No, it's really not. The fact is, this is a valid point, and even if YOU don't think so, the fact that enough people have voiced their concerns means that it merits discussion.
The difference between this and, say, the Mass Effect alien sex controversy, is WHY people are offended by it. In the ME case, it was more of a "think of the children!" argument, where people had a problem with the supposed prurient interest factor. It turned out to be nil, and anyone who thought differently had very obviously not played the game. The fact that the RE controversy is coming from people who have played it (or at least the offending parts enough to describe them adequately) gives their arguments much more weight, IMHO. Plus, the fact of the matter is that race is still a huge deal in the US (Obama's election didn't magically solve that problem). Think of it this way: people were outraged last weekend when, during the Superbowl, some Comcast stations accidentally cut to 30 seconds of porn during the 4th quarter. Were people pissed? Sure. Now, if instead of porn, they had cut to a tape of a bunch of white guys violently beating on a black guy, do you think there would be more outrage, or less?
Capcom has always been an interesting company to me, as their games have very much kept the Japanese flavor long after many others have either gone out of business or abandoned it. Hell, Dead Rising was chock full of characters that were very obviously grotesque parodies of American archetypes; that whole game, to me, felt like I was looking at America through foreign eyes. The fact that they might have somewhat missed the boat on this issue isn't surprising, but I do think it's worth discussing. And the plain truth of it is, if games are ever to be taken seriously as an art form, then these discussions are completely and utterly necessary.
Hyperion on
XBL: Jhnny Cash PSN: Jhnny_Cash Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/hypephb 3DS: 0619-4582-9630 Nintendo Network ID: DBrickashaw
You might know me as D'Brickashaw on Steam.
I can understand the thing about grass skirts and spears.... that's a little bit much.
when someone is in a sack getting beaten, in the context and time period of the game, and the turmoil in Africa, it's a realistic event that is meant to add to the environment and immersion.
Grass skirts and spears? I don't know so much about that. How likely would that be if you were in Africa today? I really don't know.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
I have a friend who I talk with about this sort of stuff, who is black. Obviously since I'm white it's really hard to know how it would feel for that sort of thing. I mean, 99% of all games the bad guys that I shoot are normally white. Now here comes this game that introduces people from Africa and we have to shoot them as a white character.
My friend said it shouldn't be a big deal overall, but it will probably end up that way. He played the demo with me and said it was a little odd at first because he's never really played a game where he's shooting other black people. But really, it's a moot point. Because if they would have colored their skin white, it would be the exact same game.
But people will make a HUGE deal out of this issue and Capcom will get hurt by it I'm sure.
Your friend actually notices that kinds of stuff? I just shoot at the things that are going to rip my friggin' face off, regardless of color/(alien)race they're supposed to be.
I'm glad I can immerse myself to the point where it doesn't even matter.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
...wouldn't his eyes not being red mean he's just a black dude?
So racism against Spanish people is okay because they weren't treated like animals by white people?
The Spanish people are a race now? The villagers were implied to have been perfectly normal people in an extremely rural area... with a large military base and a huge castle. Nobody accused RE4 of having a good plot. I think Spain is generally touchy about the inquisition and the dungeon might have used that kind of imagery. I don't see much else. I don't think many people have any stereotypes of Spanish people other than as speaking in funny accents, being sexy, and the inquisition.
Hispanic is a race, yes. I just don't see how murdering police officers and burning them on pitchforks is more offensive than some Africans kicking a bag with an unknown animal in it.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
...wouldn't his eyes not being red mean he's just a black dude?
That's what he means, yeah.
unknown animal in it.
Or person. I mean, he COULD be white right? We don't know.
If that was the case, if it was a white person, it would be okay and it wouldn't be racism and everyone could go home. I hope it's a white guy in the sack.
There are actually a decent amount of relatively isolated indigenous groups in Peru. There is probably a reason why they didn't set that scene in Africa.
I would have bolded other parts of the article as what I consider to be the problem.
Since the Majini are not undead corpses, and are capable of driving vehicles, handling weapons and even using guns, it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory...
It's perfectly possible to use Africa as the setting for a powerful and troubling horror story, but when you're applying the concept of people being turned into savage monsters onto an actual ethnic group that has long been misrepresented as savage monsters, it's hard to see how elements of race weren't going to be a factor.
