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RACISM: WHAT I KNOW I DON'T KNOW - By Mr Biffo

21/1/2016

43 Comments

 
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Last night Billy Connolly won a Special Recognition honour at the National Television Awards, cementing him as a bit of a national treasure. 

I didn't watch it. I find awards ceremonies  stupid and arbitrary, frankly. It's nice to win or be nominated, but thinking they mean anything, or allowing them to be any form of validation, is a dangerous game.

​Says a man with a BAFTA nomination certificate displayed proudly in his hall, and a Royal Television Society Award taking pride of place on his mantlepiece (albeit hidden behind a pot plant - nobody appreciates a show-off)... 

Still, I like Connolly. After reading the news this morning I took to YouTube to watch my favourite performance of his. It occurred at the inaugural Comic Relief concert in 1986. I used to have a VHS of that show, and watched it so many times that it's a miracle the tape never snapped. It's a pretty famous bit that Connolly performs, where he talks about his experience of Australia, and how deadly it seemed to him ("Beware: Stingers!"). 


So imagine my surprise to find that I - presumably, along with much of the rest of the nation - had somehow forgotten the moment where he went on a two-minute, context-free, racist rant about the Japanese.

OH, MOTHER...
​In his Comic Relief bit, Connolly alluded to the Japanese wanting to restart World War II, turn a holiday village into a prison camp, and how within 10 years we'd all be throttled by our Sony Walkmen as part of a Japanese plot to take over the world.

Though only lasting a couple of minutes, Connolly even did Japanese impressions, replete with buck teeth and slitty eyes. "I don't trust those fuckers," he spat with surprising malice.

​And then I go on Facebook, to find my mother has shared this image:
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This isn't the first time she's publicly expressed her annoyance that golliwogs are no longer considered acceptable. In the past, she has engaged with friends about how they never saw anything wrong with golliwogs when they were children, and how this is never taken into account by meddling political correct-ohs. To her, they're just, y'know, sort of teddy bear things that just happen to look like grossly offensive racial caricatures.

I suppose that nostalgia is a powerful thing, and she was raised in a less multi-cultural climate. I can relate to a point; in recent years, the thing I've found hardest about getting older isn't the physical aches and pains, but seeing the touchstones of my life being dismantled around me. So many places that I have fond memories of now exist only in my memory.

In fact, given how commendably diverse Britain has become in my parents' lifetimes, I'm amazed they're not more racist.


In fact, I don't actually think my mother is a racist at all, any more than I think Billy Connolly is. Notably, he's only five years younger than she is, so they doubtless were exposed to similar external forces. Connolly is not exactly known for his racist comedy - plus he was performing his routine at a benefit concert for African children, in the company of some of the most political correct comedians of the day. And Cliff Richard.

At the time, his comments were considered perfectly acceptable, and funny. Certainly, I never batted an eyelid when I watched it back in 1986. I didn't get the jokes either admittedly: I just liked the bit where he talked about stingers. 

When I watched it today, though, I was shocked. And similarly shocked by my mother's post... despite remembering how at one time I wasn't shocked by golliwogs on Robinson's jam jars.
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NOT A RACIST
You can also throw into this mental stew the furore about the apparent snubbing of black talent in this year's Oscar nominations.

Certainly, the way it's talked about you'd think it was a deliberate snub. That all the whites in Hollywood somehow got together and decided to deliberately give nominations only to white people.

As far as I know, the Academy Awards are awarded democratically - so if there is a problem, it's an issue with institutionalised or passive racism among the voting members. If so, that's something that can only be overcome with time, by tackling engrained values. I'm not defending the nominations, but what can you do other than recruit more black people to the voting panel, and/or force members to vote for black nominees over white ones? Which, obviously, would be horribly patronising.

By the same token, I don't think I can possibly understand the frame of reference of Spike Lee and others, who have been so angered by this that they've called on a boycott of the Oscars, seeing it as some sort of deliberate snub. They're black. I'm white. How could I understand? Even if there is nothing that can be done, it's good that it's been flagged up.

