Vlad Ward, on 16 May 2021 - 12:39 PM, said:
I doubt the folks who actually created the Grand Dragon for TTBT knew that there were parallels to the KKK in the name. Frankly, I don't imagine they even thought to check.
That's my assumption as well. It's generally safest to assume a lack of ill intent unless otherwise has been proven. Granted, that mindset is also what has allowed some racially motivated policies to survive to the present day. I believe the best policy, in such a case, is the adage, "Trust, but verify."
In all seriousness, I do not believe Jordan Weisman (co-founder of FASA, the company that the Battletech/Mechwarrior IP originated from) could have a 40 year long career in the industry and be a white supremacist/KKK-supporter without
somebody in the industry ratting him out. Let's be honest, there are game designers out there that are
prima donnas, and if any of those types were somehow offended at some point by Weisman and got wind of something they could use to smear him with? I fully believe they'd do so. But after 40 years? Nothing? Occam's Razor, the explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely the correct one. He hasn't been smeared with this crap because it isn't there to smear him with.
That said, there are a lot of people in the industry that actively avoid talking too much crap about the scumbags specifically because they know that there is a small segment of the gaming community that holds such beliefs. And those folks tend to spend irresponsibly on games. I mean, would you want to tell these people to not economically slit their own throats while enriching you? Would you object to them blowing their rent money on your games, forcing them into homelessness or moving in with their moms? I would, but I'm a freakin' hobbyist; I don't expect to make money off of games, so I don't care if anything I say drives them away from me... Correction, I do care, I want those types as far from me as possible. I know they'll still blow their money, and I would prefer to not touch money that was passed to me directly by their hands.
As for the unfortunate coincidence of the Grand Dragon sharing its name with a KKK leadership rank? I think, perhaps, the best solution would be to use Japanese names. The
Ryu and the
O-Ryu. Or some variation thereof. One might note that as the internet became a thing, thus making languages easier for the average person to research, a lot of mechs started getting names from the languages associated with the factions that use them. (A lot of mechs published after TRO 3055 have Japanese, Chinese, and German names. E.g.: The Shugenja, the Jinggau, the Hauptmann, etc.)
Edited by Escef, 16 May 2021 - 01:16 PM.