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Put yourself in the shoes of a Black gamer. You walk up to a demo table, sit down to play, and find zero representation of yourself in the game. When you politely point this out to the designers (which takes a lot of guts!), they come at you with these awful excuses.
How would this make you feel?
Using history as an excuse for lack of representation is tired and I refuse to put up with it. First off, Black people existed during the Middle Ages (yes, in Europe as well: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/13/250184740/taking-a-magnifying-glass-to-the-brown-faces-in-medieval-art).">https://www.npr.org/sections/...
Using history as an excuse for lack of representation is tired and I refuse to put up with it. First off, Black people existed during the Middle Ages (yes, in Europe as well: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/13/250184740/taking-a-magnifying-glass-to-the-brown-faces-in-medieval-art).">https://www.npr.org/sections/...
Second, you& #39;re making a BOARD GAME. You& #39;re making a work of fantasy, symbolism, and entertainment. NOTHING in a board game is "historically accurate." You let players use one piece of wood and one piece of glass to build a house but you can& #39;t include a Black player character?
When you design a game, you make choices about what your components, mechanics, and art represent. Not representing Black people is a conscious design choice, and it& #39;s not a good look.
Luckily, there are things that we in the board game industry can do to help right this wrong.
Designers: First and foremost, put diverse representation in your games! Second - we can be the first line of defense when we playtest early prototypes.
Designers: First and foremost, put diverse representation in your games! Second - we can be the first line of defense when we playtest early prototypes.
If you playtest a game without diverse representation, say something - so that a person from a marginalized background down the line doesn& #39;t have to.
Publishers: Ask about representation when you see early prototypes of games...
Publishers: Ask about representation when you see early prototypes of games...
https://twitter.com/emmalarkins/status/1290396431363104768">https://twitter.com/emmalarki...
