Black Characters in Gaming- Frigg (Mercenary Kings: RELOADED, PC/XBox1/Switch/PS4)

“FRIGG- Resistance Fighter Frigg came to Mandragora Island as a scientist working on the Mandrake Project, but when CLAW attacked, she became the Resistance’s fiercest fighter! It wouldn’t be long until she joined forces with the Mercenary Kings to fight back against Commander Baron’s nefarious forces. A former olympic athlete, running around jungles and bases while lugging around heavy artillery is a piece of cake for her! When she’s not crushing CLAW troops, Frigg enjoys mountain climbing, 70s anime and almost all types of breakfast foods.” (http://mercenarykings.com/characters.php)

Frigg is the character I have been using in Mercenary Kings Reloaded on PC. What’s in a name right? Frigg is the wife of Odin and is the main Goddess. A great name for the character and a fitting name in regards to where the black women stands in the black community. Black women overcome dual oppression while still being able to graduate high school and college at a higher rate than their black male peers and historically have been a force in the Civil Rights movement and much of American history. 

Is Frigg a problematic representation of a black character in gaming? No and that is mostly due to the genre of game. Even though she is a “main character” in this game. There is no real engaging story or character progression. It’s nice to a black female identifying avatar in the game but sadly she’s not much more in gameplay.

Stereotype- Hyper Athletic (actually jumps faster and higher in game). We have all seen White Men Can’t Jump and it’s hilarious when black characters are always given the ability to jump higher. Well black characters and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Stereotype- Violent. She’s a soldier. Her violence has context and she doesn’t revel in it. That’s acceptable.

Stereotype- Minority in the Military. Active-duty enlisted black women in the military make up 29% of all women enlisted. That is very significant. Black women are underrepresented as soldiers in gaming so this is a positive representation. Source (https://www.statista.com/statistics/214869/share-of-active-duty-enlisted-women-and-men-in-the-us-military/)

Positive Aspects of Frigg- She’s a scientist, which is realistic. Black women do extremely well in school and graduate at a much higher rate than their black male peers in college. Black women have a long storied history of advancing the sciences. 

Hidden Figures

Positive Aspects of Frigg- Her hair. Or more specifically, the representation of her hair. Natural and very well done. She’s able to be just as feminine and sexualized as the other women characters in the game (which is problematic in it’s own right, all the women have hourglass figures but it’s nice that the black women was not made to look less than her non-black peers).  It’s a natural hair style, they didn’t straighten her hair or anything like that which is excellent.

Mercenary Kings is not a story driven game in the traditional sense. The characters don’t have a real progression or arc. This is disappointing on one hand because we don’t get to interact with her origins and character growth. It’s also fantastic that the game made a powerful character that you can choose a black woman. Her being a black woman isn’t her defining characteristic, she’s an excellent character choice in the game who happens to be a black woman. In a perfect world, diversity would be so normal that you wouldn’t think twice about seeing a black woman as a character option. Sadly, right now it’s still a rarity.

Apex Legends Supe Diverse Cast!

There is an interesting trend of putting a diverse roster in games with 0 story progression. Overwatch and most recently Apex Legends have both created amazingly diverse character options but you don’t have a traditional story progression to play through. Looking at some of the single player games that have recently come out, it’s still a lot of white male protagonist. This isn’t inherently bad, but seeing the amazing character progression of Arthur in Red Dead 2 makes me long for a game where a black woman has 60 hours to develop and grow.

Frigg is a great character in a really fun game! Thanks for reading, peace!

Thanksgiving Special- Black Characters I am Thankful For: Keith David (Saints Row Series)

What I am most thankful at this time of giving is that their is a generation of kids who will only know Keith David from his work on Saints Row not knowing he is one of the most prolific black actors in Hollywood.

