Am I overthinking accents being considered racist?
I know the title is a bit harsh, but this is actually a well-meaning topic that I think is interesting and I'd please ask for a civil discussion. I pray this conversation doesn't spiral and that we get real, well-meaning people talking about their own personal opinions from different points of view.
To get straight to the point, I am a DM and I like to use different accents for characters, as we all do. It's fun and it's a great way to help differentiate different characters from one another.
Recently, however, I considered an using Indian NPC (or rather one with that theme since obviously that country doesn't exist in fantasy world. You get it). I like this character I made, he's kind, helpful, and tastefully written in a way that I don't think is offensive. Yet still, I found myself struggling when it came to voicing him.
I happily will use all kinds of accents. All the classic American ones like southern, east-coast, midwestern, then Canadian, British, Irish, Scottish, Hispanic, Russian, Italian, etc. I mostly find it interesting that despite all this, I personally found it difficult to feel comfortable using this accent without feeling like I'm being racist, even though I took time and did what I would at least consider my due diligence in making it a well-written character in a wonderfully diverse world.
So my question is, where do we draw the line, and why? This is genuinely a question made out of honest curiosity and interest in where others lie. And at the same time, do we think the same about other accents? I would CERTAINLY struggle doing other asian accents because it would be very difficult to do without feeling very racist.
At the end of the day, I am a DM that loves to make different unique and fun characters and if I can let myself feel a little bit more comfortable branching out to some new voice types and accents that could be really cool. On the other hand I completely understand the potential of this being frowned upon and am perfectly accepting of that. I really want to emphasize that, more than anything, I simply find this an interesting topic for discussion.
PLEASE, please, this is not meant to be any kind of post other than a genuine open and positive conversation about this topic. Be civil, be nice. I know the kind of internet we're on now and I know the potential for this subject to draw in annoying people.