Quote from: Almost_Useless on October 29, 2023, 10:54:13 AM
Anybody else think it's a little weird that a game centered around pretending you're someone else is being taken over by people who absolutely have to see people exactly like them?

To be fair, more than a few characters even back in the old-school days were not really "people different from their players", they were more like "versions of me that are still recognizably me but badass in a way I'll never be, in a world that lets me prosper doing that". I've done that more than a few times.

If the point of the character is to demonstrate how characters with the psychological qualities currently grouped under the label "autism spectrum" can still be viable PCs in an RPG, well, more power to that, but if WOTC wants credit for trying to improve the actual real-world lot of real people on that spectrum, they can try to climb onto that horse but it doesn't stand nearly as high as they think it does.

From the late 70s right up to recently, a solid one half of players I know have been on the autism spectrum.  Sadly, it's the demographic most hurt by the WOTC "diversity" efforts.  In many cases, the white males that play D&D are also those that struggle with autism and social disorders and those are the ones WOTC is most hostile towards.  This new character isn't just another "diversity" toon but a direct slap in the face of those they've been shitting on.  It's like burning down someone's home and then talking about the homeless problem.

Representation is stupid and appeals to those infested by class theory to the point that they see everyone around them as little nuggets chipped out of a class rather than a person who has traits that an observer might identify with a class. They think of humans as formula units of Humanity and anything else in there us false consciousness to be suppressed or expelled. They don't want to make a mark. They want to be seen. They want to be seen as a unit of a class. They want to work this way and play this way.

When I was a wee sprout my favorite character was a humanoid alien bug creature called Bug who made a *tik* noise when he talk, often used a littlrclike stutter. He was a comic book character and freedom fighter in The Micronauts, a comic book based on an imported toy line. He was an acrobatic character with two fingers and a thumb on each hand, he had compound eyes and antennae and was green and wore green armor. He was a tragic character driven away from his home and a silly character. Current DY comic writers would probably see him as mildly bipolar. Not sure why I liked him. In some ways he was a more "on the nose" rip off of Forager, another acrobatic bug-man character from Jack Kirby's the New Gods

I have little to nothing in common with Bug. I did not like him.because he represented me. Obviously I do not have a three fingered hand or unusual anatomy, nor do I have a speech impediment. I was never exiled from my home, and was not acrobatic. Also. I'm not green.

Current theory about representation says I want short heavy-set, sometimes slovenly, sarcastic, near sighted, nasal voiced baritone type guys and will buy into stuff that givse me such an avatar to link myself too because that proves the creators "saw me". According this I'd be a big fan of The Mole Man from the Fantastic Four.

Current theory is bullshït. I don't see a story as a fun house mirror that should return a distorted reflection of me. I am easily interested in strangers and freaks and troubled people trying to overcome adversity either together or separately. They don't need to be dressed up like a fish hook to get me interested. They just need to be neat, fascinating, engaging, attention drawing content. I LIKE getting to know other people. I do not see their differences from me as defects or some avenue of society oppressing me. I don't want to see some other character adjusted to be more like me. No Captain Stumpymerica or Dr strangemanletporkpie for me please.

Quote from: BadApple on October 27, 2023, 09:13:13 AM
https://www.polygon.com/23850698/dnd-dungeons-dragons-autistic-character-asteria

So WOTC takes a game that cononically featured RL autistic players, runs off the bulk of them by "diversifying" and getting rid of the white male players (many of them were autistic), and now mocking them with "representation."

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, WOTC?!?!

At this point, I'm offended at everything WOTC does.  I'm glad I mailed my books back and ask fro a refund earlier this year.  (They marked the box "return to sender" and sent it back, but I still tried.)

The idea that you think WOTC has run off white male players is so absurd I wonder if you're trolling or just in that much of a bubble.

Breaking news: There are more white male players playing D&D today than there were in the 1980s and 1990s.

Can I roleplay a character who's black, trans, and also has a terrible stutter? Who's also in a wheelchair with a touch of autism? And who also got a dose of gonorrhea?

Quote from: Mistwell on October 29, 2023, 07:59:19 PM

Quote from: BadApple on October 27, 2023, 09:13:13 AM
https://www.polygon.com/23850698/dnd-dungeons-dragons-autistic-character-asteria

So WOTC takes a game that cononically featured RL autistic players, runs off the bulk of them by "diversifying" and getting rid of the white male players (many of them were autistic), and now mocking them with "representation."

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, WOTC?!?!

At this point, I'm offended at everything WOTC does.  I'm glad I mailed my books back and ask fro a refund earlier this year.  (They marked the box "return to sender" and sent it back, but I still tried.)

Breaking news: There are more white male players playing D&D today than there were in the 1980s and 1990s.

I'll take "bullshit statistic" for $1000, Alex.  There are way more people playing D&D than in the 80s... so, yeah, there will be more white males, because there's more of everybody.  There is way less representation of white males in the game, and WotC is actively discouraging white males from having any say in the game (including writing modules and working for WotC).  So your statement is techincally accurate, and fundamentally wrong, at the same time...

Quote from: Almost_Useless on October 29, 2023, 10:54:13 AM
Anybody else think it's a little weird that a game centered around pretending you're someone else is being taken over by people who absolutely have to see people exactly like them?

