Wasn't one of the gangs in the original Manhunt racist (bore swastika tattoos)? That's the least subtle form of racism. Games are made by people. As such, I'm sure there's plenty of racist overtones in the games we already play. One just has to look.
Poll: Would you play a game with racist/sexist overtones if it was fun?
- Thread starter InsanityManifest
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You're exactly right. There's the normal kind of sexism in games. I'm pretty sure every game with a girl in it could be counted as sexist because of the way she looks. An atractive female character. But I'm pretty sure noone really gives a damn to make it all PC. On the other hand there's sexist such as Dead Or Alive or Rumble Roses, that just shoved it into ones face. I've never bothered to play it, but I've heard you can make the girls poll dance in DoA Extreme 2. Whta the hell. And it's rated PG?Kieran210 said:
But in that game you were killing racists, not being racist.hawksdr said:
My first reply to this thread may not be clear as to my feelings on the matter. I will play any game regardless of over-tones. But if I'm playing a game that is being racist just for the sake of being racist, then I'll stop playing.
Sexism isn't really important to me, in fact I find it funny in games. So I would not stop playing a sexist game. I'm not sexist, but a game can use sexism for humor and really succeed.
I...dunno. Looking at this from a logical standpoint, who would you rather play as: your standard, dashing, non-satire hero with light shining out of a place where light really shouldn't be shining or a gritty, real guy with an actual backstory who hates those Chuweros from Corpenslaakia?
I'm surprised people are so hooked up on the idea of racist characters and killing black people to be offensive. These are reflections of reality, so I'm not normally too bothered unless it's done purely to be offensive (though I'm disturbed that some people seem to find these ideas "fun"). What more irks me is the fact that every black guy in a game (when they ever appear) is a walking stereotype. Tends to happen with other races too, but it always seems worse for the black man. How about some original writing and characterisation for a change?
On the subject of sexism, well, it seems sometimes that the gaming industry is a terminal case and there's not much hope of improvement any time in the near future. A lot more girls are playing games these days, but the industry is still very polarised into games for guys and games for girls, and until there are more women involved in actual game design we'll still see all the crass stereotypes and utterly unrealistic character models. Anyone care to name a game which involved a realistic female character that didn't have the body of a goddess? (Okay, a few come to mind, but they're rare.)
On the subject of sexism, well, it seems sometimes that the gaming industry is a terminal case and there's not much hope of improvement any time in the near future. A lot more girls are playing games these days, but the industry is still very polarised into games for guys and games for girls, and until there are more women involved in actual game design we'll still see all the crass stereotypes and utterly unrealistic character models. Anyone care to name a game which involved a realistic female character that didn't have the body of a goddess? (Okay, a few come to mind, but they're rare.)
In The Suffering, the main character was a black guy, and he wasn't stereotypical at all. I think it's just hard to find these games, b/c we don't think about them in a racial setting.
The GTA series is definately a racist/sexist game series, yet people buy them like crazy. In Vice City and San Andreas they push on the player that all women are whores, all italians are in the mafia, and all blacks are over the top ghetto.
The GTA series is definately a racist/sexist game series, yet people buy them like crazy. In Vice City and San Andreas they push on the player that all women are whores, all italians are in the mafia, and all blacks are over the top ghetto.
Its interesting...as soon as some "serious" game related questions show up everyone seems to yell a "loosen up, its ONLY a game, its only FUN" while on the other hand we expect games to be taken more serious, yes we even want them to be accepted as "ART"...
Well...if they are just entertainment and senseless fun there is no necessarity to discuss questions like these...but on the other hand-if Games are ART then we should learn to live with the fact that people have the right to interpret what they see the way they want to, that they look for hidden meaning, symbols and ask some questions that go way beyond "whats your high score".
Well...if they are just entertainment and senseless fun there is no necessarity to discuss questions like these...but on the other hand-if Games are ART then we should learn to live with the fact that people have the right to interpret what they see the way they want to, that they look for hidden meaning, symbols and ask some questions that go way beyond "whats your high score".
Heh, very insightful point HuCast. Mind you, many of games that are getting mentioned in this thread are hardly the types that I would say are approaching "art"...
Hmm, on the subject of racism I was actually disappointed that Assassin's Creed didn't involve more in-depth looks at racial tensions. Considering the setting it could have been a great opportunity to compare the political and racial landscape of the 13th century with modern day conflicts between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I found it thrilling to be playing as a Muslim hashashin, fighting against the crusaders, and sloooking at history from a different perspective than I'd been taught about at school. This could have been highlighted a lot more, since the characters in the story would obviously hold some extremist views. Of course this would also be courting controversy, which from the game's initial disclaimer the developers obviously wanted to avoid.
