Racism
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MMO racism: the No Elves! movement picks up steam
To some it is unadulterated racial hatred; to others, pure marketing genius. Ok, perhaps I'm sensationalizing just a bit, but since its release, the No Elves! trailer for Global Agenda has generated quite a buzz. A recent newsletter announcement by Hi-Rez Studios details how they plan to capitalize on it.Those willing to show their support for the No Elves! movement can now buy a few different t-shirts from the Hi-Rez store, join a Facebook group, and download a media kit full of high quality videos and images. After launching the campaign initially, it appears Hi-Rez wants the community to take it over and spread the word. I believe the term is "viral marketing?"According to one of the developers, Hi-Rez first used the "No Elves" tagline on a staff recruitment banner 3 or 4 years ago. Another forum-goer pointed out a "No More Elves" promotion developed by Reakktor for Neocron 2 in 2005. It seems there is an abundance of pointy-eared hate because a number of MMO bloggers formed a No Elf Club recently as well. Come on folks, "can we all get along?"
WSJ explores claims of racism in Resident Evil 5
The Wall Street Journal's Jamin Brophy-Warren has a piece today exploring the racial connotations some are seeing in Capcom's latest effort, Resident Evil 5. The game's producer Jun Takeuchi recently said, "There is no racial element to it at all," and Capcom's Chris Kramer expands on that point, stating to the WSJ that the game adopts an "anti-colonialist" stance. Mr. Kramer is referring to white protagonist Chris Redfield, shooting his way through RE5's African non-zombies, and the imagery it represents with regards to traditional Western colonialism on the continent.The theme of the piece is one of exploring whether or not the game is racist, rather than starting with a condemnation and then going forward like we've seen so many times in mainstream video game coverage. He speaks to a variety of major game developers (from Fallout 3's Todd Howard to Dead Space's Glen Schofield) and even broaches the topic of racism in American society being perpetuated by a largely caucasian game industry. Surprisingly, no sweeping claims are made and no aspersions cast. Bravo, we say!
Anthropologist says Resident Evil 5 is not racist, Takeuchi continues defense
Everyone has an opinion on this whole Resident Evil 5 racism debacle -- well, everyone except a real expert on the science of race relations. Prompted to settle the ongoing debate once and for all, Videogamer.com has employed Glenn Bowman, University of Kent senior lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, to weigh in on the subject matter. So, is it racist? Long-short of Bowman's response: "I don't think it's racist. I think people are looking too quickly to be able to jam that label onto it."Bowman argues that the knee-jerk reaction of attributing racism to black characters being portrayed as bad guys "is actually itself a kind of inverted racism which says that you can't have scary people who are black." This sounds a lot like something RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi recently said to Yahoo! Games: "We don't want to create something that offends a certain element of society. At the same time, we don't want to be in a place where you can't set a game in Africa or in an Arabic country. That in itself is a form of racism. For us, as creators of entertainment, it's important for us to strike that right balance."Interestingly enough, Bowman tries to strike that balance by painting a "counter-thematic" of anti-colonialism: "This whole idea of the victimization of Africa by pharmaceutical companies, by terrorist groups, all of whom seem to be run by white characters who are coming in and exploiting people ... seems to me to be far more damning of the colonial powers towards Africa than it says anything about whether or not blacks are some sort of savages. The blacks here are clearly being set up as victims, alterity, frightening." When the game hits stores next Friday, perhaps you can judge for yourself.Source 1: VideogamerSource 2: Yahoo! Games
BBFC doesn't note racism in submitted Resident Evil 5 scene
The British Board of Film Classification does not see an "issue around racism" in a particular Resident Evil 5 scene that may be considered inflammatory. Kikizo asked the BBFC's communication head, Sue Clark, about a specific scene where a (*minor spoiler warning*) white, blond woman is dragged by a black man and "impregnated" with the virus, in a way that evokes racist imagery.Clark explains that the version of the scene submitted to the BBFC didn't have a black man dragging the woman. She explains that if the scene submitted were not the same as the retail version, it would be "illegal under the terms of the VRA [Video Recordings Act ]." RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi told us in a recent interview that when players finally get their hands on the full game, he believes "they will see and understand what it is all about; that there is no racial element to it at all."
Resident Evil 5 producer: 'There is no racial element to it at all'
When Resident Evil 5 finally shuffles onto shelves March 13, it'll have had years of development and countless claims that it contains racist over-and-undertones behind it. When we sat down with RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi for one last, pre-launch interview, he spoke with us about this lingering issue."I do think that now that the full game is almost out there and people play the full title for themselves, they will see and understand what it is all about; that there is no racial element to it at all," Takeuchi told us.We asked Takeuchi if claims that Japan's homogeneous culture had made his team less cognizant of potentially racist content held any weight. "It is a pretty difficult question," he said. "I don't really think that it is applicable, or certainly it is not applicable in the way that you describe it ... I don't think that there is anything particular, because we are Japanese, that becomes a problem." No matter what, we suspect there will be those who'll "find" something in the game to get into a huff about -- thus netting it a few days of free advertising on countless news broadcasts.