The problem is not "OMG a white guy is killing black guys!!!" It's that they've played into a lot of the racist stereotypes that we've been trying to get rid of for a long time. From the impressions that I've read, the biggest problem is that the Africans are never really shown to be human, but are always depicted as evil and animalistic, which are the exact same views that persisted in Europe during colonial times. If Capcom had portrayed these guys as more human at first, and then you saw more of the transformation, that would be one thing. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Like the article said, it's not impossible to use Africa as a setting for a survival horror game like this, but you have to be careful with how you treat it due to the way that Americans and Europeans treated Africans for hundreds of years. Capcom didn't do that, and it'll likely cause a firestorm in the media thanks to the popularity of the franchise.
The trouble here is that everybody involved -- from your typical PAer to N'Gai Croal -- can recognize that there's no actual racist intent in any of this, but it's still causing controversy because of "how it looks". Nobody is saying "this is bad because it is racist", it's always "this is bad because it could be mistakenly perceived as racist by people less familiar with the source material".
That's a motherfucker of a slippery slope right there.
That's because the only people aware of the game right now are those looking forward to it. Day fucking one, I guarantee you, some soccer mom is going to pick it up for her 8-year-old, take it home, watch 30 seconds, and then call her local news station.
I have a feeling the fervor over this is not going to be anywhere in the same fucking league as Mass Effect sex or even GTA. You and I know it's likely not intended to be racist, but you and I also know Mass Effect wasn't an alien-lesbian-sex simulator, but that's exactly how the media talked about it.
I'm not one normally prone to slippery slope issues like this, but I think I'll be picking this up day 1 as a precaution. I can honestly see this one getting pulled from shelves over the potential perfect shit-storm.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
...wouldn't his eyes not being red mean he's just a black dude?
That's what he means, yeah.
So what he's saying is "The clip will show Christ curb-stomping a black dude, but you can't see he's not a zombie, so it looks like it's just a black dude"?
Kids, I hate to break it to you but most of modern day Africa is like that. I'm a young South African and not a day goes by that there isn't some fucked up barbaric frontpage or news report making the rounds. You want grown men raping babies because they believe it'll cure them of Aids? (thanks, rural myths!) You want angry mobs burning people to death? (because vigilante justice based on heresay is perfectly fine!). I'm not even gonna go into the fucking hell that is North Africa. It's the dark ages up there in a very real and very brutal way.
Just fucking take my word for it: ignorant uneducated masses are every bit as dangerous as a fictional zombie horde.
I would have bolded other parts of the article as what I consider to be the problem.
Since the Majini are not undead corpses, and are capable of driving vehicles, handling weapons and even using guns, it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory...
It's perfectly possible to use Africa as the setting for a powerful and troubling horror story, but when you're applying the concept of people being turned into savage monsters onto an actual ethnic group that has long been misrepresented as savage monsters, it's hard to see how elements of race weren't going to be a factor.
The problem is not "OMG a white guy is killing black guys!!!" It's that they've played into a lot of the racist stereotypes that we've been trying to get rid of for a long time. From the impressions that I've read, the biggest problem is that the Africans are never really shown to be human, but are always depicted as evil and animalistic, which are the exact same views that persisted in Europe during colonial times. If Capcom had portrayed these guys as more human at first, and then you saw more of the transformation, that would be one thing. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Like the article said, it's not impossible to use Africa as a setting for a survival horror game like this, but you have to be careful with how you treat it due to the way that Americans and Europeans treated Africans for hundreds of years. Capcom didn't do that, and it'll likely cause a firestorm in the media thanks to the popularity of the franchise.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
...wouldn't his eyes not being red mean he's just a black dude?
That's what he means, yeah.
So what he's saying is "The clip will show Christ curb-stomping a black dude, but you can't see he's not a zombie, so it looks like it's just a black dude"?
Hahahahaha, that would be worse.
darleysam on
0
Options
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
You know, they wouldn't have had a single problem if they left all the "zombies" as Africans as long as the girl was a Native African herself and placed a positive light native Africans them.
I don't know enough about the game to say for sure... but wasn't this what they did?
Its more tasteless than it is racist. Its not taking on anti-black agenda. It just shows a complete lack of knowledge of the material they're handling.
So racism against Spanish people is okay because they weren't treated like animals by white people?
