Reasoning for irregular race/nationality combinations

[Chris Ganale]

Yeah, it's veered a bit vicious in here at times. I'm as guilty of that as anyone else, but still.

[Domri Blackblade]

...Huh. Well, maybe I've been reading a different thread.

 

Lol.

 

From what I've seen of the particular sniping is when someone strolls up to the thread with some secret enlightenment on why someone RPs something to the exception that generally comes off as hugely condescending. Then when they are called out, backpedaling happens.

 

On the actual topic at hand? No, I haven't seen that from the people who are actually debating the point.

[Hyakki]

Well, we know that Doma is a SMALL island nation.

Doma is not an island nation and we do not know how large it is. All that was said is that it was a a coastal nation on the continent of Othard.

[Flashhelix]

I'm pretty sure that how Faye put it is quite possibly the most polite way anybody could. It's not believable. How is somebody supposed to put it? Because looking at a character concept that isn't very believable and going "That's not very believable" doesn't exactly constitute a personal attack or passive-aggressive jab at any group.

Qualify "believable". Not "likely". Not "normal". "Believable". Define exactly what that term means in the context of roleplay in a fantasy setting.

 

Believable as in something that could plausibly occur. If I said my character was a lancer with two extra arms he'd grown with black magic and used them to fly by flapping them really hard, that's not believable. People assume, often in fantasy and sci-fi settings, that because the world differs from our own in many aspects that the concept of the setting actually having any sort of in-lore restrictions on anything whatsoever is just out the window. "Oh, we live in a world with dragons, elves, and sentient cacti! Why is X so implausible?" With X being something that is usually lore-breaking. "What do you mean my character can't chew and eat rocks with no negative repercussions? We live in a world with evil physical nature-gods! Who says teeth aren't harder than rocks in this universe?" Etc etc.

 

"Not very believable" is not synonymous with "Impossible". A Miqo'te dragoon is not very believable. A Miqo'te Azure Dragoon is impossible, at least until Heavensward retroactively makes me look like a huge asshole here by revealing that every one before Alberic and Estinien have been catboys for the last 300 years. If you write a character that's part of what is easily the most ridiculously xenophobic culture in a setting already filled with stupidly xenophobic cultures, then say that they are part of the class of knights that this xenophobic nation holds up as a symbol of national pride, then say that this knight is one of the many that said nation is prejudiced against, well... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that that character is not very believable, not impossible, just not that believable.

 

And, while I'm at it, I might as well say that "Not very believable" isn't synonymous with "Total shit character get the fuck off my final fuccbois". It was made clear in the OP that the point was to discuss the reasoning behind such a thing, not the characters themselves. I assumed that would be the end of it, but then again that's probably naive of me considering how much easier it is to just take an expression of distaste towards any kind of concept that matches a character you play as a malicious personal attack.

[Tiergan]

 

Faye, I heart you, but I have to admit that when I read "Ultimately it's just folks choosing self-gratification over believability which as the OP stated isn't inherently bad and doesn't mean I won't RP with anyone, I just may not always think it's the best decision, so I try to shy away from it myself." it was a little off-putting.

 

You may not have meant it that way, but for those of us that are being labeled as 'inauthentic' because we're not playing Isghardian Elezen or Ala Mhigan Highlanders, it sort of reads like:

 

"Ultimately, these people want to make characters that please themselves over making characters that are believable and lore-abiding. I'm not saying this is inherently bad or anything and I'll still RP with someone whose character is more about satisfying the player's wants over being a realistic character -- I just don't think it's a good idea."

 

If that's how you actually feel, that's okay. But I also don't think it's unreasonable to expect people might be sore about how they were labeled.

 

Maybe it's worthwhile to say I don't think self-gratification is a bad thing. In the end that's why we all RP, even why we all chat and debate here on the RPC. This is how we spend our time, it's for our own enjoyment. "Self-gratification" was probably not the best term in retrospect given the negative connotation. But I don't believe there's anything wrong with choosing a character you want to play over the lore or anything else. I'm certainly no lore nazi myself--while I try to never "break" it I do frequently "bend," and while it may not be my own practice, if someone wants to RP even something as extreme as a Garlean Miqo'te princess who can shoot lazer beams, screw the lore and let 'em if that's what they have fun with! We're here to have fun, and how lore fits into that "fun" is different for every individual.

