Race, Culture & Stereos

Race, Culture  & Stereotypes!

            I feel that games today help people see race in a new light.  For sometime movies had projected this notion, however games today do the same. For example the Resident Evil franchise, Tekken or Crash Bandicoot series, these games depict a different incite to race.  The Monsters or the supernatural characters that exist within these games portray humanistic features.  Supernatural characters like Sonic or superhero’s from the Dragon Ball Z series compliment this theory that other life forms do exist. In short, games exaggerate myths.

            Furthermore, race representation in games is very thought out. However, culture is a different story. Writers and creators of games try to invent every genre of culture into games nowadays. The Sims series is a great example of a game that captures cultures in high-definition. The Urbz: Sims In The City, was a game created in 2004. It contains a full soundtrack from the music group Black Eye Peas and it takes place in various cities.   Nonetheless, a player picks a character (male or female) and they choose a location which they want to reside. Base on this location, whether it is poor, gothic or bourgeoisie, the character (protagonist) must adapt to  various locations in order to win the game. If one doesn’t dress to the standards of a city/culture they will lose reputation and prologue their time in the game. The main arguments I want to highlight about this game are the locations that represent these cultures. Each culture captures a certain attitude and a certain dress code. The characters that live in Diamond Heights, they dress in the finest attire and wear the best jewels. They are seen as snobby and their speech is very elegant. Their music is well thought out and soothing. In contrast, to population who live in Central Station, the characters live like nomads, their speech is unclear and they dress in gothic attire.  Although realistic this game is full of stereotypes. I don’t  think this is the games intent, however,  such  common culture is being enforced when the protagonist of the game has to dress according to their surroundings to win the game!