The Spanish people are a race now? The villagers were implied to have been perfectly normal people in an extremely rural area... with a large military base and a huge castle. Nobody accused RE4 of having a good plot. I think Spain is generally touchy about the inquisition and the dungeon might have used that kind of imagery. I don't see much else. I don't think many people have any stereotypes of Spanish people other than as speaking in funny accents, being sexy, and the inquisition.
Hispanic is a race, yes. I just don't see how murdering police officers and burning them on pitchforks is more offensive than some Africans kicking a bag with an unknown animal in it.
There's a history of higher racial tension dealing with blacks, than with hispanics. Does it make racism against blacks worse than against hispanics? No. But if you can't see why tensions would be higher in this case than the previous game, then you're missing the forest for the trees.
The trouble here is that everybody involved -- from your typical PAer to N'Gai Croal -- can recognize that there's no actual racist intent in any of this, but it's still causing controversy because of "how it looks". Nobody is saying "this is bad because it is racist", it's always "this is bad because it could be mistakenly perceived as racist by people less familiar with the source material".
That's a motherfucker of a slippery slope right there.
That's because the only people aware of the game right now are those looking forward to it. Day fucking one, I guarantee you, some soccer mom is going to pick it up for her 8-year-old, take it home, watch 30 seconds, and then call her local news station.
Didn't happen with Farcry 2.
Won't happen here.
Stop worrying so much.
The_Scarab on
0
Options
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I would have bolded other parts of the article as what I consider to be the problem.
Since the Majini are not undead corpses, and are capable of driving vehicles, handling weapons and even using guns, it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory...
It's perfectly possible to use Africa as the setting for a powerful and troubling horror story, but when you're applying the concept of people being turned into savage monsters onto an actual ethnic group that has long been misrepresented as savage monsters, it's hard to see how elements of race weren't going to be a factor.
The problem is not "OMG a white guy is killing black guys!!!" It's that they've played into a lot of the racist stereotypes that we've been trying to get rid of for a long time. From the impressions that I've read, the biggest problem is that the Africans are never really shown to be human, but are always depicted as evil and animalistic, which are the exact same views that persisted in Europe during colonial times. If Capcom had portrayed these guys as more human at first, and then you saw more of the transformation, that would be one thing. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Like the article said, it's not impossible to use Africa as a setting for a survival horror game like this, but you have to be careful with how you treat it due to the way that Americans and Europeans treated Africans for hundreds of years. Capcom didn't do that, and it'll likely cause a firestorm in the media thanks to the popularity of the franchise.
This, basically.
The bolded comment. Have you seen it yourself in the game yet, or are you just taking someone's shitty word for it?
If a game were to be taking place in Nazi Germany, where we'd see a shitton of racism, would people through a fit over things that actually happened being depicted in video games? Things get shown in movies from time to time about the realities of the world.
It's going to be on local news first, then it'll spread like wildfire. I can guarantee it. The clip will show Chris curb stomping a not-zombie, but you can't see that his eyes aren't red so it looks like it's just a black dude. Then they'll show the clip from American History X (great movie) then that'll be it. Blogs will be written.
...wouldn't his eyes not being red mean he's just a black dude?
That's what he means, yeah.
So what he's saying is "The clip will show Christ curb-stomping a black dude, but you can't see he's not a zombie, so it looks like it's just a black dude"?
Typo aside, it's like they're implying, "These people are too black to tell what they are!" Which implies being white makes them easier to identify.
The trouble here is that everybody involved -- from your typical PAer to N'Gai Croal -- can recognize that there's no actual racist intent in any of this, but it's still causing controversy because of "how it looks". Nobody is saying "this is bad because it is racist", it's always "this is bad because it could be mistakenly perceived as racist by people less familiar with the source material".
That's a motherfucker of a slippery slope right there.
That's because the only people aware of the game right now are those looking forward to it. Day fucking one, I guarantee you, some soccer mom is going to pick it up for her 8-year-old, take it home, watch 30 seconds, and then call her local news station.
Didn't happen with Farcry 2.
Won't happen here.
Stop worrying so much.
Far Cry 2 didn't have scenes that, taken out of context, depicted all black people as evil.
So what is the answer? Never set any kind of game in Africa ever?
I think not having all your protagonists of one race, killing antagonists entirely composed of another by the bucketload would be a good start. Especially when there's historical connotations to that specific combination of races.
So racism against Spanish people is okay because they weren't treated like animals by white people?
