Racism in “Dragon Age: Origins”?
Most of my tech blog traffic comes from Google searches, and today one particular search term caught my eye:
race in “dragon age” white privilege
Hoo boy.
I should note that in “Dragon Age: Origins”, you can freely choose whether your character is male or female, and the preset character appearances let you choose between white, black, Asian, and Hispanic appearances. Should further customization be necessary, you can download the custom character editor and choose the exact tone of your character’s skin. Granted, there is racism in the game, but that’s because the Elves and the Dwarves hate each other, and they hate the Humans, who hate them both right back. Undoubtedly this will offend some people, but it really shouldn’t…because Elves and Dwarves do not actually exist.
Admittedly, I haven’t finished the game yet, so I suppose maybe there’s a scene where you have to join the KKK or something, but that is highly unlikely. I suspect someone who finds “Dragon Age Origins” racist is the kind of person who views a man holding a door for a woman not as a polite gesture but as a symbolic act of violent patriarchal dominance.
And if you have the time to Google search for evidence of white privilege in “Dragon Age Origins”, then may I respectfully suggest, sir (or, more likely, ma’am), that is time to get a life. To turn to more productive pursuits. Such as knitting.
Ironic that a guy who plays computer games should be suggesting that, eh? But interacting with real people in the real world can actually be quite rewarding!
-JM
3 Responses to “Racism in “Dragon Age: Origins”?”
Comment from Jonathan Moeller
Time December 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Pilfer Richards:
I would disagree. And I am familiar with the ideas of “inadvertent” or subconscious racism, also known as “privilege”.
However, and not to put to fine a point on it, “privilege” is irrational nonsense. “Privilege” derives from the ideas of critical theory, and critical theory derives from European Marxism. European Marxism boils all human relationships down to a balance of power (which I reject) with emotion as a mere screen or false consciousness. This theory, when put into actual practice, has at best failed abjectly and at worst caused untold suffering. Every single time. “Privilege” is simply cultural Marxism, which the bourgeoisie recast as white people, and “minorities” (itself a uselessly vague term) recast as the proletariat. That alone would make me suspicious of it.
Now, the counterargument would be that this is guilt by association. However, racism is the error of regarding humanity through an overly simplistic lens, and “privilege” theory is exactly the same error, albeit more refined and systematized.
More worrying is the idea that “inadvertent racism” is a moral failing to be corrected by the use of government-imposed legal action. Self-conscious “diversity” in the arts is not a moral position but a political one. When an artistic work (whether a book or a game) is accused of promoting “privilege” or “inadvertent racism”, what is really happening is that the complainers are trying to bring the artistic work in line with their vision of acceptable political thought. In other words, art must conform to acceptable political positions…another charming feature of Marxism in practice.
For that reason, I reject it completely.
Comment from Pilfer Richards
Time December 16, 2009 at 12:43 pm
I was afraid I would get a response like this.
What made you conclude that people wanted “government-imposed legal action” to correct what happened in Dragon Age? The idea of going to the government over this game is as absurd as it sounds to both you and me.
You’re conflating this issue with another one which you feel strongly about. Perhaps you’re thinking about affirmative action? Well, I am against affirmative action too. The people who saw race issues in Dragon Age were definitely not thinking of taking it to Congress.
Also, calling them “complainers” doesn’t show them up in a good light, now does it? Again, the people who brought up these issues in blogs and on the bioware website had far more reasonable arguments than you give them credit for and none of them involved forcing anyone to confirm to “acceptable political positions.”
Now are there liberals out there with extremist Marxist ideas? Absolutely.
There might those out there, but I haven’t stumbled across any posts by one of these people concerning Dragon Age. They would be doing something ridiculous like asking Bioware to pay reparations, and bow down to Al Sharpton or something.
Comment from Pilfer Richards
Time December 16, 2009 at 11:22 am
I believe you have misinterpreted the issue.
So many seem to think that racism only manifests itself as cross burnings, and nazi gas chambers.
But racism can occur in MUCH more subtle ways than this, and often inadvertently.
Dragon Age is certainly not racist in that extreme way that you have in mind, but subtly? inadvertently? Perhaps.
For example, while you are correct that Bioware gave players the choice to make a character of any race or skin color, practically everyone else around you is still white (even the dark skinned npc’s are just tanned white people).
In the human noble origin story, even if you create a black character your family members are still white. Ferelden is a place where only Caucasians live. Now, this might be complete a non-issue to you. You might shrug your shoulders and say “big deal” But for some people such a thing could break the immersion, and they might question why Bioware even gave them the choice in the first place to make a black character. This very issue actually lead to a very long thread on the Bioware website.
Once again, I am NOT saying that Dragon age is racist. Not in the extreme kkk, nazi kind of way. But, like the one example I gave above, it is possible for other people to see more subtle or **inadvertent** kind of racism or privelege in the game.