A study into the social psychology of virtual environments, by Northwestern University, indicates that people respond to the same social cues about race in virtual worlds as they do in real life.

In an experiment carried out in There.com users were approached by a researcher wearing either a light-skinned or dark-skinned avatar and asked a series of questions..

The study found that when asked a fairly demanding question, followed by a less demanding request (a so-called 'Door in the face technique', dark skinned avatars received a significantly lower rate of positive responses.

Same old, same old.

Researchers find racial bias in virtual worlds [ITNews.com.au]

(image source: http://soulsphincter.blogspot.com/)

...we really wanted to show the origins of the virus. So for the setting we thought, how about using the place where humankind was born?...we thought we would use Africa, which is now called the birthplace of humanity, as the model.

Having played pretty much the entire series (being, sadly, the resolute gamer I am) and basically noting how much they've pulled from such sources as The Godfather, Scarface and New Jack City, I can not remember a single positive image for Blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Jamaicans, Colombians, Haitians, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Japanese, one Jewish lawyer (!) and soon in the upcoming game, Russians and Serbians; not to mention the constant lampooning of liberals and homosexuals. Mind you, of course, there are never any white gangs.

Now I am sure there are some white street gangs out there, but you're more likely to see the odd white guy in a mainly Black or Mexican gang, because dammit, their gangs are just that much cooler than anything a bunch of white kids could come up with.

I don't think the portrayal Grand Theft Auto has anything to do with racism. EVERYONE in Grand Theft Auto is a larger-than-life caricature. Corrupt cops are more corrupt. Geeks are geekier. Slutty women are sluttier. The snozberries taste like snozberries.

As for the lack of positive images in the series, who can you single out as a completely positive character in GTA? There are no role models. There are no white knights without tarnished armor. This is the seedy underbelly. What did you expect?

Racism - [Big Smoke Street Corner via Game Politics]

Take a look at [Wii game] Miburi & Teburi, and the first thing you'll notice is a giant white man covered in fake hair. That is what they call a 'Nazo no American,' or a hint-giving American... Scroll down and watch the videos. The top video is the in-game stuff, and it doesn't seem so bad. They have depictions of 'hyper-Japanese' people in there too, it seems. But the lower video is problematic. It "stars" the voices of two "Americans" who say things like "I love Japan, I love Japanese people" in uniquely horribly faked American accents. It's the equivalent of someone saying "I rike fly lice" to describe how a Japanese person might talk. Of course Japan isn't the only culprit... But I think in Japan there's a lack of awareness that this is insulting in the first place, which increases the problem. I honestly think I'd have less of a problem with it if they were truly playing with American conventions and American Japanese fetishism — but they're just unconsciously making fun of a group of people. And I'm not sure anyone will tell Sega this isn't appropriate. It's a fine line, but I think this crosses it.

It is a fine line, indeed. And SEGA isn't alone with playing on these stereotypes — this type of foreigner makes regular appearances on Japanese TV. And with Westerners being a minority, this is all a lot of Japanese know about foreigners. Sure, it's a two-way street: Pull out your copy of Lost in Translation or, even, Kill Bill for recent misses in the cultural sensitivity department. But, Sheffield is dead on about a general lack of awareness. Most Japanese don't have experiences interacting with foreigners — save for trips abroad or maybe in English conversation schools. It's a numbers game — there aren't that many foreigners for them to interact with on an everyday basis. Hence, the pickle.