The Spanish people are a race now? The villagers were implied to have been perfectly normal people in an extremely rural area... with a large military base and a huge castle. Nobody accused RE4 of having a good plot. I think Spain is generally touchy about the inquisition and the dungeon might have used that kind of imagery. I don't see much else. I don't think many people have any stereotypes of Spanish people other than as speaking in funny accents, being sexy, and the inquisition.
Hispanic is a race, yes. I just don't see how murdering police officers and burning them on pitchforks is more offensive than some Africans kicking a bag with an unknown animal in it.
There's a history of higher racial tension dealing with blacks, than with hispanics. Does it make racism against blacks worse than against hispanics? No. But if you can't see why tensions would be higher in this case than the previous game, then you're missing the forest for the trees.
I'm well aware of the racial tensions, and I'm not at all surprised by people calling it racist. I'm just tired of the double standard of racism. Growing up in a community where as a white person I was in the vast minority may have made me bitter on the subject. People have no qualms about making racist jokes about white people, but are quick to take something a white person has said and make it racist.
Now, the spear chucker thing? Yeah, that's a bit tasteless.
mystic_knight on
0
Options
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
So what is the answer? Never set any kind of game in Africa ever?
I think not having all your protagonists of one race, killing antagonists entirely composed of another by the bucketload would be a good start. Especially when there's historical connotations to that specific combination of races.
There's historical connotations with every race. The only one that escapes that, unless someone corrects me, is hispanics and asians. Why don't we use them for games only?
The trouble here is that everybody involved -- from your typical PAer to N'Gai Croal -- can recognize that there's no actual racist intent in any of this, but it's still causing controversy because of "how it looks". Nobody is saying "this is bad because it is racist", it's always "this is bad because it could be mistakenly perceived as racist by people less familiar with the source material".
That's a motherfucker of a slippery slope right there.
That's because the only people aware of the game right now are those looking forward to it. Day fucking one, I guarantee you, some soccer mom is going to pick it up for her 8-year-old, take it home, watch 30 seconds, and then call her local news station.
Didn't happen with Farcry 2.
Won't happen here.
Stop worrying so much.
Far Cry 2 had a lot of white people in it, and ultimately, there's no character associated with most of the people you meet. They just stand around and shoot you, or drive into you.
Given those things, it's hard to attribute any sort of racist undertone to it. The characters you play a variety of ethnicities, there's blacks and whites on both sides etc.
Resi 5 in the trailers we all saw ages ago definitely was definitely had a lot of the images we associate with racism.
Like the article says in closing, if we're going to have images like this in games, we're going to need better justification for it than "it's just a game!".
Sure "it's probably happened at some point in Africa, chill out" might be true, but it's hardly a stellar reason.
This is pretty much my stance. You can't toss an incredibly offensive image into your game and then try to wiggle out of it with semantics. If this was a JRPG and the main magic user got her powers from a phallic shaped 'magic crystal' penetrating their groin and boosted that power with a splooshy tattoo on their face, the dev can call it a cultural symbol and a power crystall they want - you still see an image straight out of a porno. This is the same deal. Red eyed 'infected' or not, there's a pair of white people gunning down hordes of black people. It doesn't take a genius to make the connection betweent that image and racism. You can argue semantics if you want, but I won't. I don't think it had racist motives, I think the Japense makers of the game were just far enough removed from American racism not to consider it - but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable playing the game, because I DO recognize that imagery., and whether the intention was racist or not it still lessens my desire to play the game.
Farcry 2 was based on a real conflict which softened up matters. It helped that you shot Whites in the game too.
FC2 was funny in that way -- you shot way more white people than black people. It's like they had the rest of the world's mercenary population crowded in the area.
I would have bolded other parts of the article as what I consider to be the problem.
Since the Majini are not undead corpses, and are capable of driving vehicles, handling weapons and even using guns, it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory...
It's perfectly possible to use Africa as the setting for a powerful and troubling horror story, but when you're applying the concept of people being turned into savage monsters onto an actual ethnic group that has long been misrepresented as savage monsters, it's hard to see how elements of race weren't going to be a factor.
