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Originally Posted by Lady Dragonfly  I think this scenario is extreme. In a gameworld where half-orcs are a common sight (even if they are basically outcasts), there should be more options than death or exile. Otherwise, why give players an option to create a totally unplayable character in the first place? I think the controversial concept of the "lesser races" has a great potential. The Witcher explored racism, and Dragon Age is going to present a similar version of racial tensions. |
My example was deliberately pushed to the limit, to see how far you (and others) would consider the possibilities of realistic relations based on typically discriminatory elements in a roleplaying world. I was hoping to see some discussion of how severe discrimination could be seriously depicted in an RPG, yet remain entertaining enough to play. Of course, I didn't make it any easier by suggesting the half-orc would have to become a hermit or lone ambusher. But then, I didn't want to make it easy. I wanted to show the realistic boundary, so we could decide what portion of the territory we would map out for our own.
I don't think we have to provide the same easy answers such as CRPGs currently furnish, in order to sell a title. We could still do better than simply returning to the usual RPG status quo after an hour of gaming. To use our half-orc, its rep progression could be modified to lead not to local idolization, but ultimately to a moderate degree of local respect. Fear would gradually diminish. Some holdovers of open bigotry would of course remain; I wouldn't think that every merchant would open their doors to our heroic half-orc, even after they recovered the Vicious Doomslaying Mace of Intense Blunt Trauma and Unholy Pain +9. But we might see a merchant down the street from one who continued to shun the half-orc offer to sell him/her items that would normally only be found in the closed shop, out of irritation towards the merchant who continued to spit in the face of the best thing that had happened to their business. By maknig the experience of discrimination as varied and multilayered as it is in the realworld, we would offer the player something strikingly different. And with the prospect of achievable goals in sight, it could be very playable.
In short, I think we're looking at a series of slider values affecting considerably more than attributes. And more than anything PCish. The values would need to be configured for the culture, at all levels.
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One look at FR's drow will show you how to do it a wrong way. A successful reverse that is not seen as gimmick and cross-dressing is tough to pull, and I think will be even tougher to sell. I think that discrimination against females is already an understandably tough sell, but discrimination against males will probably be recieved with even less enthusiasm.
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Certainly, it would challenge the norm. That's the idea in our discussion about how to depict gender discrimination in RPGs. How to do this in a way that transcends bland stat changes, and offers the reader a genuinely distinctive experience. The problem wouldn't be in doing something different. It would lie, as always, in doing it well. And I think we can all agree that it will not be done, because games are an industry today, and cloning rather than creativity rules.
Doesn't mean we can't dream, does it?