Cerise Magazine

I am willing to pay to play.

As a gamer, I regularly dedicate a part of my budget to expenses associated with gaming. I spend $227 per year to have a membership to Gamefly, which allows me to preview and play through games across different consoles. Another $200 a year goes to games purchases – I tend to purchase three or four games per year.

I have budgeted money to purchase a Wii ($300) and next year, I will be looking to upgrade to a PS3. I am a gaming hobbyist – as my schedule includes a day job and freelancing side work, my serious gaming days are probably behind me. Still, I still spend over $500 a year supporting the industry, down from a gamer high of about $150 a month.

One would think, for that amount of money, I would be able to buy some representation in gaming.

In all the games I have played through, I have yet to find a character that I can truly inhabit. A lot of gaming is fantasy, and designers reflect this with their overly idealized body shapes and choices. However, gaming takes the additional step of trying to insert you into that fantasy world, to play as that character, relate to that character, to want to become that character (at least for the time of your investment). Unfortunately, for me, this never quite works. I can close my eyes and imagine becoming Karin Koening from Shadow Hearts Covenant. In my mind’s eye, I become her, flying across the globe in kick-ass brown boots, keeping my cool in the toughest of situations. The image reflected in the game and the image reflected in my mind’s eye are mostly similar - red hair, lean physique, military attire. There is only one difference - my mind’s eye reflects the even brown tone of my own skin, and the broader composition of my facial features.

The image on the screen does not change.

Game after game, scenario after scenario, world after world, my brown-skinned doppelganger mentally superimposes itself onto different characters, wrestling for dominance. I continue to play games with fair-skinned lead characters - my mind continues to struggle to insert my darker self into gaming’s white-washed reality.

Is the Gaming Industry Racist?

I do not believe the gaming industry sets out to be racist. I highly doubt that developers, programmers, and scriptwriters sit in a planning circle and see how many minorities they can ignore in one game.

However, that does not mean that racism and racist behavior does not permeate different levels of the industry, manifesting itself primarily through plot and character design. Progressive characters of color simply do not exist in any meaningful manner. Thousands of comments have been posted debating the ethnicity of Jade from Beyond Good and Evil, or creating lists of playable African-American characters. The ability to quickly identify major (and minor) games that utilize characters of color is a telling indication of something amiss within the forty-year-old industry.

Many gamers may argue that the race of the title character does not factor into how they select a game. If that initial premise is true, then there is no reason not have multi-dimensional characters who are non-white.

One reason for this sin of omission in gaming stems from society. People who are not ethnically Caucasian are not considered “normal.” We exist in a realm of “otherness,” primarily defined by stereotypes and misinformation.

Inclusive design comes from dismantling these assumptions. Yet, conversations about race in gaming are often stifled by a rehashing of the same three tired excuses: gaming should be “colorblind,” there are not enough developers/writers/programmers of color to significantly impact the face of gaming, and race shouldn’t matter if the game is fun to play. Two of the comments on Iris’ Race and Ethnicity in Games forum illustrate the frustration faced when trying to foster a conversation about racism in gaming:

Traditionally when I’ve done work with people on examining social identities it is extremely common to hear white folks say “I don’t see color.” Most of the time this translates to “I don’t see color because I don’t have to”. To move toward a world without racial inequality there has to be a lot of time and effort into having an honest dialogue about race, and colorblindness won’t get us there in gaming or in life.

– Wind-Up Bird, Iris Gaming Boards

This is their way of saying “I’m not racist, therefore racism isn’t my problem.” This argument pisses me off because it places the blame on people of color, basically saying that if people of color chose to make an issue of race, then all they’re doing is perpetuating segregation between races and fostering racism. The same shit is placed on women who want non-sexist spaces, gays who want to be acknowledged as existing, and so on. The second we try to say “Hey, we’re being ignored over here!” people with privilege jump all over us saying “No, we’re just all part of one big happy family that happens to be white, male, christian, heterosexual, rich and abled so why are you trying to start your own group? What’s wrong with you? You’re making yourself different, so it’s not our fault if we’re prejudiced against you!” BAH, I say!

