Wizards’ attempts to excise the well-documented history of racism from their game.
Wizards of The Coast has been publishing D&D material since the third edition.
Why didn't they change the "race" 22 years ago. Why now?
The culmination of several factors, including: Their game having more widespread attention; an increasingly diverse staff that is less inclined to promulgate the racism from earlier editions (especially the TSR/Gygax editions Wizards inherited the legacy of); well publicised instances of 5e racism in Strahd and Spelljammer; a player base that is increasingly diverse and more conscious of the game’s awful history of race; and social movements making the issue of historic racism at the forefront of conversations.
And, as should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense, ignoring a problem for 22 years does not mean there wasn’t a problem. The issues of racism in D&D, TSR, and with Gygax in particular have been known for decades - Wizards chose to ignore those issues rather than admit they might be part of the problem or admit to continuing to publish content inherently based in racism.
But better late than never, and Wizards is finally trying to remove racial politics from their game. Fortunately they are ignoring the vocal (and likely racist) minority engaging in censorship - a vocal minority trying to force Wizards, an independent entity, from exercising their rights to publish the game and exercise their speech in the manner they see fit.
Wizards’ attempts to excise the well-documented history of racism from their game.
Wizards of The Coast has been publishing D&D material since the third edition.
Why didn't they change the "race" 22 years ago. Why now?
The culmination of several factors, including: Their game having more widespread attention; an increasingly diverse staff that is less inclined to promulgate the racism from earlier editions (especially the TSR/Gygax editions Wizards inherited the legacy of); well publicised instances of 5e racism in Strahd and Spelljammer; a player base that is increasingly diverse and more conscious of the game’s awful history of race; and social movements making the issue of historic racism at the forefront of conversations.
And, as should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense, ignoring a problem for 22 years does not mean there wasn’t a problem. The issues of racism in D&D, TSR, and with Gygax in particular have been known for decades - Wizards chose to ignore those issues rather than admit they might be part of the problem or admit to continuing to publish content inherently based in racism.
But better late than never, and Wizards is finally trying to remove racial politics from their game. Fortunately they are ignoring the vocal (and likely racist) minority engaging in censorship - a vocal minority trying to force Wizards, an independent entity, from exercising their rights to publish the game and exercise their speech in the manner they see fit.
Sure.... I guess at this point this is hopeless...
I agree it does seem hopeless - the fact I feel inclined to change my opinion because so many folks are trying to deny Wizards’ freedom of expression and force censorship upon them and the fact so many accuse Wizards of “adding politics to the game” when they are decidedly removing politics from the game, does give reason to despair. Especially since the primary motivation seems to be the preservation of racism.
Still, in this case, the situation is far from hopeless - in fact, hope seems to be winning out. Wizards is standing up against censorship by the vocal minority and is choosing freedom of expression. Wizards is finally acknowledging something they had been keeping their head in the sand and ignoring - that their game was filled with its creator’s racist politics and that they needed to remove politics from the game.
The very fact that this thread exists stands testament to hope—Wizards is showing it has finally grown as a company and has grown the spine it has so long lacked when it comes to acknowledging and addressing their game’s less-than-savoury history. Someone admitting to their own mistakes and standing up against censorship to fix their own problems? That sounds fairly hopeful to me—it means that hope is shining through even the bleak crowd of regressive forces.
Dungeons & Dragons has a history of evolving to meet the needs of our players and foster an inviting space for everyone.
With that in mind, we understand "race" is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds. The usage of the term across D&D and other popular IP has evolved over time. Now it’s time for the next evolution.
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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!
Dungeons & Dragons has a history of evolving to meet the needs of our players and foster an inviting space for everyone.
With that in mind, we understand "race" is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds. The usage of the term across D&D and other popular IP has evolved over time. Now it’s time for the next evolution.
My friends and I have been using “species” instead of “race” for a while now. I think it’s cool that they’re officially changing the terminology.
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Yes, it is an ancient word dating to Middle English with Latin and Old French origins (so the “it sounds too scientific” argument is nonsense).
The way a word feels and is used in modern language doesn't really need to correlate with it's actual age.
