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Sucks when there's not a marginalized person at the top of ttrpg streaming to play the marginalized characters. What an infuriating problem if you want your game, in which you can only play marginalized folks, to get visibility with their audience, and they're a cis white dude.
Same problem with publishing and designing in ttrps right? There's a cis white dude hierarchy everywhere.
I mean to be fair IN OUR COUNTRY THE USA WHICH ISNT OUR LAND TO BEGIN WITH.
I mean definitely uplift and keep giving us marginalized folks roles and power etc etc and we will keep taking it too. But whew it is a tiring dynamic.
To clarify though, I agree with what many have said about streaming vs home game and prominent white people playing poc. Unfortunately it does hold the same weight as scarjo playing an Asian character, and the same problem film has with the biggest actors still being white dudes
Itâs simultaneously a marketing and money trap for smaller or marginalized creators AND super problematic representation when thereâs only high profile cis white dudes for these parts. What do we even do about it until thereâs more marginalized folks with that kind of power
I think some flexibility is good and creative solutions important. Could Mercer maybe have hosted the game instead of dropping it? Maybe he couldâve played evil white NPCs in the poc setting? I dunno but creativity seems key in this type of sitch
Ttrpg is still a new media and while there are growing established norms we have the ability to make our own rules for it. We donât have to adhere to some kind of imaginary industry standard. Why not make a stream that is flexible with players and representation? I dunno
Itâs also a problem with streaming ttrpg vs playing ttrpg. Streaming is becoming more and more about performance vs modeling what happens in non streamed games. Smoke and mirrors! Donât talk about rules on screen! Paid actors and famous personalities! Itâs not bad but Iâd argue..
It is different than how players tend to engage in ttrpgs without an audience. It reminds me of larps that are for audiences... they are more plays than games. Steaming is more tv show than games. Different rules begin to apply with who can play what characters and what it means
As ttrpg streaming becomes the new way to teach games, people will model their games in a similar way... more like a performance than a game. Good and bad depending on your game. I mean I actually think this usually misrepresents how ttrpgs are meant to be played
I mean there is now wrong way to play but there kind of is! Games are a conversation and when a lot of that conversation is happening in secrecy, new players might not know thatâs whatâs supposed to be happening on screen. This hides a lot of consent discussion too not just rules
I think that you can use ttrpgs to stream performances that are like games, but you canât use performances that are like games to play ttrpgs. Itâs like the stream is one way to play the game but it is the performative way.
Itâs a huge problem for our games that are all marginalized characters. I feel like gender and sexuality is somewhat flexible but race is like a whole other discussion in the US. Other marginalized groups even more so. Our culture is not at a place to have nuanced understanding
Do I want everyone to play my lesbian games??? Yea!!!! Would it be weird if only groups of straight white dudes were playing lesbian characters on a stream??? YEA KINDA itâs like when straight dude directors make their lesbian film and you can just tell from the camera angles
