1
News and Events / Re: Carcassonne Central is back!
« on: July 23, 2021, 10:49:14 AM »They're *cavemen*. The game is about a single prehistoric tribe trying to survive during the ice age and it has mammoths and wolves, which means it's a tribe of NORTHERN cavemen in Eurasia or America.
While it might be a single tribe surviving the Ice Age, the "northern"ness can be up for debate. Consider that Mammoths have existed in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America1. Wolves, too, have had a long history of existing within the "Holarctic realm"2 which includes North America, Northern Africa, almost all of Europe and Russia, as well as significant portions of northern Asia3. That's "north" if we're broadly talking about almost everything north of the equator.
The tribe could be either Asian, Caucasian or American Native looking cavemen. Even Neanderthals would work, but they should all look similar or have the same race because that's how tribes were in the past.
I find it hard to believe that different tribes did not intermingle or interact with one another. We're naturally social animals. Offspring were not the only way that tribes of people were able to grow. And how else would a tribe maintain sufficient genetic diversity?
Complaining about a lack of diversity on CAVEMEN in a board game, and making them mix races like if today's diversity was present on a prehistoric tribe is just ridiculous. This generation is just ridiculous.
I'd argue making most of the cavemen white is pushing more in-line with modern conceptions of what cavemen looked like than anything else. Many humans living until the end of the Paleolithic likely had some degree of dark skin if we consider that most of our earliest ancestors originated from Africa and had dark skin. If you'd like to read some interesting pieces about the development of human skin color variations, why not start with a piece about a man who lived in Briton 10,000 years ago: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-briton-had-dark-skin-and-light-eyes-dna-analysis-shows-180968097/
Here's a great quote from that piece:
"As Hannah Devlin of the Guardian explains, Cheddar Man’s appearance has been the subject of considerable interest because he belonged to the first wave of migrants to establish a continuous human presence in Britain after around 11,700 years ago; before that, humans had temporarily settled in the region and cleared out during various ice ages. Around ten percent of people with white British ancestry are descended from this group of first settlers, and previous reconstructions of Cheddar Man have depicted him with pale skin and light hair."
(Obviously Briton and France are not the same place, but they're close enough that I think it's fair to draw a comparison here).
Yes I'm sticking to my old version, but that's not gonna stop me from saying how utterly ridiculous this is. What's next, another print of Carcassonne with a black princess and a latino knight on the box? Because diversity am I right? Who cares if middle ages France didn't have mariachi knights, a game not including all races is offensive! Lol.
Let's be honest with ourselves here. We're on a forum based around a board game focused on Medieval-ish France, but that also includes fantastical elements like dragons, gingerbread men, magic portals, and more. 100% historical accuracy isn't something that any (or most) games need to really adhere to, and Carcassonne and Paleo certainly are not. They're going for a "feeling" of "accuracy" or "authenticity" that comes through in both art and gameplay. Often that is by adhering to preconceived notions of a time and place, rather than nailing 100% accuracy. And that preconceived notion is what is being challenged by these critiques that you so adamantly dislike.
And to address your comparison, anyway: I think there's more than enough room for a black princess or Latino knight.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_wolf
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holarctic_realm