Armageddon Setting and Roleplay.

[Blur]

So something happened to me just now and it left me reeling a bit...

I woke up a couple hours ago, and i decided to sit down and perhaps try something new. I won't mention the name, but I decided to try another mud that was apparently somewhat role-play heavy. Someone recommended it to me a while back and I felt adventurous. I took the time to make an account, log in, design a character and make a description before exploring the game. There was a lot of OOC chatting and outright conversations in this game on top of the IC so it didn't take long for some people to find me and begin showing me around. Now along the way someone made a comment. Basically they thought my character was what I guess the equivalent of what some people think is an F-me PC here (a stupid term in general but that's another thread). At first I was thinking, well it is a fantasy setting but maybe i missed something, I guess my character had some scars but maybe there was something more i was missing, pocks or perhaps a crooked nose. So i asked for some advice...

Apparently the problem was not that my character was lacked disfigurations but rather because my character was black.  

Now, I'm of mixed heritage myself in RL, latin/black so my characters are all generally darker skinned people just because that is what comes natural to me i suppose. It also happens to fit well with the desert world here in Arm. Not that i haven't tried to play fair skinned, red-haired people once or twice ( i mean who doesn't want to pretend to be Nyr once in a while?  ) it  just happens that it is not what i commonly make. It is something i never really put much thought about either before. However to them I guess it was one black character in a sea of white ones. Well okay. I love contrasts myself, darker colors on fairer colors or dark skin with light eyes, stuff like that. At which point someone mentioned that it was unrealistic. Well okay. Clearly, they've never been to the Dominican Republic or maybe seen some of Michael Ealy's movies. It was probably not what they meant with unrealistic since at that point it degraded to downright racist comments so I promptly left. I guess i took for granted the fact that people in Zalanthas can be born with all colors of skin, hair and eyes and every cool mutation in between. I took for granted that hate is due to species and not the color of your skin. In reality I shouldn't have, I should have known better but this is really the only RPI  I've really played for months and months at a time.  The other muds I've  played for any extended period of time have been one where i play a green lizardman and another where i play a red dragon. Most muds/games I float around in have no RP at all.

It really made me think how awesome the Zalanthas setting we have here is and its not only on lack of racism but also views on sexism and homosexuality as well. A year ago or more I noticed a tough ass kuraci man flirting and propositioning a feminine male prostitute PC. I'm Canadian, my city hosts the gay pride parade, i really didn't think twice about that scene but now i regret not sending kudos to both those players because while stuff like that is common and normal in this mud's setting, it is not that common to see in other so called RP heavy muds. At least right now I don't think it is? Feel free to send me a recommendation for another mud where it might be though, for next time when I feel like trying something new, which probably won't be any time soon.  Anyways I just really felt like giving everyone, players and staff alike kudos for generally role-playing the wonderful setting so well that after so many years it make me take what is sometimes just unfortunately  exceptional role-playing for granted.  It is just great to be able to see such a variety of characters, of color, race, gender and sexuality and for it to be considered normal. Besides the setting also ensures there is always something else about character that is more fun to RP hating on anyways.

Seriously though kudos to all, great setting and amazing role-playing all around.  

tl;dr: I was reminded today of how exceptional the setting and roleplay in this mud actually is in comparison to other places.

[BleakOne]

Honestly, of all the internet games I've played, Armageddon has the best playerbase. Sure, like any group we have the occasional twink, doomsayer or whatever, but as a whole we're pretty darn awesome.

[LauraMars]

I'm sorry you had to deal with that shit on another game.  Terrible.

[Wastrel]

lolwut

[Dar]

Was that mud like all ... ice and northern territories kinda stuff? Because I'm trying "TRYING" to find some kind of logical explanation about wtf is going on. So far I'm only guessing that the entire theme of the mud is all about vikings and stuff. In which case it would kind of make some sense. Still, definitely something that's worthwhile to just gloss over, I guess.

[Blur]

No. It was just a fantasy setting. Not so much tolkien, and middle earth but still elves and orcs. The human settlements were spread around and the climate i started in seemed warmer.

