Valve Responds to Racism Accusations

[Fr331anc3r]

Willie Jefferson is an idiot, a pure unadulterated idiot. Just because L4D2 is set in New Orleans and you have to kill a couple people that aren't white does NOT by any means make a game racist. The real problem with this is that if all we were to do was kill a bunch of white people, this same asshole would be stating that the game is racist because we DON'T kill any black people.

So where's the cut off line. How many Africans can I kill if I kill 2 Mexicans, 4 Puerto Ricans, 30 Caucasians, 10 Asians, 13.5 Middle Easterners, and 5 Jews? Is it a linear scale or an exponential one, so that once I've killed the 40th Caucasian in the game, I get to kill double the number of Africans as 30?

The only way to get past race relations is to leave race out of the equation. L4D2 makes you kill a bunch of zombies, they are zombies, I don't care what they are, black, white, yellow, red, green, or blue, they are zombies, they want my brains, and they are in my way... I am going to kill them. Wouldn't that be the shits, "Yes, you can kill the zombies, but none of the black ones, you must let them nibble on your tender thinking muscles."

The confederate flag is not a sign of oppression when a game is set in a period where it is pertinent to display the flag. If it was in "50 Cent: Get Rich or Die Trying" I could see how it could be racist, but it's a game, set during the Civil War era...

To conclude.... Willie Jefferson is an idiot.

 

[Arbitrary Cidin]

Never played Call of Juarez, but something tells me that this guy is racist in his own sense, since he's seek out the racial aspects as such signifigant details. Unless L4D2 actually plays on stereotypes, it's not racist.

Also, zombies aren't black, they're gray, everyone knows that.

 

[Doug]

So what these people are saying is that only african-american people live in New Orleans?

Isn't that in itself just a scootch racist?

This person didn't have a foot to stand on in this argument from the moment they started typing, clearly.

I don't recall anyone saying only black people live in New Orleans, only that it has a high number of them relativity to the average in the US. Which, as far as I'm aware, is factually correct.

 

[Nox13last]

Oh, my gods! SOME Zombies are black?! HOW DARE THEY?

In the whole hordes, there isn't a black zombie there. You have to kill them all. That's fine, right?
Let's turn this around a second. Let's reverse this logic.
In the whole hordes, all the zombies are black. You have to kill them all. WOAH, now I've crossed the line?

But I'd think the EXCLUSION of black zombies is more racist. It's an "ethnically clean" game, if you will.

That's what's always confused me. Am I approaching my games with the wrong mindset? Am I only allowed to kill zombies who share my pigmentation? As soon as I see a zombie who's black or brown, I'm suppose to let him gobble my brain?

Black people are EXACTLY the same as white people. They'll all infect the same and they'll all gib the same way when they fellate my shotgun.

I find it particularly bad when THEY attack you first (as zombies do with instinct). If I'm mugged by a black guy in the street, am I not allowed to use justifiable self-defense to stop myself from getting shanked and robbed? Fuck the politically correct, I'm not going to die just because you have your priorities wrong. I'll blast the black ones. I'll blast the white ones. They all mean the same thing: I want to kill you.

TO: Media,Video Game Industy: Stop being such retards. If I want to be racist in a game that promotes as much black killing as white killing, then I'll only blast away the black zombies, and maybe stun the white ones with a punch. Black zombies pose as much of a threat as white zombies do, I'll just kill them all anyway.
My ideal shooter game is one that has black targets as well... It's a shame the media doesn't think so about equality.

 

[destroyerofhopes]

everyone pls SHUT UP you are all just repeating the same points over and over again stop postin just read you dont need to voice an opinion that has already been stated or a very similar one.

 

[Christemo]

seriously... its zombies. ZOMBIES. People should shoot zombie if they are white, black, brown, blue or green. seriously, whoever says shooting brown and black zombies are racism
probably wants the world to end with zombificism.

 

[Christemo]

everyone pls SHUT UP you are all just repeating the same points over and over again stop postin just read you dont need to voice an opinion that has already been stated or a very similar one.

dude, shut up. people has their rights to give their opinion, and if you have something against that, fuck off this forum.

 

[AngloDoom]

And I bet the guy crying "racist" is a fucking white pansy.

If I was black, I'd feel patronised by how often white people feel the need to jump up and defend my race for me.

If black people are in a game, they will most likely die. If white people are in a game, they will most likely die. If a purple lizard-man from the planet 'Asbestos 23' sets onto scaly tentacle in a game, he's going to fucking die.

