Can videogames teach us about race; problems in racial integration in video games

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**Melissia**

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/SidneyFussell/20130421/190921/Can_Videogames_Teach_Us_About_Race.php
Found this wonderful article on GamaSutra, figured I'd share it with y'all:

For Those of You Just Joining Us...

The recent panels at the Game Developers Conference and overall timbre of articles in both independent and industry supported blogs reveal an exciting and reflective conversation on women and gender in video games, galvanized by the re-birth of Lara Croft and the release of Anita Sarkeesian’s Women vs. Tropes in Videogames. The conversation has moved beyond simply arguing for less revealing clothing and “more agency” for fictional women, towards dissecting a paradigm shift for the entire industry, highlighting the role of women as both consumers and producers of videogames.

And while anyone at least casually interested in social equity will no doubt find this thrilling, the conversation is overwhelmingly white, with all these calls for industry-wide changes in favor of equal representation completely omitting race. The conversation has been disappointingly monochromatic, but, has at least shown that the industry is “talking back” to both internal and external critics and is, however tepidly, evolving a capacity for self-reflection.

Token Minorities

That said, why are we talking about gender in isolation? Why aren’t we talking about race in games? The biggest deterrent to a meaningful conversation on race is that we’re still striving for “diversity.” Unfortunately, developers and players alike have adopted the misguided belief that simply adding black and brown people to games without any context will somehow evade accusations of racism in games. This is best seen in the character creation mechanic. Personally, I love the ability to alter my character’s appearance – but this isn’t “diversity” in any sense. The promotional material which blankets websites and game stores will always feature the “default” of a white male (itself a serious problem) and in-game, when altering the protagonist to become a person of color, their race comes down only to appearance with no effect on the story. But as we know, race affects all our stories.

And frankly speaking, it is extremely offensive to reduce race to one’s appearance. If you were to ask me the racial differences between a white person, and myself I wouldn't reply that I was further to the right on the melanin slider. Faux-intellectuals often dismiss such a definition of race, opting for a literal prima facie perspective by emphasizing that there is no biological evidence for “race” beyond pigmentation. And that’s true - racial differences are social constructs. But this visually discernible difference, while arbitrary as hair or eye color, is imbued with the cultural meanings that create the logics supporting racial divisions. Unfortunately, videogames have historically viewed diversity as a disparity in "representation" with this superficial understanding of race. An actual conversation on race in games isn’t simply about adding X number of Y-colored people. It’s about acknowledging that social acceptability is linked with people’s racial identity, with whiteness being the ideal.

Filters and Fantasies

Oddly enough, it is fantasy games that most closely reflect this reality. The “fantastic racism” in games like Skyrim, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are among the best representations of societal prejudices in the medium. The Dunmers' seclusion to the “Gray Quarter” in Windhelm, the impoverished City Elves cut off from their culture in Dragon Age or Mordin Solus’ guilt over the genophage are valid (though hyper-fictionalized) representations of racism because they discuss race in connection with history, oppression, privilege and power.

But a similarly complex understanding of race set in our world has yet to materialize. This isn’t incidental. Consider this: when developers sit down to discuss historical time periods to set their FPS, action, adventure, etc. games in, notice which time periods are featured and which are not. Consider Dishonored’s WWII setting, Dragon Age, Dark Soul’s, Dragon’s Dogma take on the Middle Ages of Europe, Skyrim’s Viking locale, L.A. Noire’s 1940’s and multiple shooters’ excursions in the Middle East starring American soldiers. Another major deterrent to talking about race in game, specifically to connecting race to history in games, is that developers choose time periods accepted as only having white heroes. Certainly there are both heroes and villains of all colors throughout American history, but this norm of setting games in time periods where white heroes are the only “realistic” choice is an industry-wide filtering that once again privileges whiteness.

Imagine what a videogame, which allows us to inhabit and build empathy towards an infinite amount of settings and characters, could do to teach players about racism, sexism etc. Imagine a Heavy Rain style videogame starring an Islamic cast striving to survive being on the other side of the Call of Duty setting. What could that story teach us about race, religion, empathy, geography, etc.? Videogames can teach us about race.

Next-Gen

Does every videogame need to explicitly detail the mechanics of racism or sexism? No. But it is no coincidence that we’re witnessing the most strident internal criticism of video games since Columbine only a few months before the release of the “next-generation” of hardware. The social media boom has allowed gamers to hold developers accountable for the shortcuts and concessions in their products - consider the maelstrom of bad press summoned by gamers disappointed in the Diablo 3 and SimCity releases. The conciliatory tokens of acknowledgment that worked in the past are no longer acceptable and, I believe, that through online dialogues gamers can hold developers to the same degree of accountability in their treatments of both race and gender.

