Spoilers for Dragon Age: Origins exist in this post.
I've previously stated I'm not a fan of games who give me my morality on a scale with two polar ends. It is making me roll my eyes at my current playthroughs of both Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but it made my time with Dragon Age: Origins particularly meaningful. Instead of aligning myself with an abstract concept of good or evil which was actualized on a scale with points, my actions became tied to my companions (with points that I was able to see...).
My stock of characters evolves in various ways, depending on the game. At this point, when faced with problems in most games, I can pinpoint how they'd react. Even if the game might hone the specifics, the generalities are easy to gauge and plan before the game has even gotten past its introductory stage.
Dragon Age threw a wrench in that expectation. Twice.
The first was with Shale. When finding the Anvil of the Void, the choice is presented of using the Anvil to create an army of golems, or to destroy it. As I wrote on The Border House, Shale is a character I deeply respected and enjoyed. The fact that she was being serious in this situation with the Anvil put a pause on my pressing the number corresponding with the dialog option I knew Aeazel would take. Aeazel is an opportunist, and wanted to agree with Morrigan, who enticed him with the thought of having an army at his behest.
Slavery of people to the cause? Did not bother him. An elitist misanthrope, he believes some people are useful for only his gain, and that they'd squander their lives anyway.
He fought off Branka, destroyed the Anvil, and faced disappointment from Morrigan. Shale thanked him. Shale had earned his respect, and he knew he could not disappoint her. After her burly and often hysterical comments and childlike lines of questions she would ask the other companions, to suddenly have a dramatic shift in her tone and manner made him realize he could not fathom facing her story himself.
Then came Zevran's admonition during the Alienage in Denerim. Zevran's constant wit and comedic relief served to make Aeazel appreciate him beyond his services in the tent. At first he was annoyed by Zevran's braggadocio, then pleased at his desire to remain NSA (no strings attached), and touched when Zevran round-aboutly asked him to stop his sleeping with Morrigan (Aeazel is bisexual).
In fact, out of game, I was growing anxious that Zevran was not asking me this beforehand, though Morrigan had already derisively noted my relationship to Zevran. It is hard to explicate whether my heart was bleeding all over my sleeve because I wanted to see if Zevran would continue this relationship, offering me the first queer long-term relationship in an RPG, or if I felt Aeazel would actually fall in love with the Antivan Crow who had made an attempt at his life.
However, as the relationship continued, it became more clear that Aeazel, based on the circumstances of his origin story, wanted these friends. He despised people because he had been shut away and told they would fear him, and now he was able to have people respect and honor him. They also weren't helpless and capable of making their own decisions. They could leave him. Zevran loved him.
So when Zevran quickly condemned the initial step of allowing the Tevinter mage to abscond with the elven slaves, I knew what Aeazel would choose, despite the fact that he would be offered more power through a blood magic ritual.
These two interactions gave me room for reflection, paralyzing me with the options. I would be able to finish the game fairly easily either way. Tanks other than Shale existed, the loss of Zevran meant that I would just use another person for my DPS. Yet, both characters meant more than their respective roles to me. It was easy to get involved and care about their stories because they had them.
They had lives outside of what happened with my character, they had their own motives, their own desires, and were written to be fully-dimensioned. To see their positive approval ratings meant Aeazel would learn more about their stories, would open up new conversation options. In an almost Pavlovian style, my initial reactions to events was countered by the desire to see their approval ratings. In many respects, this is switching one set of rules/sliders for another.
However, instead of having an overarching good/evil hierarchy that everyone could invisibly detect because they could see the 1s and 0s a la The Matrix when they saw me, all that really mattered was my personal interactions, which not only enhanced my giggling over the decisions I made with characters, but over the decision on which characters I would take with me.
BioWare has been building up to this steadily, as I am just now halfway through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and am a good ten or so hours into Mass Effect, and can tell that having certain companions with me during certain worlds and quests has an effect, and nets me extra dialog options. But it has thus far encouraged me to 'game' the system so that I get all possible 'key points' with characters.
