Unnecessary Racist Slur

[BattleMaster Server]

Summary:	Unnecessary Racist Slur
Violation:	Not insulting/being courteous to the global playerbase
World:	Dwilight
Complainer:	Ethan Lee Vita
About:	Kas

Full Complaint Text:
I find it completely unnecessary to include 'very short with slanted eyes and a yellowish skin' in the description when lazy or other behavior-based descriptions would've sufficed. BM is a game played by a wide range of ethnicities and part of playing is learning to be courteous and respectful to one's fellow players, as if they're friends.


Letter from Kas Mayhem   (37 minutes ago)

Message sent to all full members of "Sanguis Astroism" (87 recipients)

Brother Kihalin,


I must apologize, was a lack of discipline from my courtier to not teach my new scriba my previous adresses properly, somehow I found him to be lazy, very short with slanted eyes and a yellowish skin, every time I passed by him I thought he was asleep because I could not see his eyes opened, but since I found this discrepancy better to change.


Yours,


Kas Mayhem

Ambassador of Niselur

Count of Ninith

Knight Penitent of Sanguis Astroism

[Kwanstein]

That's not actually a slur.

But it does imply that Asians are necessarily incompetent/inferior, so still offensive.

Also, to clarify for those who do not know, the yellow skin description originates in China, as they consider themselves to be yellow skinned. I mention this because I think that many would assume it is a Western conception.

[Vita`]

Out-of-Character from Kas Mayhem   (5 minutes ago)
http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,4287.0.html

I let clear in the letter that was a mistake from the courtier and not from the supposed racism victim, also I believe Dwilight is a serious roleplay atmosphere that justify the actions and the relevancy of saying such level of detailement.

I do not have an account at the forums, so I ask gently a favour to you to reply this OOC message there as my own awnser.

Thank you,

Vladmir Kasenko

[Gustav Kuriga]

Does it matter who we are referring to in the roleplay? There's serious roleplay atmosphere, and then there is just plain racist remarks.

[Kwanstein]

Ah, I misread. It appears as though it is the courtier who is the incompetent one (and his race is unknown), there is no implication that it is the scribe's fault. That leaves only the graphic description of the scribe's appearance in conjunction with the following jibe as a thing that one could take offence at. While it could be construed as offensive, I think that it's an overreaction to take administrative measures against it, as it is mild, at most, and unintentional. An in-game message informing the supposed offender of the offended's disapproval would have sufficed to resolve this matter.

[Vita`]

My thoughts as well Gustav. I was just fairly providing the accused's reply.

Kwanstein: I wasn't personally offended, but I think its a topic that shouldn't be lightly responded to and is highly inconsiderate of the international nature of BM. Its not my place to decide the verdict/punishment, but I think, minimally, a public warning is necessary. This is not something that is acceptable in any way.

[Alpha]

I don't really like getting involved in these things. I think it takes some reaching to call this a racist slur. It might be slightly insensitive, but someone would have to try to take offense to be offended by it.

[Gustav Kuriga]

somehow I found him to be lazy, very short with slanted eyes and a yellowish skin, every time I passed by him I thought he was asleep because I could not see his eyes opened

It's obvious that's referring to someone of asian descent and tying the description of laziness to his race.

[Geronus]

Was any attempt made to raise and resolve this issue with Kas directly prior to opening the case?

[Dishman]

Vladimir's english does make it hard to discern writer's intent. I might be giving him too much benefit of the doubt, but it seems hyper-sensitive to call racism on this.

I read it, and thought he was just talking about a Dwilight-SMA version of an asian who was lazy. I've not paid much mind about the 'local' peasantry descriptions in Dwilight, so I wouldn't doubt there's an asian racial type RP'd somewhere. Nowhere does he imply that a group is lazy, but that the character found this person to be lazy.

The 'slanted eyes making him seem always asleep' may have been an off-colour joke, admittedly. But, like LGMAlpha said...unless someone is offended then it remains inoffensive and benign.

[Geronus]

Well, someone felt offended enough to open the case. I just want to know if any effort was made to address the issue directly prior to the case being opened.

[Vita`]

No, I did not contact him myself. However, he was questioned about this, ICly, by another character whether he was 'jaundiced and plagued by cataracts' and Kas insisted he was 'fine' and "had a different set of eyes". I read this together.

I myself wasn't offended personally. But I do think that its not the type of words & concepts that should be being expressed in a friendly, international game. Nor do I think its a necessary element of SMA. Finally, what purpose does it serve?

Finally, I grew up in an area that historically held racist sentiments towards immigrant asians with lazy slanty-eyeds being a common asian stereotype so I don't take it as just 'this attribute + this face' when I see those together. To me this would be the same as making some  comment about 'charcoal-colored men particularly loving watermelon' or blood moon?

[Kwanstein]

It's fairly common for a close-knit group composed of various races to mix light-hearted jabs like that into everyday conversation. When I was in Korea some of my Asian friends there would jokingly call me round eyes, basically the reverse equivalent of slant eyes. So it is the context in which something like that is said which would determine whether someone finds it offensive.

In the case of Kas, he is just light-hearted kind of guy presumably from Russia. So I wouldn't blame him for the occasional faux pas.

[D'Espana]

Yeah, because in the Middle Ages nobody was racist at all. Nope. All races were equal, and interracial communities thrived and prospered all over the world. Such a shame someone would go as far as to IMPLY a pseudo-racist remark on an NPC in a SMA setting...

Come on guys, we're not kids. I've seen stuff much worse than this being said in the SA channel, and everyone understood that it was just an IC thing. Why not now?

[Zakilevo]

I think this is the same case as RPing 'rape'. I mean it happened quite often during war times and although the subject offends some players when you are in SMA, you either just ignore it or just play along.