Amidst the critical acclaim for The Witcher 3 have been the rumblings of discontent at the way it deals with race and gender. Last week in particular saw criticism sparked by an article on Polygon, centred around the lack of people of colour within CD Projekt RED’s latest game, and how this could be taken to be indicative of the wider game industry’s problem. While I’ve seen a variety of characters from all sorts of racial backgrounds in the years that I’ve been playing and writing about games, very few of them actually address the issue of race because it is not central to the story.
That, however, is not how I see The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Sure, you are cast into the boots of Geralt, whose skin colour is white, and the world may lack people of colour but the game is far from one that doesn’t address “Concerns of minority groups” and ignores them as the Polygon piece put it. In fact for me The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the game that has managed to accurately portray the complex issues of racism in a way for the majority of people to understand, and in a mature enough manner confronting it head on.
Despite being white, Geralt himself is an ethnic minority who is shunned by the majority of the population, with throwaway comments uttered by NPCs based on his appearance and race. But I take issue with the Polygon piece, and one statement in particular which says that while Elves exist in this fantasy world, people of colour do not, and that “Again: This is literal dehumanising of people of color. We are relegated to non-human species, their treatment is supposed to mimic real-world racist policies.”
Relegated? Is that not itself a racist view of the mythical elves and dwarves? Their treatment isn’t just supposed to mimic real world attitudes, but to do so in a way that few games have ever managed to. I don’t care what colour or race a person is, and it could be a small white dwarf or a huge rocky troll, as long as the issues around race are depicted in a way that isn’t insulting to a person’s intelligence. Would it have mattered more if the elf who was going to be burnt alive because of her species was brown? No, it wouldn’t have because the situation itself put across the message of persecution perfectly.
There is an issue of a lack of positive representation of ethnic minorities in games, not just based on someone’s skin colour. The Call Of Duty series has cast Russian people, as well as Middle Eastern & Chinese, as the dangerous Other who is threatening the “freedom” of the West, and casting the player as an Allied soldier for the majority of the time. Isn’t that a more damning issue of racism, where anyone from the Allied nation is good while everyone else from around the world is inherently evil?
The Call Of Duty franchise plays on real life context, where Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was set in the Middle East and mirrored the still very current real world conflicts in the region, and there is now the renewed fear of Russian influence as well as the general anxiousness of the rise of China as a global superpower very prevalent within similar war games. There are incredibly few examples, bar one or two notable stages, where the Allied soldiers are a player’s target, because of the outrage it would cause. The CoD games are much more skin colour diverse, but treat race in a much more polarised fashion.
Racism or xenophobia is much more than just the colour of someone’s skin. It is about culture and traditions that are ridiculed at their expense, treated like a joke or a ridiculous outdated caricature. Call Of Duty can fall into the latter category quite easily. 99% of Middle Eastern characters are terrorists, 99% of Russians are ultra-nationalists that hate America, and China is only set on world domination. There is no depth to these base motivations.
Throwing around the race card every time a game doesn’t feature a person of colour, be it a wide sweeping fantasy or a more linear game does more harm than good. Racism is a very real problem that is experienced by many, including myself. I felt myself being very empathetic towards Geralt, the dwarves and the elves, because I’ve lived through similar issues that these characters have, from being called names to being spat on in the street. When a game developer has gone to extraordinary lengths to portray race problems in an accurate way, you shouldn’t start attacking it for lacking skin colours.
While having more diversity and representation across the industry would be fantastic, a developer shouldn’t feel under pressure to include a person of colour just because of the negative reactions they may face if they don’t. Demanding some kind of quota isn’t the answer, because instead of being inclusive, such a thing could start to limit creativity. When including people of different races then it needs to be done in a way that is more than lip service and fully fleshed out characters need to be designed with input from people of those cultures. I’m talking about a lot of research, revisions & dedicated work to avoid shallow stereotypes. If a developer doesn’t feel like they can pull off that work in a way that would be well received, then I rather they don’t attempt to do so, rather than fill their game with one dimensional characters that simply have a different skin colour.