Here's a story: Late last week, I take my kid to the ear doctor. There's another kid in the waiting room, maybe about ten. When I enter, the kid points and says, "foreigner." I sit down, read a comic book. He comes over, maybe, four or five times and says, "You look like a foreigner." I tell him, four or five times, "Well, that's because I am." And smile. Kid's parents say nothing, just kinda sit there. Now, if, say, every time the kid was in a waiting room or w/e, he spotted a non-Japanese, would he react the same? No, probably not. Or, what about Japanese people who literally freeze or break into a sweat when you approach them, thinking they will be met with a spew of English? Interactions like this are part of living here and certainly not charming. Then again, I think of all the inane questions people in America have asked my wife: Do you eat things besides fish? Do they have cookies in Japan? Don't Japanese people usually wear kimonos? So, you can speak Chinese? That, and other stereotypes Westerns have of the Japanese: The Japanese aren't emotional or don't get pissed off or are very orderly and clean or do things to stand out or are cute, wacky or aren't creative, etc. It's a two-way street and irritating for those traveling between the cultures. For everyone else, bliss is ignorance.

Japan and its "charming" racism [Insert Credit]

"I called Xbox Live. I gave them all the information they needed to know, and they told me before they can do anything, take any kind of action, there has to be 10 complaints filed against [the other player]," he continues, incensed. "That's like you coming to my house, robbing me, and I call the police. Are they going to tell me, 'Well, if that guy comes back to your house 10 times, we'll come out and do something about it'? I think that's disgusting. I think Mr. [Bill] Gates needs to change that rule, and I think it needs to be changed immediately."

While I personally believe that harshly singling out someone with slurs based on their race or country of origin is wrong (except for those damn Belgians), I don't think it ranks up their with getting your house robbed. You can't just turn off your headset to keep someone from breaking in to your home, for instance. Still, I can certainly understand Terry's frustration.

Dr. Phil then spoke to Terry's wife Nydia, who shares his frustration and anger over the situation.

"I just feel like on the Internet, in this situation, anything is possible," she replies. "I don't know who these people are. They claim to be the KKK, and I have a really big problem with that. They're calling my children monkeys, that they're going to hang them, they're going to kill them, they're going to kill me. It's crazy, and it's out of control. Nobody is trying to do anything about this. My husband has contacted Microsoft for many years, and I don't understand why the FBI is not all over this."

"People have a sense of anonymity. They're what I call keyboard bullies," Dr. Phil explains. "They don't have to face anybody. They don't have to deal with it. You see it in road rage. People are in the anonymity of their car, and they go crazy. They would never do it face to face, but on the Internet, they do it."

Cyber Bullies [Dr. Phil via ripten]

This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young... fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.

This is a really touchy subject. Looking past the mistaken idea that the game is being marketed to children, I can completely see where Platt is coming from to a certain extent. It is a white figure of some authority being attacked by a horde of what appears to be African peoples. This much is true.

On the other hand, zombie stories originated in the Afro-Caribbean Vodoun belief system, so for a series that relies on zombies as its main antagonists, exploring the voodoo origins of zombie mythology seems only natural, and in order to do that you are going to end up exploring villages that just don't happen to have many Caucasians in them.

If the game does anything it bolsters the hatred of black zombies already present in the well-established hatred of zombies in general. It teaches us that no matter what color they are on the outside, flesh-hungry reanimated dead people are really fundamentally the same, and should probably be avoided at all costs. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I'd like to think that mankind will band together regardless of race or nationality in the name of preserving the future of humanity and the safety of our precious brainmeats.

Resident Evil 5 [Black Looks via Game Politics]

360 Gamer takes a look at a recent example of this abuse of creativity. While many Forza Motorsport 2 paintjob artists create spectacular works of art with simple shapes and decals, some are taking it into distasteful territory. And they're taking it online, adding patently offensive customized cars to the Forza auction house.

In this particular case, gamer Dreamer61's 1957 Mercedes 300SL—a car adorned with Nazi imagery and racist, hateful speech—unfortunately made it past moderators and onto the auction house. This is a clear violation of the Xbox Live Online User Policy, as 360 Gamer points out.

Here's to hoping that publishers and console manufacturer's will be swift and harsh with their punishment of our hobby's more brainless user created content contributors.