Perhaps this is possible with Dragon Age, but I felt myself more invested in the characters because of a set of numbers that readily told me how reactions were poised. It is, of course, still possible to game that system, but I, in particular, had no desire to do so.
Acting the part of Aeazel meant considering the other actors on stage for their own stakes, and not just for his personal gain. If the game had a morality scale, he would very easily have been evil, but considering how he changed in this game, I am not sure such a label or assertion has much merit.
22.12.09
5.12.09
Zevran Arainai
Welcome to VBR's LGBT Spotlight, an on-going, non-consecutive series highlighting my stumbling across LGBT characters in videogames, explicating their use as a character, and examining how their sexuality is treated. This particular post will contain spoilers for Dragon Age: Origins.
Zevran Arainai is hired by Loghain to assassinate your character, the Grey Warden. After the initial encounter, the player can choose whether to grant him his life, or kill him where he has fallen in his botched attempt. Granting him his life also nets you a companion, with whom you can choose to have sexual intercourse, regardless of your own sex.
The initials interactions with Zevran would have many believe him to be a rather stereotyped gay or bisexual male: he's easy to bed, willing to sleep with many people without romantic attachment, and, as has been the case for non-heterosexual males in many media over time, cast in a villainous light.
Except this is only the initial interaction with him. Reading over a forum thread on the BioWare Social Network, in the Gay Wardens group, many people have not been the biggest fans of him. The divide seems to be along the lines of, "I like Zevran as he has been written, but I would personally never go for his type."
While I will not be discussing my own type here, I find it important to note that for my own playing of games, I do not play myself, but treat my characters as a role to inhabit on a stage--the stage and play being encompassed by the game. For this reason, my amoral, self-serving mage got along rather well with Zevran.
And yet, Zevran made him reconsider a decision (one of two characters to do this to him, which I consider brilliant). Upon going to the Alienage in Denerim, the player is tasked with finding out why the revolt happened in this part of town, which caused Loghain to essentially cordon it off from the rest of the city. Advancing in the story finds that people from the Tevinter Imperium had Loghain initiate a lock-down of the Alienage because of a deal struck between them where Loghain was receiving coin (to fund his own campaign against the player) to sell off slaves--elven slaves.
My character, being a blood mage, received an offer from the leader of this group to let him go with the slaves and he would use his own magic to bolster my abilities. After initially wanting to go along with this proposition, Zevran stepped in and told me to look into these elves' eyes and tell me I could condemn them to slavery. I ended up killing the leader.
Zevran is not amoral, though he may appear to be at first. This interaction highlights many things about his character that are never explicitly stated: Zevran's own past has influenced who he is. While normally irreverent and flippant, his stance on this issue brings to light that his past is something that has had an effect on him, and like any good assassin (and the lesbian romance option, Leliana), he has learned to put forth an act.
To expect an assassin to reveal his own character, even if he is part of your group, seems folly. Zevran's actual personality became among my favorites because he was able to roll with punches, accept humor at his expense, and offer the same back. He is, in many ways, a larger metaphor for the masks, closets, and facades many people in the gay community put on to this day to be able to function in society.
Here is a young elf male who was brought into the world by a sex worker, sold into indentured servitude to a group of assassins, and finally meets someone who accepts him for himself, not for what he can provide. His role in society had been mapped out as an assassin, and it is the player who can bend that path and give him a new life. If he were not an assassin, he'd be seen as a lesser citizen due to his being an elf, which plays an important role in the construction of his character.
Zevran is a victim of his circumstances, and if the character can establish a bond, he will eschew his past. He no longer becomes just a one-dimensional figure who sees everything as an innuendo to be made and enjoys the thrill of the hunt, but explodes into a character who is afraid of exploring a portion of his life he has been led to believe could never be within his grasp.
