Cultural appropriation is hard to deal with! And I know there is a lot of worry that people will get dog piled. That sucks. A few suggestions, if that’s okay?

1) Look for someone who can speak to the culture or experience you’re writing about. If you’re writing about the American West, make sure to talk to some Natives. It might take some looking around, but it’s worth it and you may be able to friend-of-a-friend them through G+.

2) If you want someone to look over it generally to reduce likelihood of crappy responses, first, create a smaller G+ circle or email group to let them read over the documents and provide comments. Give them a time window. You would be surprised how many people want to and do offer productive and constructive comments.

3) To go farther: if you are worried about someone’s reaction, ask them to look over it, or even someone in their kinda-political circles. It’s hard but it can provide a lot of insight, and if you use their feedback, you might be able to use them as an endorsement of your work, which would reduce overall criticism most likely.

4) If you give me a little time, I will always try to be available to give something at least a quick read. I know I am not an expert, and I know I’m one of those crazy SJWs, but I do care about seeing good games get made and, contrary to popular belief, I really don’t like arguing on the Internet (or IRL).

🙂