Microsoft yet to get on top of Forza 2 racism [360 Gamer]

Earlier, we posted a letter from a reader detailing what went on during the Japan PS3 launch. Homeless people lined up for consoles as well as select Chinese who then turned around and tried to sell the machines. The story got substantial internet play, including being picked up by the BBC, who interviewed me as well. But, was the coverage racist?

We don't like to air every email we get that disagrees with our banter, but this is an email which didn't only agree with us, but the reader who sent in the original story. So, to be fair, it will get a public airing (the identity of this person shall remain private). I've already contacted this individual, stating my position. What's yours?

Hit the jump for not one, but two emails from this individual. Brian Ashcraft

Dear Sir,

I am a resident of Japan and I have just read a BBC News article quoting you.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6142576.stm

I was dismayed by the BBC's portrayal and focus on what seemed like Osaka's Chinese community being no more than immoral purchasers and this being a major problem in all of Japan.

Before I blame you (I have already emailed the bbc with thoughts about their reporting), I would like to know your thoughts about the article and what you really meant if you feel that the BBC misquoted you.

I feel that the article:

1/ Makes Chinese out to be the same as Yakuza and bad businessmen.
2/ That chinese buying playstations for others as a service and for an extra cost rather than waiting themselves is legally and morally wrong.
3/ that chinese were quoted by yourself as a small observation by yourself IN OSAKA and the BBC have made this look like its a nationwide epidemic.
4/ That you didnt aknowledge that although many Chinese, including elderly ones, were buying the product, that they were just as likely to be buying them for legit reasons, like buying them for their family and friends. Your comments were just opinions without any concrete proof or evidence.
5/ That Japanese are just as liable to to do the same thing, either for good or bad reasons so the quoting of ethnicity, ability to use japanese was not needed.
6/ that you really meant that you believed that Ps3s were being bought by any potential customer for "scalping" purposes and that any extra information attributed to this was not newsworthy.

etc

As you may know, the Chinese community in Japan have been demonised in the Japanese media from time to time, either by polititians such as shintaro ishihara, and to right wing articles in various publications. Therefore I would ask for your clarifications on this matter.

Thank you for your time.

...and this as well...

Dear Sir,

Furthermore, in order to highlight how the article could be inferred as "racist", please look at a doctored edition of the article. The word "Chinese" has been replaced with "Black" and the setting changed to America. this is purely fictitious and in no way implies that black people are criminals or untrustworthy. They have been chosen as they are often seen to also be stigmatized by the white majority and said to have poor English/education backgrounds, be poorer than the majority of whites etc:

" "The PlayStation 3 goes on sale in the US on Friday
PlayStation 3 consoles advertised as used are appearing for sale in American shops as well as online auctions.

They are being sold for up to four times the retail price of the console, which went on sale in the USA last Saturday for about 270.

There are also reports that homeless people were paid to queue for the console on behalf of people now selling them on at a higher price.

The product launch is one of the most crucial in Sony's history.

Thousands of people queued for many hours in cities across the USA on Saturday and many people went home empty-handed.

One PS3 with a 60GB hard drive, which would have cost about $500 ( 270) in American stores, was on sale on Monday on the auction site eBay for an asking price of $2,300 ( 1,200).

Other PS3s were attracting bids starting from $600 ( 313) up to $1,475 ( 771).

Brian Ashcraft, an editor for gaming website Kotaku in the USA, said: "I witnessed homeless people waiting in line as well as a high number of BLACK customers."

He said he had heard similar stories from other shops around New York and in LA.

A Kotaku reader, Dirk Benedict, contacted the website about the launch day at flagship New York store, Radio Shack.

"The first buyers of PS3 were largely elderly BLACK men and young BLACK women with shaky ENGLISH language skills," he wrote.

"Opportunistic WHITE businessmen have the largest presence, hiring poor BLACK men and women to wait in line for a PS3."

Mr Benedict said the BLACK men and women were then delivering the consoles to WHITE men, who were paying them up to 90 for queuing.

