A Kind question

[Dinh AaronMk]

Given the condition of things when I browse interest checks and active RPs I come to the conclusion that I may be something of a minority when it comes to culturephiles. Probably somewhere in behind otaku and weaboos. There's plenty of RPs - fantasy or not - focused on European tradition, or popular Japanese imagery. But what I have not seen, or seen properly: representation of the Arab, the Persian, or the Middle Eastern in general.

I ask this because I have been holding for sometime an RP concept based in part on Arab culture and history. And in observing the forum I haven't seen many people going for the middle east. That whole area seems to be forgotten and ignored by people, except for a few. And even based on some preliminary interest checking before I interest checked I haven't had any promising bites. Which is a shame, because I'm rather excited over this.

[Metronome]

It's because this is an American site, and Americans are currently afraid of Arabs.

I have an Arab character that I've been working on for a while. Because of that, I've done research into their culture.

I think it'd be interesting to have a middle easterner RP

[Dinh AaronMk]

Metronome said
It's because this is an American site, and Americans are currently afraid of Arabs.

I've been aware of that as a factor myself. As someone who has off-and-on researched into that sphere and such, and did research as far back as the 7th century for this RP, I'd be willing to try and dispense much of it to have a Roleplayer base.

Recognizing this too I've considered a sort of "Encyclopedia Arabia" in the OP that goes over a few things to help address the setting as well as perhaps talk about a few things. It's not to imply that the Arabs are the only "thing" to be a part of, since I certainly opened it up pretty far and wide.

[Chapatrap]

I'm interested somewhat, although more in the sense to be an Arab explorer than a nation-state/tribal band.

[Lillian Thorne]

Oh how I wish I wasn't too swamped in RL and RP to join such a RP. I think if you put up an interest check you'd get more attention than you'd think. You'd get points for originality alone.

[Rare]

This. There needs to more force on Middle East or even desert themed setting and stories. I have some pictures from you to help you:

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I would love to help you with it, but I just want to be a Co-GM, not more or less.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Lillian Thorne said
Oh how I wish I wasn't too swamped in RL and RP to join such a RP. I think if you put up an interest check you'd get more attention than you'd think. You'd get points for originality alone.

I may roll the bones and give it a shot.

[Kestrel]

I did one a few years back that pretty much drew from Persia, Egypt and Arab lore... Admittedly mixed together and bastardised as a result, but it did well. Like, it actually had a conclusion. So if that's any indication...

[Dinh AaronMk]

Kestrel said
I did one a few years back that pretty much drew from Persia, Egypt and Arab lore... Admittedly mixed together and bastardised as a result, but it did well. Like, it actually had a conclusion. So if that's any indication...

Huh.

Well in the end for me most things I plan out don't normally have an ultimate conclusion. I like to think I plan out more worlds with the means stories may be told. So we'll get to see what stories or adventures can be told here, provided I don't come up with an intended end-game for this between now and when I post an interest check.

[Kestrel]

As in it ran from start to finish ;p

[Jig]

Frankly, I don't remember the last RP I saw that was based on real-life earth that was set even anywhere in Europe. When I recently started an RP (tl;dr version - vampires in the Netherlands), I got some feedback appreciating that the RP was set somewhere a bit different. I don't think it has much to do with 'fear' of Arabian culture or settings, but simply no interest in them, fuelled by a lack of cultural imports. I'm not American, but I'm guessing most of their media is home-grown, and then the biggest import is Japanese. With bags of material rooted in those cultural references and a fat lot of nothing else, it's no surprise that most RPs are America-and-Japan centric.

I can't name a single Arab television show. The absence of Arabian cultural imports is probably the main reason.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Kestrel said
As in it ran from start to finish ;p

I know. Just saying most of what I do usually doesn't start with an endgoal nor has it ever gotten to a point we can point to a event and say, "This is the end".

[Dinh AaronMk]

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/59151/posts/ooc?page=1#post-1824267

I am at your mercy.

[idlehands]

Metronome said
It's because this is an American site, and Americans are currently afraid of Arabs.I have an Arab character that I've been working on for a while. Because of that, I've done research into their culture. I think it'd be interesting to have a middle easterner RP

You could do this in pretty much any non fantasy RP. Arabs traveled extensively in Europe and even easier to explain their presence in the US or Europe in more modern years. Just because an RP is not Middle Eastern-centric doesn't mean it can't be done. I don't think it's because Americans are afraid of Arabs, that's a pretty broad stroke there. It's probably more to the fact most people using this site are familiar with Western culture and history.

[Dervish]

Most big fantasy settings are set in medieval European inspired settings, so it's what people are familiar with. Knights, kingdoms, and dragons and the lot are easy to conjure up in the mind compared to say Mamluks, Caliphates, and sphinxes for a lot of people. Usually when people read the word fantasy as a descriptor, Westeros, Middle Earth, Tamriel, and countless others come to mind, most with heavy European slants. Sure, a lot have Middle Eastern inspired places (Dorne in ASoIaF, Hammerfell in The Elder Scrolls, for instance) but we seldom see much of those places so they aren't immediately what come to mind. People like to roleplay what they're familiar with, so it doesn't surprise me that Arabian inspired settings aren't very common. I'm sure if you looked at an Arabic roleplaying site, their fantasy games would probably have a lot more settings reflecting Sinbad the Sailor, among others.