Video games have celebrity voice acting all of the time and usually it’s mediocre at best. You see games are not taken as seriously as movies and when high class actors slum it in the game space the results are usually pretty shit. Not Keith David. He respects the medium and delivers his lines with the utmost of sincerity and hilarity.

I love Saints Row and I will never forget when Julius Little (Keith David) asks me, “You ready for this, playa.” Yes! A million times yes Keith, I am ready. Julius Little was the original leader of the 3rd Street Saints back when Saints Row took it’s story seriously (it was better then, series peaked at 2, went a little off the rails at 3 and was self parody at 4).

Keith David was perfect for Saints Row. When the first game came out it was competing in the same space as Grand Theft Auto. How do you make a crime drama seem legit in the face of the biggest series in gaming? You add a legit presence to lead your protagonist into the gang war that is Saints Row.

In the second game, Saints Row 2, Julius Little is used as the moral compass of the series. At one point, Little is done with the gang violence and tells you the player that your gang is no better than the other gangs…. you’ve become a sociopath.

Julius Little: “Don’t you get it? The Saints didn’t solve a goddamn thing. Drugs were still being pushed, innocent people were still getting killed…all we did was turn into Vice Kings that wore purple…”
The Protagonist: “Jesus Christ you sound like a pussy…”
Julius Little: “I sound like someone who’s not a sociopath…”

— Julius Little and The Protagonist discuss the events of Saints Row in Saints Row 2 during “Revelation“.

This scene doesn’t work with anybody less than Keith David in the role.

Even when the series goes off the rails in Saints Row 4, Keith David plays himself as the vice president of America and is self aware and hilarious.

Example: Keith David “reading” a…. magazine and commenting on robotics.

When you are on the spaceship in 4 (no spoilers) you can initiate sex scenes with anybody but Keith David. He always has a witty retort as to why y’all can’t bang at that time. It’s awesome (jump to the 2:10 minute mark).

 

It’s great to see an accomplished talent such as Keith David involved in my favorite medium. I am thankful for Keith David. Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Thanksgiving Special- Black Characters I am Thankful For: Roland (Borderlands)

Halloween is dead and now it’s time to revel in another holiday about death and slaughter…Thanksgiving! Does this holiday memorialize a massive genocide? Who knows…but I what I do know is I love Turkey and Football! And black people!

I want to highlight some black characters in games I am thankful for. These characters may not be the star of the franchise but their existence makes me feel better about gaming. We are in a gaming space where games still come out that won’t give you the option to change skin color (Need for Speed 2015…) even when all it would do is make players feel more engaged. When games have black characters, especially when the game isn’t showcasing them, it’s special.

This is my confession. I loved Borderlands 1. Playing as Roland was awesome. I hated Borderlands 2 (at first) because I didn’t have a black option and Roland was not playable. Roland exist in a weird place in the Borderlands world. He was playable in the first game but he was little more than an avatar that happened to be black (talk black?), but when he becomes unplayable in the 2nd game and Pre-Sequel you realize that they give him so much story and personality and in the process made Roland one of the most positive black characters I have seen in years.

Roland goes from vault hunter to revolutionary. When you reach the second game you realize the profound impact and leader that Roland has become. It’s a really cool moment when you are doing missions for him and his group. Roland helped form the Crimson Raiders, a group of radicals fighting the Hyperion Corporation. He was killed in the line of duty, and died a hero.

Roland was also in an interracial relationship with Lilith.

Roland was nothing more than a “boo-yah” spewing stereotype in Borderlands 1 but becomes an integral player in the plot for the rest of the series. Roland bucks stereotypes. He’s more than just a violent avatar. He is a leader. On some level he is fighting for civil rights on Pandora and beyond. The chaos is better than being under Hyperion’s thumb. Roland is multi-dimensional. He’s shown to be a soldier, a leader, and a lover. His relationship matters and the other characters (especially Tiny Tina) mourned his loss greatly. It’s awesome. I am thankful for Roland! GOBBLE GOBBLE

Black Characters in Games- D’arci Stern (Urban Chaos)

What if I told you that in 1999 there was a video game that was a 3D action game with an open world/sand box (pre- GTA 3), involved driving, had you play as a cop, and had a black female protagonist? You’d say “nah bruh, that game was way ahead of it’s time”. Believe it! Urban Chaos is all of those things and on some level more.