He wrote: "Sony should be scolded for staging a national launch event with 80,000 units.

"An extreme lack of supply ignited an extreme surge of demand - that of which poor BLACKS and opportunistic WHITES took full advantage of."

Kotaku reports that PS3 consoles advertised as used are now being sold for 144,900 yen ( 645) in some American shops."

That sound like it could be newsworthy of an average newspaper to you?

Yours Sincerely,

For some, Castle Crashers is just a fun looking little Golden Axe-like with the art style of Dad 'N' Me or Alien Hominid. For others? A horrific parable of genocide, in which the Ku Klux Klan take swords in hand to slice and dice the enemy gollywogs, and maybe burn some upside down crosses for extra lives.

Those people? We think they're just hilarious. Loco Roco this ain't, lady!

Thanks to Destructoid for the heads-up! Florian Eckhardt

Oh great. Ash has done it again. By plucking something from the tips jar (in his ineffable laziness) that no one else thought was even interesting enough to post, he's caused an avalanche of similar crap to come rumbling down on the site, to bury you all.

First, it was those stupid gamer license plates. Now? It's Space Invaders. Seeing Ash's earlier terrible, completely lazy post on the subject, Kotakuite Stefan writes:

just wanted to show you this poster i found at the praterstern trainstation in vienna...

maybe it's interesting to know to that there're elections coming an i found this one on a big VP (austrian people's party)advertisement.

Just so. Of course, if you think about it, Space Invaders is pretty racist... human racist. An armada of squid-like aliens destroying earth in utter extraterrestrial conviction of their own genetic superiority? They'd come right after Hitler in my deliberations for anti-racist spokesmen.

But I suppose the Austrians would know better than me, having had to deal with Hitler — and maybe Space Invaders for all I know about the Second World War — firsthand. Florian Eckhardt

Space Invaders Against Racism [Stefan Braunstein]

Created by Jack Bliss, he had this to say about the video, "This is my very first sprite movie starring the characters from Super Mario World featuring the music by Coldplay.

This is a movie that speaks against racism, discrimination, and war, made in a way I hope that people of all age groups and Mario fans can understand, treasure, and pass it [sic] on...I really enjoyed this game as a child and I hope I can share some of its magic with you in a meaningful way."

In the animation, Mario remembers that, many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea (Yoshi's Island), he had a childhood affair with an anthropomorphic evil mushroom. Mario realizes the evil of his xenophobic ways. Then he starts running through a counterclock world, retracing his steps, trying to unite the races of the Mushroom Kingdom,

You got to love any Mario movie that ends with this impassioned plea for tolerance:

Unfortunately, unlike the Mario World, we don't GET second chances... The damages left by the likes of Adolf Hitler by war and Osama by terrorism are forever... Racism hatred and discrimination were the prime fuels to provoke and unite their Armies of death and mass destruction.

A single tear of profound compassion and understanding trickles down my cheek. Florian Eckhardt

Mario: Back to the Start (via Video Games Blogger)

In an interview over at Gamespot, he says:

I was actually amused by the fact that [the main character] ran around with chopsticks and poking people's eyeballs out. But in my university career, I became more and more aware of [regional] stereotypes and hierarchies that continue to be perpetuated in the mainstream media. Not just in video games—[but] television, news, movies, and stuff like that.

This almost happened to me with my "Women in Art History" course. Every class was a bunch of drivel about why various great works were oppressive, phallic records of the Male Gaze and should be removed from their museums and etc.

And as the class progressed, you could see the students being convinced of this, and the joy they felt for the pieces being strangled out of them by indignant rage or impotent guilt, depending on their gender.

Parungao also seems to be a little behind on his game canon. He says he feels "that these games symbolize, in many ways, the constant trend in themes in video games when considering 'Asian-ness' and stereotyping in video games." More like, they were the only games he still had left over from middle school.