Which is exactly how the romance plays out. Upon refusing the player sex, Zevran starts to admit he does not know how to deal with the feelings he has established. Considering his usual bravado and over-confidence, it is a sign that, again, he has been wearing a mask and playing a role.
Antiva, from how the game portrays the country in its codices and talks with Zevran, is a place of appearances. There is a ruling class, though they are no more than mere puppets. It is the Antivan Crows, the assassin group to whom Zevran belongs, that rule the country. They are the reason no one assaults a seemingly weak country with no real standing army, and they must put on an appearance of having no weaknesses, using guises and subterfuge to their advantage.
So, yes, Zevran initially is portrayed as a superficial stereotype, but so is every character; the problem therefore lies in the fact that the LGBT community is more aware of how these stereotypes have been used negatively in the past to create a stock character. However, from my initial play of the game, I would venture to say that none of the companions in the game are wholly a stock character, though some may be more problematic than others. They all have a sustained narrative that the character affects in some manner.
For instance, it is intriguing to note how subtle factors like race and gender expectations shape how people feel about Zevran, and also feed into the way they feel about his representation. Elves through the Tolkien-inspired fantasy world are considered lithe, less muscular, and by this rote, more traditionally feminine in their portrayal. The fact that Zevran is not human already puts him at a disadvantage for many, particularly in a gay community that now puts on a face of being more 'straight-acting' and masculine.
Zevran is not really feminine, displaying traits of sleazy bravado that borders on machismo, and fitting more into a stereotype of a Don Juan. His sexuality and openness to sex are products of his own upbringing, from which I can speak personally as someone who was raised in a sex-positive family, for whom the notion of only ever having sex with one person was a bizarre concept. This brings into question the morality of a society, and like the game's decisions, the 'moral good' has no clear-cut path, and begs to be brought into focus as something that has no particular merit in terms of quantifiable stats.
While Zevran is easy to bed, he feels no easier to win over into a romantic relationship than the other romantic options, who all require care brought to their individual desires and backgrounds. This fact alone makes me appreciate the way the male same-sex romance was included as a romantic option no different than any other.
Zevran Arainai is hired by Loghain to assassinate your character, the Grey Warden. After the initial encounter, the player can choose whether to grant him his life, or kill him where he has fallen in his botched attempt. Granting him his life also nets you a companion, with whom you can choose to have sexual intercourse, regardless of your own sex.The initials interactions with Zevran would have many believe him to be a rather stereotyped gay or bisexual male: he's easy to bed, willing to sleep with many people without romantic attachment, and, as has been the case for non-heterosexual males in many media over time, cast in a villainous light.
Except this is only the initial interaction with him. Reading over a forum thread on the BioWare Social Network, in the Gay Wardens group, many people have not been the biggest fans of him. The divide seems to be along the lines of, "I like Zevran as he has been written, but I would personally never go for his type."
While I will not be discussing my own type here, I find it important to note that for my own playing of games, I do not play myself, but treat my characters as a role to inhabit on a stage--the stage and play being encompassed by the game. For this reason, my amoral, self-serving mage got along rather well with Zevran.
And yet, Zevran made him reconsider a decision (one of two characters to do this to him, which I consider brilliant). Upon going to the Alienage in Denerim, the player is tasked with finding out why the revolt happened in this part of town, which caused Loghain to essentially cordon it off from the rest of the city. Advancing in the story finds that people from the Tevinter Imperium had Loghain initiate a lock-down of the Alienage because of a deal struck between them where Loghain was receiving coin (to fund his own campaign against the player) to sell off slaves--elven slaves.
My character, being a blood mage, received an offer from the leader of this group to let him go with the slaves and he would use his own magic to bolster my abilities. After initially wanting to go along with this proposition, Zevran stepped in and told me to look into these elves' eyes and tell me I could condemn them to slavery. I ended up killing the leader.
Zevran is not amoral, though he may appear to be at first. This interaction highlights many things about his character that are never explicitly stated: Zevran's own past has influenced who he is. While normally irreverent and flippant, his stance on this issue brings to light that his past is something that has had an effect on him, and like any good assassin (and the lesbian romance option, Leliana), he has learned to put forth an act.
