I apologize that this message is overdue. We have been discussing this internally, but we realized that we can’t wait to speak on this until all of our plans have been finalized.

Elanthia is supposed to be a fantasy-filled, fun world where adventurers of all stripes bravely venture forth, slaying monsters, overcoming obstacles, forming communities, and having measurable impact on the ever-changing landscape around them. It is a rich and complex world, in which contrast and conflict have always existed, including racial tension and oppression among the various playable races.

Yet as much as GemStone IV is a fantasy game, it is impossible to divorce it fully from the real-life culture in which it was created and of which it is a product. We recognize that over the years, many developments and in-game systems have become a mirror and reflection of various shades of racism. These reflections have included personal racism, systemic racism, and implicit bias present in the real world, particularly against people of color, and even toward those of mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds. For many, these systems have come to interfere with the purpose of our game and the recognition of the personhood of all of our players. It is our responsibility to examine our culpability in normalizing racism as a "fun" or "harmless" diversion and how that perpetuates systemic racism in the real world. The idea that "it’s just a game" is no longer—and actually, was never—enough.

Voices have been raised among both our player base and staff members, bringing to focus these challenging issues that have been present in our beloved game for far too long. To rectify this, we plan to review and re-write documents, update mechanics, messaging, and storylines to make this a better experience for everyone. Changes will be made and are being made now. Some will happen more quickly than others. Like the challenges facing the real world, some issues we’ve identified are embedded deep within systems that have existed for decades and will take significant work to change. Some issues are so complicated that we need time to make sure we handle them competently and with the care they deserve. But the staff is wholeheartedly throwing themselves into this work. We assume we will make mistakes, but we also vow to continue working through the mistakes and to continue to embrace and learn from them as a community. We hope you can help us along in this journey through your valued feedback and passionate voices, which we hope to encourage and support as we move forward into a more collaborate and united future, both within and outside of Elanthia.

---

Wyrom, PM

Thank you for addressing this, Wyrom, and for the promised changes.

And thank you to all of the staff behind the scenes who already have been working toward these ends.

- EK

>You now regard Eorgina with a warm demeanor.

Thank you very sincerely for addressing this, and for the honest and frank assessment. Thank you even more for the promises made here, to handle things with care and competence.

This was a beautiful and considerate reply. I very much look forward to being part of the changes as we move forward.

~Amanda, player of Treeva

Thank you, Wyrom. It warms my heart to see this topic taken seriously and the response stated clearly and unequivocally. We have a lot of work to do and it will take real effort, but it is the kind of work at which we all excel.

--
Naos

Thunderous applause!

~Licel

Powerful post Wyrom, thank you.

Thank you for this statement, and since change IS coming, may we suggest possible improvements to the perception of race in this thread?

Everyone keeps bringing up Wizards of the Coast; let's talk about that. In the current default D&D setting of Forgotten Realms, nherently evil races like drow and orcs are not analogous to any real world peoples. They never were, and they didn't have to be because Forgotten Realms already has a richly diverse Human race much like ours. There are dark-skinned humans. There are light-skinned humans based on Europeans, people from various Asia-based nations in Kara-Tur, people on the western continent of Maztica based on North and South American native tribes, and I could go on and on. Ed Greenwood, Wizards of the Coast, and TSR before them have actually been very good about the issue of diversity in this respect.

Going back to GemStone, I find it troubling that, with the notable exception of the Tehir, Human cultures in GemStone are extremely Eurocentric in design. And I think perhaps it's time to address that and discuss human people of color besides the Tehir and Shakat, whether that be via documentation introducing new continents, or further fleshing out the history and native people of the various regions of the Turamzyrrian Empire. After all, many of these baronies and earldoms used to be smaller kingdoms in their own right. I would suggest that perhaps some of those were not so very European before being absorbed by the Empire. Perhaps the Empire's human population is much more cosmopolitan than current documentation suggests.

At any rate, whether they come from new lands or were right under our noses the whole time, I hope I can look forward to meeting a much more accurately diverse human race in the future.