 

I also don't believe playing an exception, say a Miqo'te dragoon, is "inauthentic"--it just can be a bit harder to accept and need some extra reasoning behind it to explain it away if it's going to make sense given the game's lore. It's certainly not lore-breaking or "wrong," just harder to believe at face value without full context given.

 

Thank you for elaborating.

 

I will admit that while I'd accept an Elezen Ishgardian pretty instantly, I would probably want to hear more about the Miqo'te Ishgardian's backstory to learn about how they got there and why - considering the racial diversity with Ishgardians is pretty stacked in one direction.

 

I suppose feel that people place a lot of emphasis and frustration with "What the hell is with all of these miqo'te players and why do they play as [x]?!" It was the core example the OP brought up and "why is it always Miqo'te?" was a question that the OP asked. To me it's pretty clear it's because there's a metric buttton of miqo'te players. The higher the population, the more likely you're going to run into a whole lot of different concepts. Some will be right up people's alley and some won't -- but it's the same with pretty much anything we RP.

 

I've endured a lot of random aggression or unpleasant assumptions made about me purely because I'm roleplaying a cat (though weirdly, most of that aggression comes from male players who hate my mancat, but are totally willing to hit on my ladycat :V) I've had people tell me to my face that a certain group likely won't take my RP seriously because I'm RPing a miqo'te. I've had some RPers warn me that I'd have to work twice as hard to prove that I was a decent roleplayer. I've had people straight up ask me, openly in a linkshell, whether I was ERPing with someone just for standing in place with another cat somewhere public RPing things that had nothing to do with sex in /say.

 

I understand this happens because there's a larger pool of unpleasant miqo'te roleplayers to sift through due to the larger pool of players, but it still really sucks. I don't enjoy playing as one of the most popular races in the game. I'm honestly hoping that when the Au Ra will come out, half the miqo'te will become dragon people just so that it'll be less of a problem - especially when some folks will fixate on miqo'te for months. There have been multiple times where I've considered just rerolling and fantasia'ing my characters into something else because of it, but I've spent way too much time on Tiergan and have built up too many different relationships with him now to do it.

 

At the end of the day, people will like what they like and hate what they hate, but man does it bum me out dealing with it so often.

[111]

Let me give a TLDR to anyone just coming into this thread:

 

 

"I'm mad because other people's characters are not as boring and unimaginative as mine"

[Flickering Ember]

As others have stated almost perfectly with memes... Here we go again.

I'm going to simply ask: Do they need a reason, really? I mean as long as they're not making up their own lore wildly and deciding to be a vampire tribe of Mi'qote Ishgardians who secretly run the place.. Why should they need to justify themselves.

 

I agree with all exceptions obviously, if you're just out to completely break lore to play your own thing; then expect people to take issue simply because they don't want their character influenced by things that seem inherently "wrong" in their character arcs.

 

...But as a minority in real life I have a little bit of a hard time not having some cynicism around this line of thinking. Gods know we have enough of an IRL problem of the majority experience being expected and all minority experiences being doubted or pushed into neat little boxes to fit the narrative.

 

Tl;DR: If it's not ruining your character arc in some way and it's not completely cross with the lore - It's highly likely you're overthinking it from the perspective of a majority experience.

It's not that freaking unlikely that some mi'qote walked up north at some stage.

I don't see how being a minority IRL plays into this - I mean, this is not a realistic setting. Its a setting with dragons and thousands of years of racial tensions and legitimate reasons for exclusion.

 

I understand there are issues with people who begin to play the game without any knowledge, my questioning is why don't those players or peoples go about correcting their lore or characters to fit the setting. Especially those who have been playing for a while now.

 

Sure you aren't harming anyone - but why disregard the work the lore devs and such have put into the game by working in to be a special snowflake?

 

Unfortunately, IRL does play into this, especially if you pay attention to OP's examples that allude to real life. This is the same kind of logic that would say you can't cosplay as a black Link or be a black samurai. This is the same kind of logic that supposes that medieval fantasy universes should have sexism in their worlds because it "makes more sense." OP may not be able to realize it, but when you are saying that certain races should be certain things because it would be too "extraordinary" it does imply something.

 

But anyway, if the issue is only with miqo'te being certain things that they would be "unlikely" to be, then there isn't any spectacular answer. The answer is simply that miqo'te are the most popular race, or the second most popular race if we go by the census. You can't really help what people like. I chose to make a roegadyn who doesn't really know anything about her culture. 

