Help: Racially Insensitive?

[RN7]

I don't see anything wrong with it. Now stupid people, stupid people will. You'll run into a stupid person who's offended because it implies something racial. The best way to combat this is to make the races some sort of anthropomorphized animal creature, while utilizing the real world basis for their culture. But why go through the trouble when you can just ignore the stupid people?

 

[Thaius]

Glad I could be of some small minuscule amount of help.

Sounds interesting. I might have to take a look for it. You mention XBLA and Steam are you not going to release it on PSN or Origin? Or not yet decided?

Hope it goes well!

We looked into PSN, and from what I remember they required buying a developer kit that cost outrageous amounts of money that we just don't have. Though it would be awesome if it's an option; I think a game like this might actually do better on the PS3 than on the 360 anyway, the 360's just a more viable option for us. As for Origin, I haven't even considered it; didn't know they published indie games. I may have to check that out, I suppose, though I'm not sure Origin would do much to expand my audience if it releases on Steam as well, unless Origin suddenly gains a lot of popularity and love in the next year or two.

 

[chadachada123]

I would say don't have skin color coincide with slavery in your Western area.

Instead, if anything, consider the idea of having the African-based culture be MORE magically-inclined than some other races, or inclined to practice certain types of magic or whatever is allowed in your narrative.

Just a thought, something that would both save you trouble from the idiots that jumped on the "herp derp RE5 is racist" bandwagon and also give you some interesting narrative ideas to pursue, if you wish.

But, of course, it's your story, so feel free to ignore me completely, I wouldn't blame you.

 

[Cpu46]

Include a well off civilization that is predominantly dark skinned?
Sprinkle dark skinned characters throughout the gameworld that are in good position?
Make it a more native american tribe?

For the slavery all you really need is a difference in clothing but perhaps a dirt caked/tanned skin tone would make sense because they do more physical and dirty labor that is probably outdoors in the sun.

Or just don't bother about it. Not many people will really yell at you for being racist unless you go well out of your way to point out stereotypes.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Just pull one of Ubisoft's "This game was produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs" and don't worry about it.

People overreact over those things for mass produced games like Call of Juarez 2 and Resident Evil 5 since those games would be considered as an "encouragement of racial stereotypes to a wide audience".

 

[Semudara]

Your concept sounds really intriguing! I don't have any advice to give that hasn't already been said, so I'll just wish you luck and say that I hope I see your game on Steam.

Although, I probably won't recognize it...so don't forget to advertise! Positive buzz is worth a whole lot. Though a controversy over perceived racism would help too. ;D

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Well the first thing to make sure is that you don't do a Resident Evil 5, where they portray African tribes as a bunch of spear-chucking savages, WHICH OF COURSE THEY ARE NOT [/coveringmyarse]. You should look at Sonic Unleashed, which portrays a bunch of different nationalities, including an African tribal village. Granted, they do it very cartoonishly, and all with sort of childish innocence, but let me put it this way: they didn't receive any controversy from it.

I never understood why people were insulted by having Africans that were tribal. I mean the game starts out with Africans in an urban environment, so it's not like its portraying all Africans that way and there ARE Africans that are still what could be considered "tribal". There is nothing to be ashamed by, why do people care if there are tribal Africans? I think if I was ethnically Maasai, I would be pissed that people were made at the idea of tribal Africans, because that would be saying my people should be ashamed.

 

[Trivun]

Include a well off civilization that is predominantly dark skinned?
Sprinkle dark skinned characters throughout the gameworld that are in good position?
Make it a more native american tribe?

For the slavery all you really need is a difference in clothing but perhaps a dirt caked/tanned skin tone would make sense because they do more physical and dirty labor that is probably outdoors in the sun.

Or just don't bother about it. Not many people will really yell at you for being racist unless you go well out of your way to point out stereotypes.

Trivun here, one of the game's co-writers! Just thought I'd answer one of your points here, about the 'dark characters in a good position'. Part of the plan was to include well off urban areas too, that have things like a university and proper signs of progress and first-world development, and show that the 'Not-Africa' nation is in fact diverse in itself, with parts that are well off and successful and rich, and parts that still have poverty and whatnot. Which really is fairly accurate, for example, South Africa has major cities and rich people, but it also has some very poverty-stricken places (and even shanty towns and slums). Though to be fair, there is the racism side of that too, from the apartheid days. A better example could by Egypt, with some poverty-stricken areas and some big rich cities like Cairo and Alexandria, and the wealth of their past civillisation and their cultural history and so on. That kind of thing.