We've come a long way, but have a long way to go. But if the GDC panels and progressive bloggers such as myself are correct in believing that we can push games further and create real emotional connectivity, then videogames have evolved the maturity to discuss complex issues in depth. As we prepare ourselves for the leap into the next generation, we should push not simply for a technical expansion in terms of hardware, but a conceptual expansion in terms of the subject matters, emotions and contexts in games. We are ready for this conversation and, as a lifelong gamer, I can’t wait to see it “play” out.

What's your reactions, and your opinions on the topic?

**djphranq**

This was a pretty good article.

I concur with a some of the points made in the article.

**HiveFleetPlastic**

It's not surprising that video games don't deal with race overtly often. Writing about other people's cultures with accuracy and respect takes effort, and there's fear of being called on it when you mess it up. It's easier to just ignore it or give it a superficial treatment.

Are there any games around with the purpose of sharing a different cultural perspective? It seems like a really interesting idea, but I wonder how you'd go about it.

I also wonder where there have been some good explanations of what people have found lacking in terms of race in games. Characters who aren't caricatures based on their race is on the list, I imagine, though it probably goes both ways.

As a white feminist I'm struggling to not make sexism analogies.

**Melissia**

There are plenty to make.

**Trondheim**

And why should we need to worry about this subject in video games? I assume most people have enough cranial capacity to realize what one sees in games do not represent real world said things. But then again I may be one of those that just dont care if my games do not come with a precises portrait of a culture or nation.

**purplefood**

Games are as much media as books or films are.
Books have been used in this way for hundreds of years. Why can't games do the same?

**HiveFleetPlastic**

Melissia wrote:
There are plenty to make.

There are, but I think it'd be more helpful to hear from people who are, in particular, not white, what they think of it all and what their objections, if any, are. I'd rather not run the risk of making it all about me!

In that spirit, I looked for something in that vein. Here's something:

http://kotaku.com/5897227/come-on-video-games-lets-see-some-black-people-im-not-embarrassed-by

So, the author of that piece seems to want:

- black characters who are awesome
- black characters who subvert tropes and stereotypes

and does not want dated and dubious stereotypes like the spear-hurling black primitive. That makes sense to me, at least.

**nomotog**

Trondheim wrote:
And why should we need to worry about this subject in video games? I assume most people have enough cranial capacity to realize what one sees in games do not represent real world said things. But then again I may be one of those that just dont care if my games do not come with a precises portrait of a culture or nation.

Well that's the thing, You don't have to worry about it yourself. Your not making the games your just playing them. You can sit back and let the dev worry about diversity well you just enjoy a richer and more varied gaming experience.

**Melissia**

HiveFleetPlastic wrote:
Melissia wrote:
There are plenty to make.
There are, but I think it'd be more helpful to hear from people who are, in particular, not white

I certainly agree with that.

My focus, insofar as politics goes, is generally with feminism (and to a lesser degree, a mild form of libertarian socialism), so it's certainly outside of my area of study.

I've seen a few articles from ebon-skinned ladies (I don't remember if they're American, so I hesitate to use "African-American"-- certainly a British lady might not like that much!) on the subject of video games... I'll see if I can find them again.

**Verses**

Pretty good articles, safe to say I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed, although I do also feel it could be potentially be difficult to achieve the stated goals without a certain level of awkwardness for some reason.

That being said, anyone know of any games that manage to do this sort of thing yet? I can't think of any of the top of my head.

**Melissia**

From my perspective, quite a few of them do. But then again, I'm not a guy, so by default, I have to stretch my empathy to try to play these characters.

I manage it.

**HiveFleetPlastic**

Melissia wrote:
HiveFleetPlastic wrote:
Melissia wrote:
There are plenty to make.
There are, but I think it'd be more helpful to hear from people who are, in particular, not white
I certainly agree with that.

My focus, insofar as politics goes, is generally with feminism (and to a lesser degree, a mild form of libertarian socialism), so it's certainly outside of my area of study.

Yup! My knowledge of race issues comes by way of feminism. I don't remember ever particularly encountering race as a subject in video games other than the Resident Evil 5 thing by N'Gai Croal. RE 5 is mentioned briefly in the article I linked above.

I think there's an intersection of the issues with writing characters of colour* (for novels and stuff) and race in video games, but I'm not sure how big an issue it is because the plots of video games rarely seem to pay more than the most superficial attention to who characters are and how they interact. A lot of culture is in the way you interact with people around you, and that's usually disregarded after a short period in favour of slaying whatever the dragon of the week is.