 

Technically, I fit your bill of "characters who go against the grain." I suppose a miqo'te would have been more "fitting" for a character who grew up wild and feral. But I didn't choose that race because I like roegadyn better. The only difference between a miqo'te role player and myself is that I just so happen to like something that is not as popular. But I can guarantee you that I didn't choose roegadyn as a race for any other reason decides: "That race looks cool. I want to be it."

[Flashhelix]

I'm mad

 

FTFY

[111]

I'm mad

 

FTFY

 

I'm furious.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Skimmed over quite a bit of the thread but didn't linger too much on any one thing.

 

To keep myself from going on a tangent, I'll condense my own response to all of this by saying: if it can be explained with valid reasons for why a character is such and such race or nationality...does it matter? I get to some it can be bothersome but RP is all about creativity and working with the boundaries and lore you're given to add your character to the story.

 

Like Tiergan mentioned just a few posts ago, it's not completely unbelievable like in the miqogoon's case except that a little extra reasoning might have to come forth to make it tie in and be more believable. Same with a Doman mix of, well, whatever else. It may not be the most normal thing in the world but it doesn't have to be completely odd either if explanation is given.

[Faye]

(though weirdly, most of that aggression comes from male players who hate my mancat, but are totally willing to hit on my ladycat :V)

 

Hahaha the terrible truth of it, though. I've had so many guys act disappointed or disgusted at my fondness for catboys or ask "Why is Faye with a Miqo'te??" then turn around and gush over my female Miqo'te alts and beg to RP with them after they discover their existence... I won't lie, I've had more unpleasant experiences with Miqo'te RPers than any other race, but I'd say that's largely due to the fact there are more Miqo'te RPers than other races. While I like to poke some good-natured fun at the catpeople (and it's likely worth mentioning I have four of my own so I hope no one takes it too seriously) I don't understand the actual hate.

[V'aleera]

Believable as in something that could plausibly occur.

A sensible enough definition.

 

If I said my character was a lancer with two extra arms he'd grown with black magic and used them to fly by flapping them really hard, that's not believable.

Agreed.

 

 

A Miqo'te dragoon is not very believable.

From an in-universe perspective? Certainly it isn't. But from a meta perspective? Ishgard has existed for 1000 years on a continent with no particularly strict travel laws and regulations.

 

What's more unbelievable: a Miqo'te dragoon (in a society where simply killing a big enough dragon=promotion), or a one thousand year old nation maintaining absolute ethnic purity without the extraordinarily strict border and immigration control measures that would be necessary to do so? Keeping in mind that this is very likely a nation with a Garlean sitting near the top of one of its most esteemed martial orders.

 

 

I assumed that would be the end of it, but then again that's probably naive of me considering how much easier it is to just take an expression of distaste towards any kind of concept that matches a character you play as a malicious personal attack.

I haven't taken anything here as a personal attack, but when people make incorrect or broad sweeping statements they should expect to be corrected.

[Khadan]

So now that I've swept past the little field of passive-aggressive caltrops I might finally want to drop in a personal anecdote; take it as that and nothing more if you even read this post at all.

 

When durping about in RP, doing my thing and bein' awesome etc, I may encounter one of these fabled "Irregular race/nationality combos". My character, being a staunch Ishgardian man, a devout Halonist, and a (former) knight of Ishgard, has a fairly good idea of what its people are like and the demographics of the nation that he as a citizen had been able to observe whilst growing up etc. Now let's say he sees the 'Unicorn', which we all know is really the main thrust of this whole thread, anyway, being the Ishgardian Miqo'te (Dragoon for bonus points). Odds are he will react like most people in that society would react when confronted with something very far out of the norm. It's like watching someone get on the subway buck naked and acting like no one should be even mildly jostled by the display. 

 

Playful simile aside, will I whisper you and say something like "OH EM GEE wut r u dewin' catman jones? U kant du dat! *spergs a bunch of nonsensical lore bullshit into their whisper box until they log off or ignore me*" No, that would be stupid and immature. Will I instead ignore this person outright like they aren't even there because they are just so -ridiculous- that it beggars belief? No, because that would also be stupid and immature.

