Week 5 Wiki Boos and Zomplegangers - Revised

Postcolonialism, as explained by Wikipedia, reviews the binary opposition structures that were instituted in colonized countries and continue to exist past the fall of colonization. Particularly, the power structure of the superpower colonizers vs. the “colonized as a perpetually inferior people, society and culture.” Wikipedia claims that this binary opposition structures the way we view others.

An interesting side note is that a reaction of colonized peoples is to review their own cultural heritage and write it in the language of their colonizers. This is called “writing back to the center,” and although certainly an effort to retain heritage and dignity, it is still less than a perfect attempt because it is presented in different linguistic framework, and some meaning will be lost and some will be distorted. (Aside: editorial bitching: Wikipedia spelled a word two different ways in their article "colonisation and colonization.")

Video games often represent a postcolonialism mind set when they display a clear cut difference between two sides, especially in cases where there is a language difference, for example in World of Warcraft, the two main sides, Alliance and Horde are by game structure, almost absolutely unable to communicate, except by gesture. Of course spys come to mind, and many players will have at least one spy available to take an inventory of what is happening on the other side of the server. On a side note, I have been led into an Alliance ambush by a “helpful Horde player.”

However, I think that postcolonialism is a “soon to be dated” ism. Though, not quite an “ism” yet, globalization is a rising concept that needs attention. I believe its issues will surplant postcolonial issues. The Global Policy Forum, which monitors policy making at the United Nations, recognizes that globalization “creates new markets and wealth, even as it causes widespread suffering, disorder, and unrest. It is both a source of repression and a catalyst for global movements of social justice and emancipation.” I think that video games are likely to ride the tide of globalization and to be a vital part of the globalization of culture. Game developers will have the opportunity to draw from multiple cultural bases for artistic and literary material. This process has been initiated and is evident from the mix of Asian and Western culture in video games today.

The Game Developer Demographics Report alluded to globalization in its closing remarks, and cautioned that “The game industry will be blindsided by these trends in the coming years if they are not factored in to the core of our strategic thinking.” The report itself showed that game developers were predominantly male, white, and heterosexual. They had an average age of 31 years and a university level education (would Highline Community College count?). A significant opinion held by 60% of respondents was that obtaining diverse applicants was challenging. Finally, the report concluded that that games are dominant forms of art, expression, and culture in 21st and that a more diverse creative pool would benefit the industry.

It occurred to me that if anyone was developing a game, which has to be a creative pursuit, they would only be able to develop one that they wanted to play. This is paralleled by Adrian’s response to Craig’s question last week. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think it went like this. Craig: “Did you think of your players while you developed your game?”Adrian: “I was very much focused on the creation of the game and did not think much the response of the players in the creative period. I became more aware of the players' response after I released the game.”

In consideration of other creative pursuits such as music composition, creation of art and literature, etc., there has been an undercurrent of commercial efforts vs. “what the artist wants to create.” However, artists must please at least some audience to survive, creating a profound ongoing conflict between what is aesthetic for the creator and what is aesthetic for the consumer. No doubt, this is true for game developers as well.

Still, it is most likely that, in order to reach more diverse audiences it will be necessary to find more diverse creators. Only they will be able to create the game they want to play.

I was disappointed in the Wikipedia Critical Race Theory (CRT) article because though it presented the essence of CRT as an analysis of racial inequity as the social construction of race and discrimination (what does that mean anyway?) it basically dismissed the functionality of CRT within the article, particularly when it noted that only one judge ever cited CRT (Twyman, 2005). Apparently within a legal framework, CRT does not survive; however, I do not believe that it should therefore be dismissed as unusable, since its viewpoint can be used to inform culture and a more diverse viewpoint. I think that the Wikipedia article should have mentioned this and that by not doing so, revealed its own bias.

Yasso (2005) discussed the concept of community cultural wealth and characterized CRT as a framework to theorize and challenge the ways racism impact social structures, practices and discourses. Yosso, an educator, seeks to use CRT as a framework to challenge the impact of race and racism on social structures. Her article was too long for me to read for this blog, but I liked it better than the Wikipedia article because it explained CRT better and used it for its best virtues. I believe that the gaming industry could also use it to access the "community cultural wealth." I did see a blog however, where it was questioned whether or not a white female feminist could even do CRT from her framework. By inference, I think they would also question a white male even more.

If we apply CRT to the games Grand Theft Auto (GTA): Chinatown and Resident Evil 5, I believe we would have inconclusive results. In addition, the articles we read showed a mixed result of opinions about whether these games were racist or not. While Parungo (2006) highlighted the negative Asian stereotypes in video games in his paper, he stated that “I don’t think there is much racism in video games to begin with, and wherever it may exist I think overall, video games balance out whatever stereotypes they create for various ethnicities.” Kuroiwa (2009) choose a cerebrate criticism of GTA: Chinatown, basically that the game did not offer any new content and that he was not interested. This criticism is interesting because it made me wonder if he found the Asian stereotype content as off putting in some way but interpreted it as disinterest.

Jones (2006) article was mainly a reprise of Lin’s (2006) article about Parungo. However, she also incorporated the opinion of Richard Smith. His most important comment was that the most insidious thing about racism is when people accept it. I would add that the worst thing is when people don’t notice it. Smith thought that Parungo’s study was important because this type of study would help create consciousness.

As such, these two video games might have helped raise consciousness by producing a backlash and subsequently, a discussion. I don’t think they intended to do this though. Still I think that the worst feedback is no feedback. And the worst criticism is being ignored.

When I read Cross’s opinion on Resident Evil 5, I wondered what difference it would make if I created a new zombie monster. I reasoned that one who looked exactly like the protagonist could not be assumed to be racist or anti feminist. I invented a "zompleganger," a portmanteau
for zombie and doppelganger though I should have spelled it "zompelganger" to be more correct.

The theory is that, when a human is infected with Z Virus , a zompleganger “clone” leaves the human body to range on its own. Barely senient, the zompleganger is the fleshy incarnation of that particular human’s worst dark desires.

What a zompleganger looks like:





In order to eradicate the zomplegangers and the Z virus, it will require pinpoint shooting accuracy and flawless targeting. When shot with the antiZviral, the zompleganger will return to its particular human and inhabit that human once again, causing that human some particular grief at knowing the full potential of her evil capacity and requiring that human to control that capacity. If any human (either infected or not) is shot with the antiZviral, they will have an immediate, and graphic reaction of profuse vomiting and color change accompanied by human sounds of distress (there are more graphic possibilities). If anyone is vomited on by an infected human they will receive the virus. There will not be antiZviral protective gear in all the scenarios. There will be some unavoidable exposures.

Needless to say, the chances for infection will be increased by story lines that include infected friends and significant others and their zomplegangers.



For fun I found the Resident Evil 5 Machinima Trailer