TeaDidikai
A combination of factors, including emails exchanged with some Pavee rights organizations have brought this petition to a close.
Thank you very much for your support.
UPDATE 8/26/08
I am grateful for the attempt to remove the slur from zOMG.
However, they swapped one slur out for another- switching the G~ word for a slur used for the Pavee.
Listed as a slur
Noted as derogatory
Having the site use an ethnic slur in it's MMO will give trolls justification for use of said slur to harass members of Gaia.
This petition exists to ask that the slur is removed in order to prevent this from becoming an issue.
I love Gaia. I am looking forward to the Battle System. However- I have a concern.
The Battle System is set to launch with a plot device that violates Gaia's own Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service, Part 4, Subection B says:
[By using Gaia Online, you agree not to]
send, post, or make available pornographic, threatening, embarrassing, hateful, racially or ethnically insulting, libelous, or otherwise inappropriate messages to other Gaia Members
Gypsy is an ethnic slur.
Please- before you say it is not, follow the links below, and read this.
This has been a problem on Gaia before. Mods have had to delete posts in Morality and Religion because of this.
Below is taken directly from the Battle website.
I am sure that this mechanic will be able to stay in place if they remove the ethnic slur and replace it with something else.
In a related note- their Character Development for Nicu is of course, endearing.
Whatever you do- don't trust him!
After all, he's seedy.
Why does this matter to me?
I'm Rroma myself. I have personally experienced violence and discrimination because of my ethnicity. I feel that education is an important tool in fighting racism. I do not believe that this is meant as an intentional ethnic slur, but I cannot keep quite about it and allow the silent consent to this practice continue. This is not about sympathy. This is about education.
I do not labor under the assumption that the MMO Developers are evil racists seeking to commit genocide. I believe that this was simply an oversight on their part and was a function of ignorance of the culture, history and use of the word.
The wonderful thing about ignorance is that it can be cured.
EDIT:
(Read this- It's Important. Nuri is better at this stuff than I.)
UPDATE 7/15/08
This petition has also spawed the following threads:
Is G~ a Racial Slur or a Whimsical Nomad?
And a mock petition for the prohibition of the use of the term Blond.
Thank you very much for your support.
The Issue
The Letter
The Explanation
The Signatures of the Petition
The Letter
The Explanation
The Signatures of the Petition
UPDATE 8/26/08
I am grateful for the attempt to remove the slur from zOMG.
However, they swapped one slur out for another- switching the G~ word for a slur used for the Pavee.
Listed as a slur
Noted as derogatory
reapersun, An update on page 56, 7/15/08
Hello guys :B
I hope you don't mind if I write a bit casually about this issue; I'm a little off with my words sometimes and I don't want anyone to think I'm being offensive. I'm just trying to keep things simple and clear as possible.
So, as the person mostly responsible for Nicolae, I want to clarify; he is of course absolutely not intended to be a racist stereotype. In fact, he's not necessarily supposed to be from any specific group; those groups don't exist in Gaia lore. He's from an unnamed fictional group of travelers, the nature of which hasn't been revealed or even developed at all. As for him being seedy, underhanded, greedy, and an overall jerk of a character... It's just the type of person he is. I didn't mean for this single character to give the impression that there is a whole group of grifters and thieves roaming around Gaia. Nic was probably kicked out of whatever group he came from because of his bad qualities, tbh.
As for the word "gypsy"... I knew from the start that it was technically an offensive term, and I have been very careful not to use it onsite in relation to him because of that, not simply because it's offensive, but also because it links him to a real life culture, much like calling him Irish or something like that would. However, I don't have the opportunity to write or even check every bit of text that goes out about him (it's just not my business or my job), and the term gypsy was tossed around when describing him, if only to get the concept across quickly, so it's not surprising it ended up on the site, probably put there by someone who just did not know it was a derogatory term. I apologize for that, and I'll try to show this thread around and make certain the term isn't used again, and perhaps even removed from the site. That is certainly long overdue.
Once again, I want to say I meant no offensive. Though I'm not terribly knowledgeable, I love what little I know about nomadic people, and have a lot of respect for their culture and way of life; unfortunately, in terms of fiction, I also tend to love the bad guy type of character, so here it was just an unfortunate clash of interests. I'll try to think a bit more responsibly about my choices in the future.