 

So what would I do and have done, then? Act like my character would act: curious, confused, perhaps even a bit put off by the strangeness of it. Perhaps make a comment or three or even converse with them directly in an attempt to understand the phenomenon and gain an understanding of it. Of course if any/all of these things is lacking then, well, the person isn't really breaking any laws by simply being a cat person with a spear in Ishgard, sure they're friggin' weird but oh well, the world is full of weird stuff. They want to fight and die for Ishgard then so be it!

 

This example of course precludes things like verbally shouting heresies and trying to attack people etc etc. Simply 'existing' isn't a crime as far as I know, unless you're dragon scum then of course you can go get jumped on, nerd.

 

Take that how you want, if you even read it at all. But really, judging stuff out the gate does no one any favors and really, as much as you may try to paint with wide brushes in an attempt to put yourself on a pedestal just remember that it only makes you and your failings all that more visible.

[Faye]

Unfortunately, IRL does play into this, especially if you pay attention to OP's examples that allude to real life. This is the same kind of logic that would say you can't cosplay as a black Link or be a black samurai. This is the same kind of logic that supposes that medieval fantasy universes should have sexism in their worlds because it "makes more sense." OP may not be able to realize it, but when you are saying that certain races should be certain things because it would be too "extraordinary" it does imply something.

 

I don't think that's an accurate comparison at all. These aren't real people we're stopping from doing real things. This is a fake game where we choose our fake race and do fake things, especially when it comes to role-play. Why should a fantasy setting not have real world problems? If handled the right way, it can actually bring light to social issues rather than shoving them under the rug and pretending they don't exist.

 

Yes, it does imply something. It implies that there is racism in game. In game. In character. As is more or less a motto for RPers taking heed not to blur the lines, "IC problems are IC and should be dealt with IC."

[Michikyou]

Well, we know that Doma is a SMALL island nation.

Doma is not an island nation and we do not know how large it is. All that was said is that it was a a coastal nation on the continent of Othard.

Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that Doma's culture and settlement are based off of Japan

 

According to wiki and such. I just thought that meant it was an island state. I was sure I read somewhere it was island-like.

 

Edit: Cant find a post that states it is or isnt part of a continent or if it is part of an island group like Limsa but to the east.

[Chris Ganale]

When durping about in RP, doing my thing and bein' awesome etc, I may encounter one of these fabled "Irregular race/nationality combos". My character, being a staunch Ishgardian man, a devout Halonist, and a (former) knight of Ishgard, has a fairly good idea of what its people are like and the demographics of the nation that he as a citizen had been able to observe whilst growing up etc. Now let's say he sees the 'Unicorn', which we all know is really the main thrust of this whole thread, anyway, being the Ishgardian Miqo'te (Dragoon for bonus points). Odds are he will react like most people in that society would react when confronted with something very far out of the norm. It's like watching someone get on the subway buck naked and acting like no one should be even mildly jostled by the display. 

 

...

 

Act like my character would act: curious, confused, perhaps even a bit put off by the strangeness of it. Perhaps make a comment or three or even converse with them directly in an attempt to understand the phenomenon and gain an understanding of it. Of course if any/all of these things is lacking then, well, the person isn't really breaking any laws by simply being a cat person with a spear in Ishgard, sure they're friggin' weird but oh well, the world is full of weird stuff. They want to fight and die for Ishgard then so be it!

 

As an aside, if Tahz was wearing his fake!goon gear and was seen in Coerthas by anyone in any official capacity, he'd be making dust trails in the opposite direction.

[Alothia]

Look, guys, stop with the posting of single pictures for no reason.

 

I'm pruning those posts out of the thread as they don't contribute to the discussion.

 

/adminhat

[Khadan]

When durping about in RP, doing my thing and bein' awesome etc, I may encounter one of these fabled "Irregular race/nationality combos". My character, being a staunch Ishgardian man, a devout Halonist, and a (former) knight of Ishgard, has a fairly good idea of what its people are like and the demographics of the nation that he as a citizen had been able to observe whilst growing up etc. Now let's say he sees the 'Unicorn', which we all know is really the main thrust of this whole thread, anyway, being the Ishgardian Miqo'te (Dragoon for bonus points). Odds are he will react like most people in that society would react when confronted with something very far out of the norm. It's like watching someone get on the subway buck naked and acting like no one should be even mildly jostled by the display. 

 

...

