Gaming.... a "white mans" medium?

[ZeroAX]

You know what I'd love. A game where every character is a negative stereotype. White people will be fat, boring and always taking advantage of everyone, black people will be cursing, Asians will be portrayed like caricatures, and so on.

Then everyone will be offended, but no one will be able to complain

Not by a long shot, dude.

Dude, half of southern Europe has darker skin than her, and are considered white. Specially since it's a French game, this is a common skin color for caucasian women in France.

[Croooow!]

Are we a color blind society yet? Probably never will be when there is too much worries of the "Political Correctness" in representing or offending a race, group or belief.

Awareness of differences in outward appearance is a far too primal characteristic of humans for it to ever go away on a large scale. Not "seeing" race is relatively easy on an individual basis but asking it of larger groups of people, be it an industry or country, is incredibly difficult for us as a species.

[AppleQueso]

You know what I'd love. A game where every character is a negative stereotype. White people will be fat, boring and always taking advantage of everyone, black people will be cursing, Asians will be portrayed like caricatures, and so on.

Then everyone will be offended, but no one will be able to complain

Not by a long shot, dude.

Dude, half of southern Europe has darker skin than her, and are considered white. Specially since it's a French game, this is a common skin color for caucasian women in France.

It's not her skin color, it's her facial bone structure and whatnot.

[ZeroAX]

It's not her skin color, it's her facial bone structure and whatnot.

It's impossible to define the race by that.

You know, actual Africans look nothing like African Americans.

[Croooow!]

Nobody knows what Jade is for sure, other than ethnically ambiguous. They wrote a whole article about it in Wired:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/02/jades_black_rac/

That was a very interesting article, I always thought she was Hispanic. I think this example goes along well with the anime type characters in video games, they're abstract enough to allow people to see them as whatever they want. I think the quote below from the article sums it up perfectly.

"Video games put the control of the main character into the player’s hands. They ask us to become the character. It’s easier for anybody to identify with Jade because Jade can stand in for anything."

[k.vlaros]

Try and define what race is. Doing so well is a challenge beyond most of us.

With that said, no, I do not think gaming is a white man's medium. That is to say, if you consider sports games, gaming. (half-joking)

[J T]

You know what I'd love. A game where every character is a negative stereotype. White people will be fat, boring and always taking advantage of everyone, black people will be cursing, Asians will be portrayed like caricatures, and so on.

Then everyone will be offended, but no one will be able to complain

They already made that. It's called Grand Theft Auto III. And people complained.

[saturnfan]

The thread was primarily about the use of the word nigger,

No, it was about the use of "nigger" by fictional racist characters to show how racism worked in the XIX century and to dismantle it.

So how is that not about the word nigger, considering the word nigger is the sole focus of the discussion? I am well aware of the context and content of the thread of I was referring to, but it seems that you do not. It was specifically about whether or not classic literature should be neutered in the classroom for the sake of political correctness and not offending anyone. What you described is the context and use of the word in the novel. Are you implying that you can not tell the difference between classic literature and internet forums?

Now obviously that is a facetious low blow, but seriously, I am not exactly sure why you attempted to point that out. It has nothing to do with whether or not gaming is a white mans past time.

[AppleQueso]

It's not her skin color, it's her facial bone structure and whatnot.

It's impossible to define the race by that.

You know, actual Africans look nothing like African Americans.

That must explain why it's impossible to tell the difference between light-skinned blacks and white people.

oh wait...

[Hatta]

It's impossible to define race consistently anyway. Race is not a biological phenomenon, it's an invention of society.

As for Jade, I think she's deliberately racially ambiguous.