Race and Games

In this post I would like to discuss my experience with games and race.

In relation to the Higgin reading which discusses race in MMOGs, I agree with his discussion as to the reasoning for the absence of race in fantasy games as it is less of an issue to do with the fantasy games, but is deeply embedded in the fantasy culture as a whole. I would however like to bring to attention my general perception of race representation throughout my young gaming life.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and fighting games aside, I cannot for the life of me remember playing a game which featured a minority race (by minority for arguments sake i mean, non-white). For New Zealand concerns, it would not be fair to argue that Maori are misrepresented, they aren't represented at all for the most part, for the reason that most game producers tend to come out of the U.S and Japan. There was however a case in 2002 involving the game Mark of Kri, where the game borrowed aspects of Maori culture to the dismay of many Maori people. The only issue I feel that this game raises is that some game developers are just ignorant to various cultures, no great fault of their own. The growing gaming industry in New Zealand will be an intriguing development in terms of their representation or lack thereof of Maori.

A quick glance at the front page of EB Games or a JB Hi-Fi catalogue and one can see a sea of white protagonists. Titles such as Infamous, Rage, Modern Warfare, Ace Combat, Uncharted, Move Fitness, Dance Party and Mass Effect all represent white protagonists or feature white people on the front cover of the games. There appears to be no other race representation among these popular titles. The exceptions to rule appear to be the, stereotypical Mediterranean mafioso of L.A. Noire and the Arabic killer of Assassins Creed. Clearly a white privilege over minority stereotypes.

An interesting point to note is the absence of Asian racial traits in video games made by Japanese, and more so in popular culture. Games such as Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Street Fighter(arguably among the greatest games of all time) produced by Japanese companies, tend to portray their protagonists with an undeniable facial similarity to that of a white person(as seen below, Cloud Strife, designed with low cheek bones, blonde hair and blue eyes, the face of earlier Final Fantasy games.) I find this point very interesting as you suffice to see -barre martial arts and gangster games, a strong minority representation in protagonists in games produced by western developers.

My experience as a gamer is very limited of course, but I think that I have experienced a broad scope of games among many consoles. From my experience, I have grown accustomed to what Higgin discusses as white privilege. Despite this, I have grown to understand this as a process borne out of western game production. This has contrarily raised my own concern for Asian self perception and representation of race in gaming titles (especially popular ones). Is this a part of the love of western culture which has been embedded deeper in Asian popular culture but just in terms of a new medium? Or is it something different? And how will New Zealand society and Maori culture as whole be represented in the growing game industry?