Right now, all we have to go on is the trailer, and it’s a trailer that has some rather powerful culture images in it (and whether it’s set in Africa or Haiti doesn’t matter), and people seem to willfully deny that. From what I’ve seen, most of the people raising the issue have been extremely thoughtful about it, and are simply trying to pass along WHY this is seen as a problem, and end up getting attacked or dismissed as “PC” or told that “sterotypes exist for a reason”. Well, yes, maybe they do, and I’d be the first one to argue against stereotypes for their own sake, but to look at the RE5 trailer and not see the cultural and historical problems in the artistic presentation of the elements is willful denial of the weight those images carry.

I’ve had plenty of cringe-worthy moments while playing video games both over sexism and racism, and it’s not white-liberal guilt, but a sense of “Ouch, did they really mean that to come over that way?”

Putting our heads in the sand and thinking that racism and stereotypes will just go away if everyone talking about it would stop talking is just silly. I fail to see what’s wrong with opening up a dialogue, and I fail to see why some gamers feel so threatened by that dialogue.

Again, in the trailer images it’s not just the fact that black people happen to be the antagonists, it’s the whole imagery that is created by the atmosphere and setting, and gunning down poor Spanish people in RE4 just isn’t the same because of a lack of cultural weight and the before mentioned problems with wild-eyed black zombies melting out of the shadows visible only by their blood-shot eyes and white teeth until they emerge to try to rip your throat out and you gun them down.

Seriously, it should be obvious why this would fuel a discussion on how race is used and portrayed in games. The weight of the cultural imagery alone is problematic, and at this moment all we can judge the game on is the trailer. It’s a healthy discussion to have if people are open to it, and it’s probably past time, and I’m sure from the POV of black game designers and other players the fact that most video game players may be white is even more of a reason to enter into this discussion, so that white players can understand the baggage something like this carries.

Tekanji, it’s not fair to claim racism in a work of fiction (based in the real world) if you use real world rules and facts. The US has a 75% white population (12% black population) with a greater percentage of them located in Small Town America than in a major city. I would agree it would be racist if they had done RE2 in New York City and included no minorities. Video Games strive for a certain degree of realism and using a small town in the US lends itself to a mostly white population, it’s fact, not racism.

It’s entirely fair to claim racism when a story uses a made up city based in an alternate reality much like our own with primarily white characters. Racoon City might be no New York, but it’s also no small town. I also don’t think that racism is something that games need to include in the “realism” pile and, indeed, “realism” is not an excuse for whitewashing. Even if it’s realistic* that doesn’t mean that choosing a setting that can realistically be whitewashed isn’t a choice influenced by racism, especially when the unconscious “white as default” is one of the most prevalent forms of racism in America today.

* And, frankly, I fail to trust the realism of your numbers when you fail to quote important things such as demographics. For future reference, here are a couple useful links: Texas and California are the new “Majority Minority” states, so now What?, Dimensions of Residential Segregation, and the most and least segregated cities for blacks (if you’re interested in other minority groups such as Latinos and Asians, you can find them there too).

In all the complaints about RE4 and RE5 they are ignoring the fact that these people have been taken over by a foreign entity. They are not africans or spanish people anymore but aliens.

Sorry, that fails. They may not be wholly human anymore, but their looks (and therefore their racial markers) don’t undergo any massive changes and it still, to all appearances, looks like you’re killing hordes of non-white savages.

Assuming you are correct and this is racism, what would you suggest is the solution to said racism? Assuming that these games are set in the real world and that an African country will have a large proportion of black people and that a US city will have a large proportion of white people what would you suggest?

First off, see the Racial Inclusiveness in Gaming article I linked in this post. On top of the solution it offers, it also links to other discussions on racism in games and what to do about it. As for the RE specific question, see the link roundup thread, which has links to posts where people who know more than I do about Africa talk about it.

I don’t think it’s tactful for a white person to kill black people in a video game but if I want an accurate game there’s going to have to be some black people some where, agreed?

I never said that minority characters are not allowed to die in video games. But surely you must see the difference between racial inclusiveness (ie. including non-stereotyped minority characters — both in protagonist and antagonist roles — in a diverse environment where the lead character, even if they are white, is in their indigenous country) and the imagery evoked in the RE5 trailer?

The truth is, short of not making the games at all, nothing would solve this problem.

