Poll: Assassin's Creed III and Slavery

[Soulfoodman]

So, do you think slavery will be properly depicted and addressed in Assassin's Creed III?

Slavery was as relevant a point of disagreement between the British and Patriots as the issue of Native American tribes so I would consider it a major misstep if they tried to just gloss over that bit of history. Plus freedom is a a major them in AC. Then you take into account that the game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

I think this would be a great opportunity for that period of American history to be maturely handle in gaming. I just don't know that it will.

 

[Zhukov]

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

 

[ultrachicken]

Previous games have generally been historically well-founded, though the fact that no previews have mentioned slavery doesn't do much for my hopes.

 

[Dandark]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

 

[Khanht Cope]

The devs have said in regard to previous questions about this game that they aim to tell Assassin's Creed stories, rather than history stories; and the same should be expected of this game in particular.

Slavery would be covered according to how pertinent it would be to the story. I think they will most likely down-play the issue at least somewhat; as to delve into a certain level of depth would involve depicting social attitudes (and we're not talking about just the mustache-twirling villains, here) backed by the justifications of the time, that would prove controversial by the standards of modern society.

I would expect the Assassin protagonist to most likely have a contact in his group of allies who is demonstrably an anti-slavery activist, and not an awful lot beyond that in terms of a running theme.

 

[Dendio]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

There's no other way to view it imo.

OP slavery could be shown, but I doubt they will delve into the nitty gritty of it.

 

[Zhukov]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

There's no other way to view it imo.

Which is exactly why portraying it that way is pointless.

"Hey, you know that thing that is bad? Well, here it is... being bad."

 

[Dandark]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

There's no other way to view it imo.

OP slavery could be shown, but I doubt there is any need to get into the nitty gritty of it. If they dig too deep it could end up defining the game. ( Which wouldn't be a bad thing if they do it right)

Yes there are many other way's to view it. Slavery has been acceptable for most of history so people are not going to think they are evil by owning slaves. What I mean is that anyone in the game who owns slaves will abuse them and be silly evil. Slavery can be involved without it being some horrible evil monstrosity that only the evil characters do.

 

[Dendio]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

There's no other way to view it imo.

OP slavery could be shown, but I doubt there is any need to get into the nitty gritty of it. If they dig too deep it could end up defining the game. ( Which wouldn't be a bad thing if they do it right)

Yes there are many other way's to view it. Slavery has been acceptable for most of history so people are not going to think they are evil by owning slaves. What I mean is that anyone in the game who owns slaves will abuse them and be silly evil. Slavery can be involved without it being some horrible evil monstrosity that only the evil characters do.

So it can be a horrible, evil monstrosity that good and evil characters do?

Then again...we have forms of slavery in everything from Pokemon to Swtor. What really matters is how the game presents it.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Wasn't slavery depicted in AC1? I swear there was a mission in a slave dungeon. Anyway, yeah probably will be a section but it won't go into depth.

 

[Dandark]

If it does come up then it will just be "Slavery is bad, good people don't do it cus it's evil!"

I doubt it will come up much.

If it does, it will just be in a, "Slavery is BAD, m'kay" sort of way.

There's no other way to view it imo.

OP slavery could be shown, but I doubt there is any need to get into the nitty gritty of it. If they dig too deep it could end up defining the game. ( Which wouldn't be a bad thing if they do it right)

Yes there are many other way's to view it. Slavery has been acceptable for most of history so people are not going to think they are evil by owning slaves. What I mean is that anyone in the game who owns slaves will abuse them and be silly evil. Slavery can be involved without it being some horrible evil monstrosity that only the evil characters do.

So it can be a horrible, evil monstrosity that good and evil characters do?

Granted video games allow us to do terrible things often, but slavery crosses the line alongside rape, racism and other societal no-no's.

Then again...we have minor forms of slavery in everything from pokemon to swtor. What really matters is how the game presents it.

It could not be a horrible evil monstrosity and could just be a part of life in that fictional world. As you said there are already minor forms of slavery in something like Pokemon. A lot of the time slavery could just be "I gambled all my money away and couldn't pay debts, now I am a slave and have to work for this guy". It doesn't have to be "My family was brutally murded and now I am a slave who has to work 23 hours a day with hardly any food and I get raped daily."

It can easily just be a fact of life, like it was all those years ago. It's just that the game will only show it as being over the top evil since that is the safest way to show it.

 

[DoPo]

Previous games have generally been historically well-founded, though the fact that no previews have mentioned slavery doesn't do much for my hopes.

True, but now that you mentioned it I somehow picture AC3 going "slavery was because of the Templars". Because, you know, conspiracy. I hope that's not the case but still, it's a definite possibility.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Assassins creed is well known for dealing with touchy subjects well. I doubt they would have picked this time period if it wasn't going to be done well.

I really hope they do, and if not I probably won't buy it.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I fully expect them to gloss over it, like they did with a lot of the more fucked up things human beings were doing to each other in the time periods previous AC games were set. Dudebros don't like to be challenged by their entertainment, so...

It's just that the game will only show it as being over the top evil since that is the safest way to show it.

While indentured servitude is a little bit more of a grey area, the other type of slavery practiced in the US was by all reasonable standards pretty over-the-top evil.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

To say nothing of the rape and pillage both sides got up to.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Which is exactly why portraying it that way is pointless.

"Hey, you know that thing that is bad? Well, here it is... being bad."

Not everything set in history has to be trying to make a point. We can all agree that slavery/genocide/torture/witch trials/class systems/autocracy/etc. are pretty unequivocably evil. This doesn't mean that a thing set in a time period where these things occur has to be primarily about them, but it does mean that a thing set in a time period where these things occur shouldn't gloss over the fact that they happened.

 

[Esotera]

The bad guys will own slaves, and the good guys will be hundreds of years ahead of the time, believing that everyone is equal and that also homosexual marriage should be legalised etc. They're not going to put in an option for you to buy slaves or anything like that.

To be fair, slavery is definitely against the creed of the assassin's, but I doubt it would be against the beliefs of everyone on their side in that time period. Movies from that era have always portrayed characters through rose-tinted glasses, I believe games will do the same.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well did AC ever really dig into major religious/political issues?
I don't remember them doing so, even with the stuff they dared mention they had to be very apologetic about so people didn't get too upset.

So you can fully expect this to gloss over anything that might ruffle feathers.

 

[Trivun]

I reckon it'll certainly appear, it just won't be a major issue. It'll be an issue that's discussed or noticed in the background, but it won't have any massive bearing on the story, unless related to the Assassin-Templar conflict. Bear in mind, slavery has been covered in other games in the series. One of the missions back in the first game was to kill a slave trader, albeit one where the slaves were being used for some Templar scheme...