**Melissia**

Oh, I've seen it discussed several times. Usually by people point out how fething racist games like FarCry and Resident Evil 5 are if you actually pay attention to the details...

**Verses**

Care to name any? Although I will admit that I'm possibly approaching all of this from the other side...I'd love to see something that depicted one of the cultures I associate myself with, either in a modern or more historical setting. When I first got into video games they were all a bit of a learning process for me in regards to culture and, in a lot of cases, ways of thinking altogether. As I've grown older I've started to accept it as more of the norm to see things from that perspective, and so something beyond that would be appreciated.

Incidentally I realise that without some context my point of it being awkward could be taken the wrong way - I am more referring to how I don't want a game that takes up this challenge to turn into some sort of half hearted attempt to integrate another culture and manage to spend all its time offending members of said culture...and without sounding either too selfish or as if I missed the point of the article, I especially hope it doesn't do this to mine.

**HiveFleetPlastic**

I can't speak to FarCry, but the Resident Evil 5 stuff definitely seemed legitimate to me, both from N'Gai's presentation of it and the demo of the game. The game leaned very heavily on racist imagery. Of course, that didn't stop the poor guy from getting torn apart by rabid fanboys for daring to talk about it.

**Melissia**

Verses wrote:
Care to name any?

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's reviews touched on the subject-- the maker of Zero Punctuation was always glad to point out when gamemakers were being racist/misogynist and how it made him uncomfortable.

**Compel**

I've got to say I don't really understand what that article is trying to say...

From my somewhat limited understanding, Science fiction and fantasy films and books were, since probably before the days of Star Trek one of the biggest proponents of racial equality. Isn't the classic example being a quote like, "executives wouldn't let us talk about black and white people on tv, so we talked about blue and green people instead to get the same message across."

Most Science Fiction and fantasy computer games have simply continued this tradition, although they admittedly lay it on a bit too thick at times (Elves in dragon age).

I just don't get it, as far as I can see video games are tracking pretty much exactly compared to mainstream tv, film, comics and books. Games aren't really doing anything revolutionary or different to them.

Comparing this to feminist... equality (sorry, I don't know the right term) in games, where video games fall much further behind.

For example, I can't imagine that Call of Duty treats racism issues particularly different from say, Chris Ryan or Andy McNab's latest novels, or indeed from Medal of Honour, which one of them wrote the script to!

**Melissia**

Compel wrote:
I just don't get it, as far as I can see video games are tracking pretty much exactly compared to mainstream tv, film, comics and books. Games aren't really doing anything revolutionary or different to them.

Oh really then, there's a video game equivalent to BET? Or hell, even John Stewart? I can only remember two instances of non-white lead characters in recent memory in video games.

Even if what you claim is the case...

... and I sincerely doubt it...

... that's a very low standards to pass. There has long been complaints about whitewashing in the film and TV industry, and minority actors have a hard time getting parts.

**Compel**

I've got to say, I've no idea who/what BET is...

The point I'm making is, for video games, I think they are pretty much on par with other media as far as racial equality goes. - Both the good parts (sci fi and fantasy) and the bad parts.

For example, John Stewart did crop up quite a few times in DC Universe Online.

I'm not saying it's a pass, more like everything is failing equally.

**Valion**

Melissia wrote:
Imagine a Heavy Rain style videogame starring an Islamic cast striving to survive being on the other side of the Call of Duty setting.

Somehow, I do not think that will be beating Modern Warfare sales records.

**Melissia**

Compel wrote:
I've got to say, I've no idea who/what BET is..
[...]
I think they are pretty much on par with other media as far as racial equality goes

So, without doing even the most basic of research on the topic, admitting your ignorance of even the most well known ethnic entertainment channel, without ever bothering even take a fething look at either industry to bother to compare them...

... you claim that there is no problem.

Lemme guess, you expect me to take you seriously and treat your opinion like it's something worth paying attention to now, too.

**Compel**

Melissia wrote:
So, without doing even the most basic of research on the topic, admitting your ignorance of even the most well known ethnic entertainment channel, without ever bothering even take a ****** look at either industry to bother to compare them...

Is it really necessary to begin swearing at me? I don't think that really contributes to the discussion. - Fun fact, dakka autocorrects it on the thread, but doesn't when quoting posts.

Incidently, googling "BET" isn't exactly the most useful thing in the world. I know, I tried. One needs some context... For example, I was looking for "BET comic books" at one point.

Yes, I am ignorant of the topic, hence why I've been caveating things with, "from my somewhat limited understanding" "as far as I can see"

Melissia wrote:

... you claim that there is no problem.

