Why wasn't Dragon age declared racist?

[ExaltedK9]

Wait, Sten is black?

I always thought of him as more of a giant Russian bear type character, certainly not black or African.

Although remember, racism implies that there is hate behind these decisions. I certainly didn't get that impression. Sten was one of my favorite characters from the game, and I wish they had fleshed him out more.

Theres not much fleshing out to do. Hes a very one-dimensional, and offensive character. And if anything, HE is racist toward elves...


I ended up killing him, after one to many smart ass comments. Never had him pegged as a russian though.

OT: You can't really use the "slave" angle in his case, considering he is seeking atonement for his ridiculous, and unforgivable crimes, and wont hesitate to leave, or challenge you to an honor dual (where I killed him incidentally) if he feels you haven't stepped on enough kittens lately. I mean seriously, it takes a fair amount of persuasion just to get him to step out of that cage.

The only racist thing I picked up on was in Awakening, where a dwarf refered to the Qunari as "ashen skinned giants". Didn't really bother me though.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

He's not a homicidal maniac, he just encourages things be done the practical way. If that involves plowing thourhg tons of dudes, he'll happily endorse it.

Remember; Sten is very literal, logical and practical. He's not got a whole lotta emotion when it comes to considering his next course of action. The epitome of survivalist.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I thought they were too busy complaining about the dark story line and overly sexual bits. I think...I could be confusing this game with Mass Effect which was the first OMG-SEX game in a while and we know DA:O had more sexual imagery than ME.

 

[Lt_Bromhead]

Just beat my second playthrough of DA:O and I tried to use mostly some party members I ignored the first time. This game me a to try out Sten and Leliana and I discovered how Much I ended liking Sten. I still hate oghren, stupid dwarf drunk

Oghren is great if you include an (or both) attractive female characters in the party.
Or Alistair. Or Wynne.
Actually, pretty much everyone - he's a right laugh!
How can you not like him?

 

[Kasper Gundersen]

Well I guess the whole thing would just come out kinda silly, if they sued for racism against a game character whos' skin is a little dark..
I mean, it's a fictive world, and just because someone has a little darker skin, then it doesn't mean that they symbolize the black people...
And the game is set in something that looks like older time, and therefore it's kinda history-like-something...

I really don't know, I guess most people just don't think about it...

 

[Bat Vader]

Did I miss it at some point?
Clarification: Most of us have probably seen the fear-mongering pricks that will take any and all oppurtunities to call games devilware, calling them racially insensitive being a popular form. As such, why didn't they pick up on Sten, the Qunari? (Coon-ari, weird?)

He's a dark-skinned, muscular person rescued by the player and follows them as a kind of mercenary without pay, an indentured servant if you will. He even acts (or at least urges the player to act) like a complete homocidal manic, insisting on ending lives at nearly every chance.

Let us review:
Dark skin
Depicts his people as bad through psychotic behavior
Member of a foriegn, but proud people that was spirited away from his nation. (or did he travel to ferelden himself?)
Acts as a kind of servant
First seen in a cage

Shouldn't some GEAMS R BAD group have jumped at this?
I'm aware of how silly a thing this may be to ask about, but still it won't leave me alone. Thoughts?

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not saying they should jump in to ruin things, it just seems odd, like watching airport security search everyone but the guy with the beeping breifcase.

EDIT AGAIN: Since a good deal of you were evidently not actually reading the post, let's try this again: I am not saying the game was racist, I'm saying it's strange that the jack thompsons of the world completely missed such an obvious oppurtunity to do their thing.
Christ, some of you are just as bad as they are.

I suppose the main reason is because no one was really looking for anything controversial in Dragon Age: Origins. The only other thing I can think of is that since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out a week after Dragon Age: Origins that more people were looking for controversy with that than any other game. Those are the only two things I can think of.

 

[Aethren]

I think you'd have to look really hard to find racism about Sten. Hell, why even bother? Did you not even pay attention to the Elves? Yeah, Dragon Age is a racist game, but the racism is within the game itself, the characters have no ties whatsoever to the real world. To even bother trying to link the two is...Well, to be honest, kinda stupid.

 

[Tohru_Readman]

I just saw him as another character in the game, didn't really think of anyone in terms of skin colour but I guess it depends where you coming from.

 

[DustyDrB]

Is there something wrong with the color on my screen? Sten looks tan, not black. He looks like a big old white dude who spent too much time in the sun over his lifetime. I never used the guy much, though. He comes with all that two-handed weapon specialization, a combat style which is among the weakest in the game I think. Didn't care much for his personality either.

Is anyone else bothered by this retcon with the Qunari, though? Neither Sten nor the many Qunari you fight in Origins have horns or shades of grey colored skin.