It isn't that people are "afraid" of Arabs as much as it's not something people are familiar with. it's also the reason you don't really see anything having to do with Chinese mythology in the vein of Jade Empire, that excellent BioWare RPG, because people really don't know much about that kind of setting.

[Kaga]

Jig said
I don't think it has much to do with 'fear' of Arabian culture or settings, but simply no interest in them,

This. :/ I'm American, and I have no "fear" of such culture. Instead, I simply have very little knowledge of it and therefore not much interest, either, which is why I (along with probably a lot of other people on the site) don't seem to be too interested.

That's not to say I speak for everyone, though. I second Lillian's suggestion - put an interest check out and see what happens. Just because no one's started an RP like that yet doesn't mean no one would be interested.

[Lo Pellegrino]

Dervish said
Most big fantasy settings are set in medieval European inspired settings, so it's what people are familiar with. Knights, kingdoms, and dragons and the lot are easy to conjure up in the mind compared to say Mamluks, Caliphates, and sphinxes for a lot of people. Usually when people read the word fantasy as a descriptor, Westeros, Middle Earth, Tamriel, and countless others come to mind, most with heavy European slants. Sure, a lot have Middle Eastern inspired places (Dorne in ASoIaF, Hammerfell in The Elder Scrolls, for instance) but we seldom see much of those places so they aren't immediately what come to mind. People like to roleplay what they're familiar with, so it doesn't surprise me that Arabian inspired settings aren't very common. I'm sure if you looked at an Arabic roleplaying site, their fantasy games would probably have a lot more settings reflecting Sinbad the Sailor, among others. It isn't that people are "afraid" of Arabs as much as it's not something people are familiar with. it's also the reason you don't really see anything having to do with Chinese mythology in the vein of Jade Empire, that excellent BioWare RPG, because people really don't know much about that kind of setting.

Derv you have to admit that tons of Western fantasy does associate darkness with evil, whether it be with clothing or skin. Yeah a lot of that's just old-school thinking, but let's not pretend that some of the best western lore did include, by today's standards, fear, resentment, etc of dark people -- Arabs or otherwise. If we're really honest the middle ages was a time of power for Asia and the Middle East with Europe largely a battleground between empires and apparently barbaric peoples. With so much of our fantasy growing from this time, we might also recognize that Islam came into its own then too, and was considered a threat to Christianity as a whole (Dante speaks to this pretty clearly). Not trying to derail the convo, but hey, I'm American, raised in a white household myself and it's pretty clear that our stories don't exactly prep us to meet Arabs or any dark person with trust, love, and compassion.

Dinh I think it's a mix of engrained fear and a lack of knowledge. America isn't exactly a place that thrives on cultural diversity, let alone teaching other cultural myths/lore. I'd be down for this too, granted, I'm not the biggest fan of such an event-by-event alternate history. If you're looking to create a wave of these types of RPs I'm totally down though.

[idlehands]

Lo Pellegrino said
Derv you have to admit that tons of Western fantasy does associate darkness with evil, whether it be with clothing or skin. Yeah a lot of that's just old-school thinking, but let's not pretend that some of the best western lore did include, by today's standards, fear, resentment, etc of dark people -- Arabs or otherwise. If we're really honest the middle ages was a time of power for Asia and the Middle East with Europe largely a battleground between empires and apparently barbaric peoples. With so much of our fantasy growing from this time, we might also recognize that Islam came into its own then too, and was considered a threat to Christianity as a whole (Dante speaks to this pretty clearly). Not trying to derail the convo, but hey, I'm American, raised in a white household myself and it's pretty clear that our stories don't exactly prep us to meet Arabs or any dark person with trust, love, and compassion. Dinh I think it's a mix of engrained fear and a lack of knowledge. America isn't exactly a place that thrives on cultural diversity, let alone teaching other cultural myths/lore. I'd be down for this too, granted, I'm not the biggest fan of such an event-by-event alternate history. If you're looking to create a wave of these types of RPs I'm totally down though.

Yeah...freakin' mono-cultural place it is.

[Dervish]

Yeah, but we're not living in the 1300s anymore. Any fears that were the source of our mythology and fables isn't relative to our society any longer. Notice how people love werewolves and vampires today? Back when they were created, they killed people for allegedly being one of those creatures. The stories that survive today that were written dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of years ago, survive because of historical value or because they are good stories, not because we're terrified of what they represent.

Nobody alive today knows of what it was like around the time where Europe was on it's slaughter happy Crusade binge, and nobody knows what it's like to have an equally powerful and enlightened Middle East in our modern world. It's not that people are scared of darked skinned people in fantasy, as you allege, it's just nobody really knows or appreciates the setting. Sure, there's always going to be the odd racist asshat, but on the whole we live in a pretty tolerant and understanding culture. We're more than capable of separating old myths and legends with reality, because otherwise we'd hear about ships disappearing and immediately blame it on sea monsters.

Hell, most people don't read The Lord of the Rings and realize Tolkein wrote it as a "fundamentally Catholic story", as he described it. The messages and themes we take from it are decidedly different from the author's on the whole.

Tl:dr Whatever the reasons a fantasy story or myth was written does not mean it applies to contemporary society. We tend to enjoy folklore and myths for entertainment value more-so than any perceived lesson or fear it's trying to instill upon us.

[Kaga]

Lo Pellegrino said
America isn't exactly a place that thrives on cultural diversity,

I'm sorry. I just can't take this statement seriously.

I'll let Dervish take this one. I have nothing else to say.