But as for it being a conscious snub... I dunno.


RACIST-Y SIDE
Please don't think I'm some apologist for attitudes that are a bit on the racist-y side. I like that I'm of a generation that grew up in the tail-end of blanket racism, but succeeded in somehow overcoming that.

Thing is though... I'm a white guy, and the minefield of racism is something that bothers me on multiple levels. Not just because I think it's abhorrent, but also because I'm not sure I get it. And what I mean by that, is that I don't know what it's like to be on the receiving end of prejudice, so I worry unduly about being racist inadvertently, or coming over as ignorant.

​Though I might've gotten grief for having glasses growing up, I'm still a white bloke. I've never been victimised for the colour of my skin. Even talking about this topic here, I'm well aware that I'm talking about it from my perspective, and it might be one that could be construed as racist. Or, at best, woefully uninformed.


Additionally, I fret - in that achingly white way - about putting my foot in it, and about overcompensating. I mean, the first ever time I pitched to work on a TV show, was for a cartoon devised by the poet and writer Benjamin Zephaniah, about a Rastafarian spider.

​I did a ton of research going in, but when I tried to show off in the meeting, Zephaniah practically laughed me out of the room. I felt utterly crushed, but it underlined that no matter how much Wikipedia-ing I did, I wasn't going to be able to get inside his head, or see the world from his perspective.

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After all, this is a man who once wrote "The race industry is a growth industry... They're looking for victims and poets to rent".

I barely even know what that means, let alone relate to it.


SAYING THIS
I'm saying all this as someone who co-created (along with Ben "Doc Brown" Smith - who is mixed race), and is lead writer of, a children's TV show which is primarily about a black family (that'd be 4 O'Clock Club). I'm under no illusion, however, that I write the show from any sort of black perspective. I couldn't do that. We try, instead, to go for universal themes that we hope the audience will all relate to, regardless of race. Anything else would risk coming across as patronising or hollow.

Thing is, I've fallen foul of that approach too. I once wrote a sitcom - it never got made - where we auditioned a ton of actors for the main roles. Several of these actors were black, and prior to one audition, the auditionee asked me if the character he was reading for had been written as a black man. I didn't know how to 
answer: I'd naively assumed that we're all the same under the skin, and it didn't matter what the character's ethnic origin was.

I've never made that assumption since - about anyone, even other white peoples. There might be universal touchstones among human experience, but within that we've all had wildly different individual experiences which have shaped us. 

​What does any of this have to do with video games? Well - aren't video games more white than they are anything else? ​

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NO BLACK ICONS
I mean, look at the gaming icons: Mario, Lara Croft, Nathan Drake, Gordon Freeman, Bayonetta, almost all the leads of the Assassin's Creed franchise, that bloke out of Watch Dogs, Samus, Link, Solid Snake, Marcus Fenix, Cloud, Kratos, Dante, Blondie out of The Witcher, Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us... I could go on. All of them are whities.

I struggle to think of any games characters of ethnic origin with anything approaching a similar iconic status. Lee in Telltale's The Walking Dead is one, sort of, but after that... dunno.

There are black characters in the Grand Theft Auto series, admittedly, but I don't think any of us would class any characters in those games as positive identification models. And that bloke in Just Cause is, I think, meant to be Mexican. And you can choose your race in a whole bunch of games now.

But isn't it still disproportionate, just a case of paying lip service? Obviously, it isn't an issue that's by any means confined to the games industry: this is a societal thing. It's pretty endemic in a lot of the creative industries. The TV industry IS very white, but it's not for the want of trying to find more writers of ethnic origin. I don't know if it's the same with game design, but I wouldn't be surprised.

​OUTSIDE OF JAPAN
I mean, think of today's big game developers, and outside of Japan the vast majority of them are white, Name your favourite game journalist, and chances are they're white (obviously, y'know, because it would be me, right?). 