Eurogamer notes racism in its Resident Evil 5 hands-on
The Resident Evil 5 "racism issue" has reanimated itself in the latest hands-on preview by Eurogamer. The site believes the "debate is only going to get louder" once the game is released. It notes that Chris Redfield's partner, Sheva, fits neatly into the "approved Hollywood model" of a light-skinned black heroine, and describes sensitive images later on in the game as "outrageous and outdated."The RE5 hands-on concludes that all the mainstream media needs is an image of Chris Redfield stomping on the face of a black woman, "splattering her skull," to have a field day. Yikes!%Gallery-5253%
Animal Crossing: Wild, Racist FILTH [update]
Update: Nintendo has issued an official statement. Head past the break to read it. Nintendo is, famously, very politically correct where Animal Crossing is concerned. In the games, any festivals or holidays with even a hint of religious overtones are quietly repackaged: Easter becomes "Bunny Day," Christmas is "The Night that Jingle Comes to Town," and so forth. This keenness to be inclusive and totally inoffensive means Animal Crossing: Wild World was the last game we expected to spew racist terminology. Because that's what it's done ... albeit accidentally. If you've played an Animal Crossing title before, you'll know that you can teach your fellow villagers words, which they'll then use to greet you. Naturally, this is open to player abuse, as you can enter cuss words and other rude terms -- something that not even Nintendo is above doing. MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo recently received a copy of Wild World from Nintendo, so he could test the Wii/DS transfer feature in City Folk. The copy had been played before, because it was full of rare, unlocked items, but those weren't the only secrets the cart held. As he started chatting to his village's animals, Totilo suddenly found himself being racially abused by a sheep called Baabara. "How are you, N---a?" is just one greeting he received from the woolly fascist. Whoops! Maybe triple-check the next batch of press-only carts you send out, Nintendo? Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to phone the Daily Mail. %Gallery-20387%
With persistent worlds comes persistent racism
The promise of what virtual spaces can bring us is significant -- erasing geographic limitations on interaction with others while fostering an exchange of cultures, beliefs, and languages. To this high-minded end, millions of dollars have been spent and many thousands of hours of work have been invested into creating rich graphical settings coupled with immersive environmental soundscapes. Crisp digital communication at its finest, right?Much like the promise of the the eradication of artificial barriers to meaningful communication through the Internet, virtual worlds and online spaces in general have fallen short of expectations. It's generally not the fault of the companies or the service providers though. The fault lies with us, the users.
Sessler constructively rants about Xbox Live bigots
In the latest Sessler's Soapbox, a regular video diatribe by G4TV personality Adam Sessler, he expresses his severe distaste for the bigotry and homophobia found on Xbox Live. Having actually spent time at GDC discussing this very issue with Sessler and his wife -- she's a lovely and charming woman by the way -- let's just say that Sessler is actually quite restrained regarding his feelings on the issue in the video we've placed after the break.Although we joke about it in the picture above, Catan is one of the rare Xbox Live games where civility can be found. However, we understand that trash-talking is part of the competitive Xbox Live experience, so might we suggest the Shakespearean Insult Generator for those compelled to disparage others. And parents, please control your children online.
[1.Local]: The week from a reader's point of view
[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.The excitement of the all the new Wrath of the Lich King buzz this week must have gone to some readers' heads, making them testier than usual. This week saw several squabbles in post comments, from mild differences of opinion to outright controversial debate. News about the shape of raid instances to come brought out plenty of opinions both for and against the new raid sizes. Should Arthas be 10-mannable? With even well known raiding guilds such as Death and Taxes burning out and moving on, are raiding applications still necessary in this day and age? The comments got hot and heavy in a post that sparked plenty of discussion about racism in Arena team names. Readers also seemed of two minds at the efforts of top-tanked 5v5 Arena team M L H, who've turned out to be prolific points-sellers. But commenters pulled together in a post advising one reader whose system seems to have slowed to a crawl. And reader Kershner wrapped it all up on a chilled note for the weekend with a great macro to help us kick back and enjoy some fishing.Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one, silly!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.
Racism in arena names
I think there are few things more disturbing in the modern world than ill-conceived notions of racial, religious, and sexual divisions. For some reason parts of humanity continue to believe that just because one group or another looks and/or acts differently, they are bad. One of the reasons I enjoy WoW and just games in general is because it allows us to escape the problems this world gives to us, even if only for a few hours a week.Unfortunately, some people find it necessary to bring their attitudes in game. We've covered some of this before, from border-line inappropriate arena names to sexism in WoW. However while playing an arena game recently fellow writer Amanda Dean came up against a team named "Rosa Parks Stole My Seat," and this name is possibly the most offensive one I've seen. Rosa Parks (for those of you who need a history lesson) refused to go to the back of a bus because of her skin color and continued to sit in the white only section of the bus, despite being told to do otherwise. She represented a key moment in the history of civil rights.There are 65 arena teams with this racist name.When Amanda ran into one of the teams she reported it via a GM ticket.