To expect an assassin to reveal his own character, even if he is part of your group, seems folly. Zevran's actual personality became among my favorites because he was able to roll with punches, accept humor at his expense, and offer the same back. He is, in many ways, a larger metaphor for the masks, closets, and facades many people in the gay community put on to this day to be able to function in society.
Here is a young elf male who was brought into the world by a sex worker, sold into indentured servitude to a group of assassins, and finally meets someone who accepts him for himself, not for what he can provide. His role in society had been mapped out as an assassin, and it is the player who can bend that path and give him a new life. If he were not an assassin, he'd be seen as a lesser citizen due to his being an elf, which plays an important role in the construction of his character.
Zevran is a victim of his circumstances, and if the character can establish a bond, he will eschew his past. He no longer becomes just a one-dimensional figure who sees everything as an innuendo to be made and enjoys the thrill of the hunt, but explodes into a character who is afraid of exploring a portion of his life he has been led to believe could never be within his grasp.
Which is exactly how the romance plays out. Upon refusing the player sex, Zevran starts to admit he does not know how to deal with the feelings he has established. Considering his usual bravado and over-confidence, it is a sign that, again, he has been wearing a mask and playing a role.
Antiva, from how the game portrays the country in its codices and talks with Zevran, is a place of appearances. There is a ruling class, though they are no more than mere puppets. It is the Antivan Crows, the assassin group to whom Zevran belongs, that rule the country. They are the reason no one assaults a seemingly weak country with no real standing army, and they must put on an appearance of having no weaknesses, using guises and subterfuge to their advantage.
So, yes, Zevran initially is portrayed as a superficial stereotype, but so is every character; the problem therefore lies in the fact that the LGBT community is more aware of how these stereotypes have been used negatively in the past to create a stock character. However, from my initial play of the game, I would venture to say that none of the companions in the game are wholly a stock character, though some may be more problematic than others. They all have a sustained narrative that the character affects in some manner.
For instance, it is intriguing to note how subtle factors like race and gender expectations shape how people feel about Zevran, and also feed into the way they feel about his representation. Elves through the Tolkien-inspired fantasy world are considered lithe, less muscular, and by this rote, more traditionally feminine in their portrayal. The fact that Zevran is not human already puts him at a disadvantage for many, particularly in a gay community that now puts on a face of being more 'straight-acting' and masculine.
Zevran is not really feminine, displaying traits of sleazy bravado that borders on machismo, and fitting more into a stereotype of a Don Juan. His sexuality and openness to sex are products of his own upbringing, from which I can speak personally as someone who was raised in a sex-positive family, for whom the notion of only ever having sex with one person was a bizarre concept. This brings into question the morality of a society, and like the game's decisions, the 'moral good' has no clear-cut path, and begs to be brought into focus as something that has no particular merit in terms of quantifiable stats.
While Zevran is easy to bed, he feels no easier to win over into a romantic relationship than the other romantic options, who all require care brought to their individual desires and backgrounds. This fact alone makes me appreciate the way the male same-sex romance was included as a romantic option no different than any other.
2.12.09
Apologies and Housekeeping
First, I wish to apologize.
In my post FAGS, I wrote a paragraph which was both erroneous and damaging to my point:
I do not absolve Infinity Ward or Activision of any culpability in this. Whether or not the developers or marketing team, or a combination of the two, is fully part of this is not the point to me. The point to me is FAGS. If that word were a certain word starting with N (used against African Americans), another starting with S (people of Latin American descent), or perhaps C (generally used against Asians, specifically the Chinese), we'd be having a different discussion (and the use of the words pussies made me realize that I was going to possibly use a C word used against females, that is, unfortunately, likely considering their use of the word pussies). The use of FAGS is rather popular on Xbox Live, however. We come to accept it as just something that boys do while mocking them.
