Return to Answer

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing to social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, the moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are of course welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying through the DM may also be a good idea.

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing the social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, the moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are, of course, welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying your concerns through the DM may also be a good idea.

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing to social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, that moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are of course welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying through the DM may also be a good idea.

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing to social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, the moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are of course welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying through the DM may also be a good idea.

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing to social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, that moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are of course welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying through the DM may also be a good idea.

A disruptive player should be asked to stop.

I’m going to sidestep your question here a little bit. I don’t think it matters if calling an elf an elf is racist within the fiction of the setting, because even if it is, there is a way for the players to approach that in-character without disrupting the game. What you have here is a player, not a character, disrupting gameplay to make a joke that seems to have gotten quite old, quite quickly.

So just ask them to stop¹:

It was funny the first time, but please stop making outbursts every time we mention the race of a character.

Ideally, they will stop making such outbursts all together. However, and I have experienced this before, outbursts related to character race may just be replaced by other similarly low-brow jokes. If this is the case, I recommend having a one-on-one conversation with them, away from the ears of the other players:

Hey bud, we all appreciate the occasional joke, but your interruptions are far too frequent. Please try keep them to yourself as much as possible, or reserve them for times when they will not interrupt other players speaking.

I’ve had success with a conversation like this. The player went from frequent lame jokes to infrequent funny jokes. I established that the table was not the “no fun zone”, but that it is okay to crack jokes as long as we respect other players.

You may also consider asking the player about why they are doing this, just in case it isn't just a grab at some low-hanging humor fruit:

Is there something about the way we are handling character race that makes you uncomfortable?

Disrupting the game is inappropriate, but we want to be sure we are doing everything we can to make everyone comfortable with the game's narrative. Jasper points out in this comment below that this "might be a coping mechanism for how they are not okay with what they do perceive as racism" - if this is the case, the DM and the player need to explore this further and try to come to a favorable resolution.

And if none of this works, and the disruptive player continues to be disruptive, you probably just have to move on. If you are in a position to remove them from the game, do so. If you aren’t, and you don’t want to tolerate the nonsense, you will have to remove yourself.

¹ I have written this answer from the perspective of the DM managing to social atmosphere of the game table. While maintaining a fun and respectful atmosphere is the responsibility of everyone at the table, that moving parts of conflict resolution are often most easily handled by the DM (when the DM isn't the primary source of the conflict). If you are a player who is having trouble with the frequent outbursts from your tablemate, you are of course welcome to address them with your fellow player, but relaying through the DM may also be a good idea.