 

Act like my character would act: curious, confused, perhaps even a bit put off by the strangeness of it. Perhaps make a comment or three or even converse with them directly in an attempt to understand the phenomenon and gain an understanding of it. Of course if any/all of these things is lacking then, well, the person isn't really breaking any laws by simply being a cat person with a spear in Ishgard, sure they're friggin' weird but oh well, the world is full of weird stuff. They want to fight and die for Ishgard then so be it!

 

As an aside, if Tahz was wearing his fake!goon gear and was seen in Coerthas by anyone in any official capacity, he'd be making dust trails in the opposite direction.

 

Ass and elbows m8

[Darien Cadell]

I played an Elezen in the 1.0 beta before I decided it was a waste of my time. I played pretty much this character in the first ARR beta, a Roegadame in the second beta, and then at launch played a Midlander Ala Mhigan. Not sure why I'm babbling all this, except to say I like lots of things and I like playing lots of different things.

 

After ditching the hyur for reasons, I went back to my first ARR beta character and mangled her backstory. I like to play characters that have a normal/normal-ish/normal appearing background, and then wreck it with all sorts of little details and incidents that make them very much a snowflake under a bread-and-butter facade.

 

I have no problem whatsoever with miqo'te dragoons, especially if said people are willing to and do consider how it must have felt being a minority in a place known for its xenophobia.

 

I was often praised in WoW for playing a blood elf mage, because blood elves should be mages, blah blah blah. Okay? He was pretty bread-and-butter on the surface, yep. But under that, he had all sorts of weird little tweaks that made him very much a snowflake, raised in a church, killed his best friend, etc. I actually felt a bit uncomfortable for being "noticed" for playing a "normal" character. As has been stated earlier

Who cares?

 

I like playing the "normal" not at all normally. That being said, I have utmost respect for those who play the "abnormal" and own it, and love it, and respect it, and build on it. Even if at first I ask, like many might, "a miqo'te from where?!"

[Chris Ganale]

Ass and elbows m8

 

Word.

[Swashbuckler]

Well, we know that Doma is a SMALL island nation.

Doma is not an island nation and we do not know how large it is. All that was said is that it was a a coastal nation on the continent of Othard.

Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that Doma's culture and settlement are based off of Japan

 

According to wiki and such. I just thought that meant it was an island state. I was sure I read somewhere it was island-like.

 

Edit: Cant find a post that states it is or isnt part of a continent or if it is part of an island group like Limsa but to the east.

If you are referring to this wiki, then yes. That was the only thing confirmed. Though I'm sure most of us assumed this already.

 

But there has been nothing with regards to the size of Doma or if it is even an island nation.

[Flickering Ember]

Unfortunately, IRL does play into this, especially if you pay attention to OP's examples that allude to real life. This is the same kind of logic that would say you can't cosplay as a black Link or be a black samurai. This is the same kind of logic that supposes that medieval fantasy universes should have sexism in their worlds because it "makes more sense." OP may not be able to realize it, but when you are saying that certain races should be certain things because it would be too "extraordinary" it does imply something.

 

I don't think that's an accurate comparison at all. These aren't real people we're stopping from doing real things. This is a fake game where we choose our fake race and do fake things, especially when it comes to role-play. Why should a fantasy setting not have real world problems? If handled the right way, it can actually bring light to social issues rather than shoving them under the rug and pretending they don't exist.

 

Yes, it does imply something. It implies that there is racism in game. In game. In character. As is more or less a motto for RPers taking heed not to blur the lines, "IC problems are IC and should be dealt with IC."

 

I don't have a problem with racism or sexism in role-play. I feel like earlier posters brushed on this topic much better than I did. I am not referring to how IC characters perceive other characters. I am speaking entirely meta here. I wish I could word it better. To me, saying that people should only role-play what is considered "normal" for that race is troubling. How do you establish what is normal? You can't really, because even considering things like culture, people are just people. When you try to generalize and fit everyone in neat little boxes, it's a souring experience even in role-play. Not on an IC level but on a meta level. When I played WoW, the community I was in was very insistent on playing the races according to the stereotype. If you wanted to play a bloodthirsty tauren or a flower-picking orc you would get a lot of flak for that.

 

This isn't what you were trying to say but it is what I was trying to say in general to the thread.

 

TL;DR I agree with what many other people have said in this thread are: you are playing an individual, not a concept, or a race specifically, or a rank, or a class, or a back story but a person. In the end, I don't really feel like this should matter.

