Virtual Cultures and Races in RPG as Educational Means of Multicultural and Multiracial Social Relations

Afrić, Winton. (2009). Virtual Cultures and Races in RPG as Educational Means of Multicultural and Multiracial Social Relations. In: 2nd International Conference “The Future of Information Sciences: INFuture2009 – Digital Resources and Knowledge Sharing”, 4-6 November 2009, Zagreb, Croatia.

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Abstract

In this article the focus lies on the educational character of RPG treatment in different virtual cultures and races. In any RPG system the structure is being made out of elements none of which can undergo a change without effecting changes in other elements. This is of great importance for this study as it represents the way cultures and races behave when interacting in social and cultural relations. We can safely say that when facing any virtual culture or race we will be facing a sheet of unique characteristics consisting of cultural and racial attributes and traits commonly ranging from physical, mental, social and cultural groups. In the concept of RPG so far, the difference between race and culture is in fact blurred because virtual cultures are commonly created as virtual races of a specific cultural type. The form on which virtual cultures and races are most commonly made seems to be stemming from a widely accepted view that culture presupposes society. In this paper the” four level approach” is used to the study of human beings based on body, psyche, society and culture. The creation of virtual races and cultures is therefore directly reliant on the idea that the biological and psychological are setting constraints or limits on culture, as well as culture being understood as humanity's unique form of adaptation to meet needs that are simultaneously social and biological. All the changes that make any virtual race or culture into a truly unique element are in fact based on changing the human potential norm. Changes can be in any of the aforementioned four level fields or all of them. The starting point of creating a virtual culture is therefore most commonly a modification of human standards of physical, mental and social attributes and traits. From any specific cultural or racial point of view any other type of behaviour may well seem abnormal but as elements of a system they are all in fact behaving in the same manner .This type of creativity, regardless of being the creator or merely the student of a virtual structure of cultures and races educates all agents about the characteristics of cultures and races in general. Trough the insight given by the transparency of the model the main focus of the education naturally becomes the understanding of racial and cultural differences, but in this case it becomes uniquely transparent that despite their differences in attributes traits and constellations of characteristics, they are all in fact the same, seeing as they exhibit the same kinds of behaviour. Dealing with RPG systems at any level of immersion from creator to participant all agents are therefore educated in understanding and dealing with racial and cultural differences as characteristics of equal value but different apparel, and in such understanding given the chance to understand cultural and racial respect and equality learning the nature of their differences resulting in acquiring racial and cultural tolerance and understanding.

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