Games As the Great Unifier

OGX writes "In this racially divided world, who or what can step up and bridge the gap among people? Oddly enough, the answer comes from pop videogame technology. The anonymity of online gaming has made personal characteristics secondary to a game skill set. Michelle Dalrymple explores how online gaming vaults the issue of race in this editorial at OGX." From the article: "The computer/video console acts as a filter, extracting out any issues of race and placing emphasis on how quickly one can respond by selecting the correct button. Let's take a look at how this plays out in the online gaming world. As with any MMOG - character selection is core to the game play, and while one may have a skin color choice, usually appearance is tied to some imaginary 'race,' an arbitrary figure generator pulled from fantasy and folklore. It gives the idea of race a whole new meaning. What do fellow gamers care what race you the player really are, as long as your elf ranger or human mage can complete the task?"

Still far to go

[the_demiurge (26115)]

If this was really the case, why do I see so many racial slurs being thrown around in an average game of Counterstrike, not to mention the nearly ubiquitous use of "gay" as a pejorative.

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[Apocalypse111 (597674)]

This is the dark side of online anonymity - freedom from reprocussions if you want to act like an asshat. Fortunatly, many games also allow you to mute the input from obnoxious players, so you don't have to deal with them beyond that. Many other servers also let you kick those players with a majority vote. Worst case scenario, you can always jump to a different server - however, so can they.

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[xappax (876447)]

You're right that when people call $thing "gay", they usually don't mean that $thing is attracted to things of it's own gender. But, they almost always mean that $thing is stupid, wimpy, obnoxious, or otherwise bad.

Like, let's say we decided to use the term "Thansal" as an insult. If we got fragged due to lag, we'd say our internet connection was "acting like Thansal". Of course, if you got offended, we'd argue that we of course don't literally mean that our internet connection was acting like you...it

I disagree.

[Skynet (37427)]

I had a Human Warrior in WoW named "Rick James" (after my favorite musician), and everyone kept calling me "bitch." :(

In-game racism

[by Anonymous Coward]

I can't stand the smell of Orcs.

At last, a level playing field!

[charlesbakerharris (623282)]

Totally right. Games take people without jobs and/or friends and elevate them, by the simple mechanism of "spend all day playing" to the status of powerfully equipped demigods, near-unassailable by the common man, whereas the successful, busy real-life person is relegated to a lifetime of mere mediocrity, looking up through the windows of Naxxramas at something they will never attain. Yes, gaming is the great equalizer! The mighty are brought down, and the weak are exalted.

Disclaimers:

• Yes, I play WoW.
• No, I am not a hard core raider.
• Yes, I have a real job.
• Yes, I have a significant other.
• No, she does not weight 250 lbs.
• No, I don't care that I don't have any Tier 2 set pieces.
• No, I do not live in my mother's basement. In fact, I own my own house.
• Yes, I exercise.
• No, I don't play a girl in-game despite being a guy in RL.
• Yes, my alts are still levelling.
• No, I do not subsist on pizza and chinese food.
• Yes, I can spell.
• No, I did not repeat any grades in middle school.
• Yes, I know that "ur" really means "you are" and not "your".
• No, I did not purchase any of my characters.
• No, I did not eBay any gold.
• Yes, I hate reputation grinding, but...
• No, I don't hate them as much as you do - I never played Everquest.
• No, I do not feel it my responsibility to tell people about (a) the trash greens I find while killing trolls in Arathi or (b) my life, over Ventrilo.
• Yes, I bathe at least once a day. With soap. Real soap. Not like from Fight Club.

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[kalirion (728907)]

Yes, I bathe at least once a day. With soap. Real soap. Not like from Fight Club.

What, you don't like Soylent Soap?

Huh?

[Blakey Rat (99501)]

In this racially divided world,

Which world is the submitter in, exactly? The one I'm in seems fine.

It's really hard to read and process an article like this when you disagree with the very first phrase in the very first sentence...

Why do gamers feel this

[Tweekster (949766)]

need to be bigger than they are...they want to be this movement that somehow changes the world. Hint, it just isnt gonna happen. Gaming is not some noble endeavor that is unlike anything else that has ever happened. it is pure enjoyment, leave it at that

I don't think so.

[steveo777 (183629)]

I've got a long ignore list in WoW of players who have accoused me of being many different things (dirty Jew, gay, and much much worse) because I would not give them money or politely requested that they keep their conversations in a party environment. I'm sure eventually these players will or have already been booted.

I've played a few MMORPGs in my time but, generally, my experience is that there are three player types. The offensive, who's lack of identifiability makes them think they can do what they want.
The passive, who keep to themselves or their guild. They tend to accept people who accept them. The vast majority of people lie in this group.
The aggresive. They are active. Tend to help people whenever they can. And they really do find ways to be involved.

The real reason people seem to 'get along' so well? There isn't even a fraction of lifes 'drama' running around in the virtual world. The worst thing that can happen to you within the confines of an MMORPG is that you miss out on some kind of loot, or you're late for/miss an event. If you can get worked up over that then you really must learn to chill out.

MMORG race human race

[xxxJonBoyxxx (565205)]

#1) MMORG designers work carefully to balance each of their races. It's not like a MMORG would design a "KALB" race where the characters automatically get aggro'ed by the town guards, earn a half share from all kills and are randomly barred from the forums for bullshit reasons.