- Player of Teveriel, Arrec, and others

~You remove a pair of oval ora-framed spectacles with pale grey lenses from in your ebon linen vest. You unfold the earpieces of your spectacles. You put on a pair of oval ora-framed spectacles with pale grey lenses. You think to yourself, "Deal with it."

Seeing this well thought out post about the direction the company is taking makes me proud to be on staff. You have my full 100% support. Thanks.

FGM Netz
World Team
Congress of Ghosts 5118

We have a great team and there have been a lot of great conversations in the past weeks. Thank you for posting that Wyrom.

~ Valyrka ~
Ta'Illistim
Elves
Dark Elves

Avawren ~ I have Survival and a knife. I can work it out.

I just want to say that I really appreciate the staff for listening to the player base. Thank you for being compassionate and understanding.

Thank you, Wyrom.

>Has it really come to the point that players of a 30-year old text game are advocating censoring fictional literature and the game designers are ok with it?

No one is advocating censoring anything. At least, the game designers certainly aren't.

~Kveta

<3

Retser, SGM

I'm curious to see how this all plays out. I think the sentiment is in the right place and I think taking the approach that D&D has is not a bad idea. I think it's better to shift ongoing narratives rather than changing too much history. Elaborate and add to the lore to make it more palatable. I don't think Gemstone has necessarily had a problem as identifying particular (player) races as always being evil. Many of the players I have come across over the years have role-played their characters as evil or good regardless of the race they chose. This also remains true for some of the NPC's that GM's have piloted.

What I imagine you changing is specific vendor prices related to race relations, for example, dark-elves in the EN. Based on the narrative and lore this is understandable. This is going to be quite an undertaking. Also, how far do you plan to go with it? It has already been mentioned that a lot of the Gemstone IV enemies are sentient races/monsters who are inherently evil. Are there any plans to address these?

I'm just curious to see where this all goes I suppose. I think it's going to be difficult and require a lot of tact. It may also be hard to show power struggles (among nations) in Gemstone without having some minor racial component involved.

Looking forward to whatever the future holds.

Thank you for bringing real world communism and censorship into a fantasy game that has been my refuge from the harsh reality of life for over 25 years.
consider my accounts closed!

I hope we'll also move in the direction of allowing more Asian influences in alterations, food and in-game references. It still bothers me that we can have brie and champagne in-game as part of the "vernacular", but nearly everything with a non-European influence has historically been declined or pushed back against, including sushi and Mandarin oranges.

>Kveta, that is exactly what you all are doing. Suppressing parts of a "book" that you find objectionable.

"Suppressing" is a strong word, I prefer updating to be more inclusive and pertinent to the current climate.

Even a lot of old Disney cartoons have some pretty objectionable stuff in them, doesn't mean I want to hear or see it -- times change, hopefully for the better.

---

-- Wheels & Skulls Department

You see Blood Mayor Cruxophim the Blood Reaver.
“Blood for the Blood Mayor! Skulls for the Skull Office!”

[ Storyline: https://goo.gl/HNbwpC ]
[ Order of the Shadow: https://goo.gl/88Ojff ]

>There are no plans to censor anything. There is no plan to require any character to rewrite their own story. There is no plan to force any character to behave in any certain way going forward.

Interesting choice of words. There is no "plan" to do any of this, can you say for sure none of this will ever happen?

So racist characters will persist in their behavior? What's the point of all this, then?

If Dhe'nar are going to be considered equals among the elves, Talinvor is 100% taking credit. <grins>

If retconning is going to be the answer to speciesism and (note, not racism except in the case of half elves) as well as cultures based in slavery,I would be interested how the Dhe'nar will be addressed, especially since staff have always been hesitant to touch it due to its unique source.

Remember that this game is rife with all the evils that can be concocted in a fantasy world. There does not exist a fantasy world that does not have these elements, otherwise there is no story to tell. That is what helps us define our own character's place within it; not necessarily demand the game change to accommodate our own ideals, no matter how noble.

Please remember, there are still players with long character histories of overcoming tragedy, or who do propagate it based on the games current cultural identities that any sort of retcon will significantly impact.


-player of Talinvor

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