A very real problem does exist in the loud minority of the gaming community who will attack a game for daring to have a character that isn’t white. That is the true issue that needs confronting head on here. Games will always feature people of different skin colours, and that will surely increase in future. Gaming communities need to address racism in the real world instead, come together to properly confront the racist attitudes of the minority through open dialogue and debate.
The majority will not refuse to buy your game if the lead character is something other than white and male. If that were the case, then a game like Mirror’s Edge wouldn’t have the cult following it does, including the hype for the new game. Most players will buy games based on the experience as a whole, and if someone doesn’t purchase because of a character’s race then so be it. At the same time the majority of gamers from ethnic minorities won’t refuse to buy a game if the lead is white. The minority that does avoid them may be participating in a version of racism of their own.
There is an issue with representation of ethnic minorities in a lot more media than just games, and it is an issue that needs much more discussion than either this or other articles can give in a few words. I would love to see more people of colour taking the lead in games, and for this to not even be an issue in the future. We’re a long way from that day yet, but shouting racism for every time there isn’t an ethnic minority represented in a game cheapens the very real life experiences millions of people face everyday.
Credit for first image to RockPaperShotgun.
beeje13
Seems like Polygon completely missed the boat with their criticism. The Witcher seems mainly fantasy inspired by Norse and other Scandinavian areas, so you are going to have predominantly if not exclusively white people due to less migration in historical times (which this is obviously set in).
And as you put it perfectly Aran, TW3 does have racism in it and so it does a good job of highlighting the problems involved.
I hate people who view diversity in entertainment media as some tickbox system where if you have more the better, regardless of how they are portrayed and the relevance to the setting/universe.
Carrot381
The argument that it’s inspired by Norse/Scandinavian areas/mythology so will be predominantly white makes absolutely no sense to me as it’s clearly a work of fiction. Even if CD Project Red had made all the character people of colour it would have absolutely zero effect on the story.
beeje13
I know what you’re getting at, but it’s CDPR’s creative choice to represent the Witcher series of books by Sapkowski as closely as possible.
I think that we need games inspired by other, non ‘western’ cultures, or create new universes altogether, rather than shoehorning underrepresented people in some games.
That’s my opinion anyway. Generally I just play the games and don’t think too much about race representation, but I am a white male…
Having said that, an overproportioned amount of my favourite lead characters are not like me: Ellie, Wei Shen, Faith. Maybe it’s because they stand out from the majority, I really don’t know.
MeTheGreat
Well, then no argument about doing anything in any way based on the real world makes sense to me, because it’s a work of fiction. Did you know, people were using that argument to criticise the game because Ciri would get called whore and slut by her ENEMIES.
—–>”Oh, the game is sexually harassing the character because people soldiers you fight call Ciri whore”.
“But this is realistic; wouldn’t you expect such crude people in those situations to do that ? It makes complete sense.”
—–>” That argument doesn’t work because this is a work of fiction.”
Right, since people find the accurate portrayal of sexism in the game unacceptable, and unjustifiable because ‘its fiction’, let’s remove violence altogether shall we ? I mean, it is a work of fiction, so the realism argument doesn’t work, correct ? Surely, some people find the violence a bit too much, so let’s take that out too. The sorrow and sad stories, why not remove those too ?
See where “but it’s a work of fiction” just doesn’t work ? Devs will put whatever they think is realistic in. If something clearly makes sense in the game and it’s vision, then how on earth can people criticize it’s inclusion because it’s ‘fiction’? It’s fiction based on some amount of realism and grittiness. It’s up to the devs to include as much realism and grittiness as they want, and if it fits in, then fine.
Coming back to the point – not having coloured people in the game.
