context: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1393-moving-on-from-race-in-one-d-d
In particular,
so definitely OneD&D, and probably all future official D&D publications.
Species is fine. Don't make it harder on yourself than it needs to be, and don't over think it.
The two situations are congruent - just for reasons you ignore and reasons which support the change.
Both are situations where Wizards/TSR/D&D produced racist content—you conveniently ignored that they have used Race in a problematic manner, and the change is because they do not want to use a word which they themselves have used in a racist manner. Both are situations where Wizards explicitly acknowledged they made mistakes and fixed the mistakes—you conveniently ignored that they removed the racially problematic Hadozee content and put new policies in place for ensuring that should not happen again.
When you have done something bad, this is the right way to respond - acknowledge that the thing is a problem, then stop doing the thing. Should they have done better both with decades of depictions of race and the Hadozee? Yes. Should they receive credit for acknowledging their problems and moving away from them? Also yes.
The word is not racist. It only has that stigma now because they have made it that way. In all my years I've never encountered any pushback from using the term race to denote other 'species' of sentient life forms in a completely fantasy or sci-fiction environment.
That's very debatable, but also off-topic for this thread.
Who is "they" in this little statement? And are you agreeing that it does, in fact, have a stigma, that a publisher may wish to distance themselves from?
Provably false; you are encountering pushback right now, and this thread (along with many many others) is filled with examples of "pushback." However good your experiences with the word have been, you should not simply ignore the experiences of others.
I like Lineage! Folk is okay too. Just been trying to get the other term to come out-- it kept hiding around the corners of my mind.
Kindred. Good enough for Tolkien, good enough for me
Has anyone thought of talking to some ddb officials instead of just posting on this forum lol
Mx. Otter (They/them/theirs)
Terry Pratchett & Brian Jacques. Best authors of all time. Change my mind.
Extended Signiture
That's what the UA survey is for.
You can do both
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
I have taken to using Origin, Ancestry and Culture for "Race"
On one hand, the word Race feels like it fits a lot better.
On the other hand it means that you can now perform a lot more sketchy actions because if they aren't the same what used to be called race then it wouldn't be cannibalism if say you got stuck in a wintry mountain pass and you're running out of food.
Lizardfolk would have justification past its what they do.
You can think of more examples if you want.
[roll]7d6[/roll]
Every post these dice roll increasing my chances of winning the yahtzee thread (I wish (wait not the twist the wish threa-!))
Drummer Generated Title
After having been invited to include both here, I now combine the "PM me CHEESE 🧀 and tomato into PM me "PIZZA🍕"