The article titled Opinion: Resident Evil 5- How Does This Make You Feel, "Partner"? by Tom Cross was terribly ripped to shreds by other Gamasutra bloggers like I have never seen! He touches on a very controversial subject, one that applies and has affected everyone personally or inadvertently; racism. With the release of the new RE5 people began to talk about how the entire game wreaks of racial stereotypes, misrepresentation of Africans, and the characterization that poverty produces ravenous, aggressive humans, specifically with this game...black people in Africa being featured as the antagonists. But when you are sitting there looking at the game from a potentially racist point of view then YES it does seem to come off as inhumane but with games, especially ones that deal with mature content, you have to assume that the person playing is of a mature state of mind. According to the International Game Developers Association the average gamer is around the age of 31 years old and has a university level degree or higher. At that age and with a thorough education a person has had the opportunities to understand the disastrous effects of racism and has the capacity to not just skim the surface of a video game (judging a book by its cover so to speak) but to play it because of the pure entertainment value and mental stimulation, not because there are inappropriate, derogatory insinuations or prejudice. Cross doesn't state that the game is racist. He just throws out examples of how people could view it as being so. The one thing he stated from a personal standpoint was that "the game uses a particular set of imagery in ways that were poorly thought out." I agree to an extent. It sucks that in this day and age industries, whether it be movies or video games, are using stereotypes in a broad range from sexism to the current topic of racism just to make a buck. Then again these games are based on make believe! None of the scenarios are real, neither are the places! The people in RE5 are not real human beings they are zombies who are putting you the gamer in the survival seat of kill or be killed. During my research and also stated in the videos below is a point made about the previous RE4. It was just as violent with the same gaming concepts except that you were killing Spanish zombies instead. Well the interesting thing about that is that no one cried racism when Spanish zombie genocide was happening across the globe. Why do people have to react differently now that the characters are black? Do people suppose that blacks are better than the Spanish or that sufferage is due to Africans in any way possible? To be honest the whole thing is completely out of line. It's a video game. If you are taking offense to the storyline, characters, or location of game play then simply don't play it. Problem solved.
According to a 2001 study by the U. S. organization Children Now on stereotyping in video games they came to a few conclusions about the type of characters that were used and the situations they were placed in.
1. Most protagonist were white males (86%)
*Now who really is the protagonist in the game? The character you play or the player themselves? Either way white males are the number one demographic that plays video games. Why wouldn't the VG industry try to appeal to them?
2. Non-white males were portrayed in stereotypical ways-seven out of ten Asian characters as fighters, and eight out of ten African Americans as sports competitors.
*OK. Asians have been portrayed as fighters for as long as history goes back. They have developed fighting techniques that are far advanced any culture when it comes to hand to hand combat. So what is the problem with an Asian fighter? Oh and as far as African Americans as sport competitors...do you see any racial equality in professional sports?! Basketball for example is a black dominated sport. For a good reason! They have skills! Why is it so insulting to have them as sports reps when it happens to be realistically something each race excels in?
3. Nearly nine out of ten African-American females were victims of violence (twice the rate of white females)
*It is a fact of life that within the United States African American women experience domestic violence more often than white women. You can take their statement one of two ways. First, that the game is being racist. Second, it is telling you nothing but what the true facts are. African women experience violence more often then whites. Plain and simple.
4. 79 % of African American males were shown as verbally and physically aggressive, compared to 57% of white males.
*Fact. According to an article titled Violence of the Rams, Ron Van Mechelen, black male violence still surpasses white male violence by a wide margin. So to have black men being more aggressive, is that necessarily a lie? If it is stated truth then why does America still have a problem with the representation?
I have attached three videos of Resident Evil 5 for your viewing pleasure. The first one is a guy, who sounds Caucasian (complete guess) who discusses the raving topic of the possibility of racism in RE5 while the second viewing is commentated by I believe three African American men who give their opinions on whether or not RE5 is a racist attack on Africans and their culture. The final one does a comparison between RE5, RE4, and GTA San Andreas. All are quite interesting to listen to/read but be advised that the second video uses some obscenities but it's nothing that will make you blush. :-)
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