Sorry, i guess i wasn't clear in my original post. I just hit a group of people who were seriously racist. It started innocently enough with someone that seemed to find my character attractive. That however that attracted people who thought i was trying to get attention by making my character black. Which in turn got the attention of some really nasty people. As for what those last few people found so unrealistic? At first I really though it was just the fact my character had darker skin with lighter eyes, so i was really trying to explain to them it exists. But no, it wasn't that, what they found so unrealistic is that a white person would find a black person attractive and that they would get together with them at all, in the game setting or otherwise.

It only seemed like a small handful of them though but their ooc prejudices clearly affected the way they behaved in the game. They were planning to Pk my character as they put it, they wanted to lynch him. Seriously.   I don't know if that is a common occurrence there or i just hit a couple trolls who might get banned later but I wasn't staying to find out. It just made me appreciate the Zalanthian setting a lot more and the thought process that went behind the role-playing rules we have here specifically against racism, sexism and homosexuality. I do remember for example in another game where the admin himself said to two players who were playing homosexual character, that he would allow it but he wouldn't stop the several other players that were harassing them, killing them and just plain griefing them because they were allowed to think their actions disgusting. I mean it is not like people don't OOC chat  here or have their RL prejudices but i love the fact that, thanks to the setting/rules and thanks to the amazing role-playing, the experience I encountered in that game (granted mostly due to their ooc chatting) is something I've never had to deal with in-game here.

[MeTekillot]

The few times I have seen any sort of prejudice here (usually homophobia or sexism, because not even the most smarmy of trolls can get away with his character justifying racism on skin color), the players present besides the instigator usually smack said instigator down.

[Dar]

The players of Arm "love" people who are prejudiced about color/sex/orientation. The amount of 'fun' first verbal, then tricksting, and finally physical they end up having with prejudiced people is better then any HRPT. I've seen a few newbies who expressed some gender bias, or homophobia, the entire frigging tavern pounced him. From templarate to beggars. I felt almost sorry for the guy. Though the guy learned quick, I think.

[Narf]

Sorry, i guess i wasn't clear in my original post. I just hit a group of people who were seriously racist. It started innocently enough with someone that seemed to find my character attractive. That however that attracted people who thought i was trying to get attention by making my character black. Which in turn got the attention of some really nasty people. As for what those last few people found so unrealistic? At first I really though it was just the fact my character had darker skin with lighter eyes, so i was really trying to explain to them it exists. But no, it wasn't that, what they found so unrealistic is that a white person would find a black person attractive and that they would get together with them at all, in the game setting or otherwise.

It only seemed like a small handful of them though but their ooc prejudices clearly affected the way they behaved in the game. They were planning to Pk my character as they put it, they wanted to lynch him. Seriously.   I don't know if that is a common occurrence there or i just hit a couple trolls who might get banned later but I wasn't staying to find out.

If you're feeling particularly civic minded you might consider sending a heads up to the staff of the game about it. Maybe it'll do something, or maybe it won't, but even if the game has policies against that sort of thing they can't be enforced if the admins don't know about it.

[Morrolan]

I think I'd like to invite those players to Armageddon, as a special treat.

Or, perhaps more grammatically, "as special treats."   

[Harmless]

I agree with a lot of the original post's thoughts. However, I will warn them that the sexism compartment is one that is debated at times here.

but yeah, we're basically the best MUD I've ever seen when it comes to having a mature playerbase that understands the setting.

I've seen other good playerbases... when I used to play SOI and such, that was also quite good. I dunno what SOI is like now.

[Wug]

The lack of skin-color/gender/sexuality bias in Armageddon was one of the things that drew me to it and kept me playing. I often forget that these prejudices are prevalent in fantasy worlds - the first time I saw Game of Thrones was a bit of a shock.

I'm sorry about your experience on that other mud. If you ever see that kind of thing here, report it and it will be dealt with. Sometimes these people are jerks, but usually they just missed that part of the documentation.

[Bogre]

Your characters are all green to me.

[Desertman]

However, feel free to give all of those pasty pale ivory skinned whiteys in game crap.

Because really, that is unrealistic for this setting, and they are mutants.