The problem is not "OMG a white guy is killing black guys!!!" It's that they've played into a lot of the racist stereotypes that we've been trying to get rid of for a long time. From the impressions that I've read, the biggest problem is that the Africans are never really shown to be human, but are always depicted as evil and animalistic, which are the exact same views that persisted in Europe during colonial times. If Capcom had portrayed these guys as more human at first, and then you saw more of the transformation, that would be one thing. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Like the article said, it's not impossible to use Africa as a setting for a survival horror game like this, but you have to be careful with how you treat it due to the way that Americans and Europeans treated Africans for hundreds of years. Capcom didn't do that, and it'll likely cause a firestorm in the media thanks to the popularity of the franchise.
This, basically.
The bolded comment. Have you seen it yourself in the game yet, or are you just taking someone's shitty word for it?
If a game were to be taking place in Nazi Germany, where we'd see a shitton of racism, would people through a fit over things that actually happened being depicted in video games? Things get shown in movies from time to time about the realities of the world.
Whitehead seems to be quite a key writer at Eurogamer, who themselves are a fairly respected site. I'm going to take his views over, say.. yours.
Posts
No, it's really not. The fact is, this is a valid point, and even if YOU don't think so, the fact that enough people have voiced their concerns means that it merits discussion.
The difference between this and, say, the Mass Effect alien sex controversy, is WHY people are offended by it. In the ME case, it was more of a "think of the children!" argument, where people had a problem with the supposed prurient interest factor. It turned out to be nil, and anyone who thought differently had very obviously not played the game. The fact that the RE controversy is coming from people who have played it (or at least the offending parts enough to describe them adequately) gives their arguments much more weight, IMHO. Plus, the fact of the matter is that race is still a huge deal in the US (Obama's election didn't magically solve that problem). Think of it this way: people were outraged last weekend when, during the Superbowl, some Comcast stations accidentally cut to 30 seconds of porn during the 4th quarter. Were people pissed? Sure. Now, if instead of porn, they had cut to a tape of a bunch of white guys violently beating on a black guy, do you think there would be more outrage, or less?
Capcom has always been an interesting company to me, as their games have very much kept the Japanese flavor long after many others have either gone out of business or abandoned it. Hell, Dead Rising was chock full of characters that were very obviously grotesque parodies of American archetypes; that whole game, to me, felt like I was looking at America through foreign eyes. The fact that they might have somewhat missed the boat on this issue isn't surprising, but I do think it's worth discussing. And the plain truth of it is, if games are ever to be taken seriously as an art form, then these discussions are completely and utterly necessary.
You might know me as D'Brickashaw on Steam.
when someone is in a sack getting beaten, in the context and time period of the game, and the turmoil in Africa, it's a realistic event that is meant to add to the environment and immersion.
Grass skirts and spears? I don't know so much about that. How likely would that be if you were in Africa today? I really don't know.
Your friend actually notices that kinds of stuff? I just shoot at the things that are going to rip my friggin' face off, regardless of color/(alien)race they're supposed to be.
I'm glad I can immerse myself to the point where it doesn't even matter.
Hispanic is a race, yes. I just don't see how murdering police officers and burning them on pitchforks is more offensive than some Africans kicking a bag with an unknown animal in it.
That's what he means, yeah.
Or person. I mean, he COULD be white right? We don't know.
If that was the case, if it was a white person, it would be okay and it wouldn't be racism and everyone could go home. I hope it's a white guy in the sack.
The problem is not "OMG a white guy is killing black guys!!!" It's that they've played into a lot of the racist stereotypes that we've been trying to get rid of for a long time. From the impressions that I've read, the biggest problem is that the Africans are never really shown to be human, but are always depicted as evil and animalistic, which are the exact same views that persisted in Europe during colonial times. If Capcom had portrayed these guys as more human at first, and then you saw more of the transformation, that would be one thing. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Like the article said, it's not impossible to use Africa as a setting for a survival horror game like this, but you have to be careful with how you treat it due to the way that Americans and Europeans treated Africans for hundreds of years. Capcom didn't do that, and it'll likely cause a firestorm in the media thanks to the popularity of the franchise.
3DS FC: 0817-3759-2788
That's because the only people aware of the game right now are those looking forward to it. Day fucking one, I guarantee you, some soccer mom is going to pick it up for her 8-year-old, take it home, watch 30 seconds, and then call her local news station.
I have a feeling the fervor over this is not going to be anywhere in the same fucking league as Mass Effect sex or even GTA. You and I know it's likely not intended to be racist, but you and I also know Mass Effect wasn't an alien-lesbian-sex simulator, but that's exactly how the media talked about it.