It's unlikely - nay, impossible - that we're going to get more authentic black and ethnic representation in games without more black and ethnic creators. Games industry trade body TIGA last year announced a campaign to encourage more diversity among developers, and that can only be a good thing. 

So what am I trying to conclude with all this? I dunno. I'm not informed enough to be able to come to a conclusion that ties it up in a big bow. All I know is that I know there's a lot I don't understand around the issue of race, and that I hope games can reach a point where their content accurately reflects the life of those playing them.

​I know I don't like it when my mother shares golliwog pictures, but I also know that she doesn't intend any offence... any more than I think a lack of black nominations in the Oscars, or the characters in our games, are anything more than a reflection of the industries they represent. And when it comes to games, a broader range of creator backgrounds can only be a good thing when it comes to the type of content we're offered.

I hope that happens, but there's only one way to do it, and it's going to take time: if you turn on your taps and poison gushes out, surely it's better to tackle it at the source?

There you go: solved it. I SOLVED RACISM!

Press reveal to see what Zombie Dave thinks about racism:
REVEAL
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Drrrrnd frmrrrrgn rrrrrrzzk mrrr, yrrrr crrrrrrnd. Rrrrr'm drrrrrd.
​    /

43 Comments
OnlyManWhoCan
21/1/2016 05:30:52 pm

Yup there is a terrible lack of positive black protagonists in games. It seems white is always the default choice when in 99% of the games I play it really makes no difference. The only other character I can think of is Shadow Man? And again I'm not sure how positive a role model (or the games depiction of voodoo) really is. Not much, I think!

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Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
22/1/2016 08:38:29 am

Wracking my brain to try and think of really popular games that even have black protagonists, let alone positive ones, and all I could come up with was CJ from GTA. That's not exactly good... (though to his credit, CJ was the most human and relatable GTA protagonist up to that point, and maybe still is).

That said, to pull up a few lesser-known good examples, Assassin's Creed has tried, with Liberation and Freedom Cry having heroic black protagonists, unfortunately resigned to series side-games. Remember Me also did, but to be honest, that game was beautiful but disappointing to play (I'm coming to the conclusion that I like Dontnod's ideas better than their execution), and it's hard to call that protagonist iconic when I know I'd have to google search for her name.

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2 Geoff
21/1/2016 05:47:28 pm

I totally agree. You can only see stuff from your own perspective.
I think we may start looking at racists as people who need help, rather than evil. No one wants to have stupid and hurtful opinions, right?
But it's interesting that Lee called for a boycott and not a girlcott? Hmmm. Misogynist?
You can easy make things into an 'ist', specially if your prepared to set aside logic and reason.
I mean that's not to say he's not a misogynist, the example I gave just doesn't support that.
And he's deffo not, probably. I don't know the guy.
Now I'm wrapping myself up with guilt-wire. Like some sort of Flaccid Tramp. Do you see?

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Koozebane
21/1/2016 05:59:24 pm

Don't forget that Lee in The Walking Dead was an escaped convict. Which as a guilt ridden white man never sat well with me. Although I did play him as a thoroughly nice chap so much so the end with the man in the room didn't make a whole lot of sense.

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Mr Biffo
21/1/2016 06:05:08 pm

Also... (SPOILERS) he dies.

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PeskyFletch
21/1/2016 06:11:41 pm

Did you start to miss Simon, Biffster?

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Mr Biffo
21/1/2016 07:55:59 pm

Hah! I think I'm not alone in that.

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Damon link
21/1/2016 07:22:03 pm

I think it's interesting that you include some characters which I always thought were Asian as white.

My issue is that representation for the sake of it feels very patronizing, but in the real world there's a lot of races. Everyone only gets one perspective and that's the challenge of being a writer.

