Advice/Help Is it okay to roleplay as characters that aren't a part of your race/ethnic group?

[FathersDislikeMe]

Yeah, I know. I know people can act differently, but how do I incorporate a part of culture and still act independently? Let's say, I have two Christian characters that are devoted to God, how would I make them different from one another?

I'd start with a baseline. Don't create 2+ characters as Christians or as minorities, but just create two characters.

Let's dial it back to my chillun'-hood. Remember the "Highlights" magazine? Gallant and Goofus? Create two character like Gallant and Goofus. Gallant being naturally drawn to following rules, doing what's best for the people around him, and showing pride in himself through good grooming and being polite. Then take Goofus - self-serving, lazy, and always looking for a way to get out of doing the right thing.

Then add the other part.

Assuming you have even basic experience with contemporary Christians, you could make your "Gallant" character truly strive towards having a Christ-like attitude. He follows the social tenants of contemporary evangelical Christianity out of a desire to do what is right and good. He is non-judgmental, treats others as he wishes to be treated, and is charitable and helpful to a fault all while witnessing to others and spreading his faith out of love. Then take "Goofus" - he could naturally be drawn to elitism, judging others for their sins ("speck of sawdust vs. plank"), and using his faith to feel superior to other people.

Or, be compassionate and take the "reformed" route. Perhaps Goofus secretly struggles with self-loathing because of his hereunto undesirable actions, and finding belief in something he perceives as far more righteous and benevolent that he causes him to try and "make up" for his years of poor qualities. Perhaps he become shumble and quietly ashamed of his previous self. Perhaps Gallant's faith justifies his feelings of superiority and turns him into the judgmental and arrogant one.

Obviously, the delineation between different people of faith originating from the same community will normally not be so cartoonishly drastic. But factor in what a person's basic template is, and then add the other parts. As a child, for example, I was incredibly well-behaved, kind-hearted, and very righteous. This was before I even knew what Christian, black, white, gay, etc. meant. I was raised in a Christian home, went to a Christian school (wasn't my thing), so I clung to the parts of Christianity I liked. It galvanized me to continue being well-behaved, kind, and righteous.

I created a half-black character for a story. Before he was half black, I decided he'd be a little aloof ("fey" was a good word for him), not very excitable, and have a strong sense of justice and duty for better or worse. Then I thought about how growing up in a conservative, largely-white home town would shape his pre-existing personality. Did his natural aloofness cause him to be withdrawn if faced with subtle prejudice, or would his sense of justice cause him to loudly denounce any perceived or real discrimination?

Does this help any, or did I miss the mark?

 

[FathersDislikeMe]

Any non-black person who creates a black character for use in a writing project should definitely read Invisible Man, btw.

 

[Deredere]

Thank you very much. That really set me straight. I'm still trying to remove the toxic lessons I learned. See them as people and not by their race or ethnicity or nationality, but by predisposed personality. A mix of nature vs. nurture and that they are both a part of you. They have different way of viewing values and act differently around those values. Thanks FathersDislikeMe. People can have similar interests, but not have the same personality.

 

[Wandering Fae]

Defining someone just by their race is wrong and I shouldn't group all (insert race) in a thin narrow box; let's get that out of the way. Not everyone thinks the same, but I shouldn't throw away their culture and their beliefs. Let me give a better example. Let's say you two Spanish (I'm using Spanish as a race.) characters that value family. Is there a way both these characters can still express that value of familial love while still having an overall different personality? Is there a way to show that they appreciate their culture, but in a different way?

Of course there is, but it all depends on how you want to portray them either in a negative, or positive light note negative doesn't mean stereotype or bad guy so to speak but for example, are they the kind of person that shows their love by being tough on their family, the one that does everything to provide? Are they the kind of person who shows love though kindness and compassion or are they the type of person that is willing to get their hands dirty and so awful things for their family's sake?

 

[Gojigoji100]

I'm not sure any and everyone can post of this. But there really shouldn't be much of a problem. There is the thing about respect and Knowing a little about the culture would be better too. They certainly shouldn't be treated like a rare mineral and an author shouldn't have the character acting like an ancient Artifact. Use the personality over their Ethnical Traits whenever possible and Stereotypical Personalities aren't really the best in my opinion.

( Acceptation for Extinct races of people in the first couple of RP lines. You can lightly establish something like that)

 

[Gojigoji100]

Thank you very much. That really set me straight. I'm still trying to remove the toxic lessons I learned. See them as people and not by their race or ethnicity or nationality, but by predisposed personality. A mix of nature vs. nurture and that they are both a part of you. They have different way of viewing values and act differently around those values. Thanks FathersDislikeMe. People can have similar interests, but not have the same personality.

Race is just a pathetic excuse for discrimination against someone. of course for somethings it does matter but the world has turned away from the idea of Humans coexisting and treating each other like what they are.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Defining someone just by their race is wrong and I shouldn't group all (insert race) in a thin narrow box; let's get that out of the way. Not everyone thinks the same, but I shouldn't throw away their culture and their beliefs. Let me give a better example. Let's say you two Spanish (I'm using Spanish as a race.) characters that value family. Is there a way both these characters can still express that value of familial love while still having an overall different personality? Is there a way to show that they appreciate their culture, but in a different way?

Hispanic is the word your looking for, Spanish is the language (most) of them speak.

