Racism in Video Games

It has been characteristic of humans to be racist. Whether that is intentional, or accidental, most humans have practiced this attitude. It seems like it is almost natural to denounce someone because they are of different color. It has been taken to extremes over the years, to the point where we have enslaved people of other color. Until the Civil War, Americans had never really considered this a bad thing. Then, as we became more "assimilated," people realized that things weren't as good as they should be. This occurred during the 1950s through the 70s, right around the time television began to dominate the living rooms of Americans. Acts of racism were seen everyday through the television. Then, when video games were invented, it was only a short matter of time before it overtook television as the most popular means of entertainment. Therefore, kids are playing more video games per week than they are watching movies. The average teenager plays 18 hours of video games a week, whereas the average teenager watches television 12 hours a week. The difference is even more supported by the interaction a person has between the two. When watching television, what is seen can be very impersonal. You are not in control of what happens, and even though the scenes might be graphic, it is still someone else's thoughts. When playing a video game, you control the character. Whatever actions you think of are immediately reflected on the screen. For example, in Activision's 2009 release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, there is a level that involves the mass-murdering of the occupants in a Russian airport. The player must shoot and kill hundreds of innocent people in order to advance in the game. It is obvious that this would be very disturbing to see on the screen, let alone be the one pulling the trigger. Video games create a personal connection when being the one acting through the character, rather than observing on a television.

Someone might argue that because video games are computer-generated graphics and that movies/television use actors, television is more impacting. This could have been true in the past 10 years, due to the lack of detail video games had to offer. But, with better technology to graphic the games, they are becoming much more real. A graphics engine, Euphoria, is "based on a full simulation of a 3D character, including body, muscles and motor nervous system. This creates fully interactive animations that act and react differently every time" (naturalmotion.com). When a character is killed in a game, this engine creates a very realistic death. This realism, can be very impacting.

When the realism video games and racial tensions or racist implications are combined, the result can be devastating. Most video games, whether accidental or not, contain racist themes or sub-themes.