Avalon's Willow appropriately called me out on this, and it does engage in unacceptable behavior. Specifically, in oppression Olympics. Considering the racism still present in videogames and media the world over, the paragraph makes certain assumptions which I cannot back, nor which have any validity.
My original intent and feelings about the issue remain. The use of fags in the video was a gross misstep, but that particular paragraph did nothing but dilute my point with insipid rhetoric.
I reiterate, I apologize and hope to not step into the same blindness again.
Second, I have started writing for The Border House, a collective of diverse personalities, sexualities, sexes, genders, races, et cetera to:
celebrate diversity in gaming from a wide variety of cultural angles. We aim to be a friendly space for women, feminists, people of color, gay, lesbian, transgender individuals, those with disabilities, and any other marginalized group and their allies to read news and opinion on and discuss video games, MMORPGs, virtual worlds, and social media. Our goal is to provide up to date relevant news and opinion journalism without cultural bias and using a feminist lens.
Regardless of my own involvement, I believe many people who read this blog would also appreciate such a space.
Of late I have fallen off my post weekly horse, but hope to crawl back on. I imagine a portion of my posts from here forward will also be discussing my own writing and further pressing points. I like to view blogs as a place to put forth words that can be discussed and turn into a conversation.
In my post FAGS, I wrote a paragraph which was both erroneous and damaging to my point:
I do not absolve Infinity Ward or Activision of any culpability in this. Whether or not the developers or marketing team, or a combination of the two, is fully part of this is not the point to me. The point to me is FAGS. If that word were a certain word starting with N (used against African Americans), another starting with S (people of Latin American descent), or perhaps C (generally used against Asians, specifically the Chinese), we'd be having a different discussion (and the use of the words pussies made me realize that I was going to possibly use a C word used against females, that is, unfortunately, likely considering their use of the word pussies). The use of FAGS is rather popular on Xbox Live, however. We come to accept it as just something that boys do while mocking them.
Avalon's Willow appropriately called me out on this, and it does engage in unacceptable behavior. Specifically, in oppression Olympics. Considering the racism still present in videogames and media the world over, the paragraph makes certain assumptions which I cannot back, nor which have any validity.
My original intent and feelings about the issue remain. The use of fags in the video was a gross misstep, but that particular paragraph did nothing but dilute my point with insipid rhetoric.
I reiterate, I apologize and hope to not step into the same blindness again.
Second, I have started writing for The Border House, a collective of diverse personalities, sexualities, sexes, genders, races, et cetera to:
celebrate diversity in gaming from a wide variety of cultural angles. We aim to be a friendly space for women, feminists, people of color, gay, lesbian, transgender individuals, those with disabilities, and any other marginalized group and their allies to read news and opinion on and discuss video games, MMORPGs, virtual worlds, and social media. Our goal is to provide up to date relevant news and opinion journalism without cultural bias and using a feminist lens.
Regardless of my own involvement, I believe many people who read this blog would also appreciate such a space.
Of late I have fallen off my post weekly horse, but hope to crawl back on. I imagine a portion of my posts from here forward will also be discussing my own writing and further pressing points. I like to view blogs as a place to put forth words that can be discussed and turn into a conversation.
12.11.09
Dragon Age: White Origins
I will note that while I am critical of Dragon Age in this post, I am enjoying the game and it has taken over most of my gaming time.
Ronia is a character I make in most games where I can customize. She is the first 'best friend' I made who made me realize the impact of a true friendship based on respect and admiration. She is both similar enough to me while having a very distinct personality from my own that playing a game while imagining how she would see things presents a delight. Like many, I started creating characters in the pre-released generator that BioWare provided for Dragon Age: Origins. Ronia was the second of these characters. I have not mentioned it yet, but Ronia is black.
Ronia has great, curly hair that I wanted in game. Nothing doing. Okay. Maybe something close? Nope. My options for non-European centric hair for both sexes were cornrows, cropped hair, or bald. I went with bald, because I know real Ronia doesn't use chemical relaxers and straighteners, and this character would be no different. In general, the hair options in the game are wanting, for a POC they are beyond wanting, and border on the non-existent. Unfortunately, this is nothing new in games.
