Dungeons & Dragons and Inclusivity

Dungeons & Dragons is a popular tabletop role-playing game that first found its footing in 1974. Having been around for close to 50 years, the game has been played by many people. More than 20 million people have played the game since 2004, BBC News reported. Having such a large number playing the game means that there are many types of people joining in. 

D&D has worked to be inclusive since the beginning, something that Eric Grein, D&D player and resident of Rock Hill, pointed out.

“When the game first started, it was creative minds who would come together to play the game in the first place; creativity wasn’t exactly a person’s shining attribute during that time,” said Grein. “There is a reason why for decades the game’s player base has been depicted by social outcast; people who- frankly- weren’t shown inclusiveness in their own communities and social groups.”

A look at the D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

Society has continued to grow and evolve since this time. People now more than ever are able to feel free to express themselves, including in terms of gender and sexuality. Wizards of the Coast, the company that owns D&D, realizes that they have a diverse spread of people playing and enjoying their game and are working to make sure that anyone who wants to play can feel comfortable doing so. They are working to do this in a number of ways.

One way this can be seen is in the fourth chapter of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, which discusses character creation. It addresses how players should not feel the need to follow what society expects for a certain gender.

“You don’t need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender.  ... You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male,” the Player’s Handbook states.

A variety of people can feel comfortable playing

Jeremy Crawford, one of the designers behind the most recent edition of D&D, made note of this in an interview with The Mary Sue’s Michael Trice.

“D&D is loved by people of many different types, and that the game has long been a place to explore identities and to try on different ways of seeing things,” Crawford stated in the interview.

    While the cultural climate of today might be working to make recent changes more obvious, the various teams behind D&D have been working to address these issue for some time. Stephen Strom, a local D&D player, pointed this out.

“Older editions did have what I would call sexist notions,” said Strom. “The more recent editions as far back as three have already done away with these, however.”

These inclusions mean that a wider range of people can feel comfortable and included when playing the game. It is not just the creators that are taking notice of what is happening, but the players as well. Joey Castellanos, Dungeon Master and resident of Heath Springs, made note of this.

“In the most recent D&D edition, it has been clearly stated in the Player’s Handbook that a character’s gender can be whatever they want it to be. This is an example of Wizard’s of the Coast at their finest,” Castellanos said. “I, as a mixed-race straight male am happy that someone who is gender fluid or transgender can read that in the book- in ink- for the game we love.”

Two people preparing to play

People who have spent years studying the topics of sexuality and gender have commented on this as well. Jennifer Disney, director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Winthrop University, believed that this was a good move forward in terms of diversity.

“Anything that’s out there should be open- you shouldn’t have to be a male, or you shouldn’t have to be white to have access to all these things,” Disney said. “I hear that that’s an up-and-coming area, and it should be. Any sphere of life that’s interesting, there should be options and opportunities for all different kinds of people to participate in those spheres. And gaming is one of those.”

As society continues to change, games such as Dungeons & Dragons will need to as well. The team behind recent works has already made strides to help ensure that anyone who wants to play the game can feel comfortable doing so, and will likely continue doing so into the future.

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