Forums » RP Discussion » Roleplaying a Different Ethnicity .

I have been watching a streamer on Twitch play the Yakuza games recently and I'm finding them fascinating. I was thinking about making a Yakuza member character, but I'm just wondering if that would be inappropriate as I am of Irish decent. Would it be offensive to people? I would obviously try my best to do extensive research to ensure that I didn't insult anyone. I just think it would interesting.

Any thoughts would be awesome!

As long you do research on the Yakuza. I don't see why not. Go for it.

I think the key when roleplying other ethnicities is to, like Asroc said, do your research. While in this day and age a lot of people are pretty similar regardless of background, there are still some pretty key differences that you should try to note. Pretty much the same as playing non human characters in general. If you wanted to play as something like, for example, a Rodian from Star Wars, you'd want to do research on the species to know what you're talking about.

I say go for it. Roleplaying is a hobby, and you shouldn't be too concerned over whether or not a few people are offended by your character. To ensure accuracy though, I would say do some research on the Yakuza before you make the character, so you can accurately portray it. But again, it's your character. I say do what you want with it.

As part Japanese I say go for it

I don't know why, or how to even explain it, but your "permission" is even more encouraging.

The whole point of roleplay is to be able to act as someone you aren't in real life, no? There's nothing wrong with writing a character outside of your own culture group. You'll have to do research if you want to be as accurate as possible, of course, but it looks like you've got that part down.

Go for it~. As long as you do some research and understand what you're roleplaying, I'd say it's fine by me~.