Otherwise, I have to point out to Thaius, him being the team leader and such, that I kind of agree with your last point, thinking about it. It won't really be a big deal unless we make it a big deal, and we can always have disclaimers or whatever like Ubisoft to nip any fear-mongering and hate in the bud. Though since we're just an indie outfit and not making a big-budget AAA game, we don't have a lot to worry about anyway .

 

[Batou667]

Good luck with the game guys. I don't have anything much else to add other than to point out that however sensitively and intelligently you try to portray thorny issues like slavery, and however explicitly you state that you do not condone it, somebody will manage to take offence at it (usually as a knee-jerk reaction and under the mistaken belief that if you're portraying something, you also support it). Just remember that you can't please all of the people all of the time, and the hyper-sensitive are best off just being ignored.

 

[krazykidd]

It's weird, and you should ignore any thoughts you have about it. If you have a race of people in your alternate-reality who are poor and underprivileged, then it shouldn't matter, and people who would be 'offended' can go jump.

It's ridiculous in a fantasy setting to have the choice of making them White or Black. Make them Black, and people will be "RABBLE-RABBLE-RABBLE-RABBLE!!-ing" about it being racist or whatever. Make them White and you'll have white, overly sensitive pseudo-intellectuals saying how brilliant it is and not being offended at all. Wtf?! White people can be poor too? God.

So, I recommend, you ignore the bullshit, ignore what people think or say or how they feel. If you make them Black, good for you, if you make them White, good for you, if you make them Asian, good for you. Do what feels right for the GAME. If people want to be offended, they can be offended, it's okay, nothing actually happens.

What ever you do , don't do what this guy says!

Look, you can't NOT offend everyone , you can at least try, don't purposely try to offend , what i would suggest is , read up on africa and carabeen island ( not everyone that is black come from africa duh!) want to have a poor country with poor black villagers? Fine that is the reality , but at least try to balance it out a bit . Have a couple of white people living there too as part ofthe comunity . And for the love of all thats hOly have at least one normal looking town with black people . Also it would be funny if you inversed the roles ( but thats just me ).

Also , no matter what you choose to do , stand by it. People hating on your for it , well at least stand by your decision .

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

For the first part, I'd say that it's fine to do that so long you actually explain why the country is so poor. It would be bad to make the implication that the country is poor because it's full of black people, or something like that, so you have to have a plausible economic explanation for why they're poor. You could easily add something about colonialism and the theft of resources or something like that, just don't let the player infer that the black people are poor just because they're black.

For the second part I would be against differentiating the magic users from the non-magic users by skin color. If you separate them by skin color then it wouldn't create the implication that the slaves are slaves because they don't know magic, but that they're slaves because of their race and the lack of magic would only be secondary to that.

 

[lord.jeff]

Well depends on how you portray them. And what is the basic level of world technological development? Do some of the major cities have flying cars while this "Not African" nation is stuck in the middle ages throwing spears at "not elephants"? Because that would probably be seen as pretty racist.

More importantly how do the people act? Do you have any major NPCs or characters that join your group from either place? How do they behave?

Different parts of the world are at different technological levels due to magic. Some countries develop technology, but others focus on magic. The most technologically developed nation is based on Japan and achieved its technological prowess by combining magic and technology, but this has not spread to other parts of the world, mostly due to traditionalism keeping magic in a more prominent and respected place than technology. The society based on African culture is a bit more primal, but in this case that will still involve magical ability, which is more of a driving societal force in this world than technology. We also aim to make them plenty intelligent and seen around the world in all sorts of different places.

As for the society with the slavery, we have one major, playable character who is an escaped slave and another who is from the same place, but left before the whole slavery thing started. And there will be major NPCs in both; both places are very important to the story. We have not gotten so far as to write them in specifically yet, so I'm not sure exactly how they will behave; the game is still in pre-production, and we're lining out the exact story progression so we can soon get to the actual writing.

Okay, about the "Not African" nation. Please don't use voodoo as the basis for their magic, or anything similar. If you do include voodoo make it some crazy old man that even the other members of the nation that we see disregard as crazy. Making their magic voodoo based would NOT go over well. Remember the RE5 controversy? You'd be begging for that.

