my first question: are you white? at the end of the day, i don’t think it’s appropriate for white people to be fictionalizing slavery, especially not in this context. beyond that: why do you want to write this? you said you wanted to open conversations about a dark subject. why? is it because it fascinates you? or is it because you actually want to open discussions such as ones about modern day slavery? are you willing to put in the research? weeks of research, more than just skimming the wikipedia page on slavery? are you willing to listen to people who are uncomfortable with it, are you willing to listen to people who say this part or that part is inappropriate?
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Not in the same way.
Compare what the definition of ‘slave’ was there. There these people were still counted as human, long story short.
In the us’ history? Less than animals.
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He had said chattel slavery, so yes, it will be 17-19th century enslavement of African Americans most likely.
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I don’t see how his race should have any impact on the game, unless he is an African American and has personal stories passed down from his ancestors about it. I don’t believe it’s particularly fair to say that white people should not be able to write fictional stories based on this time period simply because people of their race had done bad things (to oversimplify it). After all, many white people don’t even have ancestors who were around then since their parents immigrated here. I seriously do not see why it is inappropriate for anyone to write any story as long as they put in the proper research and put a disclaimer that everything is not going to be perfectly accurate to the time period.
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Chattel just means cultivated animals and with that in mind, I don’t see how it has to specifically be within that time period
Unless there’s some official documented naming-scheme I’m not aware of here?
In fact, some of the best experts on African American cultural history are white people, so there’s that
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From what I know of it, the term chattel slavery is used to refer to the enslavement of Africans in the Americas and parts of Africa, and the practice began in the 1600s and ended in the 1800s. If I recall correctly, it is called chattel slavery because of how the slaves were treated like property, don’t quote me though, I haven’t done much research on it in a long time 
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kyros, I often wonder when it comes to topics like this if this is poe’s law in action or if you are serious about what you type…
Also, long answer short:
Someone white making a game about the mistreatment of black human beings ‘to raise awareness’ can easily come across as purely performative activism and ‘white savior complex’.
So, no.
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No to what? It’s not as if I asked a question which required some sort of definitive answer
So if the maker was someone black with less experience and knowledge, which translates to a worse product, then it would still be okay?
I sometimes wonder what would happen if an Asian decided to do it. Would people still complain about some sort of pity mindset at work?
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Yeah, Poe’s law just fell down face-first on the track and ‘how the heck are they serious’ is crossing the finish line.
I was adding to @kyros’s post about slavery in other cultures. 
And I’d say that being considered property that can be sold and bought, having no legal rights, and having any children you might get become property as well, sounds like slavery as we see it in pretty much every culture at that time.
Without knowing enough about it to really have an opinion, I’d guess that the treatment of black slaves in the US had as much to do with racism than their status as slaves?
I mean, they weren’t suddenly treated like everyone else, if they were set free , were they?
It’s all to easy for society to just deem some people less than human, and then treat them horribly, without feeling guilty, as they are not “one of us”. 
My guess would be that it was a symptom of society actually being closer to the point of realising that slavery is evil, and so needing a stronger demonization to be able to feel good about themselves.
long of the short: it has all to do with racism (and greed).
black people were declared ‘soul less’ and generally less than human in order to clear the white people’s ‘doubts’. Like, they could never do that to a ‘human’, god forbid, so they simply declared black HUMANS to be not human at all.
and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg
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It’s ancient Roman slavery, not modern ones, but you might look to The Gladiator: Road to the Colosseum as a good model for how to handle slavery (including the gender dynamics.) It manages to convey the absolutely soul-crushing horrors and agony of the slave trade while still being playable and engaging.
Of course, ancient Roman slavery is not nearly as much of a sensitive subject as 18-19th century slavery (most modern people can’t trace their family trees back to Roman slaves), but it shows that in principle it can be done well in a historical setting.
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It’s a whole lot more complicated than even that. Their entire economic structure was based around us and definitely the slaveholders fought to control another weird thing that people don’t realize is that the majority of Americans didn’t own slaves same thing with the majority of the indigenous people to known slaves but their Elite owned slaves it was a sign of both Prestige and economic ability. Going even to the more weird areas of the free people of color of the South which come about and some very peculiar ways. I’m saying is I don’t think it’s a white savior complex he wants to write it let him write it I mean generally unless someone has gone through the slave living hell of modern-day sex slave trafficking today which is even worse than cattle slavery because those poor women in the eyes of the traffickers are much more expendable. I think anyone with the enough emotional maturity appropriate research has a right to write to write it. Is no narrative our complex thing if he wants to tell a story and particularly if the POV is going to be of the disenfranchised. If you want to going to really peculiar areas how did Creoles color of San Domenico and the Petit blanc’s of the same island. What are as wealthy as The Virginian families of the American founding fathers but because they are colored they cannot exercise political right the other can exercise political right because they’re unable to access land but because of the racial system and apartheid because of their inability of Economics infringement have an intense hatred to the colors. Both people are angry at the other because their inability to express Mobility are power. And also the people of color don’t give a damn about the slavery they just want the ability to vote. During the Trail of Tears the Cherokee leader for shipping their slaves and boxes to the new lands in Oklahoma. , they didn’t just side with the they didn’t just side with the Confederacy because they think they’re doing better deal it’s because they were both slave holding powers.
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The slavery in Rome was cattle slavery. It was a mass of an industrialized because many of these Villas particularly in the west where hubs of production being shipped out to the regional cities intern being shipped to the major cities.
@rogar as said ‘not even the tip of the iceberg’
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So white people, no matter how knowledgeable on the topic, should not write books or other forms of media about chattel slavery because people may take it the wrong way? Also, these games are published through CoG so no one would even know the author’s race, so their race would not, and should not regardless, be an issue.
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Nice hyperbole you are attempting there.
C’mon. You know the answer to that and are just trying to ridicule things now. Just… don’t okay.
It’s tiring.
Some stories are best told by the people involved or those like the people involved.
A post on tumblr a while back about trans characters summed it up in a way that made sense to me. It argued that having trans characters in something you’re creating is good. Telling a story about the transition or something else that is very much a trans story is best left to trans authors. Include, don’t silence by speaking over or for people. Let people tell their own stories.
Second, there is a difference between adding to the scholarship in a subject (e.g. participating in academia) and profiting off that subject. This difference is particularly stark when the subject is slavery: a story about white people profiting off black people written by a white person profiting off black stories.
Part of being part of a diverse society is understanding that we don’t have the right to do or lay claim to whatever we want. I’m a white woman; some things are not mine to write or describe–even if I think I can. Just because I can do something, doesn’t mean I should.
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This is a gentle reminder to please keep conversations directed at the WiP at hand and not at the individuals replying in the thread.
Focusing replies on the individuals themselves instead of the topic at hand can lead to friction between members and often causes the thread to derail.
Please keep posts on centered on the WiP and debate the points being made regarding the WiP, and not centered on the people making them.
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Slaver pov, observer pov, slave pov or a combo? Am I a set of preset character or do I get to customize them? I mean we have a few Gladiator slave wips and on the opposite end Choice of the Vampire featured the option to be a slaver and KKK, if only lightly mentioned. If from a slaver pov or observer pov, can I still be black? And expanding on that, how will the relationship between freemen and slaves be showcased? (I really want to see stuff like that showcased more)
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