[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article

[holding99 at mindspring.com]

At 03:05 AM 9/23/2002 +0000, Matt Mihaly wrote:
> On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Marc DM wrote:

>> How would it be to step into the skin of a 'nigger' in a rascist
>> society?  This is what online worlds make us possible to do.

Please don't make use of such terms, even in 'quotes'. For many
people, including myself, they signify much more than you probably
mean to invoke. If you intend to make such a point in the future, I
suggest you utilize different language.

<EdNote: I have no such policy.  There are terms which succinctly
reference the model, its construction and internal values.  I prefer
and recommend those terms for those reasons over mealy mouthing.>

> This might be picky of me, but I don't think online worlds will
> -ever- let us do that in a meaningful way. Essentially just
> painting your skin black doesn't even come close to simulating the
> experience of a black person in America, particularly when
> everyone playing with you knows that the only you they actually
> care about (the player rather than the character) may or may not
> be black, or whatever other minority you want to pick.
 
> Just as a man playing a female character doesn't give you more
> than trivial insight into the experience of -actually- being
> female, skinning your avatar with a black skin isn't going to tell
> you much about what it is to actually be black.

Actually, many Americans get that experience in on-line venues (not
necessarily games) when the international community finds out that
they are from the US (or Canada, which IMO unfairly gets lumped in
with the US). Of course, most Americans don't like it, but the
really unfortunate thing is that most Americans can't generalize
it. They can't make the connection between "I really hate it when
other people make asinine assumptions about me because of my
nationality, which was pretty much determined at birth," and "Other
people might not like it when I make asinine assumptions about them
based upon their color\gender, which was pretty much determined at
birth." What's worse, this is not something confined to Americans. I
would guess that over half of the population just does not possess
enough empathy hardware/software to make that cognitive leap.

In the same way, even if such an experience could be replicated in
an online world, I'm not sure anyone would 'get it', for the same
reasons most people don't understand (or care to understand) how the
hatred directed towards them in a particular situation could be a
direct reflection of hatred they've directed towards others in
another situation.

But, ICBW.

T.H. Cooke


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