In a post-Tomb raider world the protagonist is not over sexualized. In a pre-GTA 3 world, the driving and combat are good and the world feels (dare I say…) alive. In a video game industry obsessed with sales and being safe this game had a black female protagonist who doesn’t look white! (I’m looking at you Remember Me). In a pre-2015 “cops shoot everybody” world this game was dealing with the realities of police and gang violence and what that means for the city. THIS GAME HAS NON-VIOLENT OPTIONS TO DEAL WITH BAD GUYS!

This post isn’t about the game Urban Chaos (obtained for $1.74 of GOG.com, PC), it’s about D’arci Stern. She is a take-no-shit rookie cop, who is cleaning up the streets of Union City from the Wildcats gang (and little does she know but also sooo much more!). D’arci curses and fights and wants to be treated like one of the boys. All of the other on the force are white, and seemingly Irish???? but that’s ok. Some cops support D’arci, while others aren’t sure she is really cop material. I think it’s cool the game deals with that.

 

Stereotype: Strong Black Female- D’arci is conforming to the strong black woman stereotype. She curses like one of the guys and she refuses to show any emotion. She is fearless and given all the hardest assignments.

Strong black female trope involves being emotionless, able to cope with anything, not needing anyone else for help, and able to do everything for everyone else eagerly. This is problematic because this view of black women is dehumanizing. The pain of the black woman is not felt by society. Their plight is ignored by a middle-class white feminism, yet the civil rights movement was dominated by men. All of that is seemingly OK because the strong black female can provide for her own, wants to work five jobs, and basically be super heroes. Until they ask for needed help and then are framed as welfare queens, whores with too many partners, and drains on society.

The strong black females of Family Guy

The negative portrayal of black when they do ask for provided and legal help is something society needs to change (especially because the largest recipient of welfare are white women…but I digress). Black woman are oppressed in many ways and their pain is real. They are strong because they are forced to be but they deserve to be treated fairly and not expected to be super woman all the time.

Stereotype: Female character with “Daddy Issues”- Daddy issues are the short way to say a woman is crazy due to her having a father who was bad in some way. It trivializes real experiences of sexual abuse, abandonment, and various other things and says the result of any of that is a broken woman who is probably wild in bed and a nightmare to date. None of this is good. The only time D’arci shows emotion in this game is when the mysterious Roper brings up her dead father. It’s an archaic trope that needs to end.

 

 

Stereotype: No love interest- On one hand this is positive, a female not pigeon holed as a as being defined by her relationships and who she is sleeping with. But this is also another black female who has to deny her femininity to be accepted and does not get a true love interest.

Stereotype: Cops as GOOD guys!-  I have spoken about my issues with current police behavior (a few officers at least are very problematic) but video games have a habit of obsessing over the corrupt cop. While this game does feature a corrupt politician, the police force is truly trying to do what is best. D’arci is a kick ass cop saving the day. The best part… YOU CAN ARREST BAD GUYS WITH OUT KILLING THEM. We can barely do that in real life….

Stereotype: Ethnic Hair- You know what I was mad about her hair style for a hot second but honestly I am happy that they gave her a natural hair style and they put some beads in it. They could have straightened her hair and conformed to white standards of beauty and they chose not to.  Good stuff.

 

 

Stereotype: Diverse cast of bad guys, black men, white men, and females- I love that the cast of villains is diverse but it’s a shame that all the female antagonists are dressed sexually and in this game are prostitutes.

