Square Enix Responds to "Racist" Deus Ex Character

[Outlaw Torn]

The only offensive thing in that video (and I'd imagine the rest of the game) is the uncanniest of valleys.

Declaring things as racist is beginning to lose any weight, people are just throwing it around for the tiniest of things it would seem. Then again, 'racist' only appears to apply to horrible acts against black people when the media is concerned (unless you are Italian-American of course). If you want all races to be of equal footing then be prepared to take a little hit every now and then, everyone has their turn at being the fallguy then.

 

[Weaver]

What if that's just how her voice actor legitimately spoke?

 

[Stalydan]

Racist? No. A bit manly? ...Depends on your definition of "a bit" O_O

I'm sorry but easily offended people need to stop spewing their bile on to the internet where people can actually see it. Don't let him see TF2, he'll have a field day on how "racist" and "stereotypical" it is .__.

Why any time that a black person is portrayed in a video game as a bit street or as an enemy do people start getting all "PC" about it. It's not PC, it's just stupid. I mean really, isn't it more racist to start saying that you can't put a person in a video game because they're a certain colour? Black protagonist killing white enemies gets stamped racist because it portrays a "negative racial stereotype" about black people. White protagonist killing black enemies also gets stamped as racist because it portrays "white power". When you start doing stuff like that, you just further that agenda that people are different because of their race.

But of course there are many people too stupid to listen to that who will always further a stereotype by either being a racist or too easily offended when it comes to racial issues.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

As a black male I can say, that's not racist. But the voice acting for Lelita is absolutely horrible. People who complain about stuff like this need to get off their high horse.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Now my question is: Why is she digging through garbage after I paid her 2,000 credits for imformation???

Oh yeah, and racist troll is racist, I get that.

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Here´s a fun idea:
maybe people who know fuck-all about linguistics should not utilize it to call other people racist.

The "so far removed from any actual slang that it renders the character practically extra-terrestrial"-comment alone is so mind-numbingly dumb that I actually had to read it twice.
Does this guy have the faintest idea how many different "slangs" can be identified in, let´s say, a single American city of moderate size ?
What is an "actual slang", anyway ?
One that you just happened to hear in your short life, in which you interacted with a very small subset of some speakers of a few language ?

I'm more bothered with the protagonists voice. What's happened to his throat?

I like to think his throat got crushed and they had to implant him with a voice-chip, that due to a design-error was loaded with Christian Bale doing Batman. Made the game so much more enjoyable.

 

[ace_of_something]

Weird, when I went to Detroit half the people i talked to had a psuedo-southern, or to be honest, Ebonic accent. Even though most of the people i talked to were white.

I'm pretty sure 16 years in the future people in Detroit that accent will still be prevalent.

I haven't played the game but maybe the character in question has a backstory that she's from rural Alabama or something.

 

[imnot]

I'm more bothered with the protagonists voice. What's happened to his throat?

Well he didget thrown through a glass panel and shot in the head, also I like his voice :3

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I'm more bothered with the protagonists voice. What's happened to his throat?

He received the gratuitous "Christian Bale's Batman" augmentation for it. Or maybe he smokes too much, dunno...
EDIT: Goddamn bloody ninjas. *bat anti-ninja spray*

Anyway, I did not perceive Letitia as a racist caricature at all when I first ran into her. If anything, I thought she was a male to female transperson. Something about her voice pattern (specifically its depth) and the relative blockiness of her face...dunno, that was my first thought anyway. But hell, even if that were the case, there's still nothing wrong with her character! She's genuinely interesting, and fits quite well into that distopian version of Detroit (oh hang on, is there any other way to describe Detroit?). Besides, the rest of the melanin spectrum is also represented in the ranks of the local homeless population. So I fail to see the problem.

In all seriousness though, has Mr. Narcisse ever run into a homeless person before? They hardly if ever speak proper English. I also find it quite interesting how he considers himself to be speaking for all black people in decrying some nonexistent racism in a bloody video game. But hey, whatever he can get off to...

