This caught my eye in the paper today. I don't play video games much so I don't really know. Any gamers out there who can tell me what's what?
From www.theage.com.au today
VIDEO GAMES STEREOTYPE ASIANS
Some popular video games promote racist, negative stereotypes of
Asians that would be unacceptable in other forms of media, says a Canadian researcher.
Robert Parungao studied four of the best-selling games designed and published in the United States during a 20-year span: Kung Fu, Warcraft 3, Shadow Warrior and Grand Theft Auto 3.
He said the games feature evil gangsters, all of them non-white, who "function as narrative obstacles to be overcome, mastered or ultimately blown to smithereens by the white hero."
Sexism and violence in video games have become hotly controversial topics recently in the United States.
But while blatant racism is not tolerated in mainstream films or television, Parungao said that in video games "it's below the radar".
Parungao, who did the study as his thesis for an honours sociology degree at the University of British Columbia, and is himself an avid gamer, said it has had mixed response.
"Some say (racist stereotypes in games) is terrible," he said. "Other people in the games community say 'Lighten up, it's a game, you don't have to worry about political correctness'."
A fifth-generation Canadian of Chinese and Filipino ancestry, Parungao said that with video game sales at about $US30 billion ($A40 billion) worldwide - making them more popular than movies - negative stereotypes matter.
He admits that not all games, or game publishing companies, promote such stereotypes, but said racism is rife among many of the most popular games, which are designed and published mostly in the United States and Japan.
"These aren't just kids' toys, these are representative of our society and they teach us."
Parungao's study is one of the first to look at racism in video games, said Richard Smith, a specialist in technology and society at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
"We've heard about sex and violence, but I can't remember hearing about racism in video games," said Smith. "The most insidious thing about racism is when people accept it. Studies like this help create consciousness."
Smith, however, cautioned there's no academic consensus that violence and sexism in media impacts on real-world attitudes, and said the impact of racist images will be hard to measure.
"This is new territory," said Smith. But he said because games are interactive they may have more effect on a player's real-life behaviour than television or film, "being that you're much more engaged with it - or it could have the counter-effect."
AFP
From www.theage.com.au today
VIDEO GAMES STEREOTYPE ASIANS
Some popular video games promote racist, negative stereotypes of
Asians that would be unacceptable in other forms of media, says a Canadian researcher.
Robert Parungao studied four of the best-selling games designed and published in the United States during a 20-year span: Kung Fu, Warcraft 3, Shadow Warrior and Grand Theft Auto 3.
He said the games feature evil gangsters, all of them non-white, who "function as narrative obstacles to be overcome, mastered or ultimately blown to smithereens by the white hero."
Sexism and violence in video games have become hotly controversial topics recently in the United States.
But while blatant racism is not tolerated in mainstream films or television, Parungao said that in video games "it's below the radar".
Parungao, who did the study as his thesis for an honours sociology degree at the University of British Columbia, and is himself an avid gamer, said it has had mixed response.
"Some say (racist stereotypes in games) is terrible," he said. "Other people in the games community say 'Lighten up, it's a game, you don't have to worry about political correctness'."
A fifth-generation Canadian of Chinese and Filipino ancestry, Parungao said that with video game sales at about $US30 billion ($A40 billion) worldwide - making them more popular than movies - negative stereotypes matter.
He admits that not all games, or game publishing companies, promote such stereotypes, but said racism is rife among many of the most popular games, which are designed and published mostly in the United States and Japan.
"These aren't just kids' toys, these are representative of our society and they teach us."
Parungao's study is one of the first to look at racism in video games, said Richard Smith, a specialist in technology and society at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
"We've heard about sex and violence, but I can't remember hearing about racism in video games," said Smith. "The most insidious thing about racism is when people accept it. Studies like this help create consciousness."
Smith, however, cautioned there's no academic consensus that violence and sexism in media impacts on real-world attitudes, and said the impact of racist images will be hard to measure.
"This is new territory," said Smith. But he said because games are interactive they may have more effect on a player's real-life behaviour than television or film, "being that you're much more engaged with it - or it could have the counter-effect."
AFP
s would get a kick out of it.
