Professor Nakamura starts by talking about how racism and sexism are a part of the virtual world. "While computer-mediated communication and digital telecommunication have been praised for their ability to let users experience a “color blind” social environment, hate speech, racist imagery, and other anti-social behaviors that found in virtual worlds and other online social spaces are surely forms of electronic microaggression."
She goes on to talk about how the virtual world is supposedly a "race and gender free-self," exhibiting a "neoliberal ideological position," and how this isn't really the case. Games often let players create avatars of themselves, creating the idea that there are no limitations, but many times players are only given a few options for faces, bodies, and features, creating a "normative virtual body, one that is generally white, conventionally physically attractive, as well as traditionally gendered, with male and female bodies extremely different in appearance." An example of this is when Tracey John, a Chinese woman, tried to create her avatar, there were a variety of accessories, "but when it came to skin color, it only offered different faces in one pale hue."
Racism and sexism also occur through player interaction. Even though women and players of race are given the option of being themselves, they often choose "more normative" ones, meaning gender and race are very prevalent within games. In World of Warcraft, many females will play as males to avoid sexual harassment. This is done so often that real girls with girl avatars have to convince others that they're female. In Counter-Strike, a Cuban-American player named Danny Montaner (aka fRoD) was accused of cheating and was told "Go cut my grass you fucking spic." In World of Warcraft, people who work for companies by working 12 hour shifts of earning items and gold are called "Chinese gold farmers, since most of the farming occurs in China. A popular farming spot in the game is called "China Town" by some Western players. This is very offensive because while many gold farmers are Chinese, not all of them are, meaning it's just the Chinese that get a bad rep. "A player who speaks either Chinese, ungrammatical or “broken” English, or refuses to speak at all, or who repetitively harvests the game’s prizes or 'mobs' is often assumed to be a 'Chinese gold farmer' and may be targeted for ill-treatment or even virtual death."
Nakamura then goes into a lighter note about how games can help put people in the shoes of those of different gender or race. In the game Against All Odds, players play the part of "a young person's flight from oppression in his or her home country to exile in an asylum country." The goal of the game is to increase awareness and knowledge about refugees, and I think it does this well. I played the game and having me actually in their shoes and having to make these tough choices really made me think of what that would be like in real life.
People are always going to be racist, or at least hold some racial stereotypes, but in today's world, no one is really public about it. What do you think can be done to decrease the racism and sexism within the virtual world?
Racism and sexism also occur through player interaction. Even though women and players of race are given the option of being themselves, they often choose "more normative" ones, meaning gender and race are very prevalent within games. In World of Warcraft, many females will play as males to avoid sexual harassment. This is done so often that real girls with girl avatars have to convince others that they're female. In Counter-Strike, a Cuban-American player named Danny Montaner (aka fRoD) was accused of cheating and was told "Go cut my grass you fucking spic." In World of Warcraft, people who work for companies by working 12 hour shifts of earning items and gold are called "Chinese gold farmers, since most of the farming occurs in China. A popular farming spot in the game is called "China Town" by some Western players. This is very offensive because while many gold farmers are Chinese, not all of them are, meaning it's just the Chinese that get a bad rep. "A player who speaks either Chinese, ungrammatical or “broken” English, or refuses to speak at all, or who repetitively harvests the game’s prizes or 'mobs' is often assumed to be a 'Chinese gold farmer' and may be targeted for ill-treatment or even virtual death."
Nakamura then goes into a lighter note about how games can help put people in the shoes of those of different gender or race. In the game Against All Odds, players play the part of "a young person's flight from oppression in his or her home country to exile in an asylum country." The goal of the game is to increase awareness and knowledge about refugees, and I think it does this well. I played the game and having me actually in their shoes and having to make these tough choices really made me think of what that would be like in real life.
People are always going to be racist, or at least hold some racial stereotypes, but in today's world, no one is really public about it. What do you think can be done to decrease the racism and sexism within the virtual world?
I believe one of the biggest problems of regarding the cause of racism and sexism comes from the anonymity of users in virtual worlds. If the internet bans the use of anonymity, then the problems regarding racism and sexism will decresae in my opinion. However, that will also lead to decrease in participants in users of virtual communities and the internet might no longer serve as the "public sphere" where people exchange their ideas and stuff.
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