Stereotype: White Savior (Roper)- Because there is no way a black woman could solve this crazy mystery on her own, a white man has to come out of nowhere and help save the day. In the game D’arci literally says why should I listen to you, you came outta nowhere. It’s a trope that is common in film and it shows up here once again.

That’s Roper in the back….wtf…

Is D’arci Stern Problematic? I don’t think so. Quite the opposite really. She was ahead of her time. I am sad that she hasn’t starred in a game recently. I’d love an HD Remaster of Urban Chaos. She’s a fun character to get to know, and I would love more story about her.

Check out Urban Chaos (PC), It’s great. Thanks for reading. Peace!

Random Thought on 3/25/2015- Can’t Choose Your Race: THE GAME!

I came across the most interesting article on Kotaku this morning. The article details how in the game Rust for PC, the game chooses your racial and ethnic identity for you. That identity is tied to your Steam ID and cannot be changed. The community response has been a little negative as people don’t like not being able to choose their race. The article shows white people complaining about being black characters and I am sure these complaints go both ways.

I find this fascinating. Full disclosure, on my worst days as a black man I think to myself, “It really sucks being born on the wrong team”. I wanted to be born on the Yankees (white) but ended up on the Cubs (black).

Sometimes a white woman will walk by me at night and speed up while clutching her purse. She doesn’t see my master’s degree or my wife and kid. She just sees a black criminal. Her fear cuts me deep on those bad days and I know I had no choice in the matter. This “feature” in Rust captures that. When I read the complaints from those players online I can feel their powerlessness. As a minority in America I am a marked man. I am powerless to change your perceptions of me from the outside looking in, and I am powerless to change my skin color. I think it is amazing that a game captured this with one small change.

Honestly, when games force me to be a white protagonist I feel the same powerlessness. White is always the norm, so of course the silent protagonist is white. It’s frustrating. I am glad that other people can experience that.

I have not played Rust yet, but I might check it out now. I love when games capture real experiences. We don’t choose our skin color, and Rust has found a way to simulate that and the feelings that come with it.

Peace!

Random Thoughts on December 12th, 2014- Bouffalant is a black man

Bouffalant is a normal type Pokemon from Pokemon X/Y (at least that’s when I met him). He is a bovine type creature with a big black afro!

Of course you can’t pull no sideways shit on me GAMEFREAKS! (the creator of Pokemon) You made OJ Simpson!

Hear me out- Bouffalant has an afro like OJ during some of his acting days…

Bouffalant is the only Pokemon known to learn the move head charge (head strong black man man!) and finally….

OJ Simpson played for the Buffalo Bills! (Bouffalant is a damn Buffalo!)

Bouffalant is also very fast and strong like OJ. And one could say he is….a killer! AHHHH IM PLAYIN RELAX YALL!

The real question is….why?

Check me out on my podcast! The Ebony and Ivory Cast!

Black Characters in Gaming- Nilin (Remember Me- PC, XBOX 360, PS3)

Nillin in Remember Me is a mixed bag for me. On one hand I love this character. She’s a strong Halle Berry look-a-like who kicks ass and takes names. On the other hand, she reaffirms many of the negative tropes that female characters fall into. Before we delve too much into this, lets learn more about who Nillin is.

Yeah…. not Halle Berry right?

Nillin is the protagonist (kind of) of Remember Me. She is a bi-racial woman who is an amnesiac. She is working for a terrorist organization seemingly working to bring the class oppressed Neo-Paris down and give the poor a new hope.  The game is a third-person action game involving melee combat and some special moves. The twist is that Nillin has the ability to erase people’s memory and kill them by manipulating special technology that erases people’s unhappy memories. This Sensen technology is problematic because it erases people’s pain and the company that makes this tech is too powerful leading to a surveillance state (think 1984)(the book, not the year)(well think NSA, year 2014).

