On the limits of the human experience

In a campaign world where a demihuman is a distinct species…one with biological and mental capabilities different from humans (possessing, for example, an extraordinarily long lifespan, an immunity to paralyzation, or an inability to learn wizard magic)…I am much more inclined to treat them as homogenous, alien creatures whose “class” is representative of the species as a whole, lacking the imagination and variety of humanity.

. . .

Part of this a bit of a shorthand: it’s difficult for me to think like such a creature, so I consider them weird and otherworldly. In such a setting, an elf would never consider learning thief skills (for example) because the idea of stealing is simply outside the creature’s interest.

JB, Racism, the Tao of D&D

I get where JB is coming from.

The set of human traits is a set that’s fully available to us, as real humans in the real world. Potentially. Practically, we’re limited by the experiences that shaped us; but the potential remains, for we are capable of breaking free from our limitations and expanding our horizons. We can meet other people. We can read books and watch TV. We travel throughout the world and experience other ways of living. In short, we can learn.{set of human traits}

our potential

The set of elven traits must, be necessity, overlap with human traits. I say, “by necessity,” because if elves were to be wholly alien to the human experience, we would never be able to interact with them. I’m not talking the bugs from Starship Troopers, the xenomorphs from Alien or the formics from Ender’s Game; these beings share some qualities with the full set of human traits (and not just because they were conceived of and written by humans). They understand pain and fear; the interest of survival and self-perpetuation; and for all we know, they might experience love and joy, though their preferences are sure to be different from ours. They are very alien, yes, but they are capable of displaying and understanding something that shares some sort of similarity with the human experience.

It’s not possible for a person to play a character that is completely, entirely and wholly not human. Such a thing is literally inconceivable, beyond the words I’ve put down here ~ we can say, “Here’s an idea that’s impossible to define,” and beyond that . . . it is.

I will go one step further and say that it is impossible to adopt inhuman traits, period.

this is realistic

this is much less so . . .

this is impossible

Thus, we find elves (and dwarves and orcs and halflings and gnomes and . . .) portrayed as one- or two-dimensional beings; thus, players latch onto sophomoric phrases and keywords, turning them into clichés; and so much of the game is so fucking cringe-worthy to anyone outside of the immediate playing group. (and yes, we’re forgiving of those who put their games on display for the masses, because we watch and we cringe but then we go, “Yeah, I know how that feels,” and our empathy lets us ignore it long enough to stick around and become attached in other ways.) Because there’s no way to bridge that gap, if we’re going to adhere to the notion that non-humans are truly non-human.

But why?

Why is this the case? Why is it literally impossible to conceive of something that is entirely alien or antithetical to the human experience?

I don’t know . . .

. . . I mean, beyond the obvious comparison that a person of lesser intelligence cannot conceive of what it is like to possess greater intelligence . . . or that a sane person cannot know what it is like to live in madness . . .

I think it comes down to our frame of reference. Everything I know has been filtered through my being white, male, cis, heterosexual (mostly), American, and so on. Yes, I can learn about other people’s experiences; I can work to put myself into a mind that is different from my own; I can pretend to be someone else, but in the end, it’s still just pretend. My experiences will always be a limitation ~ a limitation that I might own, yes, that I might reclaim for myself and turn into something less a limit and more a definition, but that does not remove the chain from around my neck.

I am still me.

I will never know the experience of being a woman; being gay; a Muslim trans-woman growing up in 1970s Iran . . . let alone being a fucking elf, a creature with literal magic flowing through its veins!

To pretend otherwise is . . . well, it’s fun, sure, but ultimately just a game.

I don’t want to play a game.

I want to create a world.