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!

Diversity Alert! Need For Speed Payback (PC- EA ORIGIN)

There are lots of ways to approach diversity in gaming. Most of them have shown to be problematic. Need for Speed Payback seems to have found a good way to have a diverse cast without feeling like a Public Service Announcement or Diversity by committee. Obviously, this game learned from the best with the Fast and Furious movie series.

First we can start with the obvious bad…generic white protagonist, Tyler Morgan, BUT I am willing to let it go because the game makes it very clear that he can’t succeed without the help of his strong intelligent female companion, European black drift master and off road racer, and his hyper intelligent Asian mechanic. Reading all of that this probably sounds ridiculous, but so far (3 hours in) none of the characters feel like cheap caricatures of their race other than the white guy and even he seems cool enough (think Paul Walker, RIP).

This game has no reason to have a diverse cast and certainly not one with nuance but here we are. Mac, the black guy, is from Europe and has the typical “I may have done petty crime in Europe and that’s how I learned to drift” but when asked why he came to America and if it was to run away from his past he said, “no, I made mistakes in my past but I love the open roads of America and wanted to check them out”. That’s a paraphrase, but I love that the game doesn’t use him being a criminal as his defining quality. So far in the game, his most defining qualities are loyalty and his friendship with the crew. He is the glue guy and a really likable character.

No spoilers, but when the crew has to split up and do their own things Mac doesn’t get into crime. He sells his skills to online personalities, helping male drift videos for Instagram and YouTube. He’s an entrepreneur, and doesn’t fall back into criminal activity. Surprisingly, the only person in the game who fell back to illegal doings was the woman, Jess. She’s so bad ass that she is a getaway driver for the cash and for funsies. It’s pretty dope.

Lina….

I like this game but I’m too early in it to review it. As a racing game with a story, this game moves away from some really easy tropes to fall into for each character. Jess has not become the love interest, nor does the game use her for sex appeal. She’s good at dodging police and driving. She is unbelievably competent and that what she brings to the group. Side note on sex appeal though, the antagonist is a black women named Lina Navarro. She’s so hot.Sean Mccalister, Mac, is not just a trope criminal black “thug” who is looking for reclamation on the streets. These might seem like small things, but positive representation can go a long way. (I am well aware the villain is a strong black women and yes, that problematic because there are so few black women represented in gaming.)

Consider this a shout out to a game that seems to be doing things right from a representation stand point, and in 2017 that feels good.

Peace

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!