In my world, Nillin is awesome because she is a strong woman who is the only person able to save the day. This is a rare thing for videogames. I love that she is black or bi-racial. Her mother was black and father was white. I also love that her black mom ran a large corporation (even if it was problematic at times). This game has so many successful black people and they don’t even act like it’s a big deal. There are people in this game and they happen to be minorities. They don’t act like stereotypes, they never pat themselves on the back about it. It is really well done.

This game touches on the importance of relationships and family issues in pathology. Nillin’s mental health issues are seemingly a result of unresolved issues with her parents. Alfred Adler would be so proud of this game. Watching Nillin work through her family issues and come to the realization that people need to embrace their bad memories instead of running from them is so impactful. The moral of this game is that you cannot run away from problems and repress feelings, you must deal with them. It’s so profound, I love it.

Is Nillin a problematic character in games?

She ain’t perfect. Aesthetically, she conforms to white standards of beauty. If her skin wasn’t dark you wouldn’t know she was a minority. This is frustrating. Our people are never represented in games in our natural beautiful state. Why can’t she have braids or an afro? Why can’t she have a different body type? And my biggest pet peeve is why couldn’t they get a black woman to voice her. I’ll chalk it up to baby steps….

Stereotype: Overly emotional woman

There is this idea that women are more emotional than men. A lot of women you know probably reinforce that. Remember that gender is a social construct. In reality, small boys are much more emotionally unconstrained than girls but we socialize men to repress those emotions and allow women to express their full emotional range more. Nillin is constantly emoting in this game, in a way that a male protagonist never would. That is problematic because it reinforces the idea that all women are overly emotional. Nillin is constantly in contact with a “rational” male who “keeps her under control” while going through her terrorist missions.

Stereotype: Black person as criminal

I have spoken on this a lot. She causes tons of civilian death and is at times as bad as the government she is trying to stop.

Stereotype: Damsel in Distress

This is interesting and this point seemingly contradicts my earlier statement that Nillin is a strong female protagonist. Nillin has no memory and is not in full control of her destiny and actions until the end of the game. Most of the game is spent with Nillin working for a terrorist cell with the hopes of getting her memory back and gaining some context for her existence. Most of the game she is a damsel trying to find safety and is led by a man. She is being used at first, avoiding spoilers,  but she does have a paradigm shift where she takes control and it is awesome. I’ll let Feminist Frequency educate you more on the Damsel in Distress trope.

Stereotype: White savior complex

Nillin is blindly following a white man to find sanctity from her amnesic struggles. While the game does not focus on the race of the people involved, it is frustrating that it has to be a white man calling the shots. A man who has Nillin do terrible things for “the cause”. Normally the white savior complex plays out with a white person entering an all black school and they save these misguided ghetto children (sarcasm) with their superior white intellect and problem solving. This time, the school is Nillin’s mind and the savior is a white man named Edge.

It would have been such a cool story to see Nillin come to conclusions on her own.

Stereotype: Angry Black Woman (Nillin’s mom-Scylla Cartier-Wells)

Black women are constantly being portrayed as angry. The angry black women is a stereotype that black woman have been dealing with for years. If a black women doesn’t smile people assume she’s mad, if a white woman doesn’t smile she just isn’t smiling. On television this trope plays out with the neck wagging, finger snapping black woman who can’t be pleased. Reality TV has run with this on shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Bad Girls Club. This is problematic because it puts black women at a disadvantage in social interactions. People assume black women are mad before they even know you, if your actions are framed with anger you will always seem angry. In reality, black women have a lot to be mad about! But that doesn’t mean that they are angry all the time. Everybody has emotions, and anger is one of them. To attribute that emotion more to one group is problematic. Nillin’s mother is a heartless boss who is angry (the game gives you the backstory to why). Because Scylla is one of the few black women we see in gaming, making her an angry character (at first) is problematic. 