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Mr Biffo
21/1/2016 07:58:54 pm

Such as Bayonetta? She's pretty stylised, but looks Western to me. Samus Aran is blonde and blue-eyed. Cloud's another blue-eyed boy. I suppose Kratos is, technically, Greek. But then, I'm part Moroccan from a generation or two back, if my DNA is anything to go by.

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Damon link
21/1/2016 10:01:02 pm

If you look at Skyward Sword link he looks very pan-Asian to me (but almost everyone does in that game, at least to me) in spite of his blonde hair and blue eyes.

Bayonetta looked mixed-Asian to me though she could also be an anime-styled European white person seen through an anime lens after you scrub out the Japanese stereotypes. They may have the buck teeth but we have the big noses, apparently.

If you want to factor in the Japanese's Xenophobia (all the best countries have this -- just ask them about great they are compared to everyone else) most Japanese studios probably have games featuring Japanese characters unless explicitly stated you're choices are Asian or White European.

It's said that the template (default?) video game protagonist is a While male between 22 and 28 with brown hair. Which is something I tend to agree with.

But where this curves around is that there's a danger is having a nonwhite character because now that character is the subject of scrutiny. I won't go too much down the anthropology rabbithole of the concept of marked race, but it can be worth a read if you're interested.

Let's invent a race - Xquzit - now let's say you have an Xquizit character. If this character does something bad you're running the risk of having it said that you're portraying the Xquizit people in a poor light and are therefore a racist. On the flip side if you only push positive traits of them then you're doing the Xquizit people a disservice by reducing them to a 1-dimensional token character who can not serve a meaningful purpose or contribute to the narrative.

And remember your intentions or actual portrayal do not matter, the hashtag-feminists argued Skyrim was sexist because you could kill women in it, nevermind you could also kill most of them men and animals. Having a nonwhite character is a risk and click-hungry online publications will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. Then you'll be flagged as "that racist writer". People are very quick to call someone an -ist.

Which brings us back to... no one cares about white people. You can do whatever you want with a white character and not be called an -ist. White characters are much more safe to write. And so long as it is risky to write a nonwhite character you won't see very many at all.

Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
23/1/2016 10:50:49 am

It's a real catch-22. Until there are more main characters who aren't white, every single one who isn't stands out and has to be representative, which limits what even the creators who want to be more representative can do with them for fear of a backlash. So there aren't many main characters who aren't white as a result, which brings us full circle...

The same goes for any minority, actually. I have no productive solution for this. All developers can do is do their best to research and portray different groups as well as they can until there's enough that they can afford to branch out and make more varied examples of them. Meanwhile, players and bloggers have to accept that there's going to be a lot of fumbling attempts to do better, and not dogpile devs when they actually try (critique, of course, is valid, twit-storms are less so).

Dr Kank
21/1/2016 08:00:21 pm

Is it racist if I can never understand what Zombie Dave says? I mean he's got green skin and that. But I do think he could make more of an effort to integrate into English culture and society, and maybe consider some ESOL classes.

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DeathHamster1
21/1/2016 08:54:03 pm

I've always been of the opinion that good intentions mean nothing - only good deeds count. That said, patting someone on the head is every bit as offensive as discriminating against them. The truth of the matter is that, for all my life's problems and tragedies, I still wake up in the morning only too aware and grateful that I'm white, straight and male. I've won the lottery, and don't I just know it?

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Tim Bresnan's Heavy Ball
21/1/2016 10:02:43 pm

Does fancying Chun Li prove that I'm not a racist?

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Jabberwoc
21/1/2016 11:00:19 pm

Pacman's completely racist, don't you find?

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Zombie Ted
22/1/2016 10:12:52 am

So like, I get the point about black people being under-represented in stuff. It's true, but does that actually matter? There aren't any ugly people in video games, there aren't any disabled people either. Ugly and disabled people make up a much larger proportion of the population than black people. What about gay people, and for that matter what about women? They make up about half the population, but are properly represented in about 2% of games and 20% of movies. Then there's other races. What about south-Asian people, what about South Americans who always get horribly stereotyped as drug lords?

