Racial diversity in video games is certainly something I'd never thought about before reading Matthew Kato's article in the newest edition of Game Informer. The topic of diversity, however, is something that I encounter quite frequently.
As a high school English teacher, I deal with diversity every day in my school. I am often asked, by students and parents, if I teach novels with protagonists who have diverse cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, I am also asked if I teach novels written by authors with diverse cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, most of the same old texts that were popular ten or twenty years ago still permeate our curriculum today.
Video games, however, are a different story. As Kato's article suggests, stereotyping certain racial groups in certain types of games could be problematic. Additionally, wrestling with the relationship between a game's content and diversity can be a difficult fight. But video games have become one of the nations fastest growing markets; can we just turn our cheeks to their impact?
Novels are so much easier. For the most part, I know my students are not waiting in line at midnight to pick up a copy of Of Mice and Men. I don't see them identifying in the same way with the characters in novels as many of them do with video games. Though, after reading some novels I see them appreciate the relationships that the characters experience. Honestly, though, I'm sure some of my students could tell me more about some of the most popular video game characters than they could about iconic characters in literature.
In the end, diversity in video games is certainly an issue to be discussed. But, as Kato's article states, "If it ain't fun, nothing else matters." Do gamers really care about identifying culturally or racially with a game's protagonist? Or, will they simply be thinking about the next wave of zombies ready to attack?
Last spring I started playing xbox 360 games. I mostly play shooting games like call of duty games. When I first started playing I noticed how some races were shown as evil. I don't think the games goal was to make it about race though, just to show what the war was like. I think more of the racist comments are from people playing the game.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment! I think about games like Resident Evil 5 and notice how race was connected to good and evil; although, geography also played a part. You point about gamers bring race with them when they play a game is well said. But should game developers try to address ideas of race in their games?
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the way they show it to the gamers. It is hard to avoid race. I havn't played Resident Evil 5 but the games i play seem to show race in a way that shows the past. People making the games I think are slowly opening up and not being as strict of what is allowed and what is not allowed in a game. I think tv is doing the same thing as well. Cartoon network has started using words that people would never have used in the past in children shows.
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