I hope this misunderstanding won't continue to sour your view of the character. I hope if you continue to hate him, it's rather because he's a b*****d, not an ethnic slur.
I hope you don't mind if I write a bit casually about this issue; I'm a little off with my words sometimes and I don't want anyone to think I'm being offensive. I'm just trying to keep things simple and clear as possible.
So, as the person mostly responsible for Nicolae, I want to clarify; he is of course absolutely not intended to be a racist stereotype. In fact, he's not necessarily supposed to be from any specific group; those groups don't exist in Gaia lore. He's from an unnamed fictional group of travelers, the nature of which hasn't been revealed or even developed at all. As for him being seedy, underhanded, greedy, and an overall jerk of a character... It's just the type of person he is. I didn't mean for this single character to give the impression that there is a whole group of grifters and thieves roaming around Gaia. Nic was probably kicked out of whatever group he came from because of his bad qualities, tbh.
As for the word "gypsy"... I knew from the start that it was technically an offensive term, and I have been very careful not to use it onsite in relation to him because of that, not simply because it's offensive, but also because it links him to a real life culture, much like calling him Irish or something like that would. However, I don't have the opportunity to write or even check every bit of text that goes out about him (it's just not my business or my job), and the term gypsy was tossed around when describing him, if only to get the concept across quickly, so it's not surprising it ended up on the site, probably put there by someone who just did not know it was a derogatory term. I apologize for that, and I'll try to show this thread around and make certain the term isn't used again, and perhaps even removed from the site. That is certainly long overdue.
Once again, I want to say I meant no offensive. Though I'm not terribly knowledgeable, I love what little I know about nomadic people, and have a lot of respect for their culture and way of life; unfortunately, in terms of fiction, I also tend to love the bad guy type of character, so here it was just an unfortunate clash of interests. I'll try to think a bit more responsibly about my choices in the future.
I hope this misunderstanding won't continue to sour your view of the character. I hope if you continue to hate him, it's rather because he's a b*****d, not an ethnic slur.
The Issue
Having the site use an ethnic slur in it's MMO will give trolls justification for use of said slur to harass members of Gaia.
This petition exists to ask that the slur is removed in order to prevent this from becoming an issue.
I love Gaia. I am looking forward to the Battle System. However- I have a concern.
The Battle System is set to launch with a plot device that violates Gaia's own Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service, Part 4, Subection B says:
[By using Gaia Online, you agree not to]
send, post, or make available pornographic, threatening, embarrassing, hateful, racially or ethnically insulting, libelous, or otherwise inappropriate messages to other Gaia Members
Gypsy is an ethnic slur.
Please- before you say it is not, follow the links below, and read this.
This has been a problem on Gaia before. Mods have had to delete posts in Morality and Religion because of this.
Deoridhe, a site Moderator had this to say
If "gypsy" is used by the battle system, that is legitimizing the term, thus individuals who use it to troll by insulting the Roma using that term will be able to claim that it isn't a slur because Gaia itself uses it. This is less of an issue when g~ is used to specifically target a person (flaming), but is more of an issue when used in passive trolling, when one posts outrageous things in order to upset others. Currently, under item four of the rules and guidelines on message postings*, other widely used racial slurs are discouraged for trolling on Gaia, such as "******" or "k**e" or "w*****k". None of those terms would ever be used for a character in a Gaian MMORPG because of the history of violence and abuse around those terms and their use to insult and discriminate against people. "Gypsy" has a similar history, but is considered more controversial because some people claim they use it complementarily, as if the sterialization, abuse, expulsion, and murder of the Roma and Travellers were somehow negated by people buying scarves and having their cards read. I personally think this is an untenable ethical and moral stand, and that the word "gypsy", like other racial slurs which have been used to render groups of people less-than-human, should not be used as if this history doesn't exist. A fictional "gypsy" character, rendered in bright colors, does exactly this and is equally offensive with other incidents of stereotypical images being used to make actual people and their suffering invisible.
*"No overly abusive language. We have a very liberal policy regarding language, but please try to be civil and courteous towards your fellow Gaians. If your post is excessively vulgar, insulting, explicit, self-deprecating or racial without any justification, we will promptly delete it."