Seeking Avalon has written much more about this issue, and expresses aptly other issues I have with the character generator and race. The same blog also explores the issues I have with Tolkien and how this game falls into the old tropes.
I will continue by examining the game as I have played it. After selecting Human Noble Warrior and assigning skills, talents and attributes, I was given a brief video explaining my origin. Then I show up in a castle with my father talking to me. My white father (pictured left). Proceeding, I meet my white mother. My white brother.
As a noble, I find it difficult to believe I am adopted, but I think back on my other character, the mage who is a blown up personification of my misanthropy. Perhaps it might be true that I was adopted and not one person mentions it, but that does not explain this troubling question: Have I seen any POC in this game? If so, no one notable. Certainly not enough to explain my presence.
What I am presented with is another Tolkien-esque, Eurocentric fantasy game that has a dark-skinned menace, with all the 'good' races being white, even if I have the option of opting out of such.
However, the nail in the coffin is hammered some more when I begin to realize that the game has a lot to say about race. I was rather taken aback when I first met Sten, asked him about the Qunari, and he told me my ignorance was my own fault, not his (nor his problem to correct).
The non-human races, both dwarves and elves, have strong allusions to race problems and issues we know in our own world: a belief of inferiority leading to enslavement and being treated as lesser, ghettos, isolationism, a main religion that subjugates others', et cetera. In fact, there's a lot to explicate in terms of what that says in a rather smart manner, but is for another post.
All these parallels to racial tensions and mistreatment are just that, however: abstract reflections of what we know in our own world. As soon as I create a POC and start playing him or her, it strikes me when I see no other POC and no one comments on it, but they are willing to see elves as slaves. If we are talking immersive gaming, I am already shunted out of any role playing, because I was never allowed to enter the role.
There are many ways to address such issues, but ignoring it shows a big gaping hole of logic. If the game wanted to have a cast that is almost all white (I have not fully played the game thus far, but the front-end of it is packed with them), then turn off the option to select skin tone in the character generator. That is a poor option, and not one I would endorse.
Then it behooves putting NPCs of color in the game. Since most major characters look to be designed individually, this would merely require someone to decide that this particular NPC will not be white. The character generator already exists (flawed as it is), and it tells us that we can choose these options for ourselves, after all.
I do want mature games, and that includes games that focus less on blood spatters that cling to me ridiculously while distracting from the scenes in which I am interacting (yes, I did turn this off, as it was making me giggle at its ludicrousness) and more on making a world in which I can believe the inherent logic concerning not just the races as it concerns humans, elves, and dwarves, but also the inclusion of a variety of skin colors. BioWare set out to make a game to divorce itself from others' stories, and create something original, but they still brought the Tolkien-esque privilege with them. Which is odd, as right before this I was in the middle of playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and was impressed with how many POC I encountered.
When someone creating a story decides that it is okay to talk at length about race issues but ignore the fact that as the only person of color in the world, I might feel a bit alienated (and I'm white), we've reached a point where I believe the developers wanted to say, "Your skin color doesn't matter! We won't treat you any differently! You are Human! Elf! Dwarf!"
Yet all I hear is, "While you may want to create POC, we are still blinded by our own privilege and didn't think you might want to see others!"
Ronia is a character I make in most games where I can customize. She is the first 'best friend' I made who made me realize the impact of a true friendship based on respect and admiration. She is both similar enough to me while having a very distinct personality from my own that playing a game while imagining how she would see things presents a delight. Like many, I started creating characters in the pre-released generator that BioWare provided for Dragon Age: Origins. Ronia was the second of these characters. I have not mentioned it yet, but Ronia is black.