As for the nation of magic users that enslave the people unable to use magic, make certain that you show race has nothing to do with it. Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

I'd make the characters act pretty reasonable. Paint the "Not African" culture as primitive, but intelligent and logical. Perhaps they value nature and the place and roles of themselves and the animals? Though, that might be making them more like Native Americans. I'm not sure about the slave owners, though. Perhaps some should see it as being their right, while others claim the slave live better this way? Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either. Is the Japanese based culture the main driving force/Big Bad for the story? It sounds like it is set up for that.

Honestly, I had an idea for a similar story. Two nations at perpetual war with each other. One used magic and one focused on technology, but no one used both. Largely due to magic being something you were born with and magic users can't use technology because their powers interfere with it. The main character I thought up was to be a son to people from both nations. Of course, I only ever make up ideas for this kind of stuff in my head and never write any of it down. Lol.

Anyway, this sounds intriguing. Are you making it as a console/PC game for a studio? Or can you say anything about that?

Whats wrong with reflecting old Southern slavery/racism, that's how racism works and if your going to include racism as an element of your story why not look at real life examples of racism?

I wouldn't worry so much as long as your not portraying the enslavers as right your fine but if you want to avoid controversy just don't make them black and white, you could go the way of every other fantasy game and have it be human and elf, just an example.

 

[BlindedHunter]

I'd suggest that above all you try to be certain that any differences in color or form are supported by the geography of your world. Are they in an area that is almost constantly sunny, or do they descend from such a place? Then they should be black, because that is the origin of the increased melanin expression in the skin.
If anyone gives you trouble, you can quite happily say that their colors are based on geographical requirements, and that their culture is the result of complex socio-political interactions that began with community itself. You know, like real life!

EDIT: And on a more subjective note, I'd avoid things like throwing in a university without a good way to explain it's existence. If you do, then there are a lot of implications that can be drawn like "you were trying to not seem like a racist even though you actually are."

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Make them Green, problem solved.

At the end of the day, make the game you want to make. Haters are gonna hate on you no matter what you do.

 

[Saltyk]

Well depends on how you portray them. And what is the basic level of world technological development? Do some of the major cities have flying cars while this "Not African" nation is stuck in the middle ages throwing spears at "not elephants"? Because that would probably be seen as pretty racist.

More importantly how do the people act? Do you have any major NPCs or characters that join your group from either place? How do they behave?

Different parts of the world are at different technological levels due to magic. Some countries develop technology, but others focus on magic. The most technologically developed nation is based on Japan and achieved its technological prowess by combining magic and technology, but this has not spread to other parts of the world, mostly due to traditionalism keeping magic in a more prominent and respected place than technology. The society based on African culture is a bit more primal, but in this case that will still involve magical ability, which is more of a driving societal force in this world than technology. We also aim to make them plenty intelligent and seen around the world in all sorts of different places.

As for the society with the slavery, we have one major, playable character who is an escaped slave and another who is from the same place, but left before the whole slavery thing started. And there will be major NPCs in both; both places are very important to the story. We have not gotten so far as to write them in specifically yet, so I'm not sure exactly how they will behave; the game is still in pre-production, and we're lining out the exact story progression so we can soon get to the actual writing.

Okay, about the "Not African" nation. Please don't use voodoo as the basis for their magic, or anything similar. If you do include voodoo make it some crazy old man that even the other members of the nation that we see disregard as crazy. Making their magic voodoo based would NOT go over well. Remember the RE5 controversy? You'd be begging for that.

As for the nation of magic users that enslave the people unable to use magic, make certain that you show race has nothing to do with it. Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

I'd make the characters act pretty reasonable. Paint the "Not African" culture as primitive, but intelligent and logical. Perhaps they value nature and the place and roles of themselves and the animals? Though, that might be making them more like Native Americans. I'm not sure about the slave owners, though. Perhaps some should see it as being their right, while others claim the slave live better this way? Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either. Is the Japanese based culture the main driving force/Big Bad for the story? It sounds like it is set up for that.

Honestly, I had an idea for a similar story. Two nations at perpetual war with each other. One used magic and one focused on technology, but no one used both. Largely due to magic being something you were born with and magic users can't use technology because their powers interfere with it. The main character I thought up was to be a son to people from both nations. Of course, I only ever make up ideas for this kind of stuff in my head and never write any of it down. Lol.

