Games As the Great Unifier

OGX writes "In this racially divided world, who or what can step up and bridge the gap among people? Oddly enough, the answer comes from pop videogame technology. The anonymity of online gaming has made personal characteristics secondary to a game skill set. Michelle Dalrymple explores how online gaming vaults the issue of race in this editorial at OGX." From the article: "The computer/video console acts as a filter, extracting out any issues of race and placing emphasis on how quickly one can respond by selecting the correct button. Let's take a look at how this plays out in the online gaming world. As with any MMOG - character selection is core to the game play, and while one may have a skin color choice, usually appearance is tied to some imaginary 'race,' an arbitrary figure generator pulled from fantasy and folklore. It gives the idea of race a whole new meaning. What do fellow gamers care what race you the player really are, as long as your elf ranger or human mage can complete the task?"

Comments

I disagree.

[Skynet]

I had a Human Warrior in WoW named "Rick James" (after my favorite musician), and everyone kept calling me "bitch." :(

At last, a level playing field!

[charlesbakerharris]

Totally right. Games take people without jobs and/or friends and elevate them, by the simple mechanism of "spend all day playing" to the status of powerfully equipped demigods, near-unassailable by the common man, whereas the successful, busy real-life person is relegated to a lifetime of mere mediocrity, looking up through the windows of Naxxramas at something they will never attain. Yes, gaming is the great equalizer! The mighty are brought down, and the weak are exalted.

Disclaimers:

• Yes, I play WoW.
• No, I am not a hard core raider.
• Yes, I have a real job.
• Yes, I have a significant other.
• No, she does not weight 250 lbs.
• No, I don't care that I don't have any Tier 2 set pieces.
• No, I do not live in my mother's basement. In fact, I own my own house.
• Yes, I exercise.
• No, I don't play a girl in-game despite being a guy in RL.
• Yes, my alts are still levelling.
• No, I do not subsist on pizza and chinese food.
• Yes, I can spell.
• No, I did not repeat any grades in middle school.
• Yes, I know that "ur" really means "you are" and not "your".
• No, I did not purchase any of my characters.
• No, I did not eBay any gold.
• Yes, I hate reputation grinding, but...
• No, I don't hate them as much as you do - I never played Everquest.
• No, I do not feel it my responsibility to tell people about (a) the trash greens I find while killing trolls in Arathi or (b) my life, over Ventrilo.
• Yes, I bathe at least once a day. With soap. Real soap. Not like from Fight Club.

Re:anonymity can be bad

[kalirion]

As far as I'm concerned, the world would be a much better place with a little less nationalism.

Re:anonymity can be bad

[Denial93]

Nations are becoming less and less important as the information age gets going.
Similarily, extended families became less and less important with the industrial era.
Before that, the hometown/village.
Before that, the clan.
Each been the central social group everyone identified themselves by, each had seemed a natural constant in the lives of people and still each was replaced by the next. Currently, nation states are being replaced by continent-size cultural zones; most obviously so in Europe and South America.

You can call this unfortunate, like you can call any natural process unfortunate. Or you can realize that identifying yourself as a citizen of your country is a cultural habit, not a necessity, so the value you are losing was virtual in the first place. Other social reference groups (say your family, or your race, or mankind) may be used interchangably. And some choices give you more options than others.