But really now...he just wanted to say the guy was lazy, since when laziness , stupidity or whatever has anything to do with the way someone looks or his race? Since never. He could have used multiple ways to explain the guy was lazy or simply state he was freaking lazy. End of story, the reference to his looks was needless mostly when pointing out in a certain direction.
It doesn't have to be pointless. A character could very well be aiming to provoke another character by referring to their descent, sex, orientation, religious beliefs ... It's like the prevalent usage of 'useless violence' in media: if a thug killed someone for an ipod it wasn't useless; it served a specific purpose.
Racistic remarks or insults should be perfectly acceptable under a number of conditions:
- They're aimed at the character, not the player. This can be ensured by avoiding consistent targetting of certain ethnicities, or by inventing a race no players feel connected to as suggested by Egamma
- They contribute to the game, immersion/character development or roleplaying in general. Cheap shots at characters' appearances are just as lame as just another superhuman combat story
If the first condition is breached, a penalty should be inflicted. If the second is breached, ignore it and move on.
So you're saying that my characters can be racist towards all the NPCs they want, using whatever racial slurs and epithets they want to use, and it's no big deal because "hey, it's an NPC"?
Yes, with the caveat above.