The blatant truth of it is that none of these games are representatives of anything current. Shadow Warrior came out in 1997, and Kung Fu in 1985. Asian-ness, my ass.

Way to go, Rob. You psyched yourself into no longer enjoying your childhood entertainments. I just hope no one else is taken in by this gradegrubbing masquerading as "research". Eliza "the man" gauger

Read full article and wearily angry flames here [GamePolitics, and also thanks to Alan for sending this in earlier]

Sony's very sorry and has promised to never do it again.

We... recognize that people have a wide variety of perceptions about such imagery and we wish to apologize to those who perceived the advert differently to that intended. In future, we will apply greater sensitivity in our selection of campaign imagery, and will take due account of the increasingly global reach of such local adverts, and their potential impact in other countries.

I gotta say I'm of two minds about this. Firstly, it's always nice when Internet yammering makes a dent in Real Life (tm). But I also would have liked to see Sony stick to their guns on this one, just to show us up.

I'm also slightly irritated because California Assemblyman and anti-violent video games activist Leland Yee, who hated this ad from the start, is celebrating his victory with smug little blurbs. Anything that makes the anti-gamers happy just annoys me. eliza gauger

Read More [GameDaily BIZ]

Romanians In Space isn't just, well, Romanians in space. It apparently encourages players to carry out a war against ethnic Hungarians. According to game site GameSetWatch, the title's slogan is "Follow your destiny. Kill any non-Romanian alien prick in cold blood."

The story starts in 1988, when commie dictator Nicolae Ceausescu conquers America and becomes emperor of the Earth ten years later. (That's how it works, you know.) The Romanians dominate the planet and look to making the entire galaxy theirs. Unfortunately, "alien pricks" hinder these grand plans. This was all in good fun says the game's creator:

Out of ten missions, only one is against the ethnic Hungarians. Everything was a joke and it was meant to be a joke that mocks all the problems between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians.

The game's official site follows up that with these updates:

There seems to be a huge controversy regarding our soon-to-be-released game. We are in a FICTIONAL game, containing FICTIONAL storylines. Please leave your petty nationalism out of an otherwise fun game. We appreciate your views and issues on the matter, but please, let politicians handle them, not video games.... It seems the controversy is getting out of hand and some people are making themselves look stupid.

Yep, some people are, and it ain't us. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GSW]

No matter what you think about Sony's PSP ad of an albino squishing the cheeks of a sleepy woman in her pajamas — racist or not? — I think we can all agree that this Ctrl + Alt + Delete is outrageously prejudiced against disgusting fatties. Florian Eckhardt

Black and White [Ctrl + Alt + Del]

Crecente posted this London Dutch ad for the new white PSP, he preceded his post with the words 'I hate to spur the ire of Florian...' He then insinuated that the image represented an Aryan Ku Klux Klan super model abusing a black woman for not referring to her as 'massa'.

Well, Crecente's right about one thing: I don't think the above image is racist. Here's an image from the same shoot, as viewable on the official Sony Europe site:

I suppose some will claim that this is equally racist, as it features a stereotypical black criminal mugging a poor white woman. I, on the other hand, view this in relation to the resulting outcry and find it absurd that Americans seem to have lost any point of reference in what racism actually is. I simply can not believe that to some people a photograph of two absolutely beautiful women posing as avatars for different PSP models is now equivalent to flaming upside down crosses.

What is racism? Racism is a calculated and rationalized loathing of a person based solely upon the color of their skin. It isn't anthropomorphizing the struggle between two aesthetic choices in a video game console. An advertising technique, I'd point out, you often see in commercials for anything from chocolate ice cream to darker shades of lipstick.

Within context of all the ads, the campaign makes it very clear that white isn't supposed to be superior black, or vice versa. The worst that can be said about the campaign is that it's ill-advised. If it's guilty of anything, it isn't racism, it's insensitivity to the hyperactive political correctness of an American audience it isn't even aimed towards.

