Race and Racism In Video Games

SlappingOysters writes "Racism in video games has been a key topic of discussion in the game industry this year, thanks in large part to the controversy surrounding the Resident Evil 5 launch trailer. In this article, GamePlayer speaks to developers, publishers, activists and journalists about the issue to get various perspectives and insights into how the video game industry is moving forward on the topic of racism. A related piece also has interviews with Sue Clark from the UK's Classification Board and Dr. Griseldis Kirsch, a lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Studies, about how racism in video games is viewed by the BBFC and Japan respectively."

Comments

Re:Rule-wise color-blindedness?

[larry bagina]

Actually, in Fallout 3, if you choose a black character, your default intelligence is 2 points lower, and your default strength is 2 points higher (you can edit them). Bethesda claimed it was a bug. In fact, it was one of the few they've admitted to.

TF2 "demoman"

[AtariDatacenter]

I never ran across racism in a video game until Team Fortress 2's Demoman. Some people really seem to have a problem with that character.

Re:TF2 "demoman"

[hoogamaphone]

\sarcasm I know, TF2 is racist against Scottish people. Oh, just because the Demoman is Scottish, he has to be an alcoholic? Those bigots over at valve better get their act together.