Do You Care About Race in Games?

There were several pieces up this past weekend, and a resulting lively dialogue, about the role that race plays in videogames. Game|Life talks very cogently on the subject, which got kick-started by a post on the microscopiq site highlighting important black game characters. The article asks "Jade Is Black?", highlighting the role that racial ambiguity can have in making a player empathize with a title's protagonist. Writes Kohler: "Video games put the control of the main character into the player's hands. They ask us to become the character. It's easier for anybody to identify with Jade because Jade can stand in for anything. Ellis wants more black characters in video games, and Jade, if we go by the layout of his article, is his number-one favorite. It is quite possible that he felt a stronger connection with Jade than with other game characters who are definitely black. What does that say about the power of racial ambiguity? " So, do you care about race in videogames? If so, how so?

Comments

Re:Play the Race Card

[elrous0]

Well, since "your" and "you're" don't meaning anything at all like one another,

Truly, with your grammar skills I think you have a bright future as an English teacher, or does such a career don't mean anything at all like to you?

-Eric

Re:Play the Race Card

[ScentCone]

Curiously, while there are plenty of things to pick apart in any number of my hurried posts, there's really nothing wrong with the snipped you echoed back. It's not particularly elegant, but nor is it incorrect. Break it down:

Sometimes it's eaier to test a negative snippet with its opposite:

"your" and "you're" don't meaning anything at all like one another

vs:

"your" and "you're" mean something like one another

Which is incorrect, notionally, but illustrates the validity of the clause (syntax-wise).