Do these people honestly suggest that 'Valve' is trying to bring down black people through the use of videogames?

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

[/quo

meh,I see no racism.unlike RE5,they are just mixing races for a more realistic zombie based experience,they can't help it it's set in new orleans.

How was RE5 not like what you described? If the setting is Africa wouldn't you be shooting Africans?

OT: This is stupid, I don't get how it can be called rasist.

hte racism was not in killing africans,it was how they depivted them as a bunch of crazy tribal nuts living in straw with bones through their noses and everything,they have advanced past the witch docter phase,the game re5 was called racist for how they made the africans look,not for killing them.

 

[SultanP]

People shouting Racism! at every opportunity should be put in jail or something similar. We don't need people to go looking for something to be offended by, it does not help anyone.

 

[T-Bone24]

[/quo

meh,I see no racism.unlike RE5,they are just mixing races for a more realistic zombie based experience,they can't help it it's set in new orleans.

How was RE5 not like what you described? If the setting is Africa wouldn't you be shooting Africans?

OT: This is stupid, I don't get how it can be called rasist.

hte racism was not in killing africans,it was how they depivted them as a bunch of crazy tribal nuts living in straw with bones through their noses and everything,they have advanced past the witch docter phase,the game re5 was called racist for how they made the africans look,not for killing them.

But there are still tribes like that in plenty of places around the world.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

[/quo

meh,I see no racism.unlike RE5,they are just mixing races for a more realistic zombie based experience,they can't help it it's set in new orleans.

How was RE5 not like what you described? If the setting is Africa wouldn't you be shooting Africans?

OT: This is stupid, I don't get how it can be called rasist.

hte racism was not in killing africans,it was how they depivted them as a bunch of crazy tribal nuts living in straw with bones through their noses and everything,they have advanced past the witch docter phase,the game re5 was called racist for how they made the africans look,not for killing them.

But there are still tribes like that in plenty of places around the world.

the game had them all looking like that,closest to normal was a cannibal lookin one on a motorcycle,otherwise all of them were that,and what tribe has shotgun ammo and exploding red barrels.

 

[T-Bone24]

[/quo

meh,I see no racism.unlike RE5,they are just mixing races for a more realistic zombie based experience,they can't help it it's set in new orleans.

How was RE5 not like what you described? If the setting is Africa wouldn't you be shooting Africans?

OT: This is stupid, I don't get how it can be called rasist.

hte racism was not in killing africans,it was how they depivted them as a bunch of crazy tribal nuts living in straw with bones through their noses and everything,they have advanced past the witch docter phase,the game re5 was called racist for how they made the africans look,not for killing them.

But there are still tribes like that in plenty of places around the world.

the game had them all looking like that,closest to normal was a cannibal lookin one on a motorcycle,otherwise all of them were that,and what tribe has shotgun ammo and exploding red barrels.

I'll give you that one.

 

[A010110100101102]

if there was a zombie apocalypse i doubt that there wouldn't be zombies from each race this guy i think is just trying to get some attention because there is no logical reason for him calling Left 4 dead 2 racist espically since the zombies aren't all African-Americans, and espically for having 2 of the charcters African-Americans, it MIGHT be reasonable if all 4 of the charcters were white and EVERY single zombie was African-American.

 

[Xaositect]

Either this guy is just another "I know whats best for the world and dont argue with me or youre racist" type of arsehole. Either that, or he has caught on to the fact that the "racism" argument ruffles peoples feathers and creates lots of "discussion" of the "do gooder", "hate speech" and "shut the fuck up youre all a bunch of twats" kind. Discussion = readers + traffic. Journalism is professional attention seeking, whether its drawing attention to yourself or something else. Not all attention seeking is a good thing. Hardly any of it is in fact....

 

[Video Gone]

I can't believe that blogger. He is the most idiotic person ever. This is just like resi 5 syndrome. "They have black people in a place where black people live? That's SO racist! I'm going to start insulting them because my life is such a failure that this is the one thing that'll earn me recognition. Nobody will even THINK of making fun of me by posting an insulting gist of what I said on any online magazine forums!"
Well that dragged on a bit, I'm off.

 

[Arronax]

Hmm, well this is a touchy subject with many people, personally I don´t see racism where other people see it, but maybie it´s because I live in Iceland and it´s not an issue there.

For me a game would be racist if the main protagonist was caucasian(or african american) and the entire game was about shooting/beating up african americans(or caucasians).

Also I agree with the replies above that some people are just out there looking for trouble and that wont be fixed until we implement fist to face technology .