Race and Racism In Video Games 371
SlappingOysters writes "Racism in video games has been a key topic of discussion in the game industry this year, thanks in large part to the controversy surrounding the Resident Evil 5 launch trailer. In this article, GamePlayer speaks to developers, publishers, activists and journalists about the issue to get various perspectives and insights into how the video game industry is moving forward on the topic of racism. A related piece also has interviews with Sue Clark from the UK's Classification Board and Dr. Griseldis Kirsch, a lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Studies, about how racism in video games is viewed by the BBFC and Japan respectively."
Re:My education (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Remember kids (Score:5, Informative)
to be pedantic.... elves, hobbits and orcs are different species.
Re:Remember kids (Score:5, Informative)
Turn in your nerd card.
"The lands of Middle-earth are populated by Men (humans) and other humanoid races (Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs), as well as many other creatures, both real and fantastic (Ents, Wargs, Balrogs, Trolls, etc.)."
Tolkien defines.
Re:Remember kids (Score:4, Informative)
Seeing as there were half elf, half humans in LOTR, I say you're wrong.
Species can't interbreed, that's the definition of species. Therefore, they're races.
Re:Remember kids (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Remember kids (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't count as successful interbreeding unless you can produce fertile offspring. Male Liger's are not fertile.
Re:Remember kids (Score:3, Informative)
Re:wtf? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Remember kids (Score:5, Informative)
Tolkien was unclear on the nature of orcs. The problem is that Melkor could not simply create them, the way Aule did the dwarves, because Aule needed Illuvatar to intercede and give the dwarves life, and he was hardly likele to do that with Melkor. Tolkien appears to have advanced several possibilities:
Firstly, presented in _The Silmarilion_, is the idea that orcs are corruptions of elves. Melkor captured elves (and, later, men), twisted and wrecked them, and ended up with orcs. Possibly there may have been corrupted maia amongst them too, as leaders and spies.
Secondly, that orcs were not "thinking peoples", like elves/men/dwarves; rather they were intelligent beasts in man-shape, of the same theological status as wargs, the talking ravens in _The Hobbit_, as (perhaps) the great eagles, etc.
Thirdly, a variant on the preceding: orcs are beasts, but infused with the dispersed power of Melkor, giving them the ability for independent action. The spirit of Melkor is one of hate, thus orcs will fight amongst themselves, rebel (especially against Sauron or Saruman, neither of whom is Melkor).
Ref: http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?The__Origin__of__Orcs [thetolkienwiki.org]