Well, I'm glad to hear that 'white people' isn't one of the reasons, anyway.
Most of these reasons can be applied to any group. Why don't bankers play RPGs?
1. They don't know about them.
2. They aren't interested in them.
3. Banking culture doesn't foster it - It's for nerds.
4. Stigma: Banker doctrine says that playing RPGs might make you into a nerd, and there goes your promotion.
@Apocryphal said:
Well, I'm glad to hear that 'white people' isn't one of the reasons, anyway.
Most of these reasons can be applied to any group. Why don't bankers play RPGs?
1. They don't know about them.
2. They aren't interested in them.
3. Banking culture doesn't foster it - It's for nerds.
4. Stigma: Banker doctrine says that playing RPGs might make you into a nerd, and there goes your promotion.
Not sure how to respond. You just invalidated the opinion of a person of a black person who took the time to make a video and express something important to him.
On a more positive note, it's worth reinforcing the message of "what should RPG gamers do to get more Black people playing?", and the answer proposed was much the same as for any other group (or person): inform people what the games are like, invite them to try, and support them when they have questions or concerns.
The video points out some hurdles that are more common in (US?) Black communities, but explicitly says that it's not up to RPGers to solve those problems, even if it may help if gamers understand them.
I can't really comment on the exact situation described (being not only UK based but also not currently part of an actual gaming group of people), but I did watch the whole thing and find the arguments very credible and persuasive.
The thing which did resonate was the "satanic panic" issue he touched on. Over here, the charismatic and pentecostal churches are not quite so rigidly linked with the black community as seems to be the case in the US (there are different churches which tend to appeal to Africans, for example). And my experience has been that British and American uses of words like "charismatic" or "evangelical" are not quite the same.
However, it is still true that the charismatic and evangelical movements over here have been hostile to various things they perceive to be at best ungodly and at worst demonic - not just certain types of RPGs or other games, but also certain kinds of fantasy or speculative literature. Harry Potter came in for a lot of stick from those circles, mainly because JK Rowling had drawn on various authentic folklore traditions to build her world, and it was felt by some that the books contained, as it were, encoded secrets intended to lure young people away from the straight and narrow. I think (but am not sure) that some of the more extreme positions on this spectrum are now quite rare, but it probably remains true that there is a backlog of antipathy on those grounds.
Comments
Well, I'm glad to hear that 'white people' isn't one of the reasons, anyway.
Most of these reasons can be applied to any group. Why don't bankers play RPGs?
1. They don't know about them.
2. They aren't interested in them.
3. Banking culture doesn't foster it - It's for nerds.
4. Stigma: Banker doctrine says that playing RPGs might make you into a nerd, and there goes your promotion.
Not sure how to respond. You just invalidated the opinion of a person of a black person who took the time to make a video and express something important to him.
No I didn't. I just pointed out these things aren't unique to the black community.
On a more positive note, it's worth reinforcing the message of "what should RPG gamers do to get more Black people playing?", and the answer proposed was much the same as for any other group (or person): inform people what the games are like, invite them to try, and support them when they have questions or concerns.
The video points out some hurdles that are more common in (US?) Black communities, but explicitly says that it's not up to RPGers to solve those problems, even if it may help if gamers understand them.
I can't really comment on the exact situation described (being not only UK based but also not currently part of an actual gaming group of people), but I did watch the whole thing and find the arguments very credible and persuasive.
The thing which did resonate was the "satanic panic" issue he touched on. Over here, the charismatic and pentecostal churches are not quite so rigidly linked with the black community as seems to be the case in the US (there are different churches which tend to appeal to Africans, for example). And my experience has been that British and American uses of words like "charismatic" or "evangelical" are not quite the same.
However, it is still true that the charismatic and evangelical movements over here have been hostile to various things they perceive to be at best ungodly and at worst demonic - not just certain types of RPGs or other games, but also certain kinds of fantasy or speculative literature. Harry Potter came in for a lot of stick from those circles, mainly because JK Rowling had drawn on various authentic folklore traditions to build her world, and it was felt by some that the books contained, as it were, encoded secrets intended to lure young people away from the straight and narrow. I think (but am not sure) that some of the more extreme positions on this spectrum are now quite rare, but it probably remains true that there is a backlog of antipathy on those grounds.