[Suggestion] Tone Down and Eliminate Racism in Norrath

Azaliil (Shawn Lord) will be interviewing Moorgard (Steve Danuser) tomorrow. Moorgard was head of lore for EQ2, Vanguard, and EQNext. OP concern might be an interesting question to pose on the stream.

https://www.twitch.tv/averylovingrobot

I rarely post but in this instance, I feel obliged. If they start overtly bringing identity politics into this game, I will stop playing it. I play the game to escape this exact kind of thing and would be disappointed if a whiny few were able to ruin the majorities enjoyment here. My advice to the Devs - read through the comments here and see the trend. The majority don't want this.

I agree with Kaitona.

Yep, not into it at all - a big no thanks to the OP. Keep politics out of this game.

One of the fun parts of playing a game, like EQII, is letting the devil inside of us loose to do all the things we'd never think of doing in real life. I love playing evil characters and wiping out whole towns of people who want me dead. I generally leave non-aggro characters alone unless a quest makes me kill them. But if someone, or something, gives me the stink eye and I'll wipe it out in a heart beat if I can lol.

So I really don't care if the game isn't politically correct. I doubt it would be nearly as much fun to play if it was politically correct. I think what Sigrdrifa really wants is the ability to flip the bird to the guards and town folks that don't like her character lol.

Reading the lore of the Tier`Dal, why would you create one and betray? The only reason I could see betraying, would to ENJOY being hated but still play the class you want.

I totally agree that real life politics have no business in EQ2. If real life politics start entering into the game then a whole lot of people will logout and never log back in.

I wish we could get the option of the male formal wear for females... it's spiffy, red silver and black!

Thank you! I play to get away from real life and just have fun. Can we just game and leave this crap out of it? Please. I love this game like it is.

Well said!

I couldn't believe my eyes. Leave EQ2 alone. I come here to play and get away from the real world madness that there is lately. So what - riots to tear down what you don't like in Norrath? Please leave the game alone. I love it as it is.

Don't we all come here together to get rid of or get away from all that goes on in RL? I know I do, I need a break from it from time to time. I don't want to see this here too. We going to pick a part character names,item names, the names of places. How about if we have one race, make one face, one body build, one height/wight, one skin tone, one hairdo and one set of armor and everyone will all be the same.../sarc off lol

Can't we all just play and enjoy what we have? Just my 2 cents.

The OP is the only person drawing any lines or issues with real life race issues and in game race issues. I would have never equated the two or matched them up. Its a game. If you are drawing any parallels to real life issues with a game I think its time to visit the therapist and discuss your delusions. EQ2 is not real life.

See, I found it immersive and indicative of attention to detail when I did it the other way 'round - a high elf in Neriak. Strutting down the street with my fancy hairdo in the enemy city you're just asking to be noticed right? Don't get me wrong - Racism is bad. But its also a reality, both in life and the game. I can appreciate some of these elements being upsetting to some people - so...don't be a high elf in Neriak (or a dark elf in Qeynos) if it bothers you. This specific situation is one brought upon oneself.

I certainly wouldn't want to see the rich history and flavor and diversity of the game dumbed down due to real life political correctness ...where you go to character creation and you have 1 choice, we must all play frogloks and live harmoniously in the great pond. Cause if you follow it to the ultimate conclusion that's where we'll end up lol.

A) They already had the sliders for character customisation on day 1 but removed it later. Why, I don't know but it's been done.
B) You haven't played fantasy RPG's for long, have you? All that stuff you want "toned down" gives the person a base of who they are and what to work for. Can you imagine the strength of an Orc SK on a High elven mage? C'mon, man. It's a freakin' game made to allow us to GET AWAY from real life and you just want to bring it right into game. Go play something else then. Leave my game alone.

LMAO. Decades.

There is a difference between animosity between groups and catcalling racial slurs in a city. I think the NPCs normalize racism in a bad way. It irritated the living daylights out of me since I first encountered it.

In order to maintain support for a war, the population must be frightened of the enemy. This fear, fuelled by propaganda always inflames racism/xenophobia etc. Seeing as Qeynos and Freeport are at each others throats, it wouldn't fit if a dark elf walking through Qeynos was seen as perfectly acceptable by the population. And in reality, once an outsider, always an outsider. No matter how hard you work, if you were born a gnome-eating troll, the good people of Qeynos will never fully trust you.
And fear breeds bigotry.

Imagine being a German prisoner of war after WW2, settling in a village somewhere in England. You may have defected, you may have given secrets to the allies, you may have genuinely helped the war effort, but to those villagers, it'll probably be decades before the comments, looks and whispers stop, and the kids stop chucking stuff at your house.

just make site, or on some available site make utterances piggy bank in which players might add statements of NPCs (as well as players in chats) that think are racist. it will turn out get an renewable (and over time, more appropriate to its purpose) list of such statements; which would be used to programmatically compare against filter added to game settings. i.e. one more option of game settings is to enable/disable anti-racism filter. this way, if it bothers you, your toon will no longer hear giggles or insults, behind her/his back. it won't prevent anyone and won't take lot of devs' time. just another filter in game, about presence of which those who are satisfied with things as they are presented now can not worry, just not using it. accordance/non-accordance with criteria, as subjective thing, can be determined by voting of members (?) in relation to certain phrases, besides adding by them some statements for this filter.. well, something like that. it's strange that you didn't at once talk about variability for your suggested realization

Wait so what kind of racial slurs even are there for dark elves? I can't say I've heard anything that would constitute a real life racial slur in game...

Did a little research on your claims. I ran through the entirety of Neriak, the City of HATE with a high elf conjuror, aligned to qeynos. This is the only line I had found that is even remotely adverse, coming from the Queen of Hate herself.

https://gyazo.com/9c8f7f04138e201784388d44a18346d7

I got this by directly hailing the queen. I entered her home unannounced, unexpected, in a city I am not ALIGNED to. I didn't get racially "attacked", or shouted with slurs or insults just by walking around.

I also betrayed this character to a necromancer right after, making my traits a high elf necromancer, aligned to freeport. This is also what I got that was even remotely adverse walking around South Qeynos.

https://gyazo.com/7db9685e718253c959d162abd1204c04

Here's the worst thing I got running around freeport as a high elf necromancer.

https://gyazo.com/d3fe3a33bd96adcc7367d230a1d90879

This is entirely too ambiguous to pin it on race. I think you choose to pin it on race. My character is an outsider in this city. A defector. Also, I got this by hailing the fellow. I wasn't "catcalled".

These mysterious lines and slurs you claim to be seeing are faction based at best. If this is your definition of racism I feel bad for you. You are part of the wider problem, not a solution. I suggest you stop playing these kinds of games if it hurts your feelings that much to start something like this on a public forum.