 

[Exius Xavarus]

There was hardly anything racist about that video or that character. There ARE black folk in the world that sound like this, hell I've met WHITE folk that sound like this. Quite a bit more than I thought, actually. I don't see why this character would cause any problems. I've never come across any character in the game that speaks like that(mostly because I never knew Latitia actually existed, never seen the character before), so why is it such a problem? It's not like they're making all the black NPCs like that.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I'm more bothered with the protagonists voice. What's happened to his throat?

He really likes The Dark Knight.

 

[Stilkon]

The first time I talked to her, I thought "Wow, a transsexual character! What a nice touch of diversity!"

 

[LilithSlave]

These types of characters do happen a bit too often in media though, and have spread some negative stereotypes about black people that will be hard to undo.

Like Barret of Final Fantasy VII, it's not racist perhaps in and of itself, but it could be seen as part of a larger trend that is negative for black people.

Speaking of calling racism where there is none,
http://www.gameology.org/essays/the_orientalist_perspective_cultural_imperialism_in_gaming
According to this, if you like ninjas there's a good chance you're partaking in imperialism.

You know, I do agree that in a globalist world, British culture does get a little bit of privilege. And that Japan has had a history of imperializing Asia. But the point they're taking it is simply ridiculous demonization of innocent things. As if the West is enslaving Japan and Japan is enslaving Asia or something. I'm getting flashbacks to Code Geass. It's utterly ridiculous and why I cringe everytime I hear statements like "cultural imperialism". Because I've run into far too many experiences with the term being used to mean "the West sucks".

Honestly, the West and Japan aren't as bad and don't cause near as many problems as some people say we do.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I could understand his point if all the hobos in the game were black, but they weren't. There were plenty of white hobos around the streets aswell.

why is it a problem just because the one he interacts with is black? It's not like she's a minstrel or something.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

I don't see that as racism, I see that as characterization.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

I can see why someone would think the character's racist- and I do find the oddly exaggerated speech patterns annoying and unnecessary.
On the other hand, it's not like every black character in the game speaks like that (in fact, I'm pretty sure she's the only one), and she is from the slums of Detroit and is working as a garbage collector, so it's not like her speech patterns come from nothing.

 

[Griffolion]

I didn't find it to be racist at all. I believe racism is in the eye of the beholder, and what you find racist and what you do about it very much determine whether it's you that are in fact the racist.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

I'm more bothered with the protagonists voice. What's happened to his throat?

He really likes The Dark Knight.

Oh man, there should totally be an unlockable batman costume for Jensen.

 

[Jacob Haggarty]

The only thing that i find strange about it is that it sounds a lot like a man doing the voice. Other than that, it's just the first few seconds of her talking that really have some stereotypical spin on them (DAAAAAAAAAAAAYAM!)

The only thing i find offensive is that he doesn't pay her. Thats just plain DAAAAAAAAAAAYAM rude.

 

[Jumplion]

I might also add, she's a trash lady, would it sell the character better if she spoke like an ivy-league graduate?

Not wanting one extreme =/= wanting the other extreme. I get that some people argue that, but it's a really annoying fallacy that I see crop up every now and again.

"Oh, so you don't like black people in the game? Well how about NO ETHNICITIES WHATSOEVER? Does that satisfy you?!?!"

I can see where the person is coming from, when I first met Letitia I was like "Yeesh, bit heavy on the accent there." I mean, when you hear her go "Shyyyeeeeeiit" it's kind of hard not to laugh at how overly characterized it is, especially compared to all the other characters in the game. I can see how some would say "Oh, so she's black, that means that she has to have this crazy accent while everyone else is just normal?" You can have her talk in slang and whatnot, moderately I guess.

But regardless, I wouldn't say that her character is racist as that word gets tossed around so much that it's lost meaning. What I do think it is is just overly flamboyant, with hints of stereotype in it. Not really racist, I think.