I guess I'm saying if you start caring about how one demographic is misrepresented, you should really consider all denographics. You start doing that, and every minority or marginalised group takes their turn to be offended, and if you pay attention to that offence, you can never satisfy everyone. It's impossible.

The best thing is to make something you like and ignore what everyone else thinks. That's how the best artwork is created, not by worrying about whether the story you're telling or the fictional world you're creating accurately represents the diversity found in the real world.

I see where the white mans guilt comes in, but I don't get why you care so much about it. Easier just to forget it and try to make sure you're not tolerating actual racism, rather than implied racism through under-representation, which isn't actually racism at all, it's just a statistic.

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Mr Biffo
22/1/2016 10:17:13 am

Don't I make all that explicit in the piece, though?

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Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
23/1/2016 11:41:47 am

Pointing out other related problems doesn't actually make this particular issue any less of an issue. In fact, all it means is that more groups are probably feeling resentment over not feeling represented...

The onus is on the studios, or rather the publishers, to take more risks and open up the playing field. That is where things get difficult: the assumption is that white guys are a safe seller, and nobody wants to publish a game that is not only not safe, but also likely to create bad PR for screwing up representation. Better to take the hit on a safe game that might get bad PR for being so safe...

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Stoo
23/1/2016 04:12:59 pm

Still if making something you like means staffing your games entirely with white straight manly men and the odd sexy lady for eye candy, probably time to stop and rethink.

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Friend
23/1/2016 10:55:03 pm

Why? Why should I modify what I like and enjoy for the sake of diversity?

If it were even possible to change ones own preferences, what would be the end goal?

It's impossible to create something fictional which properly represents everyone. That would just be real life. And even real life is not completely representative.

LeighDappa
22/1/2016 12:14:31 pm

The only other Black Character in a Game I can think of is 'Darcy Stern' from "Urban Chaos" on the 'PlayStation 1'.

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Mr Biffo
22/1/2016 12:20:43 pm

Loved that game. I may have been the only one.

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Superbeast 37
22/1/2016 06:17:52 pm

Identity politics really is a divisive cancer.

Thank god there are positive white icons in gaming otherwise I'd have probably grown up lacking in ambition, dropped out of school and turned to a life of crime. If it hadn't been for Dizzy I'd probably be in jail now.

I come from a poor background and am pretty thick and all so without those white role models like Rick Dangerous who knows what would have happened.

Thank god Nathan Drake "represents" me. He has the same skin colour as me you see so that means that society can judge me on how Nathan Drake or any other white person acts because we are all exactly the same and defined by the colour of our skin.

If you meet me, don't bother getting to know me. You have seen Max Payne so you as good as know me already.

If I see a white person committing a crime, I'd refuse to tell the police because I have an affinity with them you see. They have the same skin tone so we are like family or even twins. A hive mind almost.

With the leaders of the main political parties in the UK being white I am happy for the next election to be cancelled as they all represent me so who cares.


In truth I am an individual. A white protagonist no more represents me than a black protagonist does. Same applies to a female or male protagonist. Also I am not a deranged fantasist so I don't believe that I am somehow the protagonist in these games and I certainly never design my RPG characters to look like me (I swear people who do that should see a shrink!).

I tend to play as a goblin or something and the opposite sex to what I am in real life.

I don't cry because the majority of antagonists are white either because as I say people with the same skin colour or genitals do not represent me. I also credit the rest of the population with having at least two brain cells to rub together and knowing that because the bad guys in games are mostly white that not all white people are bad.

If I didn't like it, I just wouldn't buy the product anyway. I'd be a responsible consumer in a free market. If developers wanted my money, they would have to produce something that I approved of instead.