Hmm, on the subject of racism I was actually disappointed that Assassin's Creed didn't involve more in-depth looks at racial tensions. Considering the setting it could have been a great opportunity to compare the political and racial landscape of the 13th century with modern day conflicts between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I found it thrilling to be playing as a Muslim hashashin, fighting against the crusaders, and sloooking at history from a different perspective than I'd been taught about at school. This could have been highlighted a lot more, since the characters in the story would obviously hold some extremist views. Of course this would also be courting controversy, which from the game's initial disclaimer the developers obviously wanted to avoid.
Is using a stereotype racist? San Andreas is really just ripping on the Boyz in the Hood/New Jack City-style films of the early 90's. Both of those films were critically acclaimed when they were released and not, to my knowledge, accused of racism. Using stereotypes is sometimes the only option when you've no opportunity for character development.jaiden26 said:
I agree with your point on GTA sexism but that's just a sign of how male-dominated the industry still is. You only have to look at an interview with Jade Raymond to see that the gaming world doesn't seem to know how to deal with women.
The main character in Portal isn't a steryotype of the 'usual' female character in games at all. Seriously, is there anything wrong with that game?
The main character in portal is barely a character - if you didn't see yourself through portals then she simply wouldn't exist. The only real character is GLaDOS, who does fit a bit of robot stereotyping, but I'm not hugely offended by that. Of course, there is indeed nothing wrong with that game, but it's hard to do anything wrong with a short puzzle game (mind you, they did nothing wrong and a big load of right too). I imagine that in future many of the ideas experimented with in Portal will be featured in more fleshed out games that will inevitably contain all the usual stereotyped characters.
Yeah that's what I was talking about. Looking at yourself front on through two portals. I would of been really shoked if I looked at myself for the first time and see a DoA girl stareing back. I love Portal, I love cake.Darren Grey said:
'If the companion cube does speak to you, and we remind you that it cannot, please ignore any advice it may give'
Love Portal so very much. That was a suprise to play as a female character as well, because absolutely nothing was made of it when you started. But like Mr....Freeeeeman (sorry, went all G-man there) you can impose your own character on her. There is nothing in the game which demonstrates that a man or a women would react differently in this situation - i.e a conversation, therefore the gender is quite possibly irrelevant.
It's a damn shame more decent female writers can't get involved in the gaming industry, that would help balance things out. We'd still get crap games though - just more gender balanced ones...
Love Portal so very much. That was a suprise to play as a female character as well, because absolutely nothing was made of it when you started. But like Mr....Freeeeeman (sorry, went all G-man there) you can impose your own character on her. There is nothing in the game which demonstrates that a man or a women would react differently in this situation - i.e a conversation, therefore the gender is quite possibly irrelevant.
It's a damn shame more decent female writers can't get involved in the gaming industry, that would help balance things out. We'd still get crap games though - just more gender balanced ones...
I would have thought female writers could only do so much if the male designers were still sticking giant tits and flimsy g-strings on the characters.Kieran210 said:
I guess you'd need more female producers/development managers, but given the shameful reaction to Jade Raymond's role in Assassin's Creed, I can imagine many women being put off the idea...
I don't think that's really fair. The nature of the game means that virtually no characters will be introduced that aren't in some way connected to criminal activity or organised crime. So it's not that everyone from Italy is in the Mafia, it's that everyone in the Mafia is from Italy.jaiden26 said:
Also, CJ and his crew were all clearly distinct characters with their own motivations and personalities; it's not like every black character in San Andreas was tarred with the same brush. This is especially notable since the series generally pulls on caricatures and stereotypes for its supporting cast.
The GTA games do have a juvenile sense of humour that is lightly homophobic and vaguely sexist, though, but that's mostly confined to peripheral stuff like the store names and radio shows.
It's not the racism that should be the center of attention. If they game goes out of the way to promote a racial agenda, that's a different story. But when people get their knickers in a twist over RE5 just because it's set in an African village, then that's a different story. It's not racism, it's just setting and attention to detail.
If the village was full of white, pompous bureaucratic Englishmen, I might be a bit confused. However, that game wouldn't be racist, just stupid.
If the village was full of white, pompous bureaucratic Englishmen, I might be a bit confused. However, that game wouldn't be racist, just stupid.