You aren't hating them because they are white, you are hating them because they are muties and/or creepy hermit shut-ins who never see the sun in a harsh desert world, which is also icky.

[Delirium]

Seriously. In a desert world, pale people are freaks, or mutants, or worse.

I've always been a little disappointed when ivory-skinned guys and gals are treated like they're normal, or worse, the ideal.

[Marauder Moe]

Meh.

Genetic adjustments to skin tone could take tens of thousands of years, if not hundreds of thousands.  We don't know what Zalanthas was like even 2000 years ago, nor do we know that the current population of (demi) humans necessarily originated from the area known as the Known World.  Some of them may have come from milder regions of the planet.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

this is like racism against white people. Just let them play. Who cares with her skin color is, or if it's realistic to the setting of the world? Just let them play. In the end, our enjoyment of their character does not come from their skin color, it comes from their portrayal of their character in the world.

[Marauder Moe]

That said, even genetically pale-skinned people tend to darken somewhat under frequent UV exposure.  I think it's fair to draw conclusions about the lifestyle of a naturally pale-skinned person who's skin remains pale.

[Blur]

I agree with 7DV

Any sort of judgements based on skin color should pretty much go out the window, be that favoritism or negative judgment. This is a world with all sorts of mutations, I don't see a problem with people making their character's skin any color they wish even if that is green and purple skin colors. Stranger skin colors might be considered rare and unique but it shouldn't be impossible to find once in a while and should not be a basic for treatment. Again, I've had a couple fair skinned characters myself so I'm all for just letting people play what they feel like. My characters have no concept of how the sun affects skin after all, so discrimination in any way on skin color would be as silly as discriminating on a character because they have curly hair over straight hair. To me and my character's it is just the way they were born.  Now start adding fur, wings, tails or scales and we might have another story but even that is quite tolerated in most places.

There are so many great and interesting things to hate someone for in this mud there is no need to discriminate against characters based on their skin color, regardless of whatever that color might be.

[Drayab]

I get the realism argument that typical commoners ought to have sun-damaged skin because of the toil of everyday life and the harshness of the environment. However,  the helpfile on humans says that their skin tone varies tremendously, which certainly sounds like it includes fair-skinned people. I suspect that this is a design choice to give players latitude in making their human characters; we get to make our humans reflect whatever RL race we choose. Even if pale skin is unrealistic, I don't think there is any harm in indulging in a bit of fantasy. This is hardly the only instance of being unrealistic when it comes to how people draw up their characters.

[bcw81]

That said, even genetically pale-skinned people tend to darken somewhat under frequent UV exposure.  I think it's fair to draw conclusions about the lifestyle of a naturally pale-skinned person who's skin remains pale.

Or you can just mistreat them for the see-through shirt they're wearing, or the very tight tight pants, or maybe the super short skirt, or what about those adorable quirri tailed thongs?

Seriously, just stay away from skin color unless it's like green or violet or something ridiculous. Normally the people who play pale skinned are either playing an Fme, which, in that case, there are normally quite a list of things you can make fun of them for (mainly clothing) or they just don't care about the sunlight and pigments and their effects on the two.

[Marauder Moe]

Easy there.  I chose my wording pretty carefully.

[James de Monet]

I would like to see more pasty people rocking parasols or wide brimmed hats, IG.  I wish there were some non-frilly parasols, though.  Like a battle parasol.  Or one of those frames that sticks up from your back and holds a miniature awning over your head.


Also, it occurs to me that people who wear the same clothes every single day, on a planet with intense sunlight, are going to be sporting some ridiculous tan lines when they take those clothes off or change outfits.

[Wug]

There is no discrimination based on skin color in Zalanthas.

There can be discrimination based on skin health. Sun-damaged skin is indicative of commoners, laborers, etc. Pristine skin is indicative of the upper crust and, especially, the nobility. There are nobles with dark skin and there are commoners with light skin.

Tulukis tend to have lighter skin than Allanakkis, but there are plenty of exceptions in either city so it isn't something that would gain a lot of notice and it wouldn't be evidence that someone was from the wrong area.

[BleakOne]

Now I'm wanting to mastercraft a parasol which can be used as a piercing weapon and tainted.

Old school Russian spy style.