Poll: Social Ethics in Gaming

[ike_luv]

This is a loaded post, and I'm kinda hoping it'll bring up some genuinely interesting conversation!

When I say social ethics, I'm talking about every kinda being bar the regular caucasian dude! How is everyone else dealt with? Is their position in the game significant? Are they there to balance out the games diversity? Or are they there simply to play the stereotype of scanty-clad dressed vixen with boobs bursting from top, or "Soul Train", jive talkin, what we're all used to type?

References and examples are more than welcome!

 

[N.K]

Depends on the game, one particular person jumps to mind as a 'no'
Cole "train", from Gears of War - and endless barrage of "wooo, baby!" and that kind of stuff, moreso than his caucasian counterparts.

Also Sergeant Griggs (can't quite remember the name) from CoD4 who actually raps over the end credits, that was pretty horrible.

Can't really come up with a good example for proper practice of social ethics.

 

[Ionait]

You have to remember that video games and the characters in them are written. Think of it from the writer's point of view. Certain types of characters are really fun to write and interact with. If a game were based solely around the stereotypes I'd complain, but I don't think that happens too much. It depends what genre of video game you're talking about.

RPGs have more time for story and are usually more geared toward story and character interaction, like a good novel. Thus, the characters are, mostly, unique, original, and bring new aspects of life to the table. You still get some stereotypes and shameless fillers and cameo types, but mostly, as RPGs are written, typically, more than other genres, the characters are more thought out and developed. A good RPG will keep you in for over 40 hours. Even the best FPS, fighting game, etc. can't really promise this. They have a lot less time to tell their story. Thus the cookie cutter characters.

I think, in general, games practice fine social ethics, being that they are fiction.

 

[Xvito]

You have to remember that video games and the characters in them are written. Think of it from the writer's point of view. Certain types of characters are really fun to write and interact with. If a game were based solely around the stereotypes I'd complain, but I don't think that happens too much. It depends what genre of video game you're talking about.

RPGs have more time for story and are usually more geared toward story and character interaction, like a good novel. Thus, the characters are, mostly, unique, original, and bring new aspects of life to the table. You still get some stereotypes and shameless fillers and cameo types, but mostly, as RPGs are written, typically, more than other genres, the characters are more thought out and developed. A good RPG will keep you in for over 40 hours. Even the best FPS, fighting game, etc. can't really promise this. They have a lot less time to tell their story. Thus the cookie cutter characters.

I think, in general, games practice fine social ethics, being that they are fiction.

A BAD RPG however has just as bad charcters as most other BAD games, like the bunny girl in FFXII.

 

[UltraBlumpkin]

Yes, in the sense that they practiCe social ethics at all. Now whether they promote good societal behavior is a different story and it should be a case-by-case question. Obviously many games glorify immoral lifestyles and reward players for doing things that would be illegal in the real world. The question should be, can the player separate virtual reality from reality. If they can't do that, then the game will be a poor influence on the person's behavior.

 

[ike_luv]

I agree it is up to the writer, but then in THAT respect, surely the writer has the freedom to introduce something different. Something fresh. They do manage with some characters, but it seems that if they spin too far from what the consumer is comfortable with, it seems to lose credibility!

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, please, but a couple of years back I heard of the first openly gay character ever to appear in a game as one of the forefront parts. I don't think I heard much more from the game since then. Also, GTA: San Andreas, a lot of people disregarded the game because of it's theme. And Dead Or Alive: Extreme... something or other! I never played it, but found it sad that a game was developed purely on the premise not that a game is good, but that you control half naked, well figured women play beach sports!! Sounds harmless, but you gotta think about a) who wrote it or came up with the idea and b) who actually forked out nearly £50 for that?!

 

[Crunchy English]

It really depends. I mean certain stereotypes and indiscretions gamers can be proud for breaking. Cerebral thought combined with twitch gameplay brings together a pretty enlightened people, despite what Xbox Live may have you believe.