The argument isn't "You see all D&D words must be of appropriate age and come from pre 1600" it's that it feels sciency because it's used almost exclusively in sciency conversation in modern language.
In fantasy books for example if the protagonists are going to the elven lands they wont say "Ah the lands inhabited by the Elven Species!" unless the point of the sentence is also to frame the person speaking as out of touch, overly nerdy, or a person who sees Elves as animals.
In fantasy books for example if the protagonists are going to the elven lands they wont say "Ah the lands inhabited by the Elven Species!" unless the point of the sentence is also to frame the person speaking as out of touch, overly nerdy, or a person who sees Elves as animals.
They won't use any word in that sentence -- they just say "the lands inhabited by the elves" and leave it unspecified whether "elves" are a different race, a different species, a different nationality, or something else entirely.
I feel this conversation may not be as necessary as people let on. I personally could care less if D&D changed the term from "Race" to "Species". This shouldn't be the biggest subject, because all this will do is divide us. One side disagreeing and being enraged, and the other applauding the change and reprimanding the other. If you would rather keep it as "Race", do that. If you would rather change it, do it. This isn't a political/moral issue that plagues our computer through advertisements all the time. Can't we agree to disagree?
Just because you are not affected by a particular term and thus don't care doesn't mean that other people aren't affected. This topic is only divisive because people don't care to learn how it affects other people, or worse know how it can affect people and just don't care. And I don't think anyone is trying to change how other people play in their own games, but the change of a term in officially published books affects everyone, so it is a legitimate matter of discussion rather than just, "Do what you want."
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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 understand if you are a member of a minority, I do. But at the same time, you shouldn't attack people who express any concern towards the change or who simply don't understand why that change was made in the end.
I haven't attacked anyone?
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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!
Sorry, I didn't really mean attack. What I really meant is that you can't try to "stand -up" to anyone who may or may not understand a concept.
My ability to express myself has been a bit rough lately, sorry.
No problem, communication is tough. All I'm trying to do is educate people about a different perspective, there's no attack in that. I see and hear a lot of ignorance in regards to this topic and the only way to fix that is to educate.
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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!
Dungeons & Dragons has a history of evolving to meet the needs of our players and foster an inviting space for everyone.
With that in mind, we understand "race" is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds. The usage of the term across D&D and other popular IP has evolved over time. Now it’s time for the next evolution.
Also, please take this seriously, even if you are not affected by it, there are other people that are affected by it, including me. Also the official stance of the mods is don't invalidate this or say it is a nonissue, because it officially is.
This is a reminder to everyone who makes the choice to participate in these discussions surrounding the One D&D changes to game language. You do so under the explicit assumption you will participate by the site rules.
I want to emphasize something; these changes are being made because people who play the game are experiencing harm at the language the game uses and have communicated this to Wizards of the Coast, who are taking action to continue to progress the game forwards to be as inclusive as it can be. The moderation team will not entertain the dismissal, invalidation, or margination of members of the community who have raised these valid concerns just because "I don't see a problem with the word". Privilege is a wonderful thing.
If you want to participate in this discussion without receiving warnings, infraction points, or bans, you will do so civilly, respectfully, and with kindness.
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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!
In fantasy books for example if the protagonists are going to the elven lands they wont say "Ah the lands inhabited by the Elven Species!" unless the point of the sentence is also to frame the person speaking as out of touch, overly nerdy, or a person who sees Elves as animals.
They won't use any word in that sentence -- they just say "the lands inhabited by the elves" and leave it unspecified whether "elves" are a different race, a different species, a different nationality, or something else entirely.
Sure, that sentence is just a clunky example of the kind of connotations the word brings up.
But my point stands. The date a word was coined isn't anything to do with how it sounds to a modern audience. It's the same reason we don't see dozens of characters named Dick anymore.
Why are we retiring 'race' as a term? Is this offensive now?
It's page 21 of the thread. Do you think perhaps the answer to your "question" might be found in the previous 20 pages?
