Could be bad for upcoming Sims 2 expansion: “Cross Burnin and Lynchin Stuff”
They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
From the awkwardly named Eurweb:
University of British Columbia researcher Robert Parungao, who graduated this spring with a B.A. in Sociology, completed an eight-month analysis for his thesis and found that negative portrayals of minority groups are "blatant” in most of the popular games.
(Emphasis mine.)
And just what data points did our newly-degreed "researcher" use?
For his study, Parungao examined four titles that span 20 years of videogame design: Kung Fu, Warcraft 3, Shadow Warrior and Grand Theft Auto 3. He analyzed the storylines and characters, and spent 100 hours playing the games.
(Emphasis mine.)
Parungao had originally planned to use 5 titles published within the last 20 years, but that was cut short when his roommate used his PS2 as an impromptu urinal. Plus there was a kegger over at Tri-Delt, and there might be drunk lesbians.
Edit: Oops, forgot to credit WomenGamers.com for the link.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:05 am
How in hell does a senior project (thesis??) from an under-achieving undergraduate get assigned any credibility at all? Isn’t the internet wonderful?
July 31st, 2006 at 10:05 am
K, besides the stupidness of it all, I can’t figure out which minority was negatively portrayed in WC3.
Murlocs??
Cheers
PS. It took him *8 months* to play 4 games for 100 hours and write up the stories? I do not see the title of Video Game Reviewer in this one’s future.
July 31st, 2006 at 10:26 am
Four games to span twenty years? That’s just… I… my mind just boggles at that. I guess I just have to say that his research shows a “blatant” disregard for actual sociological study. How did he manage to graduate?
July 31st, 2006 at 11:03 am
Internet Jack: He was specifically studying asian racial stereotypes, which in Warcraft pertains directly to the Panderans. Seeing as everyone pretty much loves the Panderans, one of the concept artist’s (Samwise) is very enamored with Pandas, and the fact that PANDAS ARE FROM ASIA, I don’t really see how an asian panda (did I mention that they’re from asia) is a racist presentation.
Amber: I read about this last week sometime, and I wondered about many of the same things. Though I might have chosen to bold the part about him playing 100 hours of videogames for his thesis! Not to mention the utter ridiculousness of using “I’ll play these games and see how they make me (an asian) feel, then write about it.” I can only assume and hope that he used other professional articles on the topic as reference.
I would love to write a graduate thesis on how playing endless days of German boardgames makes me feel, as an American who happens to be descended from Germans, but unfortunately I wouldn’t be afforded such a luxury.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I’m doing my thesis on that guy across the hall who keeps harshing my mellow by blasting his hip-hop music… and the possiblity of using Cheetos induced “cheese fingers” as a sunscreen.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:52 pm
What about the trolls? Weren’t they supposed to be Caribbean Islanders or some such thing?
July 31st, 2006 at 3:03 pm
What, nothing to say about the death of E3?
July 31st, 2006 at 3:24 pm
@Bartoneus: By all rights I should have bold-faced the entire article. There were just so many directions I could have taken it. Let’s see…
- Sweeping generalization based on a tiny fraction of all video games. (it’s like concluding that all bears are white because you once saw a polar bear in a snow globe.)
- Sweeping generalization based on 4 games and 100 hours of total play time.
- Undergraduate thesis given any kind of academic acknowledgement at all. (yes I’m sure there are some undergraduate thesii that are worthy, but something tells me this aint one of ‘em.)
- That any press organization would give the time of day to an undergraduate “study” of this nature, and this data.
@Fubu: Meh. Everyone and their imaginary friend are blogging about E3’s “makeover.” I posted my thoughts here if you’re interested, but I don’t plan to blog about it.
July 31st, 2006 at 5:51 pm
The real question is, are you Miss Bea Haven in real life?
Dave (someone stole my cool internet name)
July 31st, 2006 at 7:29 pm
?? Dave I got no idea what you’re talking about hon. Your link points to that site I talked smack about last week, but it’s not immediately apparant what the reference is, and I don’t think I’ll go digging.
August 1st, 2006 at 8:06 am
Oh sorry. It’s on the right sidebar of their site:
People who hate us even
though we used to worship
her when she was Miss Bea
in Plystation Pro Magazine
Miss Bea Havin
I don’t know who Miss Bea Havin is, just curious if you had another life before Amber Night.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:01 am
Ahhh, gotcha. I missed the sidebar. Never heard of her, sorry. Glad to see the boys keeping busy though. Everyone needs a hobby.