I'm not one normally prone to slippery slope issues like this, but I think I'll be picking this up day 1 as a precaution. I can honestly see this one getting pulled from shelves over the potential perfect shit-storm.
Dude, it's the friggen 21st century, America has a black President. It's time to move beyond this infantile liberal whiny bullshit.
I understand the concern, many have, but that's what it should remain.
Wake me when we're fighting the black/Jewish zombie conspiracy to get white southern teens pregnant.
Kids, I hate to break it to you but most of modern day Africa is like that. I'm a young South African and not a day goes by that there isn't some fucked up barbaric frontpage or news report making the rounds. You want grown men raping babies because they believe it'll cure them of Aids? (thanks, rural myths!) You want angry mobs burning people to death? (because vigilante justice based on heresay is perfectly fine!). I'm not even gonna go into the fucking hell that is North Africa. It's the dark ages up there in a very real and very brutal way.
Just fucking take my word for it: ignorant uneducated masses are every bit as dangerous as a fictional zombie horde.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
This, basically.
Hahahahaha, that would be worse.
I don't know enough about the game to say for sure... but wasn't this what they did?
By the end of the game I'd totally forgotten it was supposed to be set in Spain. I don't think this is a valid point.
猿も木から落ちる
There's a history of higher racial tension dealing with blacks, than with hispanics. Does it make racism against blacks worse than against hispanics? No. But if you can't see why tensions would be higher in this case than the previous game, then you're missing the forest for the trees.
I don't think they ever said it actually took place in Spain. I thought it took place in NOT-Spain!.
Even if it's racist, it will still be super-enjoyable.
Albinos getting chopped up and used for potions by witch doctors is another one of my favorites.
I mean hey, we did do something with Valkyrie Chronicles. Let's start a movement people!
Didn't happen with Farcry 2.
Won't happen here.
Stop worrying so much.
The bolded comment. Have you seen it yourself in the game yet, or are you just taking someone's shitty word for it?
If a game were to be taking place in Nazi Germany, where we'd see a shitton of racism, would people through a fit over things that actually happened being depicted in video games? Things get shown in movies from time to time about the realities of the world.
Typo aside, it's like they're implying, "These people are too black to tell what they are!" Which implies being white makes them easier to identify.
How's THAT for shitty spin?
Far Cry 2 didn't have scenes that, taken out of context, depicted all black people as evil.
I'm well aware of the racial tensions, and I'm not at all surprised by people calling it racist. I'm just tired of the double standard of racism. Growing up in a community where as a white person I was in the vast minority may have made me bitter on the subject. People have no qualms about making racist jokes about white people, but are quick to take something a white person has said and make it racist.
Now, the spear chucker thing? Yeah, that's a bit tasteless.
There's historical connotations with every race. The only one that escapes that, unless someone corrects me, is hispanics and asians. Why don't we use them for games only?
Far Cry 2 had a lot of white people in it, and ultimately, there's no character associated with most of the people you meet. They just stand around and shoot you, or drive into you.
Given those things, it's hard to attribute any sort of racist undertone to it. The characters you play a variety of ethnicities, there's blacks and whites on both sides etc.
Resi 5 in the trailers we all saw ages ago definitely was definitely had a lot of the images we associate with racism.
This is pretty much my stance. You can't toss an incredibly offensive image into your game and then try to wiggle out of it with semantics. If this was a JRPG and the main magic user got her powers from a phallic shaped 'magic crystal' penetrating their groin and boosted that power with a splooshy tattoo on their face, the dev can call it a cultural symbol and a power crystall they want - you still see an image straight out of a porno. This is the same deal. Red eyed 'infected' or not, there's a pair of white people gunning down hordes of black people. It doesn't take a genius to make the connection betweent that image and racism. You can argue semantics if you want, but I won't. I don't think it had racist motives, I think the Japense makers of the game were just far enough removed from American racism not to consider it - but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable playing the game, because I DO recognize that imagery., and whether the intention was racist or not it still lessens my desire to play the game.
FC2 was funny in that way -- you shot way more white people than black people. It's like they had the rest of the world's mercenary population crowded in the area.
Whitehead seems to be quite a key writer at Eurogamer, who themselves are a fairly respected site. I'm going to take his views over, say.. yours.