RSP!

Gotta say, I don't always agree with everything you say, but this one is 100% on target.

I think a countdown to relocation has already started.

Y'all are so threatened by any conversation which could shed light on problems in your community. To say that this topic is irrelevant to general gong is balderdash. RSP is for topics which have nothing to do with gaming, and this is clearly a topic about gaming--you're just scared of what might happen if you were forced to think about the injustice that lives in your community

Well, I'm sorry that (some) folks think we can't have this discussion. I wanted to do it in a thoughtful and genuinely not-offensive way.

Y'all are so threatened by any conversation which could shed light on problems in your community. To say that this topic is irrelevant to general gong is balderdash. RSP is for topics which have nothing to do with gaming, and this is clearly a topic about gaming--you're just scared of what might happen if you were forced to think about the injustice that lives in your community

Well, I'm sorry that (some) folks think we can't have this discussion. I wanted to do it in a thoughtful and genuinely not-offensive way.

I think we could have a good discussion about representation in games, etc. Things we'd like game developers to pay attention to.

To me, that IS on topic and part of "gaming"--not part of everything else, although I do respect the views of others.

Is there any way for me to delete the thread?

Seriously. The last thing I wanted was a fight. Many people don't go to the RSP area and I thought this topic would genuinely be of interest to some people and was genuinely part of gaming. (Nothing is of interest to everyone.)

I believe that I've been very careful not to attack anyone, if you look back. I even pointed out to one other user that their comment could be seen as a personal attack.

[q="Tricksie"]

To ilklustrate

User B, Not enough games show the unfair advantage that the rich have over the poor (maybe became most game designers are from well off backgrounds?). Social injustice is a matter of birth, and games should reflect this by showing that winning is as much about how lucky you are at the start (say a version of Monopoly where everyone starts with a random amount of money).

The earliest known version of Monopoly, known as The Landlord's Game, was designed by an American, Elizabeth Magie, and first patented in 1904 but existed as early as 1902.[1] Magie, a follower of Henry George, originally intended The Landlord's Game to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo's Law of Economic rent and the Georgist concept of a single tax on land value.[2]

Feel free to engage in the discussion here, I just warned you that it may end up in RSP.

To ilklustrate

User B, Not enough games show the unfair advantage that the rich have over the poor (maybe became most game designers are from well off backgrounds?). Social injustice is a matter of birth, and games should reflect this by showing that winning is as much about how lucky you are at the start (say a version of Monopoly where everyone starts with a random amount of money).

You will see I realized it was not you, so edited my comment.

Now I have started two topics, want to discuss them?

Interestingly enough, I do this exact thing as a teaching exercise in a university class I teach! If you google "intergroup monopoly," there's a guy who developed a Monopoly exercise for teaching purposes. It's mostly to look at the legacy of historic inequity--so you play with "unequal" rules for a while, then play with normal rules, then debrief and talk about how long it would take to actually "catch up" and have a society where people have equal opportunities.

It's great in class--an excuse to play games for a day and also the students seem to get a lot out of it.

It's not FUN to play, though. No one would play it with their gaming group. :) And I would certainly like to see games that are fun, but still have great representation of all peoples and are welcoming.

I was thinking more of things like: Why do we always depict Elves/dwarves/hobbits/etc as white? What about making different skin colors when we have characters? What are the things we should pay attention to when creating and representing characters?

You didn't start topics, you dropped inflammatory comments intended to drive this thread into a heated argument about privilege and economics in an effort to turn the thread into a clearly RSP discussion so that you could later say "HAHA! I was right".

As for what can be done to make the hobby more inviting, my first thought goes towards broadening the representations amongst characters in games. Some designers/publishers have made an effort to have a broader representation of humans amongst the cast of the game, but many games do not.

You didn't start topics, you dropped inflammatory comments intended to drive this thread into a heated argument about privilege and economics in an effort to turn the thread into a clearly RSP discussion so that you could later say "HAHA! I was right".

As for what can be done to make the hobby more inviting, my first thought goes towards broadening the representations amongst characters in games. Some designers/publishers have made an effort to have a broader representation of humans amongst the cast of the game, but many games do not.

User B, Not enough games show the unfair advantage that the rich have over the poor (maybe became most game designers are from well off backgrounds?). Social injustice is a matter of birth, and games should reflect this by showing that winning is as much about how lucky you are at the start (say a version of Monopoly where everyone starts with a random amount of money).