Mark Rosewater is the head designer of the game Magic the Gathering. He has a blog where he answers questions from people. Magic is not a perfect game but one thing they have done in the last decade or so is increase the number of minority characters they have in the game and on the card art.
As you could guess this has caused some push back from a certain segment of their player base. For example, a few years ago they did a Lord of the Rings set and they presented their version of Aragorn as a black man. You can just imagine the response.
So, given our current climate, he has been receiving a lot criticism about “DEI” and I think he finally decided to address it in a long form answer (but not very long). I think it was wonderfully written and worth sharing. Even if you don’t care or know anything about Magic but care about the topic you should take a look, I think.
I’m confused by that post. Is it written by someone called ‘Thanosisking’ or by Mark Rosewater, or is the first part of the post written by one person, then the rest is the reply? It is misleading.
The sentiments in the main body of the post are fine, by the way.
Looks as though the first paragraph is a question Rosewater received and the rest is his response. It could be better formatted (question in italics, etc) but that’s Tumblr for ya.
It’s the structure of Tumblr. The top is a question submitted by the creep and the answer is by Mark Rosewater. Depending on exactly what browser or device you are using it is sometimes hard to differentiate.
“Destroying everything” is the end of the question.
That was well-written. Almost made me wish I still played MtG just so I could support these efforts, the way I support similar efforts in DnD with my wallet.
It is very well written. I definitely support these efforts.
It’s not a new argument, though. “Imagine living your life as an outsider, with the assumptions of the world not reflecting your identity back to you.” It’s a powerful point, one that has to be made over and over again (sadly). I don’t know why it’s so hard to get traction on it, for people to really hear the point being made.
A while ago, I saw something that made the same point, very forcefully. It made an impression on me, and I’ve shared it with other people when they’re being stupid on this topic. It shuts them up.
Here it is.
That’s the thousand words of that essay, boiled down into one image.
I’m not saying the picture replaces the essay, or that the essay isn’t worthwhile because the picture already exists. No, I’m saying they should go together, along with the other dozens of ways the same point is made.
Then they should all be wrapped up into a ball, glued to the front of a hammer, and emphatically smashed against the brains of the people who just don’t get it.
