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Obsidian’s 10th Extra Life Anniversary

Issues with NPC/Item Surveys

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rjshae

rjshae

Posted
Posted

The problem is that she's, uh, not exactly a nuanced and multilayered character. In fact, as I play her, she's pretty much the Gold Digger/Bimbo/Lusty Sorceress stereotype to a tee. Which is a lot of fun to roleplay, but I worry that the character might come off as offensive when removed from the context of being silly with my friends on Skype.

 

Which may not bother most of you, but it bothers me. I'm pretty damn serious about being inclusive and not playing to lazy stereotypes and all the rest of the stuff some of you might associate with "Tumblr SJWs" or "Biodrones" or whateverthecrap. I also have to live in the world, mind you, so I've learned to pick my battles, but this is content that I have a hand in creating, and I'd rather not put anything in the game I personally would find offensive if I encountered it as an unsuspecting player. I know I sound defensive, but I've learned the hard way that some folks have... issues with certain opinions, even when those opinions aren't anyone's business but my own.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

Well... the thing is that not a few people are stereotypically shallow and superficial. People may not like the behavior of blatant sexism because it doesn't fit the modern, indoctrinated, starchy P.C. behavior model, but sometimes you need to go against conventional expectations in order to drive a story. This setting is, after all, not the U.S. in the 21st century. As long as her motivations are consistent and drive that behavior, then it seems like a feasible addition.

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Ffordesoon

Ffordesoon

Posted
Posted (edited)

After much consideration, I think I'm going to go with another idea, the daughter of an Aedyran servant and a Vaillian aristocrat who escaped slavery at an early age. I'm still giving this new character the last name Gullspark, though, just because I like it.

 

Which begs a few questions that only an Obsidian employee may be able to answer, unless I've missed the reveal of this information:

 

1. What are the conditions for being a "Vaillian aristocrat?"

 

2. Who do the Vaillians enslave? Is it another culture I'm thinking of that enslaves people?

 

3. How does slavery work in the Republics? Is it like ancient Greece's system? Rome's? Egypt's? Wholly original?

 

EDIT: Also, are sabres in PoE?

Edited by Ffordesoon
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Bryy

Bryy

Posted
Posted

she's more or less a joke character designed to let me do a silly voice and be horribly inconsistent in my roleplaying and make dirty jokes. 

Yeah, so don't do it.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but I for one don't want some male pig's haha females joke character in a game I helped pay for.

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JFSOCC

JFSOCC

Posted
Posted

Here's a conundrum:

 

I'm thinking of using the NPC survey to put a character I've had a lot of fun playing as in D&D and Pathfinder into the game. My hope is that people who have been in a gaming group with me at one time or another will see her and have a laugh as well.

 

The problem is that she's, uh, not exactly a nuanced and multilayered character. In fact, as I play her, she's pretty much the Gold Digger/Bimbo/Lusty Sorceress stereotype to a tee. Which is a lot of fun to roleplay, but I worry that the character might come off as offensive when removed from the context of being silly with my friends on Skype.

 

Which may not bother most of you, but it bothers me. I'm pretty damn serious about being inclusive and not playing to lazy stereotypes and all the rest of the stuff some of you might associate with "Tumblr SJWs" or "Biodrones" or whateverthecrap. I also have to live in the world, mind you, so I've learned to pick my battles, but this is content that I have a hand in creating, and I'd rather not put anything in the game I personally would find offensive if I encountered it as an unsuspecting player. I know I sound defensive, but I've learned the hard way that some folks have... issues with certain opinions, even when those opinions aren't anyone's business but my own.

 

I do have other character concepts, of course, but this one is the most developed, not to mention the most, er, "showoffable." I also have ideas about how to give the character some more depth, but I don't know if they're out of scope for the amount of time the character will be onscreen, or difficult to convey, or whatever.

 

Any thoughts on this?

You could give her an awakening? It wouldn't be the same character, but it would still be her history. This allows you to move away from your character where you want while still paying homage to her past. It allows you to write a more nuanced character while respecting what you've done with the character before.

 

Why couldn't you write the same character in a more mature way? see it as editing your first draft, or as killing your darlings...

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Ffordesoon

Ffordesoon

Posted
Posted

 

 

she's more or less a joke character designed to let me do a silly voice and be horribly inconsistent in my roleplaying and make dirty jokes.

Yeah, so don't do it.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but I for one don't want some male pig's haha females joke character in a game I helped pay for.

