Comments on: “Black is an EXTRA feature… Therefore, you hav[e] to PAY for it.”

By: tekanji

tekanji — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:48:05 +0000

They of course, ignore the possibility of making the default a wooden mannikin and having *all* human appearances be extrasâ€¦

Pcha, you and your Earth Logic. Offering up obvious solutions that could work with the game dynamics and takes away the last shred of the excuse that they put up to cover up their racism.

By: Phoenix

Phoenix — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:54:54 +0000

They of course, ignore the possibility of making the default a wooden mannikin and having *all* human appearances be extras…

By: "I gotta pay to be black?" « Dewb

"I gotta pay to be black?" « Dewb — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:22:11 +0000

[…] Reading the news occasionally makes me wish that other races would give white people a little more credit on race issues. When stuff like this bubbles up, though, I can understand why they don’t. Andrea Rubenstein explains what’s wrong with the situation. […]

By: 13th Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction & Fantasy Fans « Words From The Center, Words From The Edge

Fri, 04 May 2007 04:30:35 +0000

[…] - Also from tekanji a post on Acclaim treating white as the default in their new game Dance - â€œBlack is an EXTRA featureâ€¦ Therefore, you hav[e] to PAY for it.â€: This situation is, perhaps, one of the most clear-cut examples of how the privileged groups are normalized and the non-privileged groups are Othered. First of all, this game seems to be still in the development stage; theyâ€™re testing out game mechanics and the like. Just as with Fable, as I discussed in my gender-inclusive video game thread, treating a female option as an â€œextraâ€ rather than an intrinsic part of a game that supposedly lets you be anything, Acclaimâ€™s Dance treats white as the default and non-white as an extra feature. As one of the moderators on the board explains, â€œBlack is an EXTRA feature. It makes your person look unique, so that is an EXTRA feature. Therefore, you having to PAY for it.â€ […]

By: 79soul » Blog Archive » Customizing characters is a good thing…

79soul » Blog Archive » Customizing characters is a good thing… — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:28:10 +0000

[…] I was reading Shrug and came across this story about Acclaim’s upcomingÂ game Dance. Apparently, the default character is white, but you have the ability to customize the character, including color. Which seems great, right? […]

By: Roy

Roy — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:59:18 +0000

That’s true, arielladrake, except that there’s the potential for some whites not to purchase the game if they have to pay to be white. When I worked retail, there were parents who refused to purchase books for their boy children if the book had a female lead- I can see a company fearing that whites might feel less inclined to purchase a game if the main character selections didn’t include “white.”

By: arielladrake

arielladrake — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:13:03 +0000

Interesting note from the marketer over my shoulder: On pure numbers terms, if it was about market and money-making and so on, the default would be black, and you’d have to pay to be white, because the assumption is that the white market is bigger, more resourced, and more willing to spend.

I’d personally add that it’s also that the white market is generally less willing or able to identify with a character whose colour doesn’t match their own, because they haven’t had to do it for most of their lives in order to have decent characters to identify with.

By: 100littledolls

100littledolls — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:48:26 +0000

I cannot believe that anyone would defend this.

By: BetaCandy

BetaCandy — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:08:17 +0000

OMG. This would be hilarious if it was in a movie. But it’s not, so it’s just sad.

By: Mickle

Mickle — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:06:46 +0000

I really don’t have anything more intelligent to say other than that, I just thought I ought to say something in response to the moderators cluelessness.