Ronia has great, curly hair that I wanted in game. Nothing doing. Okay. Maybe something close? Nope. My options for non-European centric hair for both sexes were cornrows, cropped hair, or bald. I went with bald, because I know real Ronia doesn't use chemical relaxers and straighteners, and this character would be no different. In general, the hair options in the game are wanting, for a POC they are beyond wanting, and border on the non-existent. Unfortunately, this is nothing new in games.
Seeking Avalon has written much more about this issue, and expresses aptly other issues I have with the character generator and race. The same blog also explores the issues I have with Tolkien and how this game falls into the old tropes.
I will continue by examining the game as I have played it. After selecting Human Noble Warrior and assigning skills, talents and attributes, I was given a brief video explaining my origin. Then I show up in a castle with my father talking to me. My white father (pictured left). Proceeding, I meet my white mother. My white brother.As a noble, I find it difficult to believe I am adopted, but I think back on my other character, the mage who is a blown up personification of my misanthropy. Perhaps it might be true that I was adopted and not one person mentions it, but that does not explain this troubling question: Have I seen any POC in this game? If so, no one notable. Certainly not enough to explain my presence.
What I am presented with is another Tolkien-esque, Eurocentric fantasy game that has a dark-skinned menace, with all the 'good' races being white, even if I have the option of opting out of such.
However, the nail in the coffin is hammered some more when I begin to realize that the game has a lot to say about race. I was rather taken aback when I first met Sten, asked him about the Qunari, and he told me my ignorance was my own fault, not his (nor his problem to correct).
The non-human races, both dwarves and elves, have strong allusions to race problems and issues we know in our own world: a belief of inferiority leading to enslavement and being treated as lesser, ghettos, isolationism, a main religion that subjugates others', et cetera. In fact, there's a lot to explicate in terms of what that says in a rather smart manner, but is for another post.
All these parallels to racial tensions and mistreatment are just that, however: abstract reflections of what we know in our own world. As soon as I create a POC and start playing him or her, it strikes me when I see no other POC and no one comments on it, but they are willing to see elves as slaves. If we are talking immersive gaming, I am already shunted out of any role playing, because I was never allowed to enter the role.
There are many ways to address such issues, but ignoring it shows a big gaping hole of logic. If the game wanted to have a cast that is almost all white (I have not fully played the game thus far, but the front-end of it is packed with them), then turn off the option to select skin tone in the character generator. That is a poor option, and not one I would endorse.
Then it behooves putting NPCs of color in the game. Since most major characters look to be designed individually, this would merely require someone to decide that this particular NPC will not be white. The character generator already exists (flawed as it is), and it tells us that we can choose these options for ourselves, after all.
I do want mature games, and that includes games that focus less on blood spatters that cling to me ridiculously while distracting from the scenes in which I am interacting (yes, I did turn this off, as it was making me giggle at its ludicrousness) and more on making a world in which I can believe the inherent logic concerning not just the races as it concerns humans, elves, and dwarves, but also the inclusion of a variety of skin colors. BioWare set out to make a game to divorce itself from others' stories, and create something original, but they still brought the Tolkien-esque privilege with them. Which is odd, as right before this I was in the middle of playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and was impressed with how many POC I encountered.
When someone creating a story decides that it is okay to talk at length about race issues but ignore the fact that as the only person of color in the world, I might feel a bit alienated (and I'm white), we've reached a point where I believe the developers wanted to say, "Your skin color doesn't matter! We won't treat you any differently! You are Human! Elf! Dwarf!"
Yet all I hear is, "While you may want to create POC, we are still blinded by our own privilege and didn't think you might want to see others!"
31.10.09
FAGS
A while ago I made a conscious choice not to address games that have yet to be released, though I never formally codified such a rule. That lacking of a formal code is what brings me here today after Infinity Ward's latest video for Modern Warfare 2 (about which I was slightly interested after leaked footage of the terrorist mission). After a night of sleeping on the matter and reading other persons' opinions, I wanted to record my own for both my own sake and an explanation why such a seemingly innocuous video makes me hurl angry expletives at my monitor. Mostly, I realize this is preaching to the choir, but I've really had enough of such a flippant attitude from the gaming community in which I've been involved since I was four years old.
