Thief wrote: When it comes to killing and being brutal in video-games, I find it no different than watching a film. Some people would argue that by pushing the buttons I'm directly causing enemy deaths, however, I'm just playing it out how the game was intended. If you stick my character in a room with a guy, him with a chainsaw and me with a gun, and if I don't shoot him the game ends, I'll shoot him. It's what I was intended to do. It's no different then pressing play on a DVD player. Some games will give me alternatives, other's won't. Sometimes I'll intentionally choose the brutal option but that is just me choosing to change what I consider fiction; even historical fiction is still fiction. When it comes down to it, games are stories that require input from the audience, yet they are still bound by the rules of the people who programmed it.
Vyse Hazuky wrote:Well... I'd say that while video games show those things, they occur in mostly action-type games which, moreso these days, follow narrative and directorial imprints set in television and movies.
We're getting into "why is killing appealing" or "why do we use stereotypes" but one tends to think that has a very deep root that probably comes from the need of assertiveness and cultural and visual identification that is probably picked up, even if unconsciously, from the first interactions with a world, as you associate with what's near you, common and familiar and distrust what's different. Only later can you be taught otherwise, even though intrinsecally, I think it runs structurally deep.
Using video games I think is just like TV or movies, it's just made worse because you get to interact with it, so it's not as passive because you can't say "oh, it's the director/writer's fault, I'm just watching it". But, on the other hand, I don't think it's used as an end in itself, so it's probably just a way of commercializing on intrinsicalities, and that's why, I think, war is appealing as a subject. Far beyond the strategical implications and the tragic life stories and all that, I think it's really the basic instinct of us vs them, of asserting dominance over something.
MiTT3NZ wrote:Here's an idea. Remove all story content from games. Remove all characters. Replace everything with plain white textures/skins, and we have to interpret what's going on, projecting whatever image we like onto everything.
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:
But you're essentially saying you have no choice, which isn't true.
If you really wanted to keep from killing the person you'd stop playing.
We are only bound by the rules we choose to be bound by, saying we're anything but free is untrue.
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:In the case of Far Cry 3, why is it okay to have a bunch of "Magical Negros", why is it fine that blacks are still portrayed as mewling, uncivilized brutes unable to form a proper civilization and thus offering only a mystic alternative to higher society. What would make things that are seen as unacceptable like blackface, or mammy archetypes worse?
Thief wrote:Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:
But you're essentially saying you have no choice, which isn't true.
If you really wanted to keep from killing the person you'd stop playing.
We are only bound by the rules we choose to be bound by, saying we're anything but free is untrue.
If we stop playing and get offended when are we ever going to encounter anything interesting? Sounds like an extreme case of censorship to me.
Golf Wang wrote:I think maybe you should play Far Cry 3 first. There's only one major black guy, the rest of the natives are Malays/Pacific Islanders, not black.
Ryudo wrote:Manny is pretty sensitive when it comes to Natives and that's understandable and ethnic situations. However I agree with thief. I also don't think Ubi Soft is Activision giving into the AMERICA FUCK YEAH and kill everything with an accent. Manny what I meant was Altiar looked exactly like Desmond and white. SO a white guy playing an ethnic part. I know the memory thing,i'm just pointing out a technicality esp when the other two characters Ezio and Connor did not look like Desmond. Just saying it's easy to find something offensive in small things
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:Golf Wang wrote:I think maybe you should play Far Cry 3 first. There's only one major black guy, the rest of the natives are Malays/Pacific Islanders, not black.
I do, but even if we change the race does that make it any better?
Golf Wang wrote:Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:Golf Wang wrote:I think maybe you should play Far Cry 3 first. There's only one major black guy, the rest of the natives are Malays/Pacific Islanders, not black.
I do, but even if we change the race does that make it any better?
Well, it completely debunks your "magical negros everywhere" statement, as there was only one major black character and the rest were Malays/Pacific Islander.
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:Golf Wang wrote:Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote:Golf Wang wrote:I think maybe you should play Far Cry 3 first. There's only one major black guy, the rest of the natives are Malays/Pacific Islanders, not black.
I do, but even if we change the race does that make it any better?
Well, it completely debunks your "magical negros everywhere" statement, as there was only one major black character and the rest were Malays/Pacific Islander.
No it doesn't. The "Magical negro" is a trope, it doesn't necessarily mean "black people everywhere" part of it is "noble savage" which was used to talk about "indians". The reason its hurtful and condescending is the same regardless of race specifically.
Its only a deflection to say that theres no racism because they're not black.
When you turn on a tv and you see a Hispanic cleaning lady who is unable to speak proper English being made fun of thats racist. It'd still be racist (and accurate) if it were a Polish person or a person from China but the media almost exclusively portrays Hispanics in this fashion. Isn't the singling out of a particular race...racism? Wouldn't it still be wrong if it were any of the other examples?
Segata Sanshiro Jr. wrote: I live in NY. There are a lot of Hispanics in service here but we get a lot of immigrants from Europe, which is where I get the Polish comparison from. In the east, a large number of eastern European people get jobs in unskilled labor and I have a very good friend from Poland who I've helped (since we were both in ESL classes as kids despite the fact that I spoke perfectly good English and was put in the class before I even arrived at the school)
But then again, isn't stereotyping a type of racism?
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