I've heard it said that when boys play with Batman, they become Batman and when girls play with Barbie, Barbie becomes them.
If generally true, is it surprising that a woman would create a character that became her?

Quote from: DocJones on October 29, 2023, 11:18:12 PM

Quote from: Almost_Useless on October 29, 2023, 10:54:13 AM
Anybody else think it's a little weird that a game centered around pretending you're someone else is being taken over by people who absolutely have to see people exactly like them?

I've heard it said that when boys play with Batman, they become Batman and when girls play with Barbie, Barbie becomes them.
If generally true, is it surprising that a woman would create a character that became her?

So you are admitting that, now that more women are writing the game and modules, they are changing the nature of the game and the expected playstyle to one not as usual for male players?

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on October 29, 2023, 01:34:16 PM

Quote from: Almost_Useless on October 29, 2023, 10:54:13 AM
Anybody else think it's a little weird that a game centered around pretending you're someone else is being taken over by people who absolutely have to see people exactly like them?

There was an article in Kotaku over a year ago (https://kotaku.com/dnd-movie-honor-among-thieves-trailer-marvel-1849345237) that had the subtitle: "D&D is hot right now, largely because queer roleplayers have made it shine" and the statement:

QuoteFor roleplayers of queer identities, D&D is often the "action movie," we'll never get: a place where all the main characters can look and sound and dress like us. And it's not merely the singular escape of one person, but rather the collective escape that we share with others. We can process our feelings about a world that wants us to not exist, yet we persevere. We can learn to form friendships and bonds with people after a lifetime of not having the best versions of ourselves put forward. That is a sense of "found family" that an Avengers movie can only provide by drowning it in headcanon—and even then, we'll be accused of making everything about us when so little is. D&D is when it can be about us.

  Make of it what you will.

Yeah I'm not DM'ing a dude getting railed by another dude.  I run my campaigns more like JRR Tolkein not Goerge RR Martin.

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on October 29, 2023, 08:17:47 PM
Can I roleplay a character who's black, trans, and also has a terrible stutter? Who's also in a wheelchair with a touch of autism? And who also got a dose of gonorrhea?

You can play whoever you want petal.

Quote from: Garry G on October 30, 2023, 05:56:53 PM
You can play whoever you want petal.

Nonsense! You can play whatever you roll up!

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on October 31, 2023, 03:07:54 AM
Nonsense! You can play whatever you roll up!

And I want to roll up... in a wheelchair! (va-dump-KSSSH!)

Okay, that was terrible, I apologize.

Quote from: Mistwell on October 29, 2023, 07:59:19 PM

Quote from: BadApple on October 27, 2023, 09:13:13 AM
https://www.polygon.com/23850698/dnd-dungeons-dragons-autistic-character-asteria

So WOTC takes a game that cononically featured RL autistic players, runs off the bulk of them by "diversifying" and getting rid of the white male players (many of them were autistic), and now mocking them with "representation."

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, WOTC?!?!

At this point, I'm offended at everything WOTC does.  I'm glad I mailed my books back and ask fro a refund earlier this year.  (They marked the box "return to sender" and sent it back, but I still tried.)

The idea that you think WOTC has run off white male players is so absurd I wonder if you're trolling or just in that much of a bubble.

Breaking news: There are more white male players playing D&D today than there were in the 1980s and 1990s.

  It has run some off and some of their people spout openly anti-white sentiments.   That is a clear fact.  You can do a weird distortion of that if you like.  I suppose when some of their more Hamas supporting cast starts spouting similar sentiments about some other folks out there your point of view is going to be a whole lot less flippant. 

  But with regards to an autistic Paladin....I am not up to date on every way Autism affects people, but it seems like its going to be one big giant hit on charisma...the defining trait for Paladins....  I could see an Autistic barbarian or fighter, but never, ever, ever a paladin.   I also have some trouble seeing anyone with autism going down into a dark dungeon where it goes from very quiet to thunderous cacophony with traps, combat, surprise monsters, etc.   

   I do think LOTS of people make PCs that are IDEALIZED mirrors of themselves.   I do not understand why you make a copy of yourself with the same major flaws and somehow turn those flaws into secret superpowers.   

Quote from: oggsmash on October 31, 2023, 10:42:25 AM
  But with regards to an autistic Paladin....I am not up to date on every way Autism affects people, but it seems like its going to be one big giant hit on charisma...the defining trait for Paladins....  I could see an Autistic barbarian or fighter, but never, ever, ever a paladin.   I also have some trouble seeing anyone with autism going down into a dark dungeon where it goes from very quiet to thunderous cacophony with traps, combat, surprise monsters, etc.   

   I do think LOTS of people make PCs that are IDEALIZED mirrors of themselves.   I do not understand why you make a copy of yourself with the same major flaws and somehow turn those flaws into secret superpowers.

A Wizard, seccluded in his tower doing his research endelssly because the spell doesn't make sense, fuck magic doesn't make sense! Why does it work? How? Why can't he spam the same spell all day long? Why does he "forget" it once used? Why does he need to re-learn it after sleeping? Why can't he learn it if he doesn't sleep?

The spell he's trying to perfect? Cone of silence, he wants it to only lower the volume of sounds above certain threshold but not others.