Back to Racism in the TTRPG Space.

We’ll see if my social media blows up with angry comments again.

(Insert eye roll here.) It seems X (Twitter) has exploded with yet another racism issue in the TTRPG community. This time accusations are being flung at RPGMatch.com for excluding Caucasian (White,) Heterosexual, and Jewish from the list of identity tags.

I made a profile on this site a few months ago and I wasn’t offended by the inclusion of Identity tags. Player, GM, Actor, Cosplayer, Voice Actor, etc seem like perfectly reasonably TTRPG related tags to me. BIMPOC, Hispanic/Latino/a, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA raised a bunch of flags in the #ttrpgcommunity for whatever reason. I’m not upset in the slightest about those tags being on the site, in fact I’d encourage it.

Where did the problem come in?

I won’t mention the X (Twitter) user by name. Feel free to look them up in @RPGMatch’s replies. I halfway suspect the person in question might be someone’s alt account, but I can’t definitively prove it.

This unnamed individual accused RPGMatch of being a racist for not including tags for things that most sites don’t include identifying markers for. I don’t need to advertise that I’m Caucasian, who/what I like to have intimate relations with, or what my religion is. (If you follow the blog for any length of time, you know I don’t claim any specific religion because I’m one of those “New Age” kids.) If I’m on an RPG group finding site such as RPGMatch.org, all I really want to do is find a group of players.

There are times when I should be excluded.

I’ve seen several instances on social media where creators are advertising for players to join their group with very strong preferences.  Great! I don’t need to be included in every game group on the Internet. “Looking for new BIMPOC, LGBTQIA, or other marginalized groups to join Actual Play Campaign,” comes across my feed regularly.

Obviously if someone is casting a movie about something that happened in Cambodia that doesn’t involve Americans, am I going to try out for the lead role? Or at all? Nope. I ain’t their cup of tea on that one. It makes sense for them to cast Asian actors. I’m clearly not going to be welcome, and that’s okay.

Same applies to certain game groups. Sure, I see people looking for GMs and players all the time. My heart sinks slightly when I get to the end of the ad and see “BIMPOC, etc ONLY,” at the bottom of the ad. I’ve had a few times when I was tempted to introduce myself anyway despite the way I present.

I think the intention behind the Identity Tags on RPGMatch was to help groups find like-minded people. Everyone is welcome at my table as long as they’re being polite and civil toward each other. Are you breathing air, and can you roll dice? Okay. You’re in at my game.

I don’t want to waste someone’s time if I’m not the person they want to recruit. It’s not offensive. It’s efficient and somewhat polite. If I accidentally stumbled into a convention game, for instance, where I was clearly not welcome, I would excuse myself without making a fuss before the game started in order to give someone else a shot at the space. I think this sort of thing is what RPGMatch was trying to prevent with the tags.

We live in polarizing times.

I’m not saying RPGMatch is wrong. I’m not saying his accuser is 100% wrong, either. But how does it look in this day and age to have “White” and “Heterosexual” as identity tags on something? I know I’d minimum raise an eyebrow.

And Jewish? Why are we dragging religions into this? There were no religion identity tags before. Are we dragging all the religions into this? Because I don’t do organized religion and I really don’t dig having that discussion at my gaming table. (*Please note I love people of all religions. Right now, it’s especially hard to be Jewish and they have my utmost respect.)

I agree with RPGMatch in deleting the racial tags even though it might muddy some searches later when that feature is implemented. I think deleting the LGBTQIA tag might be okay under the current outcry. I don’t think adding tags for religions is a good plan. Please keep the TTRPG related tags such as Game Designer, Writer, Podcaster, etc.

It saddens me that we’re so divided over race as a community. We should be trying to come together as a hobby and lift one another up. Fighting over RPGMatch.org Identity Tags is unproductive and divisive.

I found this whole controversy to be quite shocking, actually.

Not about race, obviously. That’s quite serious and not all that surprising. RPGMatch has been exemplary in dealing with the whole thing along with most of the people on the X (Twitter) thread. If nothing else, we’ve been civil with one another for the most part.

What blew my mind is that someone (who shall remain nameless) would go after RPGMatch with claims of bigotry and racism. I run into RPGMatch on three or four social media sites. They have always been super nice and extremely helpful any time I’ve dealt with them. (I had an account issue on the site which was easy mode to fix.) They seem like a nice person.

It’s strange to see someone get accused of being anti-Caucasian when AFAIK they are Caucasian. I’m not getting into sex or religion. But again, they’ve always seemed very LGBTQIA friendly, and just generally friendly. The name calling and mudslinging seems to mostly be coming from the far right side of the fence if you catch my meaning.

This whole controversy has been completely unnecessary as well as unproductive. Yes, it’s important to discuss race. Yeah, even in gaming. I’d argue sex, religion, and even politics are worth discussing among players even out of session. We can’t come to common ground if we don’t know where others stand, right?

If a few disgruntled people want to leave RPGMatch.org, I say let them. Okay, change the Identity Tags to suit yourself as a site admin, RPGMatch. Feedback is important, yes. But when others start spreading more hate and anger for sake of starting controversy? RPGMatch should make sure their motives and intentions are pure.

Thank you for being here today. Please be kind to your fellow human beings. I appreciate you. This site is a safe and welcome space for people. Love and light reign here.