Unfortunately those same enlightened individuals have a fair share of bad habits when it comes to representing humanity. The scantily-clad completely dispropprtionate female is one that has always bugged me as well as the "Generic Foreigner" cliche we picked up from the movie industry. Vaguely European or Middle Eastern accents that single out no one ethnicity while insulting broad ranges of the human population.

It's a mixed bag really, but on the balance, we're not really doing as well as I know gamers can.

 

[John Galt]

I don't think I would list the games industry as a major source of progressive thought. Stereotypes are easy to produce, everyone can identify them pretty quickly, and they require almost no real effort on the part of the writer. For an action-driven game like Gears of War, realism in how the characters interact isn't the selling point, the selling point is chainsaw-jousting, whereas the stereotyped character is just there as comic-relief/eye-candy.

 

[AngryMan]

Also Sergeant Griggs (can't quite remember the name) from CoD4 who actually raps over the end credits, that was pretty horrible.

To be fair, he rapped pretty well. I've heard far worse.

Besides, lots of games have got R&B music over the credits, or feature it somewhere within the structure of the game. So the most prominent black character rapped over the credits. So what? There's no implication being made there. Nobody's trying to unrealistically claim that all black guys are rappers, there's no bigoted agenda being pushed by it... what's the problem? Far as I can tell CoD4 never actually made any comments on the whole issue of race at all, and treated it about as maturely as your ever going to find in modern media - by having multiple ethnicities represented without particular comment or implication.

All a game (or any other media for that matter) has to do in order to be ethically responsible when it comes to the whole issue of race is just to have character diversity without inferring anything untoward from their ethnicity. You can still craft your character with a few common "stereotypical" mannerisms though - end of the day, an average African-American person is more likely to talk and behave in a certain way, listen to certain music and so on.

There's a huge gap between racism and calm, mature acceptance of reality. You don't necessarily want a walking stereotype, but there's nothing wrong with having a black dude who's got gangsta rap on his MP3 player.

Incongruity for the sake of incongruity is neither mature nor good storytelling. In other words, abandoning the stereotype entirely for no good reason other than it being a stereotype is not good storytelling. By all means do abandon it if you think it's good for the story, but don't do it arbitrarily, is my point.

 

[ike_luv]

Also Sergeant Griggs (can't quite remember the name) from CoD4 who actually raps over the end credits, that was pretty horrible.

Incongruity for the sake of incongruity is neither mature nor good storytelling. In other words, abandoning the stereotype entirely for no good reason other than it being a stereotype is not good storytelling. By all means do abandon it if you think it's good for the story, but don't do it arbitrarily, is my point.

I do get what you're saying here and do agree with you to some extent, BUT... are suggesting then that stereotyping is ONLY unacceptable when it does not suit the story? Because what we're looking at then is developers making an even bigger statement by ONLY using anything not caucasian/male to make some point. Surely it would be easy to throw them in there without taking their gender or race into consideration. It only seems to be for the purpose of placing a label and making a huge fuss about the race and gender.

 

[AngryMan]

"Suiting the story" is a tricky one. If the story focuses primarily or secondarily on race issues and cultural tension, then abandonment of the stereotypes can be a very powerful storytelling tool, as can adhering to them.

However, if race is entirely unimportant to the plot, then why not stick with the comfortable cliches? Suddenly dropping racial undertones into the mix might severely jar the player's immersion in the flow of the narrative. Why? Because people are to some degree inherently prejudiced. People expect the black guy to swagger a bit, listen to gangsta rap and act with a demeanor of confidence and masculinity. These are our cultural preconceptions, and while they may be a prejudice in their own way, that doesn't necessarily make them inaccurate. In fact, they are for the most part grounded in observation of reality. Whether the reality was fashioned by the preconception or vice versa is different matter (probably a chicken/egg scenario, tbh).

Games are (usually) storytelling media. As such, the demands of crafting a good story should come first. Sometimes, a good way to do that is to break away from our cultural preconceptions and include something we don't expect. Other times, it simply isn't necessary because sticking with the cliche will serve the plot just as well as throwing in something contrary to the "stock" image. What I'm saying is that, where it isn't good for the story to push the envelope, don't.