The only serious look at Miburi & Teburi, ever
Miburi & Teburi definitely offends in a number of ways -- the backgrounds, the premise, the use of blue-screened full-motion video, the full price -- but is it racist? We never even thought hard enough about the game to consider it, but Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield did. He sees a particularly ugly style of casual racism in the big, dumb American characters. He may be on to something.The bearded, shirtless American guy (along with the other silly characters who perform charades in the game) is identified as a "hint-giving American" who says things like "I love Japan. I love Japanese people." in poor, broken Japanese. It's certainly a broad performance, and it would certainly be insulting to be compared to this guy. Sheffield said "I honestly think I'd have less of a problem with it if they were truly playing with American conventions and American Japanese fetishism - but they're just unconsciously making fun of a group of people. And I'm not sure anyone will tell Sega this isn't appropriate."What a serious issue to have show up in Miburi & Teburi!
Annual reminder: Xbox Live trash talk is vile
We're pretty sure most Xbox Live users doing online matches are a bunch of freakin' time travelers. How do we know this? Because by listening to an average Xbox Live Halo 3 match we're magically transported back in time and listening to the vocabulary used at a 1950's locker room in an all-white boys school. The above video is a typical FOX news piece employing all the standard scare tactics on parents, but it does give a nice overview of multiplayer trash talk on Xbox Live.After the break we have a video from GayGamer.net where one of their readers created a gamertag of "Gay Boy," went into Halo 3 online, and recorded the effect. The video is not safe for work because unlike the FOX news piece, there isn't a censor. And just to be clear, Xbox Live is a great service, but boy are there a lot of people using the anonymity of the internet and children without parents on there. Don't be surprised when the Halo 3 "mute button" is named the invention of the year in our '07 wrap-up posts.Update: Xbox's Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) made a statement on the GayGamer video.
You don't have to tolerate racism in WoW
As with any grouping of people online, some WoW players can perfectly sociable and respectful of others, and some can be nasty, offensive and even bigoted. As the player Adaan wrote on the European WoW forums, he had the displeasure of encountering some players who use a certain racially offensive word, and it made him feel very angry. It turns out that if you encounter such language in WoW, you can report other players for racism. Vaneras stepped in to confirm that Blizzard does not tolerate racist language, and such comments will get those players banned. Although I have not encountered racist language in WoW myself, I heartily encourage anyone who does to report that player. Dealing with racism in real life can often lead to awkward confrontations with people who refuse to admit what they were saying was wrong in any way, but in WoW, Blizzard is all set to do that for you, while at the same time helping to make sure there are negative consequences on racist behavior.Although Vaneras doesn't mention it in his post, it is my understanding that the same also follows for other forms of discriminatory language, such as sexism. While of course there can be a lot of annoying grey area in such issues, another reason to such offenses in WoW is that Blizzard may actually have proof of what the other person said stored in their systems, and a genuine problem is more likely to receive a real consequence than might otherwise be the case.
African women's blog upset over Resident Evil 5
An African women's blog has taken offense to the new Resident Evil 5 trailer depicting a "white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people." The blog post goes on to say that the black people "are supposed to be zombies" and that it's "the white man's job" to destroy them and save humanity. There are some other issues the writer has, but she ties it all up by saying "this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young ... fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."OK, where to begin? As for the "marketed to children" thing, it's going to be an M rated game, kids shouldn't be playing it. It is rather interesting to note that more than a few people, including The Village Voice, have noticed the setting of the new RE5 and found it a little jarring. Although that could simply be because the average video game may only have one random black character (typically a hero or anti-hero), so more than two on the screen at any one time is revolutionary. The African issue aside, the Japanese developed Resident Evil series has been killing white people for its entire run so far -- how did white people not catch on to this and get upset? Because it's not white killing, it's zombie killing. You're killing them because they want to eat or infect you, not because of their skin color. But now we have black zombie-like people getting killed in RE5 and gay aliens in Halo 3 ... what is this industry coming to? The sins of diversity.
Fun with the Armory: Everyone's a little bit racist
Mallory has an issue with one of the ranked arena teams, Kool Kids Klub. Because the initials of the guild are spelled KKK, she believes the guild is openly racist. Which really only works if you assume that so is Krusty the Klown. I can't exactly picture real-life KKK members sitting down to form an organized racist arena team in WOW. Plus, as several people pointed out, arguing about racism in an arena where you kill characters because they're of a different race is weird. But the interesting thing in the thread isn't about the Kool Kids Klub. Rather, it's how many really ridiculous character, guild and arena team names fall below the radar. Particularly bad are arena teams, which don't seem to have the same filter as character and guild names. Examples given in the thread include:
