The Deus Ex "Racist" Argument

Controversy in entertainment is nothing new, and games seem to get a hell of a beating when they cross that line. Modern Warfare 2 with it's civilian killing, Manhunt for it's use of any physical object, and Grand Theft Auto for... Well the list on that one is too long.

The most recent incident to come into the fray is Deus Ex for it's character "Letitia". I won't rehash verbatim here but the argument from some is that her position and manner in the game is representing her as "less than human", and is a slur upon all people of a coloured descent. The full story is at http://techland.time.com/2011/08/31/the-worst-thing-about-deus-ex-human-revolution/

I won't argue... The character has a stereotyped manner, but then on your trip to China the whole city is full of stereotyped pigeon English when an NPC can speak it. Letitia is also not the only NPC that is bin diving, just the only one you can interact with. Countless hobo's on the streets of Detroit ask you for credits and "... (they) won't lie, (they're) gonna buy booze." The use of all these stereotypes should be put under the spotlight, however there has not been the same outcry of insensitivity that just one character garners.

One reason for the outcry against Letitia is that she is clearly poor and sounds uneducated and that this is a poor racial stereotype from yonder years. These allegations however are completely ridiculous when we know nothing about her history aside from that she used to be an informant for Jensen. Perhaps she has always been poor, perhaps she is truly uneducated. The fact that she is of coloured descent is not highlighted in anything other than her visual appearance so to call this a "racist" issue is bogus as there are several other characters that are black and have done well for themselves... A computer genius, an undercover cop, a security guard. Jensen does not act in any way out of order to Letitia, no matter what choices you make in conversation. If the game were racist, I'm sure would do so in more than one example.

What this is however, is a lack of understanding and embracing diversity. It takes all sorts of people to make a community and the world is full of differing individuals with differing mannerisms, habits, accents and culture. To be pissy over Letitia is tantamount to saying "that isn't the correct way to represent a black woman, black women are like this... " and in my opinion Mr Nacisse of Time Magazine... That sounds pretty damn racist to me. These are just my opinions of the issue, they represent my outsider perspective on a situation that I feel has been blown out of all proportion. It's been a few days since this was actually blown up and there are two camps, those that see it like Narcisse, and those that understand that people are free to sound how they want and talk however they see fit.

Now I have that off my chest... Time to get back to enjoying this glorious game!


sent from iPhone