[At this point I would ask you to stop and read my apology here. This paragraph was initially much more damaging to the overall point of what I was trying to say, and I wish to both learn from and show others what to avoid in such discussions.]
FAG is a word I've had to live with since middle school, when I did not display the proper masculine characteristics that were expected of me in the middle of Tennessee. Hurled at my back, it made me stay in the closet three years longer than I would have otherwise.
FAG is a term that was screamed at my back angrily as I walked down the halls of a high school in Tennessee or down the streets in any city I have lived thereafter, deciding that yes, I was genderqueer, and I was going to dress the way I felt.
FAG was written in permanent marker on my dorm room door at Wabash College when I went to visit a friend at Oberlin one weekend.
FAG came through my dorm room telephone around 2 AM nightly for a whole week and intermittently through the next four years at Wabash. This would be accompanied with harassment about seeing me at a gay club in Indianapolis, then insinuating sex acts and being very crude with me.
FAG is the sound of three men yelling from a car and deciding to jump out, punch me to the sidewalk, and kick me, leaving scars on my knee that still persist, and that comes up every time I wear something that shows them to the general public.
The point? The point is that the word incites equal parts anger and pain in me. The word used casually when not referring to a bundle of sticks (or a cigarette on certain islands) is not excusable in any form, by whoever might wish to use it, less so a rather large videogame company.
There is no attitude today different than any other that regards an insensitive demeanor in males. It has always been the excuse of persons that others, the victims of such language or their friends, are taking things too seriously. That the company using it is not the problem, the problem lies in general society; I have friends who are 'insert word' and they are not offended by it; 'insert word' is used by the community itself, so I should be able to use it!
The problem, of course, is based in a general cultural milieu, but that does not mean we can and should not call out a large company when it uses such language. It sets an example and a precedent to continue such usage.
Edit: The video has been pulled, and I have had a pleasant exchanging of words and an apology from Robert Bowling.
[At this point I would ask you to stop and read my apology here. This paragraph was initially much more damaging to the overall point of what I was trying to say, and I wish to both learn from and show others what to avoid in such discussions.]
FAG is a word I've had to live with since middle school, when I did not display the proper masculine characteristics that were expected of me in the middle of Tennessee. Hurled at my back, it made me stay in the closet three years longer than I would have otherwise.
FAG is a term that was screamed at my back angrily as I walked down the halls of a high school in Tennessee or down the streets in any city I have lived thereafter, deciding that yes, I was genderqueer, and I was going to dress the way I felt.
FAG was written in permanent marker on my dorm room door at Wabash College when I went to visit a friend at Oberlin one weekend.
FAG came through my dorm room telephone around 2 AM nightly for a whole week and intermittently through the next four years at Wabash. This would be accompanied with harassment about seeing me at a gay club in Indianapolis, then insinuating sex acts and being very crude with me.
FAG is the sound of three men yelling from a car and deciding to jump out, punch me to the sidewalk, and kick me, leaving scars on my knee that still persist, and that comes up every time I wear something that shows them to the general public.
The point? The point is that the word incites equal parts anger and pain in me. The word used casually when not referring to a bundle of sticks (or a cigarette on certain islands) is not excusable in any form, by whoever might wish to use it, less so a rather large videogame company.
There is no attitude today different than any other that regards an insensitive demeanor in males. It has always been the excuse of persons that others, the victims of such language or their friends, are taking things too seriously. That the company using it is not the problem, the problem lies in general society; I have friends who are 'insert word' and they are not offended by it; 'insert word' is used by the community itself, so I should be able to use it!
The problem, of course, is based in a general cultural milieu, but that does not mean we can and should not call out a large company when it uses such language. It sets an example and a precedent to continue such usage.
Edit: The video has been pulled, and I have had a pleasant exchanging of words and an apology from Robert Bowling.
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