Monday, November 22, 2010

Gamer Review: Race in Video Games - Are Video Games Racist

In my last article my editor thought the acronym RPG meant Real Playing Game when it actually stood for Role Playing Game. I just wanted to clarify that before you all thought I was some incompetent casual gamer type bugger. Good, now that that’s over with, let’s play some Fat Person Shooters or FPS!
Let me ask you something, have you ever played a videogame as a white character? Now, have you ever played a videogame as a black character? Now, that black character, did they eat chicken and watermelon and use slang words signifying their non-existent education? I’m exaggerating, but I think you get my point. Videogames, like all other media, are race sensitive. You’ll be hard pressed to find a Sidney Poitier in videogames, especially in the still racist Japanese videogame market. To prove the racist tendencies in games, let’s look at two specific videogame characters, CJ from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and Barret from Final Fantasy VII.
If you’ve ever played a GTA game, you know they tend to be on the controversial side. Essentially these games are Scarface meets Miami Vice, The Godfather or Boyz N the Hood. San Andreas draws from the later with its main characters being black in a Los Angeles inspired city. Unfortunately these characters are gang members doing a ton of gangster bullocks. CJ, the protagonist returns home after his mother dies and becomes embroiled in a conflict of race, gangs and class. Along the way he pilfers cars, murders innocent pedestrians, police officers, animals, prostitutes and many more stereotypical things. Now this is by no means solely present in the only GTA game wholly populated with black characters, but it is important to note that black people are portrayed as corrupt – is there one upstanding black character in the game? You tell me. I’m not claiming that RockStar (makers of GTA) are perpetuating racist notions, but I am saying that isn’t it time for a positive black character in one of their games? Are we not tired of seeing blacks stealing cars, and making nothing of their lives? Tommy Vercetti of GTA Vice City is no different from CJ, except that he’s white. Yet there are a ton of video games out there with positive white characters. Look at everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario from Super Mario. All he wants to do is rescue his princess. Metaphorically speaking, he just desires to do the right thing. It’s not farfetched to motivate for change of presentation. If one side is presented, then the other should be represented as well.
Barret from Final Fantasy VII is not as offensive a character as CJ, but he manages to hold his own. First off, Final Fantasy VII is about a group of resistance members fighting an evil electric power company that is stealing land and energy from the planet itself and selling this energy back to the people. Barret heads this group of misfits up until our protagonist, a blond hair blue eyed white boy named Cloud (can you say Arian race) assumes control of the gang (not to be confused with gangsters).
I'm still here sucker!!!

Barret lost his family and an arm to the evil company after it sent hitmen out to destroy his village because they refused to cooperate. Barret literally has a gun for half his arm – a gun. Not to mention the fact that he looks like Mr.T and uses language that would make any parent do a double take at the T rated game. However, considering the fact that the Japanese like to draw blacks with big pink lips and blond hair, I’ll gladly accept the Mr.T look any day. The latest black Final Fantasy character is not as offensive as Barret and actually shows progress.
There are a slew of minor black characters cast in video games including the Mike Tyson inspired Balrog from Street Fighter 2, Jax from Mortal Kombat 2, just to name a few. I could go into detail how Drebin from Metal Gear Solid 4, who is followed by his monkey companion, is a quintessential metaphor for how the Japanese view blacks, but it’s just too offensive. I ask you dear readers, what do you value in your video game experience? I know that we really just want to be entertained, but I ask you to be mindful of the commentary these games make of our society.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Blood

So I wrote this play a while back that has some wild things happening in it. The main character is a psychopath and has a fix for blood. It's been a long time since I worked on it so I'm super psyched to make some headway. I feel I've finally reached a satisfactory draft and I hope that it reaches the stage sometime next year. For now here's a brief scene.

Colin
Well are we doing this?

Suzanna
I’m not in the mood right now. Maybe later. I just went back home last night and…

Colin
Is cool. (pause) Look I’m sorry if I came off kinda…

Suzanna
Perverted?

Colin
Y-Yeah. I can appreciate ya vibe. Truin when my ol man was dead I used ta feel the same way.

Suzanna
Whatever, it’s natural for men to hang out with other men right?

Colin
Sure. Why you asking me as if you een sure?

Suzanna
Truly there is a brain in there? I’m sort of amazed now. Fascinated even. What else don’t I know about you?

Colin
Is it true you beat Jeanette ova da head wit her own dildo?

Suzanna
Well, Jeanette and I couldn’t see eye to eye as it were.

Colin
Yeah…wa happen, I een see her in a minute so you mussy beat her dead bad.

Suzanna

Well it was a pretty hard dildo and you wouldn’t understand Colin, no matter how many times I try to explain it to you and your dick.