More Resident Evil 5 lunacy..

[Miktar]

But this time, beef with shooting the poor!

http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/08/JBUHX86N.jpg

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/140410463/totilo-weighs-in-on-re5-debate-its-about-poverty-not-race-285856.php


My problem is that it presents a fantasy I don't desire. It looks like it's an advertisement to virtually shoot poor people. I know "Resident Evil" games are supposed to be about hiding from and shooting zombies -- this one probably is too. Shooting zombies is something I can get behind...But when I see a town of what looks like impoverished African villagers -- the very image of global poverty, the very spectacle that since my youth has been coded in me to evoke sympathy and charity -- I don't want to pull the trigger.

An American friend of mine had this to say:


Actually, this is fairly inevitable. As games express more artistic freedom, this kind of inanity will show up, because the entire culture surrounding videogames is still unbalanced, immature, and strongly tilted in society, especially in the west. For instance, if RE5 was a motion picture where the lead characters just happened to go through a poor village in Africa, nobody would even notice it at all. Portraying scenes line that are taken for granted in the "mature" medium of motion pictures. However, it's an indicator of just how incredibly bizarre the cultural position games occupy right now, that when a videogame appears that has a fairly artistic (in the sense of a sophisticated evocation of a local like that) portrayal of the same thing, everybody runs around freaking out and doesn't know how to relate to it.

I mentioned to him:


Ironically, the cultural differences are rather pronounced for me. Every South African gamer I know that has seen the trailer has had the same response: "HOLY ****! THAT LOOKS FUGGING SCARY!" - because every single South African gamer has at least once, considered what would happen if a viral zombie outbreak hits one of the squatter camps outside the major cities. We're all looking at the international viewpoints on RE5 with more than a bit of laugher, really. Perhaps we're just callous.

He replied with a rather humerous:


Ayup. I'm not surprised. And here in the west, the reaction is a wide range of discomfort, because just having /black people/ doing anything... at all... including standing around... is enough to make 68% of Americans start to shuffle back and forth nervously and break out in a sweat. No, it's not callous. It really is totally ****ing stupid everywhere else.

[FoX]

Ai tog -_-

[Cyberninja]

I agree with both you and your friend Miktar. After reading Stephen?s MTV blog, I really feel that he is attaching way to much raw emotion to Resident Evil 5, because of his personal experiences. At the end of the day, one should remember that this is JUST a game. A work of fiction. Nothing more.

As for the Kotaku blog...

I really don't see why people are uncomfortable with the trailer. It's just another zombie game from the Resident Evil franchise. Nothing more than that. Yes, theres black people in it. Hello! the game takes place in Africa, what do you expect? Russians?

Yes, there's poor people in the game. Africa IS a poor country. The majority of people in Africa still live in harsh often unbearable conditions. That's a fact. It's only logical that, that fact is carried over to the game. It shows that Capcom actually took time to do their research, in trying to create a truly african experience/environment for their game. And I applaud them for taking the time to do that, because the end result looks fantastic. No one here can tell me that, that trailer doesn't capture the african "feel" perfectly.

So yes, you will be required to shoot, poor, black (and any other colour) people in the game. Keyword: Game. It's a game. It's not meant to garner your sympathy. It's meant to entertain you. And it does that by re-creating the african experience in a FICTIONAL survival game. You shoot zombies. Not black people. When you pull that trigger, you're protecting yourself from zombies, not shooting someone from Africa. I swear you're not.

As for the "White mans guilt/American Greed" remark. Well, that's just silly. This is just another case of people over-analyzing situations and "seeing something that's not there" to begin with.

To me, this is really all about the issue of colour in the end. I have no doubt that this wouldn't even be a issue, if the story took place in another country. We've been shooting caucasian people for years in various games over the years. Funny how the issue of racism never came up then. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? People are to quick to light the torches and raise the pitchforks when the issue of colour is discussed. But really people...

Put down the torches. There is no monster here. Go and enjoy the game.