The Oscars have no credibility as it stands, if they replace the corrupt voters with an even bigger bunch of morons who vote for movies based on the amount of melanin in the actor’s skin then we can laugh as mediocre actors like Will Smith win Oscars for a Nigerian accent that even makes Dick Van Dykes cockney accent sound good.

Of course preppy little middle class boy Will Smith obviously represents the African American community. I am sure they look at him and his upbringing and feel a real connection.

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Dirty Barry
24/1/2016 02:21:01 am

So good to see your comment Superbeast37. You are spot on. Identity politics is a cancer.

It's disheartening to see people wrestle with themselves over the victimhood Olympics, or shoehorning minority characters into films/games in a cheesy and patronising way - these things are supposed to be works of art, not cultural Marxist social engineering projects.

It's always well meaning, middle class white guys who worry about this stuff. The rest of us are just trying to get on with our lives.

"You want to get rid of racism, stop talking about it" Morgan Freeman

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Dr Kank
22/1/2016 07:49:54 pm

I'm not sure why anybody would want a positive role model in video games anyway. Part of the appeal of gaming is being able to do bad things that you can't get away with in real life. Killing people, driving too fast, taking shit that doesn't belong to you, repeatedly walking into people, going into stranger's house to inspect their toilets and so on.

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Colonel Red
22/1/2016 09:09:57 pm

Really? If we could get away with those things in real life, I suspect most of us still wouldn't want to do them.

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Dr Kank
22/1/2016 11:38:21 pm

Well yeah, but you do those things in video games (or at least I do), so that would suggest that video games don't really influence behaviour all that much, and similarly a positive role model in a video game wouldn't really be particularly effective.

Inflatable Derek
22/1/2016 08:18:44 pm

Daley Thompson's Super test?

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Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
22/1/2016 10:59:43 pm

Good point! There's also Tiger Woods Pro Tour. Now there's a good role model for the kids!

What?

... Oh.

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Superbeast 37
23/1/2016 10:07:40 am

To be fair the guys marriage went stale and he had some affairs. As do millions of other perfectly decent people. Hell how many people would stay faithful in a marriage that had lost its spark when you are a millionaire and hundreds of super attractive people are throwing themselves at you!

So not exactly crime of the century. He is professional, works hard, pays his taxes, alimony and child support and does a lot of charity work which is more than most people do.

I'd say he is a better role model than some of the people that are idolised these days!

Pity the sponsors chucked him under the bus during a difficult period. Very Christian of them!

Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
24/1/2016 12:05:12 am

Now, call me old-fashioned, but isn't all the lying and cheating inherently not decent?

As for the sponsors, surely that's just business? Bad branding is bad for profits. You're generally the one touting the idea that business is business and morality needn't come into it unless it's profitable.

Admiral Spiney O'Sullivan
24/1/2016 12:18:00 am

Though to be fair to Woods, that was admittedly a snide joke. He is an excellent player and did some great things for golf as a whole.

chris
23/1/2016 02:04:08 pm

"It's unlikely - nay, impossible - that we're going to get more authentic black and ethnic representation in games without more black and ethnic creators."

this always seems such low expectations of writers. can they only create characters of their race? their gender? we wouldn't put the same caveats on writers in other industries, unless they were awful. expect better.

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Mr Biffo
23/1/2016 02:29:18 pm

Well... I agree with you to a point. The key word there is 'authentic'. I certainly don't want every game to be issue led, or feel the need to have a point... But in terms of those sorts of games, I wouldn't some white, straight, bloke writing a game about what it is to be black, or gay, or a woman. The whole point of the article is me saying I get and respect that there's an issue - but 'I don't get the issue...'.

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chris
23/1/2016 02:50:00 pm

but is that the issue, though? surely the issue is more that:
- there's very few black/brown/female/etc characters in games
- those that ARE there are often racist caricatures, or offensive tropes (mystical negro, etc).

the "white straight blokes" of this industry could make moves to solving these problems. it's just writing. it's not like they're trying and failing; they're not trying. we can have the 'authenticity' debate after these basic issues have been rectified IMO. otherwise it just shunts the problem over to those who have been wronged - "YOU fix it"

you've created black and female characters in your writing - why can't video game writers do this?

