Political correctness within the Games industry

[barefoot]

Hi

I'de be interested in finding out what other game-makers and players think about "Political correctness" in terms of words and phrases as well as items such as backgrounds, objects within the Games industry.

Is it paramount to every game to be Politically Correct?
Is it only relevant when certain conditions arise within a game?
Do you think that it should apply in all cases?
Do you think its all nonsense in most cases

What are your views on this???

barefoot

[Radiant]

Is it paramount to every game to be Politically Correct?

Absolutely not.

Political correctness is a non-solution to a non-problem.

[Mr Flibble]

Is it paramount to every game to be Politically Correct?

Absolutely not.

Political correctness is a non-solution to a non-problem.

That's all that really needs to be said.

[Questionable]

Is it paramount to every game to be Politically Correct?

Absolutely not.

Political correctness is a non-solution to a non-problem.

That's all that really needs to be said.

Agreed

[Matti]

Seconded.

[Snarky]

"Political Correctness" has acquired some pretty negative connotations, so of course almost no one will think you should strive to make "politically correct" games in the worst sense of the term.

However, I do think that all decent people should try to be aware of and sensitive to the issues of prejudice, discrimination and harassment that exist in our society against many groups of people (based on race, ethnic group, national origin, religion, gender, sexuality, disabilities, etc.), and try to avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes or patterns of exclusion.

So it may be worth thinking about your game, and the group identities your characters represent. Are the only black characters in your game ghetto gangstas or dope smokers? Is the greedy lawyer Jewish? Does the lesbian go crazy and kill herself? Is the career woman unfulfilled by her work and only happy once she finds a man and quits her job to raise their kids? In that case, maybe you should think it over again. Not only do stereotypes keep prejudice alive, they're also unoriginal clichés. If you try a little harder, you could come up with something more creative.

That's not to say you should whitewash reality just because it's uncomfortable or impolite. Yeah, a lot of gay guys are effeminate in their manner, and it's OK to have a gay character be that way. And The Wire isn't racist just because most of the drug dealers are black; that's just the way things are in the poor parts of Baltimore.

The other point is that when you make something for an audience, you might want to think about how they might perceive things differently from how you intended. You might not have a problem with people saying "fuck", and use it in your game just as a natural part of dialogue without meaning to offend anyone. But some other people might consider that kind of swearing really crude and inappropriate, and have a really strong negative reaction that you didn't intend at all. Then you have to decide whether the swearing is important enough that it has to be in there and you'll just have to exclude those people from your audience, or that it was a mistake because it didn't give people the experience you were trying to create, so you take it out. I don't think that's "compromising" any more than taking out a joke that no one else finds funny would be.