Tag: Ludere Melior

I wanted to share this episode of the podcast, Reveal, on the growth of the alt-right influence in comic books. A lot of Gauntleteers are comic book fans and also play superhero games like Masks, so I think it’s relevant to this community.

I found it particularly disturbing how Vox Day, an explicitly white nationalist, alt-right publisher, was able to co-opt an established, popular writer like Chuck Dixon. The interview with Dixon is a disturbing and fascinating look at the white male psyche. (Note: I fall within this demographic myself.) The host-interviewer repeatedly tries to get Dixon to acknowledge that his work for Vox Day legitimizes their bigoted agenda. Dixon seems incapable of even acknowledging his power within the industry. Rather, he performs this false modesty routine: “Who? Little old me? Power? Not me.”

Like a lot of white guys, Dixon is blind to his own privilege. I’m sure I’ve done the same or similar. Listening to this interview helps me to see how fucking disingenuous it is and how it is used to evade responsibility for our actions.

https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/never-meet-your-super-heroes/

I wanted to share this article about how the alt-right — attracted by the myth of an all-white medieval Europe — has infiltrated ttrpg and adjacent fields of interest like larp: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-alt-right-is-taking-over-renaissance-fairs.

I think it’s important to critically examine whether we — as players, GMs or designers — have contributed to the myth of an all-white medieval Europe. I know I have. Until very recently, I thought that the presence of a character of color in any pseudo-historical medieval game setting required special explanation. I later revised my position to: If there are elves, then why can’t there be PoC? — as if the two were equally fantastical!

My revised position still left the problem: If I was playing in a game that aimed at greater historical accuracy, then I still felt like whiteness had to be the norm. Games that I otherwise really enjoy unfortunately fall into this trap — for example, in Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne, all of the characters are drawn as white (with the exception of Elouise, who is not illustrated at all).

I think we have a responsibility to disabuse ourselves of the myth of an all-white medieval Europe and make sure we aren’t propagating that myth in our games. Otherwise, we are reinforcing a viewpoint that is not only historically inaccurate but also exclusionary, that effectively tells players of color that if they want to play a character who looks like themselves then their existence in this imaginary space requires special justification, and that feeds into a sick fascist fantasy of racial purity.

I’m still educating myself on this  topic. Here’s a great place to start: https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-racism-middle-ages-toc/.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-alt-right-is-taking-over-renaissance-fairs