A Word: Dungeons, Dragons, and Diversity

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4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The persistent stereotype that role-playing, tabletop game players are overwhelmingly white is rooted in race, housing, and history. The suburban homes where people could dedicate a surface to a sprawling, multiplayer board game used to be almost exclusively white. And the knights, wizards, and other fantastic creatures in these games were closely tied to European mythology. But a more diverse world of game playing is rising, with more people of color getting a seat at the creative table. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses diversity in hobby games with Aaron Trammell, a professor of informatics at U.C. Irvine. He’s also the author of the new book The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race and Geek Culture. Guest: Aaron Trammell, author of The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race and Geek Culture Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months. Make an impact this Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund APIA Scholars. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word a podcast from Slate, I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:04.5	Those of us who love games like Dungeons and Dragons or Settlers of Catan, don't love
0:08.1	the stereotypes about who we are.
0:10.4	One of the most enduring stereotypes about these gamers is that they're all white men.
0:14.5	But a new generation of players is correcting that image and the misunderstanding of game
0:19.1	history at its core.
0:20.6	Today we have a little bit of a different story where we do have sort of different environment
0:25.3	and people are starting to generate role-playing games and tabletop games that are authentically
0:30.8	from the cultures that they come from.
0:32.8	The privilege of play coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson, stay with us.
0:42.3	Sometimes running a business can feel like cycling uphill with square wheels.
0:51.8	Zero online accounting software can help predict the future cash flow of your business.
0:57.0	So you can stay one step ahead.
0:59.2	Soon as it'll feel more like freewheeling downhill.
1:02.6	On a tandem!
1:03.6	What, Mike?
1:04.6	With a messer on the back.
1:06.4	Oh, that's nice.
1:07.8	Search zero with an ex because healthy business is beautiful business.
1:14.6	Welcome to a word a podcast about race, impolitics and everything else.
1:17.5	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
1:19.3	And someone talks about playing Dungeons & Dragons, what do you picture and who do you picture
	...

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