| Race and Violence in Video Games |
13 August 2002 | |
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From: brian@crankyuser.com
To: asspennies@csnation.net
Went to see Windtalkers with Fabian last night, which takes place in the Pacific Theater in WW2. Obviously, there is a lot of killing of Japanese. The question arose: in games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor, all the fighting is in Europe so you're killing lots of Nazis. There aren't any FPS games that we can name that involve killing Japanese.
Our theory is that the Nazis are an evil subset of Germans, so it's always PC to kill them. There is no analagous subset of Japanese, so you can't kill Japanese, unless of course they're ninjas or your character is Japanese.
Another theory is that it's not PC because the Japanese are very large in the gaming industry, but note that the Japanese don't like FPS games. See the sales of Halo in Japan.
Your thoughts?
Brian
From: asspennies@csnation.net
To: brian@crankyuser.com
I think it's definitely a cultural sensitivity issue.
You're right on target when it comes to Nazis versus Japanese. What the Japanese did during the war (mass rapings, POW murders, sexual slavery) were certainly awful crimes, but the general feeling is that this was somewhat mitigated by the US dropping an atomic bomb on them. There was no atomic bombing of the Nazis, who decided to make a policy of commiting mass genocide.
Therefore, when it comes to a comparison of evil regimes, the Nazis generally win. Partly because genocide is such an unspeakable crime, and partly because there were no major moral implications over what we ended up doing to them. (Even the bombing of Dresden was and is considered morally fair) And there's a general feeling that the Nazi party has been eliminated from Germany - therefore, it's fair to attack them with impunity.
If they were going around killing Japanese, though, there's be a hell of a backlash. There are not a lot of special interest groups out there who can muster up support for the degredation of Nazis. However, the Japanese have such special interest groups.
As for killing Ninjas - well, they're not neccesarily identifiable as Japanese, because they wear those catsuits. After all, Chris Farley was Beverly Hills Ninja. There could be ninjas of all ethnic types. And usually, in ninja games, the one killing the ninjas is another ninja. Shinobi on Ninja Gaiden crime is generally considered "acceptable."
I don't think it's so much a worry that the Japanese fans won't take to it - they certainly wouldn't, but like you said, FPSs aren't popular in Japan, anyway - as much as it is a worry that the company and designer will come under fire from special interest groups.
And as well, when you think of evil, you think of nazis. You don't think of the Japanese. When you think of the Japanese, you think of short people and Mario Bros.
From: brian@crankyuser.com
To: asspennies@csnation.net
Apparently the winners write the history books and the video games. WW2 games from the perspective of Germany or Japan are unlikely, similar to games from the perspective of Vietnam. This is not to say there haven't been games where Americans were portrayed badly; I recall a top 100 worst games list with an 8bit game in which Custer was raping Indian women.
Regarding culturally sensitivity it's interesting to note that freeing a concentration camp would be considered a good thing, but that's rarely addressed because it's not safe to go there. It's more entertaining and less questionable to kill Nazis.
(at this point i'm rambling without much data)
Games, film, and television often portray questionable ethics with shadow governments and conspiracy theories, but typically target non-key figures. It's normally usurpers, not the president, that suggest foreign policy that is detrimental to other countries while in the self-interest of the US.
There has been a trend towards attacking authority figures, such as in GTA3 (police, national guard) and Half-Life (black ops marines), although since Columbine that may have slowed down a bit. One could argue a Joseph Campbell stance that the hero must overcome obstacles and challenge the status quo, or that in Half-Life it was more about survival than attacking authority figures.
I suppose ninja hate crime is ok though. Hot ninja on ninja action!
Brian
From: asspennies@csnation.net
To: brian@crankyuser.com
One could also argue that appearance plays a vital role. Outside of their uniforms, the typical nazi looks no different from the typical caucasian american. If you see a bunch of similar looking people running at you, you're going to judge them by their uniforms alone.
Now, a group of Japanese running at you, and you're dangerously close to playing with stereotypes. Similar to if you saw a group of Black people running at you in a game. It's a little bit disconcerting from the point of view of the player. And perhaps in the excitement of the game, you can ignore it, but anyone who's looking over your shoulder is bound to notice. Someone can easily form the opinion that a game is then less about completing an objective and more about eradicating a particular race or creed.
As long as the race is identifiable as not being human (zergs, aliens, orcs) this is fine. Once you start killing other types of humans en masse - well, it gets very difficult to justify as simply a game.
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