I’ll get way more into detail on my Bioware Metacrit blog since this is more Dragon Age related but I wanted to noodle a bit more here before I delve deep into this meta.

So I saw this post on tumblr; the text of which is:

Reblog if your Lavellan Inquisitor is a PoC

just curious to see how many of us have an elf of color.

Which made me curious about the breakdown between POC players and Non-POC players and whether they played a POC protag in any of the three Dragon Age games. So I threw out these two posts, this one first:

If you are POC and have a POC Warden, Hawke or Lavellan, please reblog this post.

Then the flip side of that post which was:

Please reblog if you are NOT POC and have a POC Inquisitor, Warden or Hawke.

Interestingly enough, the post asking if you are Not POC and have POC OC’s, has had a response rate over double the rate of the post asking if you are POC and POC OC’s.

Intriguing results on my unscientific polling so far

Of how many POC have POC Wardens, Hawkes and Inquisitors; count of replies as of this post: 270 notes (including likes)

But the numbers on the NOT POC and have a POC Warden, Hawke or Inquisitor: 681 notes (including likes)

Very, very interesting. I know there have to be more than just 270 POC gamers with POC OC’s out there.

I’ll probably write up something on the responses, response rate, and my own pet theory on why the response rate for NON POC with POC OC’s is 2X more than the response rate of POC’s with POC OC’s to this terribly unscientific, slaking my own curiosity polling.

Thoughts welcome here or whenever I throw these thoughts into one post. For those following along, I am WOC and there’s nothing insidious as to me wondering about this but I am curious.

Since I posted that, there have been some interesting answers and reblog commentary, and the numbers have gone up even more. As I’m writing this post, The post asking if you are POC w/POC OC’s has 414 responses (including likes and comments); whereas the post asking if you are Non-POC w/POC OC’s has 973 responses (including likes and comments)

There have been some reblogs on that non-POC w/POC OC’s with screencaps, and explanations about why someone as a non-POC plays POC OC’s in their dragon age games. Intriguing why people felt the need to explain themselves when none was requested in the post.

To start off, it was simply my own curiosity getting the better of me and now I really want to dig deeper into he totally unscientific poll and resulting responses. Is it white guilt or seeking a pat on the head as a good person who doesn’t lack in empathy and knowing about diversity that leads non-POC folks to play (sometimes exclusively) POC OC’s in games? Is this digital blackface then? The ability to try on the other without consequence? Or a shallow attempt at understanding in the wrong setting? No one is going to understand the POC experience by playing a brown character in the Dragon Age series, since it makes no difference in the narrative of the game’s story.

People also replied with Mass Effect responses and even Guild Wars 2 saying their characters are headcanon/present as POC. Considering the question didn’t ask about Mass Effect or other games, I found that interesting as well. Why go the extra step to throw in a game no one mentioned or reply with a post longer than the original huh, that’s interesting summary on why they played POC OC’s.

I’ll keep collecting responses and probably collate them in an even longer post later.

Published by cypheroftyr

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker.. She’s also contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She’s the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a Twitch supported RPG and Actual Play stream, airing weekly on her channel, twitch.tv/cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC. She’s also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr. She’s named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021. Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She’s the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press) Writer Bio for pubs: Tanya is the Founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago. She’s part of Rivals of Waterdeep, an actual play D&D show on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep; the programming coordinator for OrcaCon & GaymerX; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. She’s on the Board of Take This as well as a Stream Ambassador, and was part of the inaugural cohort of The Game Awards Future Class. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.