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here's the thing about this conversation re:colonialism and slavery in board games. Jason (and ppl who think like them) are raising important issues about the way colonialism should be depicted 'respectfully'. my thought is that these games should not even exist AT ALL (thread) https://twitter.com/ShelfStoriesGBL/status/1351182040616603653
even typing 'depicting colonialism respectfully' is making my skin crawl. the effects of colonialism are still ongoing today. british anti-lgbt laws have been upheld to this day in countries that had a queer culture as part of the native culture. look up the CFA franc, etc.
and progress in the global south has been stunted because for hundreds of years its resources were funneled to benefit the global north (as it arguably is today with labour exploitations and the like, which again is a knock-on effect of colonialism)
and obviously I think we can all agree that Colonialism Was Bad, right??? the murder??? the exploitation??? the european obessession with colonial themed board games has been a thing I have been looking askance at for a long time.
(come to it I also don't like war games but that's a slightly diff convo)
so like.... why make a game about a painful time in history? what exactly are you trying to achieve? I am of the opinion that you cannot fully "teach" history through board games. you are literally gamifying conflict, murder, and exploitation.
and I am certainly not interested in colonial takes on colonial pasts and slavery. I would object less if those who were colonised want to make a game to examine the past, but that's just... like I said, what are you trying to achieve?
I was a teacher for many years. You cannot teach the nuances of history in a board game. you can only teach that very specific slice of history. what happened in that war, for eg.
what were the consequences of war, and colonialism, and slavery? what are their consequences today? these are all questions that have to be raised and can only be fully examined and understood outside the context of the board game.
(obviously games are and can be a useful tool for learning all sorts of things, but I would argue in a limited way)
I mean, honestly, after you play a game about colonialism, are you really gonna sit around and have a serious discussion about its effects today? or are you going to talk about the big plays that you made and the big points that you scored?
I'm not saying doing that makes you a "bad person". it's a game. it is designed to make you feel good doing big plays and scoring big points. but that's exactly what I'm saying re: gamifying history. it abstracts it to a level of 'just a game'
the rallying cry of a lot of gamers when these questions about colonial themed games is always "it's just a game! I just want to have fun!" guess what. so do I. I cannot have fun replaying a history of murder and exploitation.
and obviously we don't live in a vacuum. many games are made that are abstractions of colonialism and war. our perception of conflict is coloured by war. but the real life setting is just a jump too far for me.
and look, I'm obviously not the board game police. you can make whatever game you want. I'm just saying I don't like them I won't play them (and so might many others). and for the love of gods listen to people why they try to tell you why your game might be causing harm
I'm turning off replies because I'm not interested in a conversation, and frankly I can already forsee this getting me some flack and I'm kind of dreading posting it already. this is my opinion. you may disagree with it elsewhere.
(btw and this isn't a knock on @ShelfStoriesGBL, I just used their thread as a jumping of point for thoughts of my own)
also dropping the ko-fi here because in 2021 we are no longer going to devalue ourselves. it took me a long time to learn all this and writing all this out is a kind of labour and we live under capitalism sooo (my partner's acc that we share) https://ko-fi.com/ithayla
ok a couple more things LOL. obviously I'm also not "pure" and "unproblematic". I mean, I hate the monarchy but I watch The Crown. lmao. I watch all sorts of "problematic" things. as with all things it's simply good exercise to question why the media you consume and play-
was made, and who profits from them, and why they make you feel good, and what kinds of possible harms and stereotypes they portray. critical thinking r gud.
also listen to my podcast @playonlycast for more similar board game discussions to these!! (it's currently on hiatus but umm looking to return soon!)
