African Americans and the Video Game Industry

An anonymous reader writes "African Americans spend more money and time playing video games than whites, yet only 2% of game developers are black. This past week, MTV's Multiplayer blog interviewed five black game industry professionals for their perspective on race in the industry. Intelligent Gamer summarizes and highlights portions of this lengthy series of interviews."

Re:Who cares?

[Ucklak]

To be African-American by definition means to be born in Africa then become naturalized in the Americas.
Therefore, being born in Ethiopia and naturalized a Columbian makes one African-American.

Any other definition erodes the common language we rely upon. To simply call one an 'African-American' because of skin color implies that 'African-American' is a color which it is not but a hijacked term for what it really means. Might as well call people 'Red Armadillos', 'Striped Rhinos', or 'Musky Badgers' because they're neither.

Re:Who cares?

[Malekin]

I don't think you're right, even if I wish you were.

From the abstract of this study:
http://dspace.anu.edu.au/manakin/handle/1885/41761?show=full [anu.edu.au]

"About 15 percent of Australians have experienced racism within institutional settings like the workplace and in education. About one-quarter of Australians report the experience of âeveryday racismsâ(TM)."

Ignoring racism and claiming it doesn't exist is not the best way to make it go away.

Re:Who cares?

[Ambidisastrous]

Fact: Black activists in the 1960s started calling themselves "African-American" instead of Negro in order to connect their fight for civil rights to the various independence movements in Africa happening at the same time. It caught on more over time. Malcolm X noted the term in his autobiography.

The term "African-American" [wikipedia.org]

Re: Is this really surprising?

[neuromancer23]

Well, I wouldn't agree with Jack Thomson, but your analogy is not very good. Music and video games are fundamentally different in the ways that they effect the nervous system. While playing video games can be addictive due dopamine being released during the process[1], they do not have nearly the same subconscious effect that music does. Furthermore, it is much easier to distinguish between fantasy and the real world during a video game since the images are all artificial. When listening to music, you get to fill in your own script to the soundtrack with whatever is going on at the time (i.e. it is much more real).

This is a field of research that has gained a lot of attention in recent years, and a lot of good books have been done on the subject.

This is an up-and-comer:

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Anticipation-Psychology-Expectation-Bradford/dp/0262582783/ref=pd_sim_b_title_4 [amazon.com]

There have been several studies done verifying that listening to complex, harmonious music (i.e. beethoven, bach, mozart, iron maiden, gnr etc.) sparks intelligence and creativity, while listening to someone talk over a one beat drum machine (e.g. Nelly, NAS) lowers intelligence and dulls creativity. Playing a musical instrument is even better for you. Just do a quick search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=music+makes+you+smart [google.com]

As a matter of fact, Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies (opus 67 and 68 respectively) were written back to back and demonstrate the process of intelligence increase in musical form, with the crisis starting at the knocking of fate at the opening of opus 67 and traversing through the ex-stasis experience and ending in harmony in the pastoral symphony. The fact that listening to Beethoven dramatically increases intelligence has been proven time and again (http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Thinking-Principles-Creative-Problem/dp/0761506489).

People are creatures of habit and their personalities are shaped by the things that they do. You will become your rituals(see: wilson's 23rd law). Of course, your personal experience will be different from everyone else, but chances are that if you are listening to this on a constant basis it's going to have a deep, life-long effect on your personality.

Re:Is this really surprising?

[MightyYar]

Does (1) your socio-economic situation affect the music you listen to, or does (2) the music you listen to affect your socio-economic situation, or is it (3) more complicated than that?

You seem to be saying (2), but I'd argue (3) with an emphasis on (1).

I know from personal experience that one can listen to gangsta rap and be a doctor or lawyer. Hell, you don't even have to be black. That's only one data point, but there you go. My daughter watches Dora but that doesn't mean she's going to be an explorer.

Re:African American?

[AlgorithMan]

Yes! and LEARN OUR LANGUAGE when you come to our country, damnit!
Especially the indians!

Re:Hint: you're CANADIAN.

[phantomfive]

So how is it exactly that oppression is holding these people back? Are there really droves of white men going around forcing these people to call every one of their peers "bro" or "niggah" or "homie" and thereby preventing them from entering the workforce in a meaningful way?

You are right, there is nothing holding anyone back in America but themselves. The problem is a lot of them have the perception that they can't succeed, because of who they are. Everyone around them has the same perception, and no one is there to help them break out of it.

For an example, go down to Union Square in San Francisco sometime. You will see a bunch of rich white people, a bunch of rich Asian people, and a bunch of poor black people. Imagine if you were a black kid growing up in that neighborhood. What are you going to think?

So on the one hand, the problem isn't that racism is holding people back, but on the other hand there IS a problem that needs to be solved.

Re:Yes please

[The One and Only]

Okay, here's the complete story on skin color: First for the base. Human skin in and of itself is fairly translucent. Blood, however, is fairly red, leaving a pinkish hue. There's a brown pigment (melanin) and a yellow pigment. It's the presence of the yellow pigment that changes the hue between east Asians and Europeans, and the degree of melanin that changes the saturation.

Re:Is this really surprising?

[The One and Only]

Every state redistricts people that way. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with which party people in a given neighborhood vote for.

Re:Who cares?

[Miseph]

He must be famous for being a shitty biologist: there's no biological foundation for the social institution of race. Over a century of famous post-Darwin biologists conducting research trying to prove that race is real and scientifically significant has proven only that the entire concept is completely meaningless.