Questionable Imagery: Racism in Games

I recently discovered to blog posts that deal with the issue of racism in games. The first is in response to Newsweek editor N'gai Croal's complaints about the racist imagery in the highly anticipated "Resident Evil 5." He argued that the creators at Capcom and gamers were being insensitive to the powerful images that depicted Africans in a very controversial manner. The second post is from Crystal Dynamics Senior Producer Morgan Gray in response to the well-established stereotypical representation of black men as athletes or thugs in video games. Both of these posts raise insightful questions and have sparked conscientious debate in the comments. I have included my own responses below:

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal: RE5 Trailer Imagery Is Racist
Comment:

N’Gai Croal has crafted a very insightful analysis of the issue. Something that I cannot say for myself after first seeing the trailer for Capcom's "Resident Evil 5." Being familiar with the series, I thought nothing of the imagery presented in the latest game in the series. It's a game about shooting zombies, and this particular one happens to take place in Africa. I don't recall a great controversy over Spanish zombies being shot at in the last game. Croal argues that Capcom is treading into dangerous territory because of the history behind the images used in the upcoming game. Rather than blatant racism, it could be that Capcom simply didn't research the issue enough. If this is the case, Croal is doing Capcom a favor by bringing this controversial issue to their attention before the game is released so that changes can be made. As Croal acknowledged, several organizations will attack the game for its powerful imagery. A white cop rampaging through an impoverished African town, shooting at dark-skinned zombie-like creatures lurking in the shadows. But like I said, I am familiar with the series and I know what the game is about. I wasn't personally offended by the imagery in the trailer, but I can see how uninformed individuals could possibly react. The problem lies in the fact that Capcom has released very little information on the game, so people are feeding off of the tiniest of scraps and constructing perceptions without enough about the game. Once Capcom releases more details on the story and other characters involved, this whole ordeal may cease to even be a problem. In the future, however, Capcom should understand what consequences they may face for creating such provocative imagery.

"Every Other Effin' Black Video Game Character"
Comment:

I wholeheartedly agree: this is something that desperately needs to be resolved. I've played a great number of games, but I can count on one hand how many have featured minority characters that aren't plagued by stereotypes. I think there are a couple of significant reasons for this unfortunate circumstance. The first is that this kind of stuff sells. Other forms of media use it, and it simply works. It gives people something that they can relate to, maybe not on the level of personal experience, but based on the preconceptions formed in their minds from consuming a variety of media over the years. The other problem is that minorities are greatly underrepresented in the games industry. Without a diverse background of people to create games, these type of problems arise. However, with respect to "Gears of War," I agree with other commenters that every character, not only the black soldier, was a stereotype of some sort. But when dealing with skin color, the issue of racism rises to the surface quickly.

Mass Confusion: Fox News Under Fire for Inaccuracies

Many people rely on the news media for the latest coverage on pertinent issues around the world. However, Fox News recently abused its viewers' trust by disclosing grossly inaccurate information about the new video game Mass Effect after inviting author Cooper Lawrence to speak about the brewing controversy over sexually mature content in the game. Fox News asserted that the game depicted full frontal nudity and graphic sex, both claims completely untrue. Unfortunately, Lawrence had no knowledge of the game prior to coming on the show to offer criticism and completely misrepresented Mass Effect. Lawrence claimed that young boys in particular who play the game would be immorally influenced by its mature themes: "Here's how they're seeing women: They're seeing them as these objects of desire, as these, you know, hot bodies. They don't show women as being valued for anything other than their sexuality. And it's a man in this game deciding how many women he wants to be with." Lawrence's bold statements sparked a revolt against her and the media for making such false claims. Such dramatic and reckless reporting may prove to be self-destructive in the face of a rise in popularity among other news venues.

First and foremost, it is important to explain what the game truly is. Mass Effect is a science fiction role-playing game released on the XBox 360 in November of 2007. It received critical and commercial acclaim, achieving an average Metacritic score of 91 and 1.47 million copies sold. But there exist several fallacies within Lawrence's argument, and Jeff Brown, Vice President of Communication at Electronic Arts, singled out these misrepresentations in a letter to the Fox Network. The first most blatant correction is that the game allows the player within the first five minutes of starting the game to create a custom character, male or female. Secondly, the game is structured to allow players to craft unique stories that reflect individual choices they make throughout the game. The sex scene is an optional part of the game and requires effort on the player's behalf to first build an effective relationship with the other character. Contrary to Fox's proposition, the non-interactive scenes do not feature full nudity, rather brief profile shots. This remains an entirely optional and miniature aspect of the grand 40-hour adventure that Mass Effect provides. However, such ignorance created a torrential backlash against author Cooper Lawrence and the Fox Network.

Gamers across the internet reacted to Lawrence's comments by thrashing her book The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever on Amazon with 1-star reviews. Many users commented that although they had never read the book before themselves, the overwhelming majority of negative feedback was enough to judge it. This caused Lawrence to take a closer look at the game, and after seeing two hours of gameplay, she admitted that the images in Mass Effect are "kind of a joke." But this whole ordeal is far from a joke to all those vested in the unfairly targeted game. As Ray Muzyka, chief executive of BioWare (the developer that created the game), testified, "We're hurt. We believe in video games as an art form, and on behalf of the 120 people who poured their blood and tears into this game over three years, we're really just hurt that someone would misrepresent the game without even playing it. All we can hope for is that people who actually play our games will see the truth." Unfortunately, this proves to be rather difficult when a major news source opts for controversial reporting instead of covering the facts.

Fox News took advantage of several individuals for the mere sake of a dramatic story. Fox crippled its relationship with a number of its viewers who were knowledgeable enough to discern truth from the sensationalism. This incident proves that the media is still caught up in a bye-gone stereotype of video game culture, that the majority of people playing games are teenage boys. However, the fact of the matter is that the average gamer is 33 years old, whereas 86% of those under the age of 18 that play games receive permission from their parents before buying or renting a game. The news media needs to recognize what the interactive entertainment industry has grown to become. According to editor of Edge Magazine Colin Campbell, it is the threat of upcoming news venues, such as blogs, video upload sites, and social communities, that will force the TV networks to shed its antique image of the games industry: "But in order to protect themselves from further decay, they need to understand how we, as consumers, relate to enabling, interactive technology. Old-school tech-bashing is finished." Times have changed. In this day in time, interactive entertainment plays a major part of people's daily lives on a global basis. Ignoring this very important factor will result in the formation of a great rift between journalists and gaming enthusiasts. As the games industry continues to grow and expand into the artistic and educational sectors, news media must mature alongside of it to remain viable in the ever-evolving network of news sources.