My issue with the game is not simply the existence of a stereotype. There are a lot of stereotypes out there, and they're easy to evoke. In many ways, stereotypes can serve as a useful shortcut, because when you assign a character certain traits associated with a stereotype, people can fill in a lot of the blanks for themselves. GTA does this intentionally all the time.JudgeN said:How exactly would you have handled this game then? There are stereotypes in a lot of games, We could down the line and find some crazy ass stereotype or imagery of every race but none of those games are being called racist. Its not that people are defending it more so that some people have much thicker skin or know that there are bigger problems to worry about when we are talking about race.
My issue is the application of the stereotype to, it seems, every African in Kijuju, painting that entire group with the brush of a stereotype that has proven itself to be exceptionally negative and damaging.
This could be easily circumvented in a few ways.
1) Avoid the stupidly obvious stuff, like the scene with the Majini dragging away the white woman. That sort of thing shouldn't need to be said.
2) Don't paint the entire race as an outside "other". I thought ChoklitReign summed it up well when he said that part of the problem was that, "the beginning of the game indeed portrays too narrow of a gap between the morals of Africans and their Majini counterparts."
Let's take a look at the beginning of the game.
Eurogamer said:Chris and Sheva meet with an informant in a butcher's shop, who tells them they need to find a man called Irving. Off you trot into the winding (but linear) slum streets, stepping over mangled animal remains and examining gruesome slaughterhouse leftovers, until you get your first glimpse of the Majini, the Plagas-infected locals who are the African equivalent of Resident Evil 4's Los Ganados. As the first attack wave swarms towards you, there's clearly no chance of fending them off with your limited ammo reserves this early in the game, so you flee to a nearby house and escape through an underground tunnel.
There is very little build-up of tension, it seems. The characters have barely any contact with uninfected locals. This is pretty similar to how things go in RE4 (that game seemed to have a little more buildup between first encounter and massive danger), but that isn't necessarily a good thing.
What if the outbreak is beginning just as you arrive? What if you come into town, and everything is largely normal? You meet your butcher informant, you go off to find Irving, and things aren't yet amiss. The town is lively, people are going about their business and are non-threatening, perhaps even helpful. You might even reach the Irving mentioned.
Create a slow buildup instead. Most people are normal, but perhaps Chris and Sheva are being followed. Perhaps they get ambushed by a group of people out of a back alley while they travel, and when they have no choice but to resort to violence (scattering any uninfected nearby), their attackers, who don't fear guns and who can take a superhuman amount of punishment, mysteriously bubble away after being killed. Danger starts popping up everywhere, with no real pattern or expectation. Violence occurs not just against Chris, but against some of the uninfected civilians.
Naturally, this portion of the game wouldn't last for a significant amount of the total play time. But not only would it create a much more unsettling atmosphere, even in the bright streets during the day, it would also serve to separate the uninfected citizens of Kijuju from the violent, brutal, infected Majini. And the player's response to the early attacks, when the entire population has not yet become infected, could be illuminating.
Accusations of racism might not go away, but I think that would help.