#2) Show me a 1/2 elf, 1/4 dwarf, 1/8 orc and 1/16 sprite and 1/16 centaur character and then we'll be a little closer to an apples to apples race discussion. (Is the character stronger because he's part orc or is it just chance?)

Larry Laffer, the great uniter

[antifoidulus (807088)]

He has struck out with black chicks, asian chicks, white chicks, latina chicks, almost scored with a person pretending to be a chick. He is the model gaming citizen!

"anonymity of online gaming"

[CaseM (746707)]

XBL has really unified the world...For just $49.95/yr people of all races, creeds, and colors can now come together and treat each other like total shit.

What a load of malarky.

[ZombieRoboNinja (905329)]

"There is one avenue of harmony that seems to pervade all people, regardless of race, color, creed and ethnicity. It is a unifying factor that calls to it men and women, young and old, from every stretch of the nation and the world beyond. It is the world of games - particularly video/online games."

Except the vast majority of gamers are white males. I like how the article writer's counter to this is that IN ADVERTISEMENTS AND MOVIES, there are a lot of non-whites playing video games... interesting metric there.

And except that most online gaming communities are fuller of racist swears than any real-world place I've seen - probably mostly from bored preteens trying to get a rise out of people by saying Something Naughty, but still.

And except that as soon as any actual evidence of race or ethnicity comes into the mix - as soon as people find out someone is gay or female or black or whatever "IRL" - you're stuck with the same old racial stereotypes and assumptions again. Usually amplified because of the aforementioned intolerant attitude of gaming communities.

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[Apocalypse111 (597674)]

Don't just pigeon-hole this into an American phenomenon - the internet spans the whole world. And this decrease in patriotism that you are percieving isn't necessarily a result of information abundance, but perhaps simply because we lack strong leadership. You are mistaking correlation for causation here, a dangerous proposition.

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[Apocalypse111 (597674)]

No, you didn't specifically say that this was an American phenomenon, but your vernacular heavily implied it, specifically the "our great country" and "sacrifice for our country" bits (esp. without prior reference to your country of origin - seems a little pompous to me, but whatever). However, why shouldn't you be concerned about the global implications of a percieved problem? You're also living on this planet, I assume?

I made my reference to information abundance after reading your "increasingly beco

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[Apocalypse111 (597674)]

I would write a witty responce, but I'm too busy laughing.

Bravo, AC, bravo.

Re:anonymity can be bad

[kalirion (728907)]

As far as I'm concerned, the world would be a much better place with a little less nationalism.

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[timster (32400)]

Diversity is way overstated. In America, if you go into an immigrant family's apartment, you're likely to see a PS2, a Dell computer, etc. Some people go to bars and drink with the good ol' boys, and some people go to coffee shops to blog, but there's not any crucial difference in what people want to do and buy.

The most crucial differences I have seen is what people in these groups are afraid of. Conservative Christians are afraid of Muslim terrorists and declining morality; young liberals worry about gl

Re:anonymity can be bad

[Denial93 (773403)]

Nations are becoming less and less important as the information age gets going.
Similarily, extended families became less and less important with the industrial era.
Before that, the hometown/village.
Before that, the clan.
Each been the central social group everyone identified themselves by, each had seemed a natural constant in the lives of people and still each was replaced by the next. Currently, nation states are being replaced by continent-size cultural zones; most obviously so in Europe and South America.

You can call this unfortunate, like you can call any natural process unfortunate. Or you can realize that identifying yourself as a citizen of your country is a cultural habit, not a necessity, so the value you are losing was virtual in the first place. Other social reference groups (say your family, or your race, or mankind) may be used interchangably. And some choices give you more options than others.

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[AuMatar (183847)]

Sacrifice for their country? You mean there's fewer and fewer jingoistic people willing to die for a war that should never have been fought in the first place? This is a good thing. Patriotism is not- its an idea that a certain group of people are more important than everyone else because they happen to live near you. With the global scope of the internet, people are realising that all people are equal, and that there's nothing special about being American, Canadian, English, etc. This is a good thing

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[neonprimetime (528653)]

If somebody defames your country or fellow citizen, sacrifice your time to address them, ask why, and work something out.
If somebody threatens your country or fellow citizen, sacrifice your time to contront them, and prevent the threat from being followed thru.
If somebody harms your country or fellow citizen, sacrifice your time to capture and bring to justice the guilty party.

With no sacrifice, we have no sense of one-ness. We see that today with many examples because it seems like if our country or fe

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[charlesbakerharris (623282)]

There also seem to be a disproportionate amount of schoolgirls...

Yeah... about those schoolgirls... I met one of them in RL. Jimmy "The Iron Brick" Hoskins is now one of my closest friends - nice gal and all, but she didn't look anything like I expected.

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[edremy (36408)]

This, "PVP" mode where humans are pitted against Orc's and Gnomes against Taurans is to be abhorred. I couldn't agree more: the endless fighting is awful. Luckily, once the humans, dwarves and elves are annhilated we will have no more conflict. The gnomes we'll save for use as footballs and bar stools.

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[RotJ (771744)]

If a dwarf and a night elf only had cosmetic differences and had the capacity to perform the same tasks equally well, then it would be racist to choose dwarves over night elves. But that's not the case, so this gets tricky.

If in real life, practicioners of a certain profession who are of a certain race have two magical skills unique to their race that members of other races cannot learn, is it racist to make hiring decisions based on those magical skills?