Now as to your question, I’m Hispanic and my family has two distinct relationships to their culture based on immigration.

So moms side of the family came to America when my grandmother was a small child (right around the Great Depression which was a HUGE defining moment for everyone regardless of color).

Now my grandmother has a very different relationship to her Hispanic culture than my mom does. She also has a very different relationship to family than my mom (for reasons I have gotten into in DMs)

So while culture has some degree of importance to how my grandmother sees family growing up during cultural upheaval and as a first generation immigrant has honestly just as much to do with it (also just in general cultural norms in the early 1930s)

Now my stepmom is also a first generation Hispanic immigrant but she comes from a very different time and background. Her family was middle class, she married an American soldier (my dad), and she came over in the mid 1990s.

She also immigrated when she was an adult versus a small child, so she has a larger frame of first hand experiences with her Hispanic culture.

So her cultural understanding of family is more heavily based on how she was raised and where than anything.

It’s kinda like I told you, what builds a backstory isn’t one thing it’s a lot of things working together. Not even as simple as personality but personality, background, family dynamic, social dynamic, etc.

 

[Icepurp]

Ah, well. Biggest mistake was listening to Twitter. ; ; I'm black and RP as white characters all the time, and I know others who do vice versa. Characters are more than just their skin color, just like reality.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Ah, well. Biggest mistake was listening to Twitter. ; ; I'm black and RP as white characters all the time, and I know others who do vice versa. Characters are more than just their skin color, just like reality.

Amen to that! Also I am going to point out that Kevin Michael Richardson voiced the Joker and Shredder in cartoons and no one had moral issues over that.

 

[Icepurp]

Amen to that! Also I am going to point out that Kevin Michael Richardson voiced the Joker and Shredder in cartoons and no one had moral issues over that.

Yes! It all boils down to people wanting to be righteous and 'correct.' I wish Twitter would stop doing that.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Yes! It all boils down to people wanting to be righteous and 'correct.' I wish Twitter would stop doing that.

I pray for that everyday

 

[Deredere]

Well, they mean well. Even if they yell at you for 'cultural appropriation' that you know is Not that serious in your culture.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Well, they mean well. Even if they yell at you for 'cultural appropriation' that you know is Not that serious in your culture.

yeah but as someone whose culture is just a melting pot, I find that they're treating them like babies.

 

[Deredere]

yeah but as someone whose culture is just a melting pot, I find that they're treating them like babies.

Them? Who's them that they're treating like babies?

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Them? Who's them that they're treating like babies?

Twitter people on their high horses.

 

[Deredere]

Well, do you have any suggestions on how to incorporate a person's culture, ideology, and personality into a character? I don't mean to sarcastic. I just sorta need help.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Well, do you have any suggestions on how to incorporate a person's culture, ideology, and personality into a character? I don't mean to sarcastic. I just sorta need help.

well honestly, it usually comes down to how they dress, how they act during certain situations and the people they choose to interact. It's not too dissimilar to any other person.

 

[Jules8008]

I mean yeah. If we'd only be able to play as characters with the same ethnicity, all of my OCs would be white and from Germany. And that would elave me with a whopping 2 OCs.

Just don't create them after some racist stereotype or too "cliche-y". But I assume that's a given.

 

[ShirenTheWitch]

I think that race or ethnicity are just another descriptor when it comes to creating a character. I wouldn't recommend going into a characteristic you don't understand and just running with it, but research is a tool that we all can use.

If you do your research and get a realistic understanding of the race or ethnicity then you'll be able to accurately represent them and not perpetuate any unhealthy or inappropriate stereotypes.

 

[lightbox]

As long as it’s done respectfully and with consideration to the race/ethnicity that you’re trying to portray, I don’t see why not.

It will expose you to the diversity around the world and how people from different cultures actually live their lives.

It’ll also show how humanity is fundamentally the same in many ways while the cultural experience and expressions and social norms maybe different.

 

[sweetghost]

I would love to see more people playing bipoc. I would try to avoid stereotypes and highly suggest getting character feedback from people.

I find it disheartening when I see endless, white faceclaims knowing that some people pick their favorite characters based on if they find the fc attractive or not. That whole system is sooo disheartening for me when my black characters get neglected for the white ones. But anywho- seeing more, dark faces would be nice. You could also go for mixed-race characters. Its a nice middle ground. People have their own opinions of people who only play half-white people, but its impossible to please everyone.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Yeah I am always thrilled when my character isn’t the only biopc in a roleplay. And I have found on this site specifically no one seems to care if I play biracial or bipoc people myself (if anything I have gotten way more pushback against LGBTQ+ characters which is it’s own kettle of yikes).

But over and over the only feedback I get about bipoc characters is just “Oh I never thought of the character like that.”

Basically as sweetghost mentioned people just defaulting to white because that’s what everyone else does.

So overall I would say this particular site (at least the 1x1 section, is pretty tolerant of racial diversity).

 

[Jannah]

Most of my characters are straight, but I do play plenty of non-white characters!

 

[FloofWhispers]

Okay, so, I'm new here, but just let me say it.
It IS ALRIGHT to rp as someone you aren't, as long as you aren't excessive with stereotypes, hate and other racist qualities. If you get a few things wrong, then OH WELL. Only some stuck-up a-hole is really going to care. Just ignore the hate my friends.

 

[Lorsh]

idk what else there is to discuss at this point >_>