Valve Responds to Racism Accusations

[Clashero]

You also kill Native Americans, Mexicans, one Irish guy and black guys as well as white guys in Call of Juarez: Bound In Bound. In that guy's eyes, it must be the most racist game in the planet. But it isn't. Not a single racist or nationality-related remark is made throughout the entire game.

As for L4D2 being racist: Utter insanity.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I don't see race when I look at zombies.
I think they're all part of the zombie race.
I do however think the L4D games are racist towards the entire zombie race.
Not as bad as some of the other games but still pretty offensive.

You are my hero. Write a book, i will read it.

on topic, this shouldnt even be a thread. This is possibly the stupidest accusation ever. We are above this crap people, dont give it the attention it wants. stupid whining finger pointers. Nothing about L4d2 is racicst dangit......

Thanks. I'm actually writing a book called Save the Zombies.
Look for it on bookshelves in about a year.

Games have become the scapegoat of late so this really isn't too surprising. The fact of the matter is that there are some people who would've complained if there were no black zombies in the game.

 

[jamesworkshop]

racism
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

how on earth is L4D 2 promoting racism

 

[T-Bone24]

The sooner we can include every type of person in every type of media (including comedy) is the sooner we can all get along happily. Jesus, makes me think of Resi 5, everyone bitched about the fact there were African zombies in Africa. If they hadn't put Africans in there, Christ, you can only imagine the uproar. They're just being culturally diverse. Nothing wrong with killing white folks, it would seem.

 

[electric_warrior]

in the end, there will always be a reactionary asshole looking to stir up controversy where there is none, i say ignore him. i mean, wouldn't it be more racist to say that only white people can be zombies? either way, two of the four survivors are african american and it would be odd if there were no black people in a game set in new orleans.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Good for that Faliszek guy. It doesn't make any sense. It's the blogger that is racist for seeing any situation involving black people or a place like New Orleans as racist. If he wasn't racist, it wouldn't make a difference, since there's obviously nothing that's validly racist about it.

 

[Disaster Button]

Wouldn't it be just as racist to have zombies that were all white? Because then it makes it seem as though people of any other race weren't considered by Valve, or that any other race are considered superior to white people as they are unable to be turned into zombies.

Apparently no matter what you do these days in games racist.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Quoted for massive truthery. I can't believe people are still up in arms about this- an overwhelming amount of evidence says, no, Capcom, Valve, and most other game companies aren't guilty of racism, yet people *still* keep harassing them about this.

Personally, I salute Faliszek for having the guts to shoot down this insane theory in public. Utter insanity indeed.

*rocks back and forth in a corner* I just don't get it, I don't understand...
Black people live in Africa, right?
A..and black people live in New Orleans...

But if you show them...
It's racist?
I don't...
I just don't understand...
*door to padded room swings shut*

*sighs, turns to the nurses and orders several extra doses of morphine and sedatives for the asylum-bound Max*

Well, at least we still have Left 4 Dead 2 coming out, alleged racism be damned. And I'm going to enjoy it no matter how much the anti-videogame crusaders don't want me to.

 

[Cucucachu]

I would just like to toss in my two cents on this matter, even though I am repeating a point made in just about every post but I hope to add some new content to the issue. "a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others." the formal definition of racism so if you follow this train of thought THE BLOGGEr who posted this is a racist in that he sees a difference in two groups of people and decides that one group of people, and as for the confederate flag thing I offer a hypothetical question, lets say Valve is going to make a WWII game and it started with you as a spy and it shows the German flag do you think anyone would claim them to be nazis no it because all the retards who don't know jack about the world need something to follow and this guy picked racism but since a retarded poodle with a texas shaped dinner tray lodged in his brain cannot get the fact that if a zombie game in new orleans feature black people it is not racist it is realistic if you had a zombie game set in iceland and you had to fight off a good number of black zombies(I mean more then 5 in any given swarm)I may call racism but until then it is just retarded.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

Call of Juarez is not racist, its period accurate. You play a Southern soldier who runs away from the south, therefore its only natural to see a confederate flag a few times. Displaying a flag is by no means racist.
L4D2 is also not racist for the reasons mentioned in the articles. No one is immune from the zombie apocolypse, that means people of all nationalities will be effected.
It really sounds like this blogger is speaking from ignorance.

And ignorance and controversial brings more views.

 

[Doug]

meh,I see no racism.unlike RE5,they are just mixing races for a more realistic zombie based experience,they can't help it it's set in new orleans.

This.

It makes my blood boil as if they didn't include black people, they'd be accused of racism for ignoring the relativity high percentage of blacks in New Orleans. But now they've included some, they also get accused of racism for allowing players to shoot black people?! Seriously, its ridiculous. It'd be like me moaning about all the Causian zombies been shot in Left 4 Dead 1

 

[SMOKEMNHALO2001]

Oh no! God forbid only white people get killed in video games!
Look I'm black and I see no problem with this or RE5. I like it, two main characters are black and it's set in New Orleans, so WTF? People are just stupid and way to sensitive. It's set in America, you know that country were there are a lot of different races? Yeah, some people sadly don't deserve the rights to the first amendment.

 

[A random person]

Oh, so shooting a white zombie is okay but shooting a black isn't? Now that's racism.

Ba dum dum *tish*!

Hey, you stole my punchline!

But on topic, the post I quoted pretty much gives my opinion. You're shooting zombies of multiple races, and if something like Left 4 Dead happened of course there would be some black infected. And that's fine by me; I'm an equal opportunity face-shooter.

 

[Dr Ampersand]

I wouldn't be surprised if Chet read it more than five times. If in L4D2 you were playing as all white characters in KKK hoods who killed only black zombies while shouting racist phrases then I could understand calling it racist but I really don't understand how it is racist if you have black people on both the receiving and firing ends of the shotgun as well as Caucasian people.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Wow... some people are just idiots. Some of the zombies are black! Holy shit! You know that most zombies in every game EVER are white? I'm very much offended that people would get so worked up about a couple of zombies being black when hordes of zombies are white and no one is upset. So let us take a good look at this: Millions of white zombies are designed and killed all the time and no one cares. Several black zombies are in one game and it's a racist hate filled adventure into hell. It makes perfect sense.

 

[Erana]

The Confederate flag is not a symbol of racism, dammit!
Sure, there are some idiots, like klansmen, who misuse it, but they also misuse the crusifix, too!
The Confederacy itself wasn't about white supremacy, either! A lot of states wanted to keep slavery, but the essence of the war was about a different governmental mindset: The North wanted the states wanted a federal government with all the power while the Confederacy wanted the states to be independent, almost to the point of being their own individual countries.
Irk! Exaggerating morons!

You know, most of the Southern troops didn't even want to be in the war? They figured this was just a rich man's war? Which it was.
OT: RE5 wasn't racist, they had all different races -.-
They had Turkish/Arabian looking zombies, White zombies, and African zombies. People think too much about this kind of shit... Why can't they just let something as stupid as this go? Persistent bastards....

Yet another reason why the Civil War should be on a list of "stupidest things ever done in history ever on a large scale."
Actually, all war should be on there. At this day and age, can't we settle our disputes with Starcraft tournies, or something?

 

[The Bandit]

This is just ludicrous. How the hell can you possibly justify that argument? I just... You know what? I don't even care anymore. The world is full of so many idiots, I give up trying to argue with them.

 

[Neotericity]

It's quite unfortunate that in 2009 race is still a big deal. Race shouldn't even be an issue, were all just human. And it seems like they think it's appropriate for only white people to die in games, I mean as long as valve is using it to make it more realistic which they are I don't see the problem.