I played and reviewed NBA 2K16 recently, and the issue of racism made me uncomfortable throughout the experience, although I assumed that this was intentional. In the story mode, the white characters are subversively portrayed as horrible people with black characters portrayed as cliched stereotypes, and you are a part of an African American family regardless of your chosen skin tone. I could look past that purposeful experience, but the options for customization highlighted a problem I’ve experienced in a range of games.
Character customization isn’t always necessary. I have played enough games where the story dictates that I’m a grizzled middle-aged white man, or a tough woman in short shorts, or a robot/alien/foreign creature, and that’s sort of fine with me. Sure, I wish that there were a greater variety of character types, but I don’t need to be able to tweak my hair and eye color in order to identify with a protagonist in a game.
The problem comes in when customization options are offered. Once you tell players that they can create a character, they will probably want to make some version of themselves, or their friends, or their loved ones, or how they wish that they might look. As gaming has progressed, there have been all kinds of additional customization options offered to gamers, to change head shapes, hair colors and styles, and even customize an epic beard if they so wish. However, the options available still show some ingrained racism.
I really noticed it again recently when I played NBA 2K16. I was sort of trying to make a male version of myself in the game, although my husband said it looked like a mashup of him and Geoff. After much tweaking, this was about as good as I could get it.
Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the eyes and nose to look the way that I wanted. I fiddled with sliders and there are a bunch of tools to work with, but I just couldn’t get it right. More often than not, I’d get irritated with recreating my character again, instead opting to pick a pre-made head and tweaking the hair into a red mohawk so I could find my player easily on the court and leave it at that.
And it’s in the pre-made heads where we see the inherent racial thinking of a game. Sure, there were some fair skinned options in NBA, but the majority were darker skinned, I presume because they are working off the assumption that it fits the target market. Plenty of other games are the inverse – predominantly white male options with the odd “ethnic” looking character thrown in to balance things out.
In the NBA example, I think my issue was that while the skin tone might change, the rest of the features didn’t. It was only through the use of sliders or checking the full range of chins and cheeks available that I could make my character more angular, or soften the edges if I so wished. I ended up feeling like I was doing something strange or weird by trying to make my player white. And it highlighted something important.
Of course, this is something that a huge part of the gaming community faces in the majority of games, but the other way around. Most character customization screens default to a white male character. If you aren’t one, changing your race or gender can heighten a feeling of ostracisation. Of course, if the customizations don’t even let you look right, this can be even worse.
Representation in gaming is such a tricky topic to navigate and everyone has, and is entitled to, their own opinion. However, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think that all genders and races need to be represented in every game, but if a game offers the option for customization, those options have to be representative.
Last Updated: September 28, 2015
Mistake Not...
September 28, 2015 at 15:05
The most inclusive game of all? Skyrim. 10 different races, including lizards and cats. Your move Mass Effect.
Grand Admiral Chief
September 28, 2015 at 15:08
Haha, quite the point you have there
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:14
M’aiq is tired now. M’aiq no longer play your silly ball basket game.
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:08
Mebbe if Mass Effect had a mute character, and if the story wasn’t so “character focused”
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 15:13
Hehe. Take my upvote.
Her Highness the Hipster
September 28, 2015 at 15:25
I’ll just leave this here…
https://mediadiversityuk.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/gaming2.png?w=300&h=297
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:30
What am I missing here? o_O
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:32
Hahahahahaaaa! So very true!
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:38
Seriously. Why is this funny? WHAT AM I MISSING???
Skyblue
September 28, 2015 at 15:43
A father…
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:44
You know there is a stereotype of black people not knowing who their father is (and they like fried chicken and water melon – who doesn’t like to eat those)? You know how there is only one black team member in Mass Effect 2? And in ME2 you can do a “loyalty” mission for each team member? And his mission is finding his father? I did not realise it at the time but his mission played into that stereotype!
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:50
Taylor knew who his father was. He just did not know WHERE his father was, what with the Hugo Gernsback going missing and all that.
