COM 427 September 24 RACE & ETHNICITY

QUIZ!

1. Chan: I use the term ‘_________’ here to emphasize the subtle ways in which race may be perceived or inflected within different game-world settings. A) twerking B) Asian-American C) racialized D) hegemony

2. Chan: “According to Children Now, 83% of male African American characters in videogames are represented as ________” A) 50 Cent B) athletes C) rappers D) evil

3. DiSalvo examines the differences between African-American masculinity and “________” masculinity, which she says is prevalent among computer science students. A) white B) feminine C) geek D) h4rdc0r3

4. According to DiSalvo, gaming is not an avenue to Computer Science for many African- American men because…. A) they generally play games less than Asians or Caucasians B) they view games more as a sport or social activity and less as something to ‘hack’ C) they prefer consoles over PCs D) B & C

BONUS. According to Scalzi, what is the lowest difficulty setting? A) easy B) straight white male C) gay minority female D) trolololololololol

1.Technical reports: returned tonight i.Great technical overviews ii.More attention needed to games & to unofficial community forums 2. Game design proposals i.300 word description due October 3 (next Thursday) ii.Presentations in-class on same day iii.Vote on which game ideas will go ahead 3. Race & ethnicity in GAMES 4. Race & ethnicity among PLAYERS

Race & ethnicity in GAMES From last week: why – and how - does representation matter? From Williams et al. (2009), The virtual census: Representations of gender, race and age in video games

Very few games are DELIBERATELY racist

“We’re seeing, to a large extent, that the games that are being designed unconsciously include the biases, opinions and reflections of their creators.” Jason Della Rocca, 2004 (Head of the International Game Developers’ Association) Casual or unintended racism

1:10 on Unchecked biases “Not all trolls practice voodoo, but it is as widespread as cannibalism. Little is known about the emergence of voodoo among the trolls, for most tribes that possess such knowledge are unwilling to share it with outsiders” (WoWiki) World of Warcraft

Construction of a ‘target audience’ Inner city games “play to preconceived ‘common sense’ understandings of the ghetto, blackness and the black community’s work ethic. A racialized politics is being enacted in the process of supposedly telling it like it is.” (Chan, p. 27) NBA Street: Homecourt

“Laziness” Call of Juarez: The Cartel

From games to players “Demographically speaking, the game development industry better represents who we think is gaming the most (Caucasian and Asian American males), rather than who is actually gaming the most (African and Latino American males)” (DiSalvo & Bruckman). Assassin’s Creed 3

Race, ethnicity & players

MLG Summer Championship Raleigh 2012 (August) “Brothers don’t play those games”

From Reddit thread, “Why are there no Black Starcraft 2 pros?”

Pew Internet & American Life report (2010): Black & Hispanic families more likely to own consoles White families more likely to own PCs DiSalvo & Bruckman (2010): Young African-American men in their survey more likely than Caucasian men to: play competitively with other people in room (vs online) “Consider games similar to competitive sports” Caucasian males more likely to play games on PC & play online games by themselves Gaming & “geek” vs “sport” masculinity

Racial stereotype that is not “fact”, but nonetheless reflects particular gaming experiences formed by larger social, economic, technological & political realities “Brothers don’t play those games” Lucian the Purifier: new League of Legends champion

What other racial stereotypes about players are out there?