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White by Default: an Examination of Race Portrayed by Character Creation Systems in Video Games

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White by Default: an Examination of Race Portrayed by Character Creation Systems in Video Games White by Default: An Examination of Race Portrayed by Character Creation Systems in Video Games A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In the Department of Sociology of the College of Arts and Sciences By Samuel Oakley B.A. Otterbein University July 2019 Committee Chair: Dr. Littisha A. Bates, PhD Abstract Video games are utilized as a form of escapism by millions, thousands of hours are put in by multiple players every week. However, the opportunity to escape, and free oneself from societal scrutiny and biases like racism is limited within video games. Color-blind development and reaffirmation of gaming as a white male space limits the ability of players with marginalized identities to escape and enjoy games. A sample of character creation focused video games were analyzed to better understand if there was an impact of the White by Default character occurrence on the overall narrative, ludic (gameplay mechanics) and limitations or bonuses that could affect a player’s agency within a video game. This analysis includes The Sims 3 (freeform life simulator), Skyrim (fantasy roleplaying game), XCOM 2 (tactical science fiction), Tyranny (tactical fantasy), and South Park: The Fractured but Whole (science fiction roleplaying game) all of which allow character creations. My findings suggest that character creation did not limit a player’s agency through the usage of race in character creation, but instead offered a chance for players to self-insert or correct negative stereotypes of color-blind racism in the games narrative. Despite the agency offered to players, both narrative and ludic elements in character creation relied on whiteness as a raceless or default status, establishing a binary of white and Black through sliders, and reliance of “xenoface” to represent non-white races. I argue that unlike other visual media, video games provide players agency to rewrite stories around themselves, however due to an oversaturation of white male developers and their color-blind or blatantly racist perspectives, more steps must be taken to create more inclusive character creation systems. ii Copyright © 2019 Samuel Oakley iii Contents Abstract iii Contents iv Tables v 1. Introduction 1 2. Literature Review 5 I. Whiteness as a Default in Gaming; Player Demographics and Escapism 5 II. Race in Games and Designing based on “Familiarity” 8 III. The Need for Ludic Analysis 12 3. Data and Methods 15 I. Positionality 19 4. Analysis 21 i. Gaming and Color-Blind Ideologies 22 i. Gaming and Color-Blind Ideologies 24 ii. Narrative Racism and “Xenoface” 25 iii. Ludic and Ludonarrative Racism 28 5. Conclusion 31 References 34 iv Tables Table 1: Race based Restrictions on Character Creation (p.22) Table 2: Overall Racist Themes in Games (p.25) v Introduction In early July 2019, Mordhau, a medieval combat simulator, added options for players to create women and alter the race/skin tone of their playable characters. Prior to this addition Mordhau had been a game where you could only be a white man. This means of inclusion and self-representation was met with the Mordhau player base protesting that these changes were unrealistic and did not match the game’s setting. The push back came in the form of virtual harassment of game developers and players of color. These attacks were racist and sexist. Mordhau’s development team first reacted to the outcry by offering to allow players to turn off these inclusive options. Proponents of inclusive gaming saw this move as backtracking on inclusion and erasure as a solution to pacify the racist player base (Hall 2019). The developers later issued an apology. Mordhau’s development team catered to their white male player base. Video game developers immediately sought to cater to a white male voice with no regard of the harm they could be doing by erasing other identities and displayed their own biases and white centric design philosophies. The white-centric characters of Mordhau and whiteness as a norm in gaming is nothing new to video game culture. Typically, a video game’s protagonists is the same muscular white man with brown-short hair and a beard. Like other forms of visual media there is a presentation of white men as the default, the only ones capable of being action heroes or saviors. The trope of the white-male default is a trope that extends from visual media like film or television to video games (Everett 2005, Malkowski and Russworm 2017). Video games offer a potential counter to the to the white-male-savior trope through the usage of character creation and self-insertion. Instead of controlling another example of the same white man, players can be themselves or various fantasy creatures and humanoids as a form of self-expression. This work explores how 1 the agency to deviate from the normalized white male character is treated within a game. Specifically, I ask, are there racially biased restrictions on a video game’s character creation systems, and could they restrict a player’s agency or ability to finish a game? I test this by examining single player games that provide character creation options. Further this paper is meant to provide examples of how to better understand the balance of player agency against problematic racial representation in video games. Racial Representation in visual media like film has been a heavily examined topic. Prior research has emphasized either lack of representation or problematic representation with the presence of negative stereotypes (Bonilla-Silva 2014) or controlling images meant to reaffirm racial biases (Collins 1991). Visual media is often a medium where a story or experience is told and viewers are meant to react to what is presented to them. There are however more interactive forms of visual media like video games that not only allow someone to control how a story unravels, or what events occur, but also give individuals the opportunity to insert themselves within visual media. Instead of a story being simply told or shown to someone, video games offer players choices, agency, and influence on the progression of a narrative. Video games may provide players the opportunity for agency, but just like other forms of visual media have long been associated with racism and problematic representation (Everett 2005, Malkowski and Russworm 2017). Vastly popular video game franchises like Grand Theft Auto have been built on narratives and depictions of People of Color as criminals, homophobia and violence towards women (Hutchinson 2017). Despite being an interactive medium, video games still fall prey to similar tropes and controlling images (Collins 1991) presented in other forms of visual media. As Shaw (2014) points out, “In many ways, digital games seem to be the least progressive form of media representation, despite being one of the newest media forms.” 2 Video games can be a source of negative representation, and harmful stereotypes/imagery but players often find release and escapism within games (Shaw 2014). Video games offer an escape, form of de-stressing and entertainment to many People of Color (Kendall 2011, Shaw 2014). Despite these harmful representations, gamers represent a wide array of identities. Women make up half of the overall player base (Juul 2010), while Black and Latinx men are also some of the most frequent players of games. Hutchinson (2017) argues that despite the negative stereotypes surrounding People of Color and criminality in the Grand Theft Auto series, players have the options and are often rewarded for doing altruistic takes like chores or firefighting within games. There is negative representation, but players have control over whether they follow those narratives, and often will find rewards for creating their own within-game narrative. The ability to control and be immersed within a story provides players of video games some agency on a narrative. They can take a game that at base level rewards criminal behavior and instead chose not to kill or assist others. The negative representation however is still present in the overall narrative and at some moment players need to engage with problematic narratives to complete a game. There are however exceptions to these rules, since there are many kinds of video games. While some games follow a strict story and only allow player agency to influence small changes in endings or dialogue others emphasize player agency and base their mechanics of gameplay and story on the variability of players. Players can create their own characters to potentially insert themselves to control the narratives of video games. The options and choices presented to players are still dependent on developers and designers that have often utilized negative stereotypes and controlling images. Even if a player can create their own character, is that character free from both the implicit and explicit racism in visual media? Do agentic form of 3 media like video game character creation provide opportunities to dismantle or resist existing negative stereotypes and controlled images? Shaw (2014) suggests using methods of narrative and gameplay examination to differentiate game studies from other media. This research utilizes Shaw’s suggested qualitative media analysis to examine a sample of video games’ handling of race selection and character design. By examining video games and utilizing media analysis theory and practices in sociology, I expand gaming research, and contribute to work within sociology of media. Since video games are a multi-billion-dollar industry that attracts hundreds of millions of players and even spectators, there is a dire need to develop and expand upon racial representation research in video games (Juul 2010, Malkowski and Russworm 2017, Shaw 2014, Taylor 2018). This paper examines the balance of representation and player agency in video games that emphasizes choice and self-insertion using character creation systems.
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