Pointing out that a black person is black and a white person is white isn't racism. Juxtaposing artistically the opposing colors of their skin isn't either. There's no shame in pointing out the color of a person: racism isn't making the observation that a person is black, it's making the observation, then hating them for it. Florian Eckhardt

Update: Sony's saying the same thing

Now, 1UP blogging champ and militant anti-Treasure-ist Jeremy Parish has something to say on the topic: you're all a bunch of mouth-breathing dicks. Between the namecalling and missing the part where Eckhardt says he thinks Alejandro is not a racist, Jeremy makes some excellent points about the cultural differences and ignorances that lead to something as innocuos as disembodied cartoon heads being labeled racial propaganda.

Go on, read it. You might learn a thing or two about Japanese perception of American culture. And have a little fun thinking about the goodness of Loco Roco while you're at it! Michael McWhertor

Internet 1, Civility 0

While Ashcraft nervously waves his hands and cautions about slippery cultural slopes, let me issue a more blunt response to Alejandro's claim that LocoRoco is racist: Alejandro's argument is that of a reactionary imbecile.

Please look at the image to the right. Depending on who you are, you might see:

1. A tarantula
2. A black octopus
3. An evil dust bunny
4. Majora's Dreadlocks

But Alejandro sees a leering, big-lipped minstrel character.

So who's the racist here? LocoRoco's creators, who innocently designed some visually appealing character abstractions for a charming game? Or Alejandro — a guy who sees something that just happens to be black and immediately envisions a hideous Gollywog belching between bites of fried chicken and singing about its Mammy. Don't show him the Mr. Men books: his head might explode.

To be fair, I don't think Alejandro is racist, but I do think he is making himself out to be one of those knee-jerk reactionaries who measures his own importance by his ability to be self-righteously offended. Not only is his argument silly and worthy of derision (LocoRoco as a metaphor for white flight? In a game about yellow amorphous blobs?), but it demeans the struggle against actual racism.

Look, it's your God given right to be offended, but let's remember something: even for the most level headed of us, being offended is the natural consequence of walking out our doors every morning. One right you don't have, though, is the right to never be offended. Especially when you see a horrifically racist stereotype lurking in the most innocuous of child's drawings. Florian Eckhardt

Just Plain Loco [Alejandro's 1Up Blog]

That's what Kotaku reader Alejandro says on his 1Up page. LocoRoco looks to be the most interesting PSP game, since, well, Lumines. And while the game's creator might have stated he wanted to make a "happy game because there's too many 3D shooting game", Alejandro says that the game's anatagonists smack of blackface. Dubbed Mojya Corps, these dreadlock-like brown characters attack LocoRoco's peaceful world. He blogs:

Some countries such as Japan (where LocoRoco was developed) do not have significant Black populations and so Blackface images can come about without any criticsm. The images are also then okay to be labeled as the enemy or even serve as representations of Black characters in general, despite the racist images they perpetuate. That and I hear that Japan is just a very racist culture.

That's a big can of worms we're playing with here. Japan does not have a significant black population when compared to many Western countries. And for obvious reasons, the country lacks the same history of racism against black people. Koreans, Chinese and Burakumin, yes definitely, but not black people.

So, putting this in a Western framework can get sticky. Is it offensive to Americans or Europeans? Probably. What about Japanese folks? Maybe not. Those Little Black Sambo type books are still sold in Japanese bookstores, so this kind of character won't raise that many eyebrows. Then again, we're not just making video games for Japan, are we? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Alejandro's 1Up page]

The CBS station that did a story on the game says the game is hosted in teh UK, but that they couldn't find a name or location for the company.

I bet Kotaku readers could do better. The file is called borderpatrol.swf. I found a few host sites, but nothing that seems to pinpoint who created the game. If you can figure it out, let us know and we'll post it here.

Racist Game Targets Immigrants [CBS]