– Olliemoon, Iris Gaming Boards

Is there a solution?

Unfortunately, the issue of racial inclusiveness will not be solved by waving a magic wand and magically instituting character diversity in gaming. After all, the television and motion picture industries have both been in existence longer than video games and they still have not figured out how to solve this problem. Still, gaming is the new frontier in personal entertainment, on the cutting edge of our increasingly digital society – so shouldn’t we as gamers be pushing for this kind of conversation to happen within our community? Imagine if video games – which are blamed for everything from degenerate youth to tendonitis – became known for leading the dialogue on racial consciousness?

Getting to this point does not require much beyond the willingness to think. Here are some tips for game developers, programmers, and writers to consider before embarking on that next project.

1. Break design paradigms.
   

   I find it difficult to believe that an industry that can create an entirely new world in the span of a few years, complete with new religions, gods, demi-goddesses, sorcerers, aeons, and mythology could be so unimaginative that it could not fathom a character of color in a leading role.

2. Think about your ensemble casts.
   

   Games with multiple playable characters allow for more options than one central character. While this is not applicable for every game, considering the use of ensemble casts, or the viewpoints of multiple character helps to connect the viewer with what they are seeing. It also allows for the player to identify with the character that fits them the best. One caveat here: a homogeneous cast of characters does not accomplish this goal.

3. Let go of antiquated notions of “authenticity.”
   

   Every black person does not have a hood story. Asian people do not spend all of their time in martial arts death matches. All Latinos do not have accents. This drive for “authenticity” can lead many developers down a path rife with stereotypes. Question your ideas of authentic. What’s “real” to minorities is often far from the images projected in the media.

4. Allow for customization of avatars.
   

   The same ability to select a character costume and hairstyle in fighting games, you can apply to allow players to select their own characters. This does not have to be overly detailed – a few mid range tones and hair options can go a long way.

5. Flip Your Script.
   

   After you blocked out a story, play around with the race and physical features of your characters. Would your story still work with a woman as a main character? Would it work with an African-Asian American lead? If not, why not? Is there an assumption that a woman is not physically strong enough to carry the story? Does your team feel like a mixed race character just does not fit the role? Press for answers, keep asking why. Eventually, you will begin to uncover the bits of ingrained bias that paints the perceptions of your developers, script writers, artists. The intention here is not to shame your developers, or go on a racism witch-hunt. The intention is to spark a dialogue and challenge assumptions that limit your games.

This only begins to acknowledge the issues when gaming and social issues intersect. To get a broader view of these issues (as well as perspectives from actual game players themselves), please review the articles and blog posts in the suggested reading section.

In fostering inclusive design, a little bit of forethought can go a long way.

Suggested Reading

Blog Posts

Racialicious

Denial and Delusion – Why Public Conversations about Race Fail Before They Begin
by: Latoya Peterson

Token Minorities

Well Said: A Response to “Chili Con Carnage”
Race and Player Characters
Are Video Games Racist?
by: Pat Miller

Microscopiq

The First Eleven Black Video Game Stars
Race in Games: The Unanswered Question
Black Women Got Game? Why Alyx Matters
by: Jason Ellis

The Angry Black Woman Blog

Why is the Universe Full of White People?

Articles

Digital Femme Online

Guide to Black Women’s Hairstyles for Clueless Cartoonists
by: Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Founder of The Omes Society

Escapist Magazine

You Got Your Race in My Video Game
by: Pat Miller
Guns, Gangs, and Greed
by: Thomas Wilburn

Washington Post

Gamers’ Intersection
by: Jose Antonio Vargas

Wired Blogs

Jade is Half-Black? Racial Ambiguity in Games
by: Chris Kohler

Academic Papers

Iris Gaming Network

Idealizing Fantasy Bodies
by: Andrea Rubenstein, May 26th, 2007