Be Loud. (Patreon)

It's hard being quiet when one's imagination is so loud. - Brian Basset

Last month, I posted a long thread on Twitter regarding a project that I had been brought onto earlier in the summer. It promised to be a 5th Edition D&D anthology highlighting Asian content. The initial pitch for the project was "a short Asian encounter booklet in bamboo forests for DMs to use at any Tier and in any world". I was immediately on board.   

However, a number of concerns quickly arose as the project organizers began to make the project open to anyone interested. The most pressing concern I had was that, despite the pitch, a large number of non-Asian people had been brought on as contributors to a project that explicitly seeks to represent Asian content. When I inquired about this to the organizers, they pointed me towards the mission statement of the project regarding contributors, which stated that "the organizers wish to highlight and promote Asian creators along with women, non-binary folx, non-Asian people of colour, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community". There's nothing inherently wrong with this mission statement. In fact, I really appreciate it. However, it clashes with the spirit of the project itself - to represent Asian content. Recent projects like Shibuyan Knights, which heavily features Asian themes, was generally met with harsh criticism from the design community. Why? Because it was written by a person of colour who wasn't Asian and poorly represented Japanese culture. 

After I expressed my concerns and urged them to make this an Own Voice project, the organizers said that they'd look into it. At that moment, I felt ignored. I felt pushed aside. I felt as though once again, an amazing opportunity to have fair representation in Asian TTRPG content was being squandered. 

So I politely posted this on the group "Big question for everyone: I'm curious as to why folx are interested in being a part of this project (as the Asians Represent co-host). If the goal of this project is to combat the issues of appropriation and Asian/POC representation in TTRPGs, do we all feel like our contributions will meet this goal?" 

Most of the responses were really positive, with members speaking about wishing to see their own Asian heritage in a game. Our values all seemed to align. 

Then someone, who I shall remain unnamed out of respect, posted, "I'm obviously white, but I know an obscene amount about Chinese and Japanese history and mythology and am a passable artist. Mostly I just want to help make something beautiful. (Though I did grow up in a kung fu school where my sifu would have me reciting buddhist and taoist philosophy and chinese history while standing in a horse stance, smacking a pole with a guan dao". This was a member of the contributor community who had been very active in discussions and was the individual that prompted me to speak to the organizers in the first place.  

First of all, a PASSABLE artist is the wrong person for the job. Let me be clear. We want the best. Passing isn't enough. If you do passable work, expect passable results. I want my work to be great, so I have to work great. 

I was angry. How could this happen? The thought of this project, with all its potential, being reduced to just another "Oriental Adventures" hit me right int he heart. 

SO I SPOKE UP ON TWITTER.

My thread was widely received and ultimately sparked discussion in the discord. The organizers felt attacked and politely messaged me about my decision to be public with my concerns. Regarding the white person who was so profoundly unaware of his problematic presence, they said  "we have worked with this person before and they are a great ally in many sense of the word. He felt uncomfortable and felt like the discord became hostile. He has decided because of this to leave the project because's he's uncomfortable". 

His presence in the project is the definition of poor allyship.  

The organizers of the project treated me like a villain. Making me the bad guy for upsetting the white person trying to represent Asian cultures amongst a team of qualified Asian creators. Yes, there's a fine line between inclusiveness and assembling a fairly representative team in projects like this. I get that. But this is one of those instances, where Asian creators need to create Asian content.  Some people think I'm rude for being so outspoken. I'm not. My outspoken nature is passion. I'm fighting for our voice.  

Speaking of which, they also said that my message on the discord prompted "many others of Asian descent in some form or another then questioned if 'they belonged' because of the standard you seemed to set and rile up in others". 

This one hurt, as that was never my intention. So I reached out to others I knew in the group and combed through the messages. While that was indeed true, people questioning their belonging was not my fault.

I ultimately believe that the organizers responded poorly to the concerns my fellow Asian creators and I put forth. They were very slow to react and chose to blame me for being critical of their project. 

Yet they chose to keep me on, an integrity move I can respect. I mean, silencing me and removing me from the project for politely voicing criticism (and removing names to maintain privacy) would've been a bit unethical. But that's not important.

What is important is that CHANGE ULTIMATELY HAPPENED. The project was changed into one with only Asian creators. 

I could go on, but I think my point is clear. OUR VOICE IS OUR POWER.

BE LOUD. Sometimes, being kind and loving just isn't enough. In order to commit ourselves to fair and positive representation, we need to fight for it and take the lead.