Gleichberechtigung is German. I guess it could be translated as “equal rights” or “the granting of equal rights”. The thing is that Recht is the law, a right you might have, but Berechtigung is authority, entitlement, power. Gleichberechtigung! It’s a command! It’s imperative.
Many moons ago, I posted on the Paizo message boards:
The other day my best friend’s kids were looking at *Gallery of Evil* and the eight year old girl remarked twice on how the sorceress was half naked. So I had to try and explain that people do this because they think it will sell more... That was a bit weird. Specially since she made her first comment after about ten seconds of looking at the product. ¹
After ten seconds of looking at a book, an eight year old girl can tell that most of the women have unnaturally enlarged breasts and lack half their clothes. That’s how sad it is.
I just saw that Judd Karlman linked to An Open Letter to the Gaming Industry because of a thread on rpg.net. I agree that there’s not much else to be said.
An Open Letter to the Gaming Industry
The problem starts at the gaming table, I think. A lot of the racist, homophobic, and sexist language I heard in recent months was related to my gaming. I’m usually too stunned to say much. Often I manage a groan, a “please!!” or some eye-rolling – instead of just telling people to shut up.
It’s hard to do because I feel like I’m ruining the atmosphere by calling people out. And to my shame I must confess that I’ve used the same language at one time or another, somehow thinking that I was playing along. Probably a sad tendency to adapt to the people I’m talking to, using the same phrases, laughing about the same jokes, using the same language, even when it’s not something I want to adapt to.
It starts at the gaming table and spreads to our games. It has to stop.
That reminds me of a blog post by the Godless Paladin on sexism in games. He’s quite a ranter. 😄
#RPG #thoughts #gender
(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)
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Yes. Yes. A thousand times. Yes. As a homosexual, I tend to avoid online gaming altogether. Every time I’ve gotten online to play a video game, I have to mute all voices to cease the barrage of homophobic language. And that’s them NOT knowing.
It’s a terrible trend. My partner, who loves playing video games online, has even accepted it as “common speech.” My players all know of my preference and they are my friends and are considerate. So my game table is quite safe.
But to this day I can’t play online games without muting everyone. I’m probably missing out on a lot of fun conversation.
– Michael 2009-10-22 05:34 UTC
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Ugh. That’s sad. 🙁
– Alex Schroeder 2009-10-22 23:46 UTC
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Danke für die Verbindung. 😃 (I think that’s the correct word 😒)
– Godless Paladin 2009-10-27 15:53 UTC
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Hehe. Auf Deutsch wird das englische Wort “Link” verwendet. 😄
– Alex Schroeder 2009-10-27 18:48 UTC