Bullshit? I think so!
06-11-2011
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Perfect Dark Agent |
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I started my in-class exam for English yesterday. In the short-answer part, we had to read some shit and answer 5 questions on said shit. In reading the fisrt article, I chuckled silently to myself, and after reading it twice, I was not in the least surprised to find it was written by a woman. It's titled "What's wrong with video games", and the entire thing is about how it's wrong that most lead roles in games are White males. This isn't the exact article, but after some searching it was the closest I could find.
While people of many cultures play video games, that diversity is not usually reflected in the games themselves. White male characters dominate in the majority of popular games, while non-white characters often play the traditional supporting roles of sidekick or villain or else are confined to a narrow range of genres.
A 2009 study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication, "The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games. New Media Society," found that only 3 per cent of all video game characters were Hispanic, and none of those were "playable" characters. Nearly all other identifiable groups except white men were under-represented as well; one exception, African-American men, appeared in proportion to their presence in the population but were confined to a narrow range of game genres such as sports titles and games tied to celebrities such as 50 Cent. Another 2009 study, "Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Videogames," found that African-American characters were more likely to be represented as villains and were often given particularly frightening characteristics.
The interactivity of video games makes them a powerful medium for the negative messages that stereotypes can convey. Using the Talking to Kids About Racial Stereotypes handout (right sidebar) as a guide, parents should discuss negative racial portrayals with their children. Talk to them about what a stereotype is, why game developers use them, how racial stereotypes influence the way we perceive people from different ethnic backgrounds, and what steps can be taken to challenge negative portrayals.
By refusing to purchase or rent games that contain racial and gender stereotyping, consumers can send a powerful message to the industry. Raising awareness of the effect negative stereotyping could have on their bottom line may influence game developers to become more sensitive to negative portrayals in their games.
Again, this isn't the exact article, but it's pretty close. On point in the original was that if the main character doesn't really match the kid playing it, the kid won't like the game. That point is complete shit. I've had so many laughs playing Destroy All Humans! with Hive Mind. And I had a blast playing as the secondary guy in Gears Of War 2.
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