Do You Care About Race in Games?

There were several pieces up this past weekend, and a resulting lively dialogue, about the role that race plays in videogames. Game|Life talks very cogently on the subject, which got kick-started by a post on the microscopiq site highlighting important black game characters. The article asks "Jade Is Black?", highlighting the role that racial ambiguity can have in making a player empathize with a title's protagonist. Writes Kohler: "Video games put the control of the main character into the player's hands. They ask us to become the character. It's easier for anybody to identify with Jade because Jade can stand in for anything. Ellis wants more black characters in video games, and Jade, if we go by the layout of his article, is his number-one favorite. It is quite possible that he felt a stronger connection with Jade than with other game characters who are definitely black. What does that say about the power of racial ambiguity? " So, do you care about race in videogames? If so, how so?

Of course I do!

[Lane.exe]

Different races get different stat bonuses! When I want to make a good warrior, I go with a Dwarf. When it's a mage I need, I go for some sort of Elf. Jeez, was this question really necessary? :)

I'm definately racist

[unborracho]

I kill Nightelves in WOW all the time. I would never dream of killing an orc.

Races no, nations yes..

[kabocox]

Let's see if I can recall. Nazis and Red USSR communists are always evil. Vietam asians are generally bad. Japan WWII is bad, but afterward is good. China WWI & WWII is good and after WWII is neutral. France is never bad per se, but seeing as we were settled from England; well of course France or "the French" will always be slanted negatively. England is typically the good ole mother country except any games based from the Civil War backwards. Whenever we fight the English, we fight against evil unjust monarchs. Ever since the Desert Storm and/or Desert Shield, any nameless Middle East dictator has been a safe villian for the US or good military to invade and beat up. Now a days, its also Islam or unnamed "bad" muslims for the sake of our religious terror war. Oh, let's not forget any aliens. All aliens are always evil and must be destoried before they take over. Einstein is always the good German Allied Scientist. You can always tell who the good guys are based solely on which side Einstein is on.

In First Person Shooters

[WhitePanther5000]

I usually pick a black character - they're harder to see in the shadows!

Re:All my favorite lifeforms...

[Markus_UW]

Yeah, those hortas from TOS episode 26 - The Devil in the Dark, are pretty sweet...

Yeah! I love racein games!

[2008]

I like fightin games and shootin games and wrestlein games too!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:What does

[User 956]

What does a character from Johnny Quest have to do with gaming?

Well, if you're playing as Haji, they always stop you at the airport.

Learn proper english.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's wraslin, you uncultured slob.

Re:Title?

[flewp]

I care very much. All that time spent tweaking setups in GTR2/rFactor/F1 Challenge in test sessions would be meaningless (and almost, but not quite, as meaningless as this post) if I didn't get to actually race!

Re:I'm definately racist

[Glonoinha]

That was you? Damn - I still feel unloved because of how you treated me at first.
Here I was a regular white guy (human) trying to hang with the bad guys and you darkies were all 'you can't camp orcs with us because you aren't evil enough' - I thought to myself, shit, I dig up dead bodies and prop them up around the campfire so I don't have to eat dinner alone and I'm not evil enough to hang with you because my skin is white? How much more evil could you possibly be?

Lucky for me I was a LOT more evil than that - made me an honorary citizen of the Nek city and everything.
After that it wasn't so much a matter of skin color as it was 'come on necro, share the camp - we don't care if you can solo the whole camp or not.'

(I didn't get my taste of REAL racism until I went to the dwarf island. Those motherfuckers HATED me - I wasn't afraid of any of the monsters, but the dwarf milk-vendor-lady would put a beat-down on my necro ass that would have made a DRAGON proud.)

GTA San Andreas

[oneplus999]

I was pretty offended by the implications of the race of the main character in GTA:SA. Not because he was the first black GTA character, but because he was also the first one that could SWIM!!! WTF kinda sense does that make? Was he also the first that could ice skate?

Race in games

[MS-06FZ]

I love race in games. My favorite right now is Mario Kart DS.

Of course I care about race conditions!

[alienmole]

Feh. Time was when programmers used to hang out on Slashdot. I thought the title was about race conditions [wikipedia.org] in game programming!

Turns out its something to do with skin color, which being a disciple of the great Dr. Colbert, I don't see anyway.

Re:Of course I do!

[elrous0]

I don't recall any special science in the interbreeding on the show. But, then again, as a Star Trek fan I know very little about breeding.

-Eric

Jade Black?

[Anonymous Coward]

She's about as black as Lilo in Lilo and Stich.

Re:Vapid - Look it up

[RajivSLK]

Vapid - Look it up

Why would I have to look it up? Do you think you are the only one who knows what "Vapid" means? I'm willing to bet most people here don't need to look it up.