Tanya believes that the only way to change things is to have more non-white, non-male people involved at all levels of the games industry, but especially at the top. “It’s not good enough to have the representation in games themselves be better, but the people writing/making the games are no different,” she says. “People get exhausted coming to work and being the only person of colour, the only out queer person … often people want to speak up, but they also need their jobs, and it’s difficult.”
I remember many years ago, someone wanted to do an RPG based on indigenous mythology and wanted me to be a consultant. I remember asking “Why are you asking me (not an indigenous person) instead of contacting the people whose stories you’re trying to profit from?” Unsurprisingly, they went ahead and made the game anyway, without consulting anyone then got angry when folks pointed out all the incorrect terms and ideas they used.
Just a few months ago, someone brought up a particularly egregious bit of GM advice in D&D 5E which managed to mash together a bunch of asian cultures in a rather loaf-mouthed, extreme ass-showing, full commitment to ignorance fashion.
I also don’t want people to imagine that simply having someone of X culture/descent on their project automatically is a gold stamp of approval either; as Tanya notes – a single team member may not have the clout to push for needed changes or feel safe in trying to push for it. We saw recently in tech several marginalized people have been pushed out, whether they were advocating against open segregation logics in the workplace or bare minimum ethics in the business practices. The fact that so many of these game creative spaces operate from a default of Segregation, or Apartheid in terms of leadership and direction is pretty telling.
And of course, we can’t assume “interest in POC culture” is any kind of indication of good intent, or that it’s not open racist propaganda, like the kind used to rationalize historical genocides, including from “established” publishers, and obviously, it is clearly the opposite of good intentions when people get VERY ANGRY for SOME REASON at the suggestion of folks who are not white men getting creative control and compensation.
As I’ve written before, “who’s writing this?” is actually not even the real question – the real question is whether the game is part of the vast media ecosystem that encourages white supremacy and speaks over and for, people who should be handed the mic directly, instead.