*"No overly abusive language. We have a very liberal policy regarding language, but please try to be civil and courteous towards your fellow Gaians. If your post is excessively vulgar, insulting, explicit, self-deprecating or racial without any justification, we will promptly delete it."
Below is taken directly from the Battle website.
Quote:
The Gypsy Wagon
Nicolae (“Nicu” for short) has a mobile shop in the back of his horse-drawn wagon. He’s a somewhat mysterious fellow that traffics in the new items found after the Animated began to appear in the world.
Nicu is the one that handles all the recipe exchanges, converting monster loot drops into items that you can wear and place in your house. He also sells rare and unusual items that may pique your interest. Stop by and say “hi” sometime.
Nicolae (“Nicu” for short) has a mobile shop in the back of his horse-drawn wagon. He’s a somewhat mysterious fellow that traffics in the new items found after the Animated began to appear in the world.
Nicu is the one that handles all the recipe exchanges, converting monster loot drops into items that you can wear and place in your house. He also sells rare and unusual items that may pique your interest. Stop by and say “hi” sometime.
Quote:
NICOLAE
Home: Barton Town
Nicolae (“Nicu” to his friends) is the owner and proprietor of a travelling gypsy wagon. He’s set up camp in Barton Town while “all the craziness settles down”…which may be for much longer than he originally intended.
Home: Barton Town
Nicolae (“Nicu” to his friends) is the owner and proprietor of a travelling gypsy wagon. He’s set up camp in Barton Town while “all the craziness settles down”…which may be for much longer than he originally intended.
I am sure that this mechanic will be able to stay in place if they remove the ethnic slur and replace it with something else.
-EDIT-
[Updated 7/17/08]
[Updated 7/17/08]
In a related note- their Character Development for Nicu is of course, endearing.
Whatever you do- don't trust him!
After all, he's seedy.
Why does this matter to me?
I'm Rroma myself. I have personally experienced violence and discrimination because of my ethnicity. I feel that education is an important tool in fighting racism. I do not believe that this is meant as an intentional ethnic slur, but I cannot keep quite about it and allow the silent consent to this practice continue. This is not about sympathy. This is about education.
I do not labor under the assumption that the MMO Developers are evil racists seeking to commit genocide. I believe that this was simply an oversight on their part and was a function of ignorance of the culture, history and use of the word.
The wonderful thing about ignorance is that it can be cured.
EDIT:
(Read this- It's Important. Nuri is better at this stuff than I.)
Nuri
Let's not play the "I'm a bigger victim game" here, alright? Most minority groups get shat upon. Life is not easy for them.
And you know what? Just as I don't let my students get away with calling people gay as an insult, they also don't call others retards, and they don't say gyp or gypsy in an insulting way. This is just politeness, and it's something that this petition reflects.
A section (and I think it is a fairly decent sized section) of a minority find a specific term offensive based on wrongs that have been (and still are) being committed, lingusitical usage (such as the word gyp), and various other things.
What I think is really being said here is that through history and modernity this word does have power, and that's not so easily stripped away and sanitized. And we should be cognizent of that. Tea doesn't believe this was an intentional slight against her ethnicity, but because it still has that power she asks that it be changed either to that the word isn't used, or is used in a less romantic way, accurately portraying the ethnicity.
And you know what? Just as I don't let my students get away with calling people gay as an insult, they also don't call others retards, and they don't say gyp or gypsy in an insulting way. This is just politeness, and it's something that this petition reflects.
A section (and I think it is a fairly decent sized section) of a minority find a specific term offensive based on wrongs that have been (and still are) being committed, lingusitical usage (such as the word gyp), and various other things.
What I think is really being said here is that through history and modernity this word does have power, and that's not so easily stripped away and sanitized. And we should be cognizent of that. Tea doesn't believe this was an intentional slight against her ethnicity, but because it still has that power she asks that it be changed either to that the word isn't used, or is used in a less romantic way, accurately portraying the ethnicity.
UPDATE 7/15/08
This petition has also spawed the following threads:
Is G~ a Racial Slur or a Whimsical Nomad?
And a mock petition for the prohibition of the use of the term Blond.
