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- May 17, 2016
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Hello! I have been working on world building and writing in general a lot recently, in the last 8 months especially, and this has led me to a lot of conversations, schools of thought, theories and other things related to a lot of topics. One of those was Sanderson's Laws of Magic, which I have a post on already.
Today's is more of a touchy subject for some but it is a necessary one for any setting, and especially in relation to Aloria ad this is often used to generate conflict and roleplay on Massive: Discrimination.
This can vary, from Homophobia, to Racism, to Sexism, etc.
EDIT: I shoud
There are various reasons why you arguably should and should not include Discrimination in a setting. In many cases, those in favor tend to say that this leads to conflict, and makes the story more interesting because of it. And I will agree here- a lot of Massive's plot is tied to Racism, and this has led to many interesting developments on a global, and individual level. Some characters have had arcs where they overcome the odds by succeeding as an Elf or Yanar. Others have had arcs were they start out racist, but come to respect those of other races on at least a minor level.
This is a great area for development. But there is a caveat. The other school of thought is that you should avoid simply include something for "realism sake" alone in a setting. This isn't in relation to basic things like gravity, but more in a grander sense, focusing on and including things like racism or homophobia in a setting simply to have it is not satisfying.
If you had a hypothetical setting with a gay protagonist, having the protagonist be confronted by homophobes or attacked for his sexuality can make for a good moment of development, or set one up in the future. But another essential for story telling that should (usually) be followed is the bad guy getting his just desert. If a villain murders someone, they get thrown in jail in the end. That's how it works, and generally, unless your goal is to show the villain in a new light, this is how it should happen. If you have someone attack the gay protagonist, the "bad guy" needs to get him comeuppance in order for the audience or reader to be satisfied.
In Massive, this is more down to personal story. People may play the homophobe, or racist. Each individual isnt going to get what they deserve. But, if this is going to play a major role in a story event for instance, mainly the racism part, then this should apply to whoever is doing the bad.
Its also important to not perpetuate the stereotyped and racist generalizations of a race. For instance, in D&D, Goblins are generally the sneaky greedy evil monsters you fight. But this is generally boring, relegating them to the role of antagonist entirely. In reality, and logically in any setting, no group of people are going to conform 100% to any generalization. "All orcs are stupid" -said the stupid human. Making characters and portraying them as fitting entirely in the niche and stereotype of that race is just perpetuating the racism, it makes it seem logical, which it shouldn't be, because even in a setting where most people are racist, OOCly that racism should never be logical or right or else you risk endorsing racism as a whole, in real life as well as in game.
In short, I think perpetuation discriminations in a setting, while a valuable plot tool on grand and micro scales alike, is a good use of it, including it for the sake of realism with no intent to make a statement or prove it wrong- if not in universe than at least OOCly- is as bad as endorsing it.
I'm interesting in people's thoughts, as long as they can keep it polite and not start a flame war like usual. Worth reminding people that this is a rule to curb any nonsense maybe lol. I have faith in the community, to a point only though.
That being said, What are your thoughts? This includes to including slavery, ETC as well, though I didn't touch on that in the main text. Im looking forwards to doing more of these discussion / breakdown posts in the future though as I get better at this writing and worldbuilding thing lol.
Today's is more of a touchy subject for some but it is a necessary one for any setting, and especially in relation to Aloria ad this is often used to generate conflict and roleplay on Massive: Discrimination.
This can vary, from Homophobia, to Racism, to Sexism, etc.
EDIT: I shoud
There are various reasons why you arguably should and should not include Discrimination in a setting. In many cases, those in favor tend to say that this leads to conflict, and makes the story more interesting because of it. And I will agree here- a lot of Massive's plot is tied to Racism, and this has led to many interesting developments on a global, and individual level. Some characters have had arcs where they overcome the odds by succeeding as an Elf or Yanar. Others have had arcs were they start out racist, but come to respect those of other races on at least a minor level.
This is a great area for development. But there is a caveat. The other school of thought is that you should avoid simply include something for "realism sake" alone in a setting. This isn't in relation to basic things like gravity, but more in a grander sense, focusing on and including things like racism or homophobia in a setting simply to have it is not satisfying.
If you had a hypothetical setting with a gay protagonist, having the protagonist be confronted by homophobes or attacked for his sexuality can make for a good moment of development, or set one up in the future. But another essential for story telling that should (usually) be followed is the bad guy getting his just desert. If a villain murders someone, they get thrown in jail in the end. That's how it works, and generally, unless your goal is to show the villain in a new light, this is how it should happen. If you have someone attack the gay protagonist, the "bad guy" needs to get him comeuppance in order for the audience or reader to be satisfied.
In Massive, this is more down to personal story. People may play the homophobe, or racist. Each individual isnt going to get what they deserve. But, if this is going to play a major role in a story event for instance, mainly the racism part, then this should apply to whoever is doing the bad.
Its also important to not perpetuate the stereotyped and racist generalizations of a race. For instance, in D&D, Goblins are generally the sneaky greedy evil monsters you fight. But this is generally boring, relegating them to the role of antagonist entirely. In reality, and logically in any setting, no group of people are going to conform 100% to any generalization. "All orcs are stupid" -said the stupid human. Making characters and portraying them as fitting entirely in the niche and stereotype of that race is just perpetuating the racism, it makes it seem logical, which it shouldn't be, because even in a setting where most people are racist, OOCly that racism should never be logical or right or else you risk endorsing racism as a whole, in real life as well as in game.
In short, I think perpetuation discriminations in a setting, while a valuable plot tool on grand and micro scales alike, is a good use of it, including it for the sake of realism with no intent to make a statement or prove it wrong- if not in universe than at least OOCly- is as bad as endorsing it.
I'm interesting in people's thoughts, as long as they can keep it polite and not start a flame war like usual. Worth reminding people that this is a rule to curb any nonsense maybe lol. I have faith in the community, to a point only though.
That being said, What are your thoughts? This includes to including slavery, ETC as well, though I didn't touch on that in the main text. Im looking forwards to doing more of these discussion / breakdown posts in the future though as I get better at this writing and worldbuilding thing lol.