Who cares ? That’s literally the least important thing in a game. The game is based on Slavic and Nordic culture. It’s also made by people who live in Poland, based on fiction created by a Polish author.
So it’s ok not to include coloured people. Like you said, would it have any effect on the story ? No. So basically it doesn’t really matter. They could have put some coloured characters in there somewhere, who sailed across from another country as merchants or something. Does it matter ? No. Either way, it fits in with the lore and setting. They chose not to have coloured people in it, and that’s fine. Having coloured people does not change the story, but neither does not having coloured people, maybe they just didn’t acre about that. Basically it’s a non issue.
Not including people with coloured does not detract from the game in any way, and doesn’t conflict with lore or setting, so who cares ?
The reason most people don’t take Polygon seriously is because this stuff which they go on about…we don’t give a damn about skin colour in games. There are thousands of more important aspects that are worth looking at ; you know, things that actually matter for a game.
Carrot381
I love the Witcher 3 and the lack of character diversity is not something that particularly annoys me. The flaw in the above argument is that many many aspects of the game are clearly altered from the books/mythology it’s supposed to be based on without issue eg the use of modern english language, Wolverhampton accents, female characters wearing nylon stockings to name but a few. Someone mentions the lack of black people though and the ‘it’s for accuracy reasons’ argument gets used. As I said it makes no sense to me.
Carrot381
@MeTheGreat
‘Right, since people find the accurate portrayal of sexism in the game unacceptable, and unjustifiable because ‘its fiction’, let’s remove violence altogether shall we ?’
I didn’t say that. Neither did I say that there should be more people of colour.
Why the rant?
Gareth Chadwick
I bet there are no Albanians or Polish people in the Witcher 3 either. Disgusting racists, those CD Project Red people.
JustTaylorNow
Doesn’t matter if it’s based on Norse or whatever myth, you can still alter the characters changes without affecting the story or the game. No one will say this but the fact that CD are a polish studio clearly they was never going include any other race but white. Look at all their games, same theme.
I am sorry but you can try to look at this whole situation differently but it doesn’t excuse anything, it’s a fantasy game so adding different race of colour in there shouldn’t be a problem
JustTaylorNow
If you look at 95% of video games, the lead character is always white, I understand it’s business marketing, probably they sell more that way but we can’t ignore the fact that this is how it is in the industry, there isn’t many games that has any other race as a main lead character at all, it’s not just the witcher or CD. It’s the way it is & that’s not going change any time soon.
Stefan L
All of CD Projekt RED’s games so far have been in The Witcher series, within this one world which, as Aran said, does deal with racism in a mature fashion, just not racism specifically surrounding the colour of one’s skin. They could have altered the fiction in some way to include this side of things, but I feel that’s a choice that should be open to the developer, not something that’s practically mandatory.
A better test of what CD Projekt RED will and will not do when it comes to representing people of colour specifically will come with Cyberpunk 2077, wherein the futuristic setting and the manner in which the modern world sees the spread and intermingling of cultures would be a much more glaring omission.
bunimomike
That’s not strictly true. It’s a fantastical game set in a time that is very real to our history. If developers want it to have an authentic grounding (when it comes to human races) then it makes full sense that we might not see the multiculturalism we’re used to today. That doesn’t make it wrong at all! However, JTN, you have a valid point that they could be included with little fuss as well but that’s a style choice that the developer made and nothing more than that.
Also, CD Projekt RED have only made Witcher games so it’s a bit unfair saying “look at all their games” when it’s all from a single franchise. :-\
MeTheGreat
It’s a non issue. There isn’t anything to excuse CDPR of here.
You are right in saying that including coloured characters would work in within the setting, if they really wanted it to. At the same time, not having coloured characters works too. So who cares ?
The reason for criticism isn’t “You don’t have coloured people when there clearly should be in this setting”, because as we can clearly see, not having coloured people works absolutely fine within the game.
