Gears of War's Cole singled out as a racial stereotype
As part of their Black Professionals In Games series, MTV Multiplayer had a chance to chat with Morgan Gray, the Senior Producer over at Crystal Dynamics, about his views on how blacks are portrayed in video games. And let's just say he had no problem pointing the racial stereotype finger at Epic Games.
When asked his opinion on how black Gears of War character Cole Train is portrayed in the game, Gray responded by saying "Cole Train is basically like every other effin' black character in a video game. Like here comes the urban stereotype. Where is this 1990's - not even 2000 - black slang, where does this fit in this futuristic world that doesn't even take place on Earth? They go really far to do a lot of fictional justifications for this culture that they've built, and they go right back to this urban stereotype for the black character." Gray went on to say that a character like Cole Train, "all it does is reinforce dumb stereotypes and it sort of reinforces casual racism." Yes sir, this is one loaded and passionately argued topic indeed ...