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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The culmination of several factors, including: Their game having more widespread attention; an increasingly diverse staff that is less inclined to promulgate the racism from earlier editions (especially the TSR/Gygax editions Wizards inherited the legacy of); well publicised instances of 5e racism in Strahd and Spelljammer; a player base that is increasingly diverse and more conscious of the game’s awful history of race; and social movements making the issue of historic racism at the forefront of conversations.
And, as should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense, ignoring a problem for 22 years does not mean there wasn’t a problem. The issues of racism in D&D, TSR, and with Gygax in particular have been known for decades - Wizards chose to ignore those issues rather than admit they might be part of the problem or admit to continuing to publish content inherently based in racism.
But better late than never, and Wizards is finally trying to remove racial politics from their game. Fortunately they are ignoring the vocal (and likely racist) minority engaging in censorship - a vocal minority trying to force Wizards, an independent entity, from exercising their rights to publish the game and exercise their speech in the manner they see fit.
I agree it does seem hopeless - the fact I feel inclined to change my opinion because so many folks are trying to deny Wizards’ freedom of expression and force censorship upon them and the fact so many accuse Wizards of “adding politics to the game” when they are decidedly removing politics from the game, does give reason to despair. Especially since the primary motivation seems to be the preservation of racism.
Still, in this case, the situation is far from hopeless - in fact, hope seems to be winning out. Wizards is standing up against censorship by the vocal minority and is choosing freedom of expression. Wizards is finally acknowledging something they had been keeping their head in the sand and ignoring - that their game was filled with its creator’s racist politics and that they needed to remove politics from the game.
The very fact that this thread exists stands testament to hope—Wizards is showing it has finally grown as a company and has grown the spine it has so long lacked when it comes to acknowledging and addressing their game’s less-than-savoury history. Someone admitting to their own mistakes and standing up against censorship to fix their own problems? That sounds fairly hopeful to me—it means that hope is shining through even the bleak crowd of regressive forces.
I mean they said it themselves:
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!
My friends and I have been using “species” instead of “race” for a while now. I think it’s cool that they’re officially changing the terminology.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
The way a word feels and is used in modern language doesn't really need to correlate with it's actual age.
The argument isn't "You see all D&D words must be of appropriate age and come from pre 1600" it's that it feels sciency because it's used almost exclusively in sciency conversation in modern language.
In fantasy books for example if the protagonists are going to the elven lands they wont say "Ah the lands inhabited by the Elven Species!" unless the point of the sentence is also to frame the person speaking as out of touch, overly nerdy, or a person who sees Elves as animals.
They won't use any word in that sentence -- they just say "the lands inhabited by the elves" and leave it unspecified whether "elves" are a different race, a different species, a different nationality, or something else entirely.
I don't get an issue with the term Species
However, I would rather see them go Genus > Species
Example Dwarf is the Genus and Hill, Mountain, Gray, and Mark of Warding are the species.
The species denotes distinctions in the Genus.
Example: a Golden Retriever is a Species and it belongs to the Canis Genus
I also just hate Species.
Just use People instead.
Just because you are not affected by a particular term and thus don't care doesn't mean that other people aren't affected. This topic is only divisive because people don't care to learn how it affects other people, or worse know how it can affect people and just don't care. And I don't think anyone is trying to change how other people play in their own games, but the change of a term in officially published books affects everyone, so it is a legitimate matter of discussion rather than just, "Do what you want."
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 haven't attacked anyone?
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!
No problem, communication is tough. All I'm trying to do is educate people about a different perspective, there's no attack in that. I see and hear a lot of ignorance in regards to this topic and the only way to fix that is to educate.
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!
Just use the term race anyway... I don't get the issue.
Without having any detail about the effort you've put in to try to get the issue, it's gonna be hard to give a useful response here.
They explained it themselves HERE.
Also, please take this seriously, even if you are not affected by it, there are other people that are affected by it, including me. Also the official stance of the mods is don't invalidate this or say it is a nonissue, because it officially is.
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!
Sure, that sentence is just a clunky example of the kind of connotations the word brings up.
But my point stands. The date a word was coined isn't anything to do with how it sounds to a modern audience. It's the same reason we don't see dozens of characters named Dick anymore.
It's page 21 of the thread. Do you think perhaps the answer to your "question" might be found in the previous 20 pages?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)