Culture issues and politics in video games
Oct 7, 2018 13:48:52 GMT -4
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Post by Souriquois on Oct 7, 2018 13:48:52 GMT -4
I used to be kind of a gamer, but because of gaming culture’s treatment of women, and just being too busy to play video games, I kind of gave up on them.
But I play the odd ones every now and then, usually newer versions of franchises I used to like, and noticed that since Gamergate and the rise of the alt-right, it seems there is stuff added in there meant to piss them off.
Here’s just some stuff I noticed. I don’t play games often, just observations from the few recent games I have played:
Hitman: The intro of the game states that this game was developed by a multicultural team with a wide range of perspectives. Also, there are two downloadable missions where you kill European right-wing populist politicians. One is a Swede who hates Moroccans and the other is a corrupt Italian real-estate developer who is planning to sell off a whole town on the Italian Riviera and turn it into a resort, enriching himself in the process. I dunno, the Italian kind of reminds me of Donald Trump. There are also a lot of NPCs having conversations where they critique capitalism.
Mortal Kombat X: In story mode, there is a refugee crisis in the game due to a civil
war in Outworld between supporters of Kotal Khan and supporters of Mileena. The Outworld civilians who come to Earth look Middle Eastern, and the Outworld stage looks like somewhere in the Middle East.
Another funny troll in that game that nobody outside of where I live will get: this game was developed by a studio in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a few years ago, the government eliminated a tax credit that film and video game studios got. If you knock somebody down The Pit, you can see the head of the politician who eliminated that tax credit lol
Street Fighter V: One of the good guys is a Middle Eastern Muslim, who is trying to bring down the Shadaloo, which is a terrorist organization. His best friend died in one of their attacks. He is the opposite of a Middle Eastern stereotype often seen in the media (other than looks, Street Fighter is kinda bad for just being racial stereotypes beating the crap out of eachother), he is a really sweet, tender and caring guy, and actually has a sense of humour.
Grand Theft Auto V: It is hinted throughout the game that Trevor Philips is a Canadian living in the US undocumented, he’s a criminal, and just all around not one of this county’s best lol. In the mission where he meets up with wannabe border patrol to catch illegal immigrants from Mexico, if you play it as him, you lose if you harm the Mexicans, and you turn on the people who asked you to catch them.
The GTA franchise has always struck me as a critique of society, and capitalism. You find hints of that throughout the games.
Assassin’s Creed Origins: It is set in Ancient Egypt and the main character is voiced by a black African actor. The main character looks like what I imagine Ancient Egyptians looked like, so not black but definitely not white. For some reason, though, I could imagine if an Ancient Egyptian spoke English, their accent would sound like that, though. The bad guys are mostly white Greeks, and they are racist as f towards the darker skinned Egyptians (not historically accurate, both civilizations respected and traded with eachother, but whatever, this is a video game).
Doom: This game is and always has been a critique of capitalism. The latest release just full scale pissed off the alt-right.
Wolfenstein: this one pissed off the alt-right when it came out. Its marketing had a lot of anti-Trump references.
I dunno, these seem like subtle trolls. What do you think?
But I play the odd ones every now and then, usually newer versions of franchises I used to like, and noticed that since Gamergate and the rise of the alt-right, it seems there is stuff added in there meant to piss them off.
Here’s just some stuff I noticed. I don’t play games often, just observations from the few recent games I have played:
Hitman: The intro of the game states that this game was developed by a multicultural team with a wide range of perspectives. Also, there are two downloadable missions where you kill European right-wing populist politicians. One is a Swede who hates Moroccans and the other is a corrupt Italian real-estate developer who is planning to sell off a whole town on the Italian Riviera and turn it into a resort, enriching himself in the process. I dunno, the Italian kind of reminds me of Donald Trump. There are also a lot of NPCs having conversations where they critique capitalism.
Mortal Kombat X: In story mode, there is a refugee crisis in the game due to a civil
war in Outworld between supporters of Kotal Khan and supporters of Mileena. The Outworld civilians who come to Earth look Middle Eastern, and the Outworld stage looks like somewhere in the Middle East.
Another funny troll in that game that nobody outside of where I live will get: this game was developed by a studio in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a few years ago, the government eliminated a tax credit that film and video game studios got. If you knock somebody down The Pit, you can see the head of the politician who eliminated that tax credit lol
Street Fighter V: One of the good guys is a Middle Eastern Muslim, who is trying to bring down the Shadaloo, which is a terrorist organization. His best friend died in one of their attacks. He is the opposite of a Middle Eastern stereotype often seen in the media (other than looks, Street Fighter is kinda bad for just being racial stereotypes beating the crap out of eachother), he is a really sweet, tender and caring guy, and actually has a sense of humour.
Grand Theft Auto V: It is hinted throughout the game that Trevor Philips is a Canadian living in the US undocumented, he’s a criminal, and just all around not one of this county’s best lol. In the mission where he meets up with wannabe border patrol to catch illegal immigrants from Mexico, if you play it as him, you lose if you harm the Mexicans, and you turn on the people who asked you to catch them.
The GTA franchise has always struck me as a critique of society, and capitalism. You find hints of that throughout the games.
Assassin’s Creed Origins: It is set in Ancient Egypt and the main character is voiced by a black African actor. The main character looks like what I imagine Ancient Egyptians looked like, so not black but definitely not white. For some reason, though, I could imagine if an Ancient Egyptian spoke English, their accent would sound like that, though. The bad guys are mostly white Greeks, and they are racist as f towards the darker skinned Egyptians (not historically accurate, both civilizations respected and traded with eachother, but whatever, this is a video game).
Doom: This game is and always has been a critique of capitalism. The latest release just full scale pissed off the alt-right.
Wolfenstein: this one pissed off the alt-right when it came out. Its marketing had a lot of anti-Trump references.
I dunno, these seem like subtle trolls. What do you think?