/tg/ I have an ethical question. I was/am DMing a 3rd edition setting that was originaly should of been a lighthearted fun thing based on the card Steamflogger boss. I made riggers second class mechanical men, etc. It was fun and games but then one of my pcs shouted (in character)
"FUCKING RIGGERS!" I laughed and so did a few others in my regular group. But one immediately shut down the game with silence and glaring. And then that player (I don't think their gender or identity matter for this story) said, "I can believe you idiots made that racist joke, but I don't think I can play with a DM who abides that sort of racist shit. It should at least change their alignment if they shout racist things like that."
At first I thought that the complainer was wrong, but now I'm not so sure. How would you handle this, fa/tg/uys?
>>47352640
>How would you handle this, fa/tg/uys?
By making up a better story next time, and also posting it with greentext as is the custom for things that never actually happened.
>I can believe you idiots made that racist joke, but I don't think I can play with a DM who abides that sort of racist shit.
I'm sorry you feel that way. There's the door.
>It should at least change their alignment if they shout racist things like that.
A player's alignment isn't decided by committee - its between the player and the GM. Again, if that is a problem for you, there's the door.
>>47352705
I'm not an asshole DM though
>>47352672
sry u dnt play mtg
>>47352736
Explain to them that riggers aren't real and that no rigger was actually hurt by the joke. Then explain how a character being racist can be an interesting flaw for the character to develop around. You are, after all, playing make-belief.
If your player is unable to distinguish between fake racism of a character intended as a joke and real racism of a player they probably aren't intelligent enough to be interacting with other people unsupervised.
>>47352640
Complainer was wrong and can leave. You don't need offend-a-trons at the table. They would find something else to be mad about anyway.
Can't be racist to something that's not a race.
I see your problem here, you got that post racial mentality.
Not really a good thing since we live in a world and time where racism is very much a hot topic.
Maybe not for you or your immediate family and friends, but people are struggling with this shit in a daily basis and if you deny that it's like saying ice is hot.
Now your friend is probably closer to these struggles via work, relatives or general moralfagging.
Same you are probably closer to friends that joke and discuss things with over generalized and accepted bigoted terms, or terms that have lost their meaning in your peer group. "That's a nigger move" "working like a spic" etc. Which is a more acceptable way of being an edge lord.
People will deny this as they usually get their ideas from bigger edge lords with some influence on their lives, such as parents or right wing media crazies. (Not all of them fit this bill. Before you sperg out.)
But there you have it.
Your dilema is,
I don't want to have to censor myself. It is my right to say whatever I want about whatever I want. I believe people shouldn't be offended by my edginess.
And
I'm just not going to make racist jokes in company that don't share my racist circlejerck mentality.
I'm a bend over just a bit and you can put the tip in.
I think you should apologize and concede that your experience in race relations comes from 4chan, just agree that you didn't mean to offend and keep that shit in check. It's like not saying Hitler did nothing wrong, most people get the sarcasm/irony depending on the situation, but done people actually believe that shit, and some people are wearing jewelry from a great grandmother that was worked, starved, beaten, interned, tortured, raped and killed in the prime of her life by the decree of a shitty person.
>>47353056
The vast majority of the group found it amusing. They weren't being racist. The CHARACTER was being racist. The others were laughing because they recognised the parallel between what the CHARACTER was saying and what racist humans say. The sperg didn't have to go all vegan and try to impose their assumed moral superiority on the rest of the group over something like that.
Stop being such a rigger.
>>47352640
>I'm not an asshole DM though
That's not being an asshole, its resolving the conflict in the least painless fashion. The rest of the players and him have a disagreement. You have a few choices as how to deal with it. You change your mind, he changes his mind, he just deals with it, or you go your separate ways.
>>47353223
Yeah dude I get it. You think racism irl is funny or that racist people irl are funny.
If you had to deal with the threat irl like some people do, you might feel uncomfortable in the home or store filled with people that are not concerned by such things.
It's about making people feel welcomed or not. And comfortable or not.
Just like everyone at the table laughing at a joke that disparaged retards as subhuman scumb, when you have to go home to your handicapped little sister.
>>47352640
It's probably best to offer an unqualified apology for how that situation made that player feel. This is easy to do because how it made them feel exists independent of intent.
From there let them know that in character actions like racially motivated genocide will shift a character toward evil and racially motivated mistreatment will shift a character away from good toward neutral, but that metahumor that doesn't even involve a pejorative (in this example, rigger is the proper name, not a slur) will not be alignment infractions.
>>47352892
You're white. I can tell.
>>47353760
If you're implying that I've never had to deal with racism you'd be surprised, I've spent more than half of my life living in countries where whites are not a majority.
>>47353847
Of you think people giving you the stinkeye and talking shit to you is all there us to racism you have shit in your brain
>3e
>that was originaly should of been
>using alignments at all
>>47353958
That's a lot of assumptions you're making there.
>>47354015
I'm sorry, tell you how you were oppressed anon. We are brothers in suffering.
>>47353958
South African here. You can say "we deserve it" or whatever, but to pretend that whites in South Africa do not presently face racism above and beyond what American blacks endure I'm not sure what to tell you.
>>47354015
I mean, there's the door =>
>>47352640
Tell the sullen asshole "Don't be an oversensitive douche you fucking dipshit."
>>47352640
>No mention of big lips
>No mention of nappy heads
>No mention of orange soda
>No mention of purple drank
>No mention of watermelon
>No mention of fried chicken
>No lynching
>No burning crosses
>Player didn't respec his character to Grand Wizard
>No reperations given
>No mention of 3/5ths law
>No enslaving them
OP I don't even think your player knows the meaning of the word racist. Tell him to work out his shamefully closeted xenophobias before coming back to the game.
>>47352640
Ban the player that thinks this is "racist" from ever again playing with the group.
If he/she complains about it even once, shun him/her off your friend circle.
If he/she still complains, ruin his/her public and social image.
It's better to make a lesson out of one such person for any others that might come, than just let it roll and eventually end up being something worse each time and more.
>>47354082
Black American racism and white south African discrimination are two different things based in two different social cultures and shouldn't be compared.
Anywho back on subject, OP the joke is juvenile as fuck. I don't find it funny, I feel if a character is racist they should actually roleplay racism in a really good way. Shouting slurs is a dumbass hick way and its lazy roleplaying.
If he just spoke down to the second class NPCs and all his actions shown a great disdain I'd say it was roleplaying but from what it looks like it's just an easy win joke for a bunch of kids.