What does all this mean? It means this is a step in the right direction. Nillin has 2 comic books and had a great web-site dedicated to the game. A black woman being a protagonist in different mediums is awesome. She will hopefully be a role model and hero for somebody. I had black male super heroes to admire growing up and I hope Nillin can be that for some young people too. We have to start hiring more diversity at these companies if we ever want to truly make characters that are real and representative. While Nillin is not perfect, she is a refreshing change from Nathan Drake. Thanks for reading!

 

Black Characters in Gaming- Dwayne Forge (GTA 4)

Footsteps in the Dark – Please click link and have this song playing while reading this post. Thank you!

Here the Isley Brothers crooning in the background, setting the mood. Beauty, sadness, betrayal… and that’s just the beginning of the song. Every time Dwayne Forge had a cut scene in GTA 4 this song played in the background. It sets the perfect back drop for Dwayne’s experience. 

Dwayne was not a playable character in Grand Theft Auto 4, he was a friend you could choose to work with or kill. Spoilers but at one point in the game you have to choose between helping Playboy X (young upstart rapper and former colleague to Dwayne) and killing Dwayne (former crime boss, just released from prison and back at ground zero) or helping Dwayne and killing Playboy X. I don’t know how you could not help Dwayne. He’s so real, he has one hell of a sob story. Gameplay wise if you hang out with Dwayne enough he gives you access to his old gang members and weapons to help you on missions.

Dwayne represented a few major things for me. He is black, he has a moral code, and he is depressed. Full disclosure, I was playing GTA 4 heavily when I had broken up with my seemingly first “love” (wrong.) and I felt like the world was turning its back on me. Dwayne was feeling the same way. Dwayne had it all when he was running the drug game but he took the fall for his friends (loyalty) and realized that when he got out everybody he thought had his back left him behind. His girl left him, his boys wouldn’t associate with him or treat him with respect. He became a pariah (like most released prisoners he was unable to find work and lost his social networks, he was left helpless and hopeless). Dwayne was feeling hopeless but in the game Niko Bellic came along and fought with him and gave him hope.

I have never had a black character in my gaming life that was as multifaceted and relevant to my experience as Dwayne. Dwayne was a guy trying to give it all for his people and he loved his people. That’s how I see myself, and his pain when they don’t reciprocate it is a pain I feel. Yeah, Dwayne is a criminal and a convict but he had feelings. Very rarely do characters in games have real feelings and certainly not black characters. Rockstar, the developers of GTA 4, humanized Dwayne. The problem with stereotypes is that they dehumanize the groups of people they effect. Black men get watered down to statistics and become vehicles that either subvert or reinforce stereotypes and very little else. It is so refreshing to have a character like Dwayne who seems to reinforce these stereotypes while breaking through them all by making us care for him as a person. I would also argue that Dwayne subverts a lot of male stereotypes due to his openness with his feelings. He allows himself to be sad. 

Is Dwayne a problematic representation of black characters in gaming? He showcases emotions, deals with a reality that many black men face post incarceration, and brings light to mental health issues that flare up in our community but go untreated…. it would be too easy to focus on him being a criminal and calling him problematic because of that. In a weird way Dwayne represents old school values preaching loyalty and community where Playboy X represents new self centered values that neglect community. I personally love what Dwayne represents on that level. 

Stereotype: Black man as criminal

That speaks for itself. We haven’t moved passed this trope much in gaming. As always, it’s problematic because it is not juxtaposed with positive black images in gaming. 

Stereotype: Mass Incarceration of black men

I can’t really put it better than this infographic. I will add though that as a country we refuse to acknowledge the disservice we do these men when we let them out of prison. They lose the right to vote and can’t find jobs. Every sentence should not be a life sentence. We need change. 

Stereotype: Mental health issues in the black community

It exist, yet as a community we try to act like it doesn’t. On a broader scale, black people and minorities in general have a lot to be depressed about and we shouldn’t shy away from that reality should embrace it and work through it. 

What does all this mean? In my mind Dwayne is a beacon of excellence in black representations in game. I just wish he was playable….