Anyway, this sounds intriguing. Are you making it as a console/PC game for a studio? Or can you say anything about that?

Whats wrong with reflecting old Southern slavery/racism, that's how racism works and if your going to include racism as an element of your story why not look at real life examples of racism?

I wouldn't worry so much as long as your not portraying the enslavers as right your fine but if you want to avoid controversy just don't make them black and white, you could go the way of every other fantasy game and have it be human and elf, just an example.

Well, for one, I am freaking sick of everyone acting like the Old South slavery was how slavery always worked. It isn't. Actually it was quite uncommon for various reasons. The Greeks, Romans, Huns, Mesopotamians, even Africans held slaves. Slavery has been happening for almost as long as human history. Perhaps longer. In fact, it is still going on. Have you heard of sex slaves? I've actually heard young white women with blonde hair and blue eyes are popular in some parts of the world. At one point the people mining blood diamonds were slaves (probably still are) with little value to the ones controlling them. When is the last time you heard about any of that?

And when have you seen anyone address the matter of other forms of slavery in history at all? It's like people think that was the only time in history that people took other people as slaves.
For another matter, when is the last time you heard anyone mention Indentured Servants?

 

[lord.jeff]

Well depends on how you portray them. And what is the basic level of world technological development? Do some of the major cities have flying cars while this "Not African" nation is stuck in the middle ages throwing spears at "not elephants"? Because that would probably be seen as pretty racist.

More importantly how do the people act? Do you have any major NPCs or characters that join your group from either place? How do they behave?

Different parts of the world are at different technological levels due to magic. Some countries develop technology, but others focus on magic. The most technologically developed nation is based on Japan and achieved its technological prowess by combining magic and technology, but this has not spread to other parts of the world, mostly due to traditionalism keeping magic in a more prominent and respected place than technology. The society based on African culture is a bit more primal, but in this case that will still involve magical ability, which is more of a driving societal force in this world than technology. We also aim to make them plenty intelligent and seen around the world in all sorts of different places.

As for the society with the slavery, we have one major, playable character who is an escaped slave and another who is from the same place, but left before the whole slavery thing started. And there will be major NPCs in both; both places are very important to the story. We have not gotten so far as to write them in specifically yet, so I'm not sure exactly how they will behave; the game is still in pre-production, and we're lining out the exact story progression so we can soon get to the actual writing.

Okay, about the "Not African" nation. Please don't use voodoo as the basis for their magic, or anything similar. If you do include voodoo make it some crazy old man that even the other members of the nation that we see disregard as crazy. Making their magic voodoo based would NOT go over well. Remember the RE5 controversy? You'd be begging for that.

As for the nation of magic users that enslave the people unable to use magic, make certain that you show race has nothing to do with it. Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

I'd make the characters act pretty reasonable. Paint the "Not African" culture as primitive, but intelligent and logical. Perhaps they value nature and the place and roles of themselves and the animals? Though, that might be making them more like Native Americans. I'm not sure about the slave owners, though. Perhaps some should see it as being their right, while others claim the slave live better this way? Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either. Is the Japanese based culture the main driving force/Big Bad for the story? It sounds like it is set up for that.

Honestly, I had an idea for a similar story. Two nations at perpetual war with each other. One used magic and one focused on technology, but no one used both. Largely due to magic being something you were born with and magic users can't use technology because their powers interfere with it. The main character I thought up was to be a son to people from both nations. Of course, I only ever make up ideas for this kind of stuff in my head and never write any of it down. Lol.

Anyway, this sounds intriguing. Are you making it as a console/PC game for a studio? Or can you say anything about that?

Whats wrong with reflecting old Southern slavery/racism, that's how racism works and if your going to include racism as an element of your story why not look at real life examples of racism?

I wouldn't worry so much as long as your not portraying the enslavers as right your fine but if you want to avoid controversy just don't make them black and white, you could go the way of every other fantasy game and have it be human and elf, just an example.

Well, for one, I am freaking sick of everyone acting like the Old South slavery was how slavery always worked. It isn't. Actually it was quite uncommon for various reasons. The Greeks, Romans, Huns, Mesopotamians, even Africans held slaves. Slavery has been happening for almost as long as human history. Perhaps longer. In fact, it is still going on. Have you heard of sex slaves? I've actually heard young white women with blonde hair and blue eyes are popular in some parts of the world. At one point the people mining blood diamonds were slaves (probably still are) with little value to the ones controlling them. When is the last time you heard about any of that?