Mr Biffo
23/1/2016 03:03:56 pm

But, Chris - I do sort of say in the piece that the black lead characters I created were actually co-created with a black writer... and that I would never presume to be able to write about what it is to BE black - so I stay away from that area. I mean, there are lots of black characters in games which have been created by white people. I think it's one thing to have a character who just happens to look black... and another thing to write a rounded character who expresses a specifically black point of view.

Games might not be the place for that. I totally accept that, and don't really want loads of games to be issues-led. BUT! I don't quite get the resistance to the idea of more diverse creators in games being a bad thing. The more diverse voices and experiences that can be drawn from in game creation will mean more diverse end product - that doesn't mean a "black" game per se, but it might make for more varied types of games. Frankly, most big games feel horribly white - and I'm not just talking about the colour of the characters' skin.

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chris
23/1/2016 11:55:18 pm

oh don't get me wrong, I don't think more diversity in the industry would be bad, I just don't think it's a necessary component for change. also I think it's a bit chicken and egg because how can we expect women/black/etc people to want to get involved in an industry that has been actively hostile to them for years?

still, they are there, and it'll happen. it is happening! and it's nice that games are now written in a manner that means we can start holding them to the same standards as other mediums. progress!

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Dr Kank
24/1/2016 03:31:31 pm

Has the games industry actually been actively hostile to women, black people and other minorities though? A lack of representation is not necessarily down to hostility within the industry.

The puffy jacket guy
23/1/2016 10:58:25 pm

Tiger Woods had like loads of games.

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Chris (a different one)
24/1/2016 01:37:00 pm

FWIW I don't have a problem with golliwogs, or gollies, or wogs or whatever we're supposed to call them now.

They are black dolls which, on the face of it, might appear to be racist in this day and age. However they were not created as a racist image, they are creatures who happen to be black. The dolls were loved by millions of white people. Does that not make them a positive racial image? At the same time actual black people were suffering from real racism.

The real problem with the golliwog is that the name was used as a racist slur. That unfortunately has implicated the golliwog character as a big racist.

You don't see Scots complaining about dolls with ginger hair and freckles. It's only because golly is black that it's a problem, and I'd argue that banning him is more racist than allowing him to be played with like those other (apparently superior) white dolls.

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chris
24/1/2016 01:55:55 pm

do "the scots" have a recent history of being enslaved and segregated based on their race, though?

the original golliwog was dressed in minstrel clothing. didn't think there was any debate about its origins in blackface/etc. it's a racist caricature whether it's loved or not.

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Goosey Edwards
29/1/2016 09:14:07 am

I started thinking of games in which avatars were not Caucasian:
Mic and Mac in McDonaldland
Global Gladiators
Arabian Nights
Aladdin
NBA Jam (a good representation, limited to sport?)
FIFA and Pro Evo

I realised they were the exception. Then I remembered how many people lived Sonic, and few were blue hedgehogs. Perhaps the universal avatars and a step removed and allow some room for identification.

Though I always felt uneasy about Toejam and Earl, as if they were euphemistic of Sega's unwillingness to allow black lead characters (or maybe aliens love hip hop, and I am ignorant).

There is an interview with their creator somewhere online that mentioned them being aliens, and not placeholders for a forthcoming equality.

And the people I know that actively celebrate gollies do not put themselves in the position to gain friendships with the people they represent, failing to empathise through sheer separation.

Reply
Phil Anselmo
29/1/2016 11:48:59 am

Look! I did something vaguely relevant to this article, everyone:

http://www.metalsucks.net/2016/01/28/editorial-the-metal-community-must-stop-letting-phil-anselmo-off-the-hook-for-his-racist-remarks/

Reply



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