[Martiallais]

Unfortunately, IRL does play into this, especially if you pay attention to OP's examples that allude to real life. This is the same kind of logic that would say you can't cosplay as a black Link or be a black samurai. This is the same kind of logic that supposes that medieval fantasy universes should have sexism in their worlds because it "makes more sense." OP may not be able to realize it, but when you are saying that certain races should be certain things because it would be too "extraordinary" it does imply something.

 

I don't think that's an accurate comparison at all. These aren't real people we're stopping from doing real things. This is a fake game where we choose our fake race and do fake things, especially when it comes to role-play. Why should a fantasy setting not have real world problems? If handled the right way, it can actually bring light to social issues rather than shoving them under the rug and pretending they don't exist.

 

Yes, it does imply something. It implies that there is racism in game. In game. In character. As is more or less a motto for RPers taking heed not to blur the lines, "IC problems are IC and should be dealt with IC."

 

It's the comparison made by the OP actually. Which is why the comparison fits in this conversation.

 

"But my issue is this; if I wanted to play an authentic English Knight, I would play a fair-skinned Briton. If I wanted to play an authentic Samurai, I would play a Japanese gentleman. If I wanted to play an authentic Maasai chieftain, I would play a dark-skinned Kenyan. Similarly, if I wanted to play an authentic Ishgardian Dragoon, I would play an Elezen or Hyur. If I wanted to play an authentic Ala Mhigan, I would play a Highlander."

 

As I said earlier in the thread when this came up, people draw from real life. How many times has it been said "x fantasy race/place/etc is comparable to y real life example"?

 

Plenty.

 

Yes we can talk about the social implications of it all and how as roleplayers, aka people who like to use their IMAGINATION during PRETEND FUN TIMES regardless of the medium, should be open and at least willing to engage or attempt to be accepting to others. Instead, I'm pretty sure I've seen the phrase (or a variant thereof) along the lines of "I'll ignore them" or "I won't roleplay with them" in this thread more times than one can shake a proverbial stick at. Which I'm pretty sure amounts to exactly sweeping it under the rug.

 

Sure no one's stopping those people from cosplaying a black Link (no not Dark Link, just Link) or anything else. But a lot of them basically get the "I'll ignore them" equivalent as well because they aren't "doing it right" by the nature of being different/outside the norm. Which...is pretty much what this thread has turned into on more than one occasion.

 

It all ties together because (as I mentioned earlier) people draw from real life. It takes some conscious effort not to. I mean look at the comparisons here. More than one person has said that roleplay can bring along with it all the same -isms and fears and prejudices found in real life. It's most definitely a meta thing that each person has to deal with themselves.

 

I don't want this to turn into any sort of ethnic relations talk but I did want to at least attempt to explain it again. Apologies for the derail, of sorts.

[Aife]

I'm probably repeating the same point that's been posted by someone else here but since there is so little lore provided about Doma, Ilsabard ect I'm happy to any accept any reasonable variation/extension a character will come up with. Let's just face it, we role play to enjoy ourselves, not cater to other people's approval. If someone's a good role player and has an interesting character generally I'll role play with them. I really have no issue with people playing miqo'te or lalafell from Doma cause at this point we just don't know what races are there. Should someone wait however long for SE to finally provide more lore about races in  Doma, Ilsabard before getting the approval of lore elitists to make their toon? Cause damn, that sounds boring and quite lengthy. 

 

I've personally made reasonable extension on lore with Lacey before and then SE backed me up completely with new lore about ninja's released in the next patch. Almost to the level that I swear they're monitoring my role play and making notes. >.>

 

*whispers* They're watching.

[Faye]

I don't think the OP's real life comparisons meant--let's take the samurai one for example--that only Japanese people can be samurai and no other races are allowed, or that Japanese people make for better samurai, etc. Rather, when people first come up with their character, they start with the idea of an archetype. Well, I guess I can't speak for others--that's how it usually works for me, at least. So when the idea "samurai!" pops into someone's head for a character, it seems a little... counter-intuitive, I guess is the best way to put it, to then make said samurai character a white guy, at least if it's for no reason more than "I prefer to play a white guy." In fact, I'd argue that where real life races are concerned, that can be seem just as (if not more) racist--to change the respective race of a member of some discipline that belongs to another culture, especially when whitewashing or changing from a minority to a majority--than to say "all samurai should be Japanese."