And when have you seen anyone address the matter of other forms of slavery in history at all? It's like people think that was the only time in history that people took other people as slaves.
For another matter, when is the last time you heard anyone mention Indentured Servants?

I'm well aware of all that, but you specifically mentioned

Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either.

But if you want a better way of phrasing the question, whats wrong with people in the fantasy world mirror dealing with issues that mirror are own problems?

 

[ediblemitten]

Put whatever you want, within reason. If someone is offended, so what? Its your game, you're portraying a fictional culture, INSPIRED by a real culture. Africa is a huge, diverse region with millions of years of history and culture - distilling a few key elements you find from African culture interesting into an in-game culture isn't racist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cycXuYzmzNg

 

[Saltyk]

Well depends on how you portray them. And what is the basic level of world technological development? Do some of the major cities have flying cars while this "Not African" nation is stuck in the middle ages throwing spears at "not elephants"? Because that would probably be seen as pretty racist.

More importantly how do the people act? Do you have any major NPCs or characters that join your group from either place? How do they behave?

Different parts of the world are at different technological levels due to magic. Some countries develop technology, but others focus on magic. The most technologically developed nation is based on Japan and achieved its technological prowess by combining magic and technology, but this has not spread to other parts of the world, mostly due to traditionalism keeping magic in a more prominent and respected place than technology. The society based on African culture is a bit more primal, but in this case that will still involve magical ability, which is more of a driving societal force in this world than technology. We also aim to make them plenty intelligent and seen around the world in all sorts of different places.

As for the society with the slavery, we have one major, playable character who is an escaped slave and another who is from the same place, but left before the whole slavery thing started. And there will be major NPCs in both; both places are very important to the story. We have not gotten so far as to write them in specifically yet, so I'm not sure exactly how they will behave; the game is still in pre-production, and we're lining out the exact story progression so we can soon get to the actual writing.

Okay, about the "Not African" nation. Please don't use voodoo as the basis for their magic, or anything similar. If you do include voodoo make it some crazy old man that even the other members of the nation that we see disregard as crazy. Making their magic voodoo based would NOT go over well. Remember the RE5 controversy? You'd be begging for that.

As for the nation of magic users that enslave the people unable to use magic, make certain that you show race has nothing to do with it. Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

I'd make the characters act pretty reasonable. Paint the "Not African" culture as primitive, but intelligent and logical. Perhaps they value nature and the place and roles of themselves and the animals? Though, that might be making them more like Native Americans. I'm not sure about the slave owners, though. Perhaps some should see it as being their right, while others claim the slave live better this way? Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either. Is the Japanese based culture the main driving force/Big Bad for the story? It sounds like it is set up for that.

Honestly, I had an idea for a similar story. Two nations at perpetual war with each other. One used magic and one focused on technology, but no one used both. Largely due to magic being something you were born with and magic users can't use technology because their powers interfere with it. The main character I thought up was to be a son to people from both nations. Of course, I only ever make up ideas for this kind of stuff in my head and never write any of it down. Lol.

Anyway, this sounds intriguing. Are you making it as a console/PC game for a studio? Or can you say anything about that?

Whats wrong with reflecting old Southern slavery/racism, that's how racism works and if your going to include racism as an element of your story why not look at real life examples of racism?

I wouldn't worry so much as long as your not portraying the enslavers as right your fine but if you want to avoid controversy just don't make them black and white, you could go the way of every other fantasy game and have it be human and elf, just an example.

Well, for one, I am freaking sick of everyone acting like the Old South slavery was how slavery always worked. It isn't. Actually it was quite uncommon for various reasons. The Greeks, Romans, Huns, Mesopotamians, even Africans held slaves. Slavery has been happening for almost as long as human history. Perhaps longer. In fact, it is still going on. Have you heard of sex slaves? I've actually heard young white women with blonde hair and blue eyes are popular in some parts of the world. At one point the people mining blood diamonds were slaves (probably still are) with little value to the ones controlling them. When is the last time you heard about any of that?

And when have you seen anyone address the matter of other forms of slavery in history at all? It's like people think that was the only time in history that people took other people as slaves.
For another matter, when is the last time you heard anyone mention Indentured Servants?