If you think that solutions are found only through all or nothing proposals, then sure. But the reality is that while the perfect solution won’t be found overnight, the only way to find it is by being conscious of the problems and strategize how they could be avoided and/or fixed.

RE5 doesn’t have any simple solutions because there are too many problems. Slapping on a black protagonist wouldn’t solve the problematic way that Africa is handled. Setting it elsewhere wouldn’t change the problem of cultural appropriation. Introducing completely new characters in new fictional cities would probably have the fans up in arms about how it isn’t a “real” RE game.

Is the solution to just have not made RE5 in the first place? I don’t think so. Personally I think it’s a racial relations nightmare, but it did help bring racism in gaming to the forefront. It got people talking and, even though a lot of that talk was knee-jerk racist apology, it is the first step toward consciousness raising about these issues, and therefore the first step to creating a gaming culture that’s more friendly toward non-white issues.

And, well, if nothing else it seems to have gotten people like you talking about the issue in a way that you might never have been given the opportunity to do so otherwise. You may not agree with the claim of “racism”, but you’re probably a few steps closer to understanding what anti-racism activists mean when we use the word. And, to me at least, that’s a victory right there.

Your other comment was not let through moderation because it reiterates the same misreading of tekanji’s criticism that she addressed in the comments of this post.

I looked at the round up. Here’s the problem I see.

In all the complaints about RE4 and RE5 they are ignoring the fact that these people have been taken over by a foreign entity. They are not africans or spanish people anymore but aliens.

Assuming you are correct and this is racism, what would you suggest is the solution to said racism? Assuming that these games are set in the real world and that an African country will have a large proportion of black people and that a US city will have a large proportion of white people what would you suggest?

Would RE2 been acceptable if it had 75% white zombies, 12% black zombies, 14% hispanic zombies, and a few other assorted forms of zombies? How would you solve the rampant racism in the Resident Evil series?

In one instance you complain about a whitewashed world (that is accurate to the setting) where all the zombies killed are white and then in the next you complain about a game where they introduce minority zombies and they are killed by the same white character.

I don’t think it’s tactful for a white person to kill black people in a video game but if I want an accurate game there’s going to have to be some black people some where, agreed?

The truth is, short of not making the games at all, nothing would solve this problem. Making a black protaginist that kills the black africans would make people upset because it brings up anger about black on black violence which is a problem in the US. This only leaves a white protaginist killing white zombies which you complain leaves a whitewashed world.

Please offer your solution to the problems.

• Blade
• FRACTURE
• DOM (Gears of War)
• Augustus Cole ( Gears of War)

I’d definitely call “Birth of a Nation” racist, but Resident Evil 5? Not really, seeing as skin color tends to be incidental to the location of the plot.

First off:

but we can reach if we want to.

This is your first, and final, warning. Review the discussion rules, especially under the dismissal clause. You are free to disagree with other people’s interpretation of things but you are not allowed to invalidate, dismiss, or otherwise ridicule their point of view. If you make any further comments like that your comment will be deleted, so if you want to actually have people hear your part in this discussion, stick to the rules.

As for Resident Evil 5… uhh, the setting kind of lends itself to race.

Of course, and if you read the other threads on the issue you’ll find that one of the problems that is addressed is the choice to set it in Africa. I recommend you check out the link roundup that I’ve made before you continue this discussion. In fact, that post or the Resident Evil 5 Trailer one are better places to discuss the issue of RE5, as this thread is focused on games other than that one.

Was it racist for them to assume in Resident Evil 2 that a small town in the United States would be predominently white and thus have white zombies? Was it racist for them to assume in Resident Evil 4 there would be Spanish speaking people in a town in Spain? They were dark skinned too.

Yes and yes. The first question is addressed right in this post, actually, where I talk about part of the usual amount of racism including whitewashed worlds. That would, indeed, include Racoon City which had predominantly white citizens in RE2 (this was partially addressed in RE3 and the Outbreak series; see this post if you want to discuss that).

As for RE4, I had actually wanted to get a post out about it for the end of IBAW, but I ended up playing The Sims instead. However, I am firmly on the side that there was a similar (though, obviously, not the same) dynamic in RE4 as they’re using in RE5. If you’re interested in discussions on that, I would recommend the Resident Evil 4 thread on Iris’ forums.

As an aside, Alyx isn’t a playable character?? For some reason I thought you had the option to choose her or Gordon.