Yet another topic that Extra Credits discussed which caught my interest regarding culture was 'race in games'. Obviously, when you think of 'race' when it comes to games, plenty of things come to mind, particularly in the fantasy genre where you have highly distinct, fictitious races and by extension cultures by which they live. I don't really need to go into the obvious there, however what Extra Credits discussed was a game that addresses REAL cultures; L.A. Noir.
They discuss the fact that race ISN'T used to define a character. Instead, Floyd suggests that L.A Noir expressed various racial issues that we all universally face, and gives us a perspective of the main, non-minority character through his encounters with other, minority characters within the game. I found it interesting what they pointed out, that the main character's actions later on in the game are contextualized by his reactions to a racial killing. In other words, the presence of other races and the events that happen throughout reveal aspects of his character that might not otherwise be shown.
They claim that just trying to design a minority main character can lead to stereotypes, whereas if you consider the role of having different races in a game you can provide more depth to any character through the interactions between those different races as opposed to assuming because of what they look like, or what race they belong to.
For me, this was a really interesting point regarding avoiding stereotypes and how to use 'race' non-offensively, since race is correlated with culture, obviously. As such, perhaps this approach is a good way to implement culture without it shouting in your face and being there for the sake of it. Culture and race can be used to help provide deeper characters with whom players could relate. This also ties back to some research I did back in Semester 1 where, in Better Game Characters By Design, it is stated that familiar plot points/issues/character morals can help a player to relate to that character, even one wildly unrealistic in appearance for example.
And, on a side note, I can see the connection between this and cohesive characters. Having a random character of a different race without any context cold potentially break that cohesiveness. Or rather, this is a hypothesis that I could potentially explore.
They claim that just trying to design a minority main character can lead to stereotypes, whereas if you consider the role of having different races in a game you can provide more depth to any character through the interactions between those different races as opposed to assuming because of what they look like, or what race they belong to.
For me, this was a really interesting point regarding avoiding stereotypes and how to use 'race' non-offensively, since race is correlated with culture, obviously. As such, perhaps this approach is a good way to implement culture without it shouting in your face and being there for the sake of it. Culture and race can be used to help provide deeper characters with whom players could relate. This also ties back to some research I did back in Semester 1 where, in Better Game Characters By Design, it is stated that familiar plot points/issues/character morals can help a player to relate to that character, even one wildly unrealistic in appearance for example.
And, on a side note, I can see the connection between this and cohesive characters. Having a random character of a different race without any context cold potentially break that cohesiveness. Or rather, this is a hypothesis that I could potentially explore.
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