Actually, what I claimed was.

Compel wrote: I'm not saying it's a pass, more like everything is failing equally.

Melissia wrote:
Lemme guess, you expect me to take you seriously and treat your opinion like it's something worth paying attention to now, too.

Well, yeah, it would be the kinda decent thing to do and polite thing to do without cursing at me, yeah...

**Slarg232**

Valion wrote:
Melissia wrote:
Imagine a Heavy Rain style videogame starring an Islamic cast striving to survive being on the other side of the Call of Duty setting.

Somehow, I do not think that will be beating Modern Warfare sales records.

Does anything

While I agree that we need more diversity in our Leading characters, first I think it would be better to write better side characters. When the top two black characters that come to most minds are Cole Train from GoW and Sgt. Johnson from Halo, we have a major problem. I mean, Cole is about as stereotypical as you can get (In the games, in the books he's actually pretty decent), and Sgt. Johnson just so happens to be black....

Now, again, I'm not saying there shouldn't be black (Or rather, diverse) leads, but when we can't even write a proper side character, we should probably tackle that first.

**Melissia**

Compel wrote:
Well, yeah, it would be the kinda decent thing to do and polite thing to do without cursing at me, yeah...

You will be disappointed.

BET is Black Entertainment Television", a Viacom owned television network dedicated to shows by and for African-Americans. By far the most famous of the various ethnic television networks in the USA.

Someone trying to talk about minorities in the entertainment industry without even having a clue what BET network is is like someone talking about terrorist attacks in the US and never having heard of the World Trade Center. Or someone attempting to talk about the middle east without ever knowing that Israel existed. Or someone talking about RTS games while remaining ignorant of the existence of the -craft series. Or someone talking about science fiction without ever having heard of Isaac Asimov, or someone talking about fantasy fiction while claiming they've never heard of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Hopefully you can see where I'm coming from in saying your opinions are based on ignorance.

**Valion**

Slarg232 wrote:
Does anything

Something will inevitably. And most developers would want to be the ones responsible. Give a developer (or any business, for that matter) the choice between, for example, breaking even and making a progressive social statement, or making a tidy profit, and the overwhelming majority won't even have to consider before choosing Option B.

And I'm fine with that. I don't buy games for their social message, and I'd be even less likely to if that social message was forced to be some hackneyed dogma.

**nomotog**

Can you make good side characters?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Valion wrote:
Slarg232 wrote:
Does anything

Something will inevitably. And most developers would want to be the ones responsible. Give a developer (or any business, for that matter) the choice between, for example, breaking even and making a progressive social statement, or making a tidy profit, and the overwhelming majority won't even have to consider before choosing Option B.

And I'm fine with that. I don't buy games for their social message, and I'd be even less likely to if that social message was forced to be some hackneyed dogma.

You would be surprised actually. A lot of devs still see their work as art and are willing to make financial sacrifices for it. It's generally the publisher who demands the game be changed to make more money.

**Compel**

I actually know relatively little about the US entertainment industry in general. The vast majority of the time I couldn't tell you, for example whether "Castle" for example was an NBC show, ABC or Fox or any of the dozen other channels I probably can't even name! Castle is shown on a murder-mystery channel called 'Alibi' here in the UK.

**Melissia**

Valion wrote:
Slarg232 wrote:
Does anything

Something will inevitably. And most developers would want to be the ones responsible. Give a developer (or any business, for that matter) the choice between, for example, breaking even and making a progressive social statement, or making a tidy profit, and the overwhelming majority won't even have to consider before choosing Option B.

You're mistaking developers for producers.

Many developers WOULD love to make that game.

**Valion**

nomotog wrote:
You would be surprised actually. A lot of devs still see their work as art and are willing to make financial sacrifices for it. It's generally the publisher who demands the game be changed to make more money.

Oh, I don't doubt many do, if not most. I'm unaware of any games that started life as feminist or anti-racist manifestos and were obliged to alter their content by a publisher, however, so I think it's safe to assume that, artists or not, most developers aren't inherently interested in that rather narrow slice of the political landscape, especially as it has the potential to cost them sales.

**Melissia**

Compel wrote:
I actually know relatively little about the US entertainment industry in general. The vast majority of the time I couldn't tell you, for example whether "Castle" for example was an NBC show, ABC or Fox or any of the dozen other channels I probably can't even name! Castle is shown on a murder-mystery channel called 'Alibi' here in the UK.

I wasn't talking about a single Television show, but an entire ethnic network.

Imagine if I had talked about UK news media without knowing what BBC or the Daily Fail was.