do videogames build xenophobia?

[Aiden Rebirth]

So you just finished call of duty "if you didn't kill enough nazi's yet edition", and go to a restaurant when you overhear a couple speaking in german, and have your finger flickat an invisible trigger button, only to realize your not playing a game.

this is what happened to a friend of mine a few weeks back, and it got me thinking does playing games, make us subconsiously xenophobic to other cultures?

 

[TsunamiWombat]

1. Your freind needs professional help.

2. I have become very racist against Goomba's.

I wouldn't even share a cafeteria table with this guy. You know he just came over from the other dimension to take our jobs.

 

[Varchld]

If anything I'd have thought people playing on the internet with others from all over the world might break down a persons xenophobia.
WoW did give me a slight resentment for Singaporeans but it's nothing personal by any stretch.
If someone can't distinguish that a game is not a good judge of a nations culture or people then they should seek some serious help.

 

[k3v1n]

don't see the relation between videogames and racism

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Oh, games also gave me a stereotypical mental image of Koreans as ammoral cyborg multitasker bot using powergamers who go 'kekekekekkee' as they level up in Ragnarok Online and dominate someone in Starcraft at the same time.

...Man I wish I was Korean.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

IF nothing else, xenophobia exists at least subconsciously though people might not think it.
Serbians are usually used to act Russians etc. as bad guys in movies... When I change my accent from English to Serbian, people freak out - if nothing else you can see invisible bells ringing in their heads. I don't personally care since I can reveal it when I want to and to my advantage sometimes, however even so: xenophobia doesn't necessarily mean racism, some if not most people can get over their animal instincts and get over this fact, and if not then they do need help.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Yeah... Korean woman are cute. *Clears throat*

Anyway, I believe that the xenophobic nature is either there or it isn't, though it could be reinforced with well-known references to popular games.

"LOL, krauts on teh steps, wunder if tehy have a flamethrower?"

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Yeah... Korean woman are cute. *Clears throat*

Anyway, I believe that the xenophobic nature is either there or it isn't, though it could be reinforced with well-known references to popular games.

"LOL, krauts on teh steps, wunder if tehy have a flamethrower?"

I meant so I could be a relentless cyborg of cyber death. If I wanted a Korean woman I could just mail order a bride. Who would probably kill me in my sleep for doing something as crass as mail ordering a bride, but still...

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

I wouldn't say xenophobic so much as he's developed a reflex, similar to Pavlov's dog. Instead of the bell and salivating, he's heard german and instantly connects that with his trigger finger.

 

[Zallest]

1. Your freind needs professional help.

2. I have become very racist against Goomba's.

I wouldn't even share a cafeteria table with this guy. You know he just came over from the other dimension to take our jobs.

I'm the same way with turtles that walk upright...

 

[goater24]

Madness, no games do not! This thread is absurd unless people on here are far more tapped than I thought everyones gonna say your pals abit stupid. That or he's just had his freudian moment.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Yes, yes they do make you racist! In fact, right after playing Timesplitters, I started hating all the people around me who weren't monkeys holding guns. I even put on a white pointed hat and burned a Free Radical logo on some guy's lawn. Even as the police were carting me off to jail, I hung a little Crow doll in effigy.

Oh, and your friend sounds dumb. Either that or he has no idea where video games end and real life begins.

 

[Ronwue]

They make you as xenophobic, violent and a horse rapist.

 

[Omnidum]

From playing Prince of Persia: T2T, I have now become racist against walls and people made from sand. They are fucking everywhere! Well, the walls are.

 

[Arachon]

Videogames create about as much racism and xenophobia that your average holywood movie...

 

[Radelaide]

I'm the same way with turtles that walk upright...

Am I not turrrtley enough for the Turtle club? Turtle! Tuuuuuuuuuurtle!

 

[Copter400]

From playing Prince of Persia: T2T, I have now become racist against walls and people made from sand. They are fucking everywhere! Well, the walls are.

THEY TURK OUR JOOOOOBS!

I don't think games build xenophobia, and anyone who (for whatever reason) says games made them xenophobic was probably a racist prick in the first place.

 

[Splitter]

I've never experienced it myself... Generally I find myself appreciating how sweet foreign accents sound and how distinctive looks for another country are similarly sweet.

However, I did have a friend how found himself shouting "GODDAMN JAPS!" every time he died in Medal of Honour, and he was concerned that the game was making him racist...
I wasn't sure if the term "japs" could be considered racist, and he never was as bad as described in OP.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

Nah, they're not responsible for building either xenophobia or racism. They just -on occasion- take stereotypes and beat them deader than a decomposed horse on an abandoned farm. To draw a somewhat extreme parallel, it's like GTA. You're not going to go out shooting people, because Tommy Vercetti does it-- unless you already have the problem.

I wasn't sure if the term "japs" could be considered racist

Racist maybe not, but I do think the Japanese don't like it when you call them that. Make of it what you want.

 

[Xojins]

don't see the relation between videogames and racism

Custer's Revenge?