I should point out that "haha females" is so far away from the point of the character. Just because she's a joke does not mean the joke is at the expense of women, or that the character is what I think women are like, or whatever. I've always been very careful to play her as a character who is ludicrous in ways that everyone in any gaming group can find enjoyable. The ultimate joke of the character is that she's utterly shameless about her shallow, hedonistic nature. Think Troy McClure meets Paris Hilton meets Divine.

 

Not that this should even matter, which is why I didn't bring it up earlier, but you should understand that I created and evolved this character in a game run by a female DM, in which more than half the players were women. I mention this only because it sounds like you are under the impression that I created her to make a bunch of misogynistic dudebros laugh at how lame chicks are. That was not, is not, and has never been the case. I'm not going to argue that she couldn't seem sexist to someone; my acute awareness of the potential for miscommunication is what led me to post what I posted originally. But I absolutely did not create her to laugh at women.

 

Many of the friends I wanted to amuse via her inclusion in PoE are women. The people I intended to (and did) entertain originally with the character are those same women. Half or more than half of my friends outside of that gaming group are women. I am a feminist.

 

I state all these facts not to imply that I am somehow exempt from being sexist; that's honestly not my call to make. I'm as good at putting my foot in my mouth as anybody. But my intent is never to be sexist. The worry I had about putting the character in the game was that I was unsure if that intent would be easily communicated through a short description of her, or if she would just come across as a sexist caricature out of context.

 

And I suppose you're wondering why I didn't say this when you originally called the character sexist. It's because I wasn't sure if you grasped my intent with the character until you confirmed you didn't with this latest post.

 

And that's my fault, to be clear. I obviously didn't communicate the aforementioned intent well enough in my first post, which led to the same misunderstanding I worried the character would provoke if included in the game. This is why I ultimately decided to go with another character that represented my view of woman less ambiguously.

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Chris van Darg

Chris van Darg

Posted
Posted

Well, hello everyone :)

I am currently working on my NPC (even thinking of some quest ideas he could be involved in, here's hoping...) and I'm still staggering at the race choice. Initially, I was going for a Godlike which would be a Death-Godlike specifically. After I saw the example pictures of the Death-Godlike heads I was rather... hesitant about that idea (though it is said in the wiki that, in general, the head might not be the only appearance-altering option). Now I see that you can also choose a Moon-Godlike type but I fail to find any information on that. Someone able to help me out with a few tidbits of lore?

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Bryy

Bryy

Posted
Posted

Well, hello everyone :)

I am currently working on my NPC (even thinking of some quest ideas he could be involved in, here's hoping...) 

Unless Obsidian asks for this, i don't think including any of this is a good idea.

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J.E. Sawyer

J.E. Sawyer

Posted
Posted

After much consideration, I think I'm going to go with another idea, the daughter of an Aedyran servant and a Vaillian aristocrat who escaped slavery at an early age. I'm still giving this new character the last name Gullspark, though, just because I like it.

 

Which begs a few questions that only an Obsidian employee may be able to answer, unless I've missed the reveal of this information:

 

1. What are the conditions for being a "Vaillian aristocrat?"

 

2. Who do the Vaillians enslave? Is it another culture I'm thinking of that enslaves people?

 

3. How does slavery work in the Republics? Is it like ancient Greece's system? Rome's? Egypt's? Wholly original?

 

EDIT: Also, are sabres in PoE?

 

1. Being rich and successful.  Vailian Republics place a high value on success and don't care much about what your family did two generations+ ago.

 

2. They don't really discriminate whom they enslave, but they are more involved in trafficking than actually running slaving operations.

 

3. Can you narrow your question?  What specific aspect are you interested in?

 

4.  Yes, there are sabres in PoE.

twitter tyme

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Ffordesoon

Ffordesoon

Posted
Posted

Ah, cool! Thanks, Josh! :D

 

Ragarding your question about, uh, my question: I was mainly interested in how slaves are treated and the possibility of earned emancipation.

 

Also, how do curses work in the Eternityverse? I was planning on writing a curse into my character's backstory that manifests as an unsettling facial tic, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Lephys

Lephys

Posted
Posted

Remember, remember, the 31st of... March.

... of game-backer surveys and what-NOT.

 

*shrug*. Forced. I know. 'Twas the best I could do.

Should we not start with some Ipelagos, or at least some Greater Ipelagos, before tackling a named Arch Ipelago? 6_u

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Bryy

Bryy

Posted
Posted

 

7 days!

 

And 7 nights.

 

But seriously, why is the deadline a big deal? Or are you expecting feedback the next day? Cause I'm certainly not. Debating my Bat boomerang is pointless and I expect it implemented already.

 

Because no backer left behind. I'm sure there will be another update telling people 'chop, chop' before the 31st.

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