Instead the reason is “You have to include coloured people because today that’s expected and it’s politically correct, and it makes it more inclusive, and everyone does it nowadays”
ie political correctness.
See how stupid that is ? If not including coloured people does not cause any problems within the fictional product, then they can do that ! They can do as they please. They are a polish studio, making a game based on fiction set in Slavic culture, written by a Polish author. It’s easy to see why they might make that choice.
That’s why most gamers don’t give a damn about these criticisms. These critical opinions aren’t about the games, no, they are solely about political correctness today in the real world, even though these games are,like they themselves said so many times, WORKS OF FICTION!!! I find it really funny how that argument goes the other way.
CDPR don’t have to include coloured people just for the sake of being inclusive and politically correct by today’s standards. It’s a non issue, which is why people simply don’t take Polygon seriously. So much of their criticism is about stuff that doesn’t matter in the game at all. Their agenda is not about the game itself doing things right, it’s about the game being inclusive and politically correct in today’s world. They aren’t gamers, really.
Which is also why they actually criticized the game for accurately portraying sexism in the game. The argument being, ofcourse, “This is a work of fiction, so you don’t have to be realistic”.
I feel sad for them… absolutely no logic in their arguments.
bunimomike
A few people (on other sites) were replying with “then don’t sell it in America if it’s not going to represent American culture (read: races)”.
The internet moved down a notch when I read that. :-(
Starman
The polygon article shows some journo’s are activity seeking topics to stir up controversy over these days. Anyone could find something similar and kick up a fuss about it.
Pitcher-T
Exactly Starman, this is a wider issue with not just the games industry but the world in general and picking an argument with the Witcher is just click-bait.
bunimomike
Top article, Aran. I know I’m not personally responsible for any attack on yourself but I feel ashamed that anyone Caucasian has insulted you for not being white/Caucasian. It’s lovely seeing more and more acceptance with race/sexuality/etc., but… WOW, do we have a long way to go still, eh? :-\
stefhutch20
Interesting article. It seems to me that many websites simply play the race card to create controversy where none exists. Does anyone else remember the furore surounding Resident Evil 5? That game got into trouble for having too many black zombies, even though it was set in Africa, where 90% of people are of colour. These days, people will always find something to complain about.
DJ Judas
Great Article.
The incredible irony of Polygon’s seeming delimiting of racism to a matter of skin colour while trying to push a negative story on a lack of varying palette, in a game which manages not to stoop to using such obvious methods of differentiation so as to include the issue of racism, would be incredibly clever if the original article was meant as satire, which it sadly wasn’t.
Craig Dodson
I guess the main question is, do game developers have ANY responsibility to conform to anything. Are games art, or do developers have to be aware of and adhere to some kind of development ethics?
If you make a game full of stereotypes is that “bad” or is it just a game?
MadYetHatless
I hate when this argument is brought up. A developer makes a game the way they wish to make it, then when it’s released someone notices something that doesn’t agree with their ideologies and the entire thing gets blown out of proportion injuring the reputation of developers, players, the industry in general and ending up causing more damage than good.
To be completely honest, when I’m immersed in playing a game I don’t give a toss what race or gender my character is. All that matters to me is the story and the gameplay. I derived no less joy from, say, Uncharted than I did from Alien Isolation, Yakuza 4, or even Okami. If the story is good enough and you can empathise with the main characters, what the hell does it matter who you play as?
Tony Cawley
Isn’t is set in the past? Albeit a fantasy version of the past? Race and race issues wasn’t really an issue in the past because people didn’t have the means to migrate so each country was mainly inhabited by its own indigenous people.
Also aren’t the developers Polish? I think racism is much less of an issue in Poland than it is in the UK and USA because they are countries that people migrate to.
Finally, why should the developers feel they have to address the issue of skin colour? They are from a country that is nearly all white, they won’t have the same understanding of issues of race as some of us.
Storm in a tea cup if you ask me, not the issue of race but whether or not this game addresses that issue.