Would you play as a racist character?

48rs is on TV, one of my favorite movies. It's a buddy movie that came out in 1982. Even now the movie still feels fairly uncompromising. The two characters bound together with contrasting viewpoints at opposite ends of the law.

What apparent, is that Nick Nolte character is racist with a "us" and "them" attitude hurling quite a flew racial slurs and stereotypes. Interestingly, the movie doesn't demonize him as some KKK yuck or even paint him as a bad human-being, quite the opposite. The character just happens to have this viewpoint developed while ultimately being virtues.

A few games, mostly gangsters in specific time periods have alluded to racism but never actively had you play a character with obvious racist views. Usually when racism is brought up head on, it's fantasy games using fictional races.

For me personally, with all the cardboard cutout's, having fairly obvious flaws such as those in 48hrs would be interesting and probably make me believe in the character more. It's partly why the movie works, the character in qeastion is flawed in many respects requiring the help of Eddy Murphy's character and vice versa.

Would you have a problem playing a game as a character who is inherently racist?

That depends on what the character is expected to do. There are tons of examples of racist protagonists in movies and TV shows, but typically the characters have other redeemding qualities. A movie like American History X has an overtly racist character in the beginning but who grows and that's the point of the movie. I would play a game like that but not if the game expects me to curb stomp minorities as a part of that journey.

Another great example would be Gran Torino and Clint Eastwood's character. The shit that comes out of his mouth is so over the top that it left me laughing in partial shock like "holy shit, did he just say that?" but even that is all part of his journey to realize that he has more in common with his Hmong neighbors than his own family.

Even in a game like Spec Ops where you turn out to really not be playing the good guy and in fact the game pretty much rips on you for expecting to play the good guy, what happens in that story isn't the result of malicious action on the part of the main character but just him being a deeply damaged person.

Typically, there are games (even mainstream games) where the main characters don't necessarily have the most enlightened idea of some races. I wouldn't say that Michael from GTA5 was all that culturally aware, but they never take it so far that the character becomes unrelatable.

But there's also a difference between a character being racist and a game being racist (I made a similar argument around GTA5 and Carolyne's review of it). So the short answer is, yes I would be ok in principal with playing a racist character in a game but not playing a racist game.

-Byshop

The real problem is that what is racist and what is not is subjective.

Well that Depends.... Is racism just a plot thing or will it be a full on interactive game mechanic ?

Because let me tell ya, I have high hopes for the latter ! :)

Just Joking..... Or am I ? :p

Oh yeah that reminds me..... CUSTER'S REVENGE ! Now that game was racist.

I thought all GTA characters were racists. :)

Its funny sometimes to listen to people.

Would i play as a "racist" well it all depends on the story and if there is a point to it. If its just being racist for the sake of being a racist or because the developer really do have those ides, then no But if there is a good story then why not, its not worse than the games containing murder or rape or any of the countless other things games have you run around and do.

wwaahhh gimme a break!

i just dont buy that, if you wouldnt want to play the game in order not to give money to the developers, then youd just get an illegal copy of it and you surely would play it then

well i dont see a reason why someone shouldnt play such a game, id even play "KZ MANAGER HD" if it would ever come out, its just a game in the first place, especially when those playing the game are well aware that racsim is a bad thing

Anyone who has played Resident Evil 5 has apparently played as a racist character for being white shooting black people.

there is absolutely nothing racist about shooting black people in self defense only

@-ParaNormaN-

I played as Sheva ! :o

no, that was jus you.

Sure, why not ? It's a game.

The og 48 Hrs. was awesome (gotta see that shit uncut though)

Gainz was the man

And how come you don't answer my pm, Cup ?

As others have said, it depends on the narrative context. In general, people dealing with or acting based on negative stereotypes (not specifically racism) is often an interesting subject.

Everyone is a little bit racist, sometimes.

If the reason you have to shoot them is because the game depicts them as spear chucking savages, then yes it would be. It goes back to the point about there being a difference between the game being racist and the characters being racist. Obviously the characters are not necessarily racist if they are defending themselves against members of a particular race, but if the game depicts those members as nothing but negative stereotypes then the game could be considered racist.

-Byshop

If there's a reason for the character to be racist, and the story and gameplay are good, then yes.

Depends on what context it's being used in. If it's just being used in a game simply for shits and giggles then no I would not play that game.

I would as long as the game was not being sympathetic towards my character and his views.

Bingo. Or if the game world re-enforces those views.

-Byshop

As long as the game is good, I'm hardly going to let myself be bothered by my character's, or even the developer's, personal views on anything.

You two seem like manly hardcore gamers who like bad ass games.

It's more racist to think Chris should have been shooting white people... in Africa.

I wasn't ragging on RE5 specifically, but more speaking in general. I understand why RE5 bugged people but it didn't strike me as racist but rather just... silly and culturally unaware. It seemed like it was born out of ignorace rather than meanspirited intent.

-Byshop

probably, and i bet some dumb indie video game company tried it too, and it was immediately shut down.

In general, I'm not a racist / sexist or any other ist person. (Though I so think that sometimes people need to chill out and not take things so personally, the whole PC thing in some cases is ridiculous)

But I like the idea of what's morally / socially / lawfully unacceptable being pushed to the limits. Someone here mentioned American History X. Great movie that was right on the edge.

So yes, I guess I would. But that could be any protagonist of any background being racist toward any other race. As long as there is reason behind it.

Wasn't RE 5 set in west Africa? Couldn't that explain why all the zombies where black? How is that racist. A prime example of why people need to chill out it makes perfect story telling sense for the zombies to be African.

If Chris red field had gone to Poland and shot 1,000 white polish zombies would anyone have cared? Probably not.

so very true

Say what you will, he was charismatic.

You know it always bothers me how in historic pieces (movies or otherwise) the main characters tend to hold progressive views that are well out of sync with their surroundings. If the game was more convincingly grounded the main character should be an asshole by modern standards. Yet creators tend to get the audience to empathise with the protagonist through shared worldviews/values.

I'd love to see a highly enigmatic character who oozes cool on the one hand, but challenges audiences by also standing for values that are abhorrent in a modern sense. TV has done it with likable anti-heroes/vigilantes so I don't see why games can't. But they won't because developers are afraid of challenging their audiences that way.

'Would you have a problem playing a game as a character who is inherently racist?' ....

nope no problem here.. as long as its a good game