I'm well aware of all that, but you specifically mentioned

Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either.

But if you want a better way of phrasing the question, whats wrong with people in the fantasy world mirror dealing with issues that mirror are own problems?

Well, for one, by focusing on the slavery of the Old South, you do a disservice to slaves in general. Focusing on it, makes it seem that slavery is always a white person enslaving a black person. When it could easily be a black person enslaving a white person. Or a black person enslaving a black person. Or an white person enslaving an Asian person. It leaves a subconscious belief that slavery is somehow rooted in racism. The problem is that people today only seem to address the issue as being one that happened in the Old South. I think this is a dangerous way to frame the issue.

Think about it. How often have you seen a movie that deals with slavery that wasn't set in or around the American Civil War? Other than Gladiator.

From this standpoint, I'd rather not see things dealt with in this way.

For another, by drawing too close to an Old South attitude, you are virtually guaranteeing someone will draw that comparison. Even if it's unintentional, someone will surely assume that is the underlying message you are trying to convey. That you are trying to compare your society to the Old South and draw attention to how bad slavery was in that time (also tying into my previous point). If not done tastefully, this could easily offend some people. Remember how a woman said that Resident Evil 5 was racist before anything was known about the game? Almost entirely based on some scenes from early in the game where Chris Redfield, a white man, was shooting black zombies. I don't think it would be hard to imagine a person finding something to be offended about. "Why this seems like it is supposed to be based on Southern slavery. Why is there a black slave owner with a white slave? This is an outrage!"

If nothing else, it detracts from the overall message you might try to convey.

There's nothing wrong with a fantasy setting trying to deal with real world problems. I'd just rather it be addressed in a way that frames the issue more properly rather than framing it in a fashion that isn't entirely true.

 

[lord.jeff]

Well depends on how you portray them. And what is the basic level of world technological development? Do some of the major cities have flying cars while this "Not African" nation is stuck in the middle ages throwing spears at "not elephants"? Because that would probably be seen as pretty racist.

More importantly how do the people act? Do you have any major NPCs or characters that join your group from either place? How do they behave?

Different parts of the world are at different technological levels due to magic. Some countries develop technology, but others focus on magic. The most technologically developed nation is based on Japan and achieved its technological prowess by combining magic and technology, but this has not spread to other parts of the world, mostly due to traditionalism keeping magic in a more prominent and respected place than technology. The society based on African culture is a bit more primal, but in this case that will still involve magical ability, which is more of a driving societal force in this world than technology. We also aim to make them plenty intelligent and seen around the world in all sorts of different places.

As for the society with the slavery, we have one major, playable character who is an escaped slave and another who is from the same place, but left before the whole slavery thing started. And there will be major NPCs in both; both places are very important to the story. We have not gotten so far as to write them in specifically yet, so I'm not sure exactly how they will behave; the game is still in pre-production, and we're lining out the exact story progression so we can soon get to the actual writing.

Okay, about the "Not African" nation. Please don't use voodoo as the basis for their magic, or anything similar. If you do include voodoo make it some crazy old man that even the other members of the nation that we see disregard as crazy. Making their magic voodoo based would NOT go over well. Remember the RE5 controversy? You'd be begging for that.

As for the nation of magic users that enslave the people unable to use magic, make certain that you show race has nothing to do with it. Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

I'd make the characters act pretty reasonable. Paint the "Not African" culture as primitive, but intelligent and logical. Perhaps they value nature and the place and roles of themselves and the animals? Though, that might be making them more like Native Americans. I'm not sure about the slave owners, though. Perhaps some should see it as being their right, while others claim the slave live better this way? Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either. Is the Japanese based culture the main driving force/Big Bad for the story? It sounds like it is set up for that.

Honestly, I had an idea for a similar story. Two nations at perpetual war with each other. One used magic and one focused on technology, but no one used both. Largely due to magic being something you were born with and magic users can't use technology because their powers interfere with it. The main character I thought up was to be a son to people from both nations. Of course, I only ever make up ideas for this kind of stuff in my head and never write any of it down. Lol.

Anyway, this sounds intriguing. Are you making it as a console/PC game for a studio? Or can you say anything about that?

Whats wrong with reflecting old Southern slavery/racism, that's how racism works and if your going to include racism as an element of your story why not look at real life examples of racism?

