A Question: What does it mean to control a character with a racial identity in a video game? To Kill that Character?

The answer could be a short and sweet, “nothing” or a long and complex “everything”. One of the interesting facets of gaming that is focused on far too infrequently is that you control and act on raced characters in the game world. The main difference between watching a white man kill a black man in a movie compared to the same event in a video game is that you pulled the trigger (pressed the button) in the video game.

Does this act of pushing the button and being the white man in that scenario have implications? The example game I want to use in this scenario is Street Fighter II. This is a game that many people are familiar with and the characters are clearly tied to a race and/or region.

A little background on SF:II for this piece. Street Fighter II is a one on one fighting game featuring fighters from all over the world. Ryu is from Japan, Ken is from the USA, Guile a white man from the USA, Balrog is a black man from Las Vegas, USA, Zangief is a white man from the U.S.S.R, and there are more characters from more places…. This game is a one to one game where the user controls an avatar that is clearly representing an ethnicity and race while beating up another character of possibly a different race and nationality.

My thesis is this: (I use thesis loosely) Video games are an active medium where users have control over their avatar’s actions, due to the active nature of the medium interactions had with raced avatars can influence one’s personal views and experiences of that group. Basically, what I am saying is that if I am a white person and I control CJ from GTA: San Andreas for 60 hours, that interaction with CJ will influence my views of black people. There are a lot of factors at play, but imagine you are a suburban white kid who doesn’t have any black friends and has little exposure to black people. CJ and his friends/enemies in GTA are the first interactions with this group.

To take an even broader look, what does it mean when a white kid pulls the trigger on his XBOX 360 to kill a Middle Eastern man in Call of Duty?

When I mention these ideas and topics to people I almost immediately get dismissed and am accused of looking too much into things. Games don’t cause racism, they don’t cause violence, they don’t effect anything are what people say to me. Games evoke feelings, they stimulate users both visually, intellectually, and aurally. I think games have the power educate, create new ideas towards things, and reaffirm old notions you may already have.

In our defense of gaming, (i.e. gaming does not cause violence, etc.) we lose the ability to explore the medium further and deeper.

If i say a game helped helped me learn to read and the instructor I had in the game was Asian, people would be so happy. I had a diverse experience and gaming taught me something positive. What if I continue to say that “I think Asian people, especially women are bitches. My instructor was mean and I have never met any Asian people in real life.” Now everyone balks and says gaming doesn’t impact people like that. It’s a 2-way street. This is why I think race and culture and representation matter in games. (I have no issues with Asian Women….just to clarify).

My first exposure to somebody who was Indian is Dhalsim from Street Fighter II. What are the implications of that? His stage is covered in elephants. Dhalsim blows fire and can stretch his arm. He is a mythic figure who can float in the air. Dhalsim is basically a video game version of Johnny Quest’s Hadji. My entire exposure to beautiful diverse culture is reduced to stereotypes. On top of that, the interaction is violent. Street Fighter II is a fighting game. My first interaction with an Indian man is framed with violence. I am not saying this is good or bad, but I am saying that it has to mean something. What does it mean? Why don’t people look into it?

I am asking questions that I don’t have the answers to. I think they are questions that need to be explored.

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!