[DaBaish]

...aren't they latino? Anyway...they've got the friggin PARASITE IN EM!!!! It's either them or me and I just finally paid off my life insurance! I aint gonna let Leon the 1337 die in vain, EVEN IF his surname is "Kennedy"! :D

[Drakus]

I'm actually happy that the issue came up. People are now actually starting to deal with it (racism) and the view on gaming, in the artisitic world, is changing for the better. I'm going to play RE5 no matter what people say. And I'm going to try and have as much fun with it without thinking of it as black/white.

[DaBaish]

There's NO native African people in the game! They're all friggin latino! Oh! That and the asian lady...uh...what was her name again...? *deep thought*

[.dB]

DaBaish, you're trying way too hard. That was one of the saddest attempts at humour on these boards, if your posts still had substance behind them - Np. Sadly, they were just lame attempts at being funny without any relevance.

For gods sake. Get the ****ing message, you are not funny and you also fail at being a troll.

On topic.

I really, really don't see the big issue here. Also, I'd like to think that me saying so counts a little bit more than you're average NAG'ster with the same view, as I happen to be part of the small percentage of gaymers on here that isn't white.

I think people are so caught up in the whole racial thing, that they've started distorting what should be deemed as racism and what shouldn't. And, seriously I can't blame people. It's a touchy subject, especially for those like me, and in today's day and age the definition of taboo. However, c'mon. I don't find it offensive, like Ninja said - The game's set in Africa, what the **** did you expect?

[Miktar]

There's NO native African people in the game! They're all friggin latino! Oh! That and the asian lady...uh...what was her name again...? *deep thought*

Ignorant troll. Have you not watched the trailer? Where do you get "latino" from?

[Miktar]

The next person to make ignorant trollish statements in this thread:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/prestondean/RE3b.gif

[Toi]

The arse was most probably thinking of Resident Evil 4, weren't they Spanish anyway?

On topic:

The poor!?!?!?! And since when have zombies been rich? It amazes me how retarded some people can be. It saddens me to think that someone somewhere has nothing better to do that to come up with bull like this.

Why is RE getting such bad press lately? Ah well, there's no publicity like bad publicity.

[Enigma]

I can't help but laugh when i think, a zombie game set in africa and they expect there not to be any black zombies in it.

[Toi]

I don't think that it's a big deal but looking at that pic Miktar posted.....ha ha, it does look funny don't you think?

[Cyberninja]

There's NO native African people in the game! They're all friggin latino! Oh! That and the asian lady...uh...what was her name again...? *deep thought*

Your attempts at humour has failed. Seriously. If you actually bothered to look, then you would see that the majority of people are reporting that the game seems to take place in Africa. There are few that are claiming that it might be Haiti. Nothing has been confirmed yet. Reason being, that Capcom has released very few details about the game. But from the trailer, one can gather that it IS some sort of african country or at least, a place predominately populated by black people. Hence, this whole issue of "shooting black people" nonsense. Where did you get "latino" from? Have you watched the trailer?

[Enigma]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/prestondean/RE3b.gif
Now watching zombies getting knocked out is very entertaining. :D

[Miktar]

Your attempts at humour has failed. Seriously. If you actually bothered to look, then you would see that the majority of people are reporting that the game seems to take place in Africa. There are few that are claiming that it might be Haiti. Nothing has been confirmed yet. Reason being, that Capcom has released very few details about the game. But from the trailer, one can gather that it IS some sort of african country or at least, a place predominately populated by black people. Hence, this whole issue of "shooting black people" nonsense. Where did you get "latino" from? Have you watched the trailer?

No, he didn't. I've just realized he's talking about Resident Evil 4. I guess he didn't bother reading the title of the thread... or the posts...

[Toi]

.....or think......or tried to be funny again and failed.........

[Cyberninja]

No, he didn't. I've just realized he's talking about Resident Evil 4. I guess he didn't bother reading the title of the thread... or the posts...

In that case, that makes him a....

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1545/redforeman00vv6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Lol. Jk. Read the threads more carefully next time DaBaish. ;P