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:54
True, his is a story of “where” rather than “who”, but the “full” stereotype actually covers both – when they know the “who” they don’t know the “where”. Which, with the migrant workers in SA, is actually quite a real issue.
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:57
OK. Next time I will remember to check my Stereotypes when playing a game, rather than I don’t know… real life? And real life experience?
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 16:00
Hope you are a less bitter tomorrow eish
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 16:16
And I hope this world is lot less pissy tomorrow. Guess we can all dream, huh?
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 16:23
I would have called it a stereotype if Jacob went “eish, baba.” OK. I am hopefully coming back tomorrow in a better mood. Just don’t hold your breath…
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 16:26
Lol, “eish, baba”! Hope you have a good evening.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 16:01
Well, this just makes me want to play ME2 again tonight! 😀
Skyblue
September 28, 2015 at 15:42
ROFL
Darren Peach
October 12, 2015 at 14:12
Pity I saw this. I would like to point out that as a journalist, You seem to be using this platform to push your own political agenda. The same thing happened with Nag. What I honestly can’t fathom is the need to undermine the people who enjoyed this franchise by coming up with a very negative example that is seemingly forced. The demographic has changed and the Industry is slowly catching on. Are you the type of person who will continue to bring up irrelevant points to satisfy a inate need to isolate and demonise people just by virtue of taste and lifestyle. As much as this issue is relevant and incredibly important, You can’t post this sort of thing without infering that those responsible and fans of the game whom by proxy are to be labelled as racists and in other instances, sexist. At what point do you draw a line in the sand ?
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 15:36
https://i.imgur.com/YBJtxG9.jpg
Gardos
October 12, 2015 at 14:24
I chose to be a Khajiit. If I hadn’t experienced racism previously in my lifetime, I did then. Damn Nords…
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 15:13
I’m playing Dying Light with a few friends in co-op now.
We all look identical apart from maybe wearing different shirts. I mean, come on.
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 28, 2015 at 15:15
You’re not playing with friends, you’re playing with multiple monitors that mirror each other.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 15:17
Is it so wrong that I call them friends?!
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 28, 2015 at 15:20
What’s wrong is only dressing them in shirts.
Commander JJ of the Normandy
September 28, 2015 at 15:21
LOL
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:24
“In the story mode, the white characters are subversively portrayed as horrible people with black characters portrayed as cliched stereotypes” – yeah probably to be expected from Spike Lee. Look, it is their right to make the game for a specific audience if they want, but the way they represented it in the trailers with “Be yourself” and “Be The Story” makes me wonder if they think nobody else plays this game?
I was looking forward to this as I love playing 2K14 in career mode and would like a deeper story to start me off on my road to the hall of fame. In 2K15 your character is mostly a jerk (that is the impression from watching career play videos where even the “nice” options came off like an ass) and now this…guess I’ll wait for 2K17 then. Would like to make a player based on Idris Elba – you know, one that exudes class, sophistication and POWER, rather than someone from the hood.
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:28
Why have a story to begin with? It’s sports, for goodness sakes!
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:31
I like to “role play” in my sports games. Gain experience, level up etc is cool but lacks something if there isn’t a bit of a story behind it. Basically I would like “Mass Effect or Dragon Age in sports” lol. Note I do not list Witcher because there you are locked into a single type of person (though he does lack DRM haha)
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 28, 2015 at 15:31
Dynamic Racial Management?
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:32
Hahahahaaa
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:33
It’s called a Quota…
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 28, 2015 at 15:40
I thought a quota was the green ending in ME3, because it’s not a primary colour like red or blue.
Dutch Matrix
September 28, 2015 at 15:55
I thought the green ending was Affirmative Action on EA’s side…
Lardus-For the Emperor!
September 28, 2015 at 15:58
Mind you, some of the extra features they added to the “SpikeLees”Career mode are things I would really enjoy. Perhaps if I imagine the player is adopted or make my Mr T basket ball player it could work? Pity you could only have 1 look over all your careers in 2K14 (unless I missed something when I tried to create Mr T without overriding “myself”)