I get really peeved by any argument that prefaces, "Why are you bringing [RL Instance; i.e. culture, law, society] into this?" and usually it's using modern knowledge within a fantasy setting. Things like, possibly physics or a culture. Yes, I understand we're writing fiction here, but that doesn't immediately discount all the laws of physics just because magic is suddenly a factor. Or that any inspiration drawn from the real world suddenly has no meaning anymore because we're in a fantasy world.

The one that ticks me off the most, though, is things concerning Earth culture used and compared to anything fictional that's not set on Earth, specifically. A fantasy world, just for clarity's sake. It's this idea that we have to suddenly separate the two, when in fact, that's impossible to do without completely rewriting physics, words, language, society, laws, etc. It's contradictory. But, also, it disregards the fact that all works of fiction have drawn heavily upon what's in the real world (themes, organizations, entire cultures, past empires, etc.). You'll play a video game set in a fantasy world, and you'll have distinct reminders of the real one because the artists, the writers, the entire team drew inspiration from real world instances. You'll watch a fantasy show/movie like Game of Thrones and connect the dots between fantasy nations and real ones, laws, customs, etc. All of which give the material a relatability and make things quite a lot easier to understand. Makes it digestible to your audience without having to constantly go on a long soliloquy or make monologues about certain aspects of your story.

An instance I've had with a particular roleplayer had been one where they took the time to create these fantasy countries for their RP and I'd pointed something out concerning a certain character's race (the country he was from in question was the equivalent of Africa [you know: desert, Savannah, Serengeti, equatorial, lots of sun], yet the character was white as fallen snow while still being a native, which struck me as mega odd). Long story short, I respectfully made mention of this and used a lovely gif to diffuse any possible aggressiveness from the post, if there was any - there likely was, I can be problematic sometimes, I admit that. Shortly after, my intelligence had been put into question because I used a real world culture and compared it to their fantasy world. It boggled my mind because the inspiration is there, clear as day, it's drawn from a real world source, the guy even detailed which cultures it was based upon and inspired by. Yet, it makes no sense to compare the two?

So you're just gonna completely cut ties with realism because it doesn't take place on Earth? I don't see how that disqualifies someone from drawing comparisons. Without that inspiration there, it would cease to exist. You can make a vast sci-fi, alien empire, completely original to you, and there's still going to be some inkling of inspiration in there that makes it relatable to your audience - why is every alien humanoid in so much shit? So the general/common audience can relate to them better and the product is more profitable, whether by money or by views/hits or by likes. And people are still going to relate that to real world countries and empires because they're similar, because that's where you likely drew your source of inspiration from. So discrediting that entire process by saying, "Why are you bringing the real world into this," is one big heaping pile of horseshit.

It's just such a big pet peeve of mine because I adore using cultures, countries, people as inspiration for various parts of my characters and my roleplays. I love researching and learning more about something through my writing process and discrediting that entire thing makes it all seem almost worthless. It's a fantasy world, but there's always that specific thing that grounds the audience and makes the material believable, compelling, and more digestible. Writing is very akin to escapism, especially here, but there's a lot of beauty you can draw from the real world if you take the time to look at it. And if you take the time to recognize it.

If there's ever an instance where someone argues against the material that I'm writing. Specifically background information, I will [i]never[/i] preface my argument with, "Why are we bringing the real world into this?" because that means, to me, I've already lost the argument and lose any credibility from therein. Anything I say after that might as well be garbage.

/rant

(it's just something i wanted to make clear because i've been seeing a lot of this lately. the most recent one was in a demigod roleplay and suddenly realism has no place in the RP if we're talking about children of Gods; i understand there has to be some kind of suspension of belief, but... come on, it's still set on earth. you still have to adhere to logic when you're playing a character that's powerful, but not all powerful. in fact you still have to adhere to logic, no matter what, because if not, we're just writing nonsense - there's a place for that and it's usually in a specific, small niche genre (i.e. the only thing that comes to mind is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Futurama))