I wouldn't worry so much as long as your not portraying the enslavers as right your fine but if you want to avoid controversy just don't make them black and white, you could go the way of every other fantasy game and have it be human and elf, just an example.

Well, for one, I am freaking sick of everyone acting like the Old South slavery was how slavery always worked. It isn't. Actually it was quite uncommon for various reasons. The Greeks, Romans, Huns, Mesopotamians, even Africans held slaves. Slavery has been happening for almost as long as human history. Perhaps longer. In fact, it is still going on. Have you heard of sex slaves? I've actually heard young white women with blonde hair and blue eyes are popular in some parts of the world. At one point the people mining blood diamonds were slaves (probably still are) with little value to the ones controlling them. When is the last time you heard about any of that?

And when have you seen anyone address the matter of other forms of slavery in history at all? It's like people think that was the only time in history that people took other people as slaves.
For another matter, when is the last time you heard anyone mention Indentured Servants?

I'm well aware of all that, but you specifically mentioned

Show people of various races both as magic users and slaves. Otherwise you are begging for comparisons to Old South slavery.

Though, that's dangerously close to actual Old South slave owners so you might not want to go there, either.

But if you want a better way of phrasing the question, whats wrong with people in the fantasy world mirror dealing with issues that mirror are own problems?

Well, for one, by focusing on the slavery of the Old South, you do a disservice to slaves in general. Focusing on it, makes it seem that slavery is always a white person enslaving a black person. When it could easily be a black person enslaving a white person. Or a black person enslaving a black person. Or an white person enslaving an Asian person. It leaves a subconscious belief that slavery is somehow rooted in racism. The problem is that people today only seem to address the issue as being one that happened in the Old South. I think this is a dangerous way to frame the issue.

Think about it. How often have you seen a movie that deals with slavery that wasn't set in or around the American Civil War? Other than Gladiator.

From this standpoint, I'd rather not see things dealt with in this way.

For another, by drawing too close to an Old South attitude, you are virtually guaranteeing someone will draw that comparison. Even if it's unintentional, someone will surely assume that is the underlying message you are trying to convey. That you are trying to compare your society to the Old South and draw attention to how bad slavery was in that time (also tying into my previous point). If not done tastefully, this could easily offend some people. Remember how a woman said that Resident Evil 5 was racist before anything was known about the game? Almost entirely based on some scenes from early in the game where Chris Redfield, a white man, was shooting black zombies. I don't think it would be hard to imagine a person finding something to be offended about. "Why this seems like it is supposed to be based on Southern slavery. Why is there a black slave owner with a white slave? This is an outrage!"

If nothing else, it detracts from the overall message you might try to convey.

There's nothing wrong with a fantasy setting trying to deal with real world problems. I'd just rather it be addressed in a way that frames the issue more properly rather than framing it in a fashion that isn't entirely true.

First, Blood Diamond dealt with slavery within modern day Africa, good movie.

I do agree it would be better if people got a wider scope of history I just didn't see that side within your original post, it seemed a bit more like you were suggesting you avoid controversy just to stay safe, which I would find a discredit to slaves. Taking inspiration from the use of slaves from any culture is a fine idea.

Also that outrage about Resident Evil 5 really bugged me, a white guy shooting a bunch of Hispanics is okay but the moment a black man gets shoot everyone's up in arms.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Its sounds like you've got it pretty well thought out and have went to some lengths to avoid having it come across like this in your game because either A) you're racist or B) for shock value... So yeah, sounds fine to me.

Although to twist it around have you thought about making the people of this culture white? Im not even sure how/if/why that would make any difference but oh well.

Considered it, just not sure if we should keep the skin color true to the cultures they're based on, and as I mentioned, if we're having racial diversity in the game, it would only make sense for people of darker skin to be in certain areas and climates. Plus there will be ways in which this inspiration by cultures will be obvious, especially in the names, so it might just seem weird. I'm not sure.

Add in a couple of non-human races and you should be fine. Elder Scrolls has had multi-racial humans forever and nobody's ever thrown a fit that I've heard about. You might also consider basing part of your "African" area around the Nubian Empire, which IIRC had trade relations with Rome and was a shining star of civilization at the time.

Also, keep in mind there's no such thing as "African" culture. The place is HUGE with MASSIVE physical barriers to travel, so there are and always have been dozens if not hundreds of different cultures all over Africa.