BOYFRIEND DUNGEON CONTROVERSY EXPLAINED HOW TO

It doesn’t change the fact you are still playing on the lowest difficulty setting. Likewise, it’s certainly possible someone playing at a higher difficulty setting is progressing more quickly than you are, because they had more points initially given to them by the computer and/or their highest stats are wealth, intelligence and constitution and/or simply because they play the game better than you do. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you.

Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that.Īs the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed.

Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start - and how they are apportioned - will make a difference. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for.

Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Imagine life here in the US - or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world - is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time.

BOYFRIEND DUNGEON CONTROVERSY EXPLAINED HOW TO

So, the challenge: how to get across the ideas bound up in the word “privilege,” in a way that your average straight white man will get, without freaking out about it?īeing a white guy who likes women, here’s how I would do it:ĭudes. When confronted with “privilege,” they fiddle with the word itself, and haul out the dictionaries and find every possible way to talk about the word but not any of the things the word signifies. It’s not that the word “privilege” is incorrect, it’s that it’s not their word. I’ve been thinking of a way to explain to straight white men how life works for them, without invoking the dreaded word “privilege,” to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon. Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is

Boyfriend dungeon controversy explained