It begins. Resident Evil 5 targeted as a racist game.

Now, knowing full well that this is a touchy subject that is a possible candidate to degenerate into some serious butting of heads, it's something that I knew full well was coming, and is in my opinion, an inescapable topic of discussion. Black Looks, a black interest site, has already targeted RE5 and its foreign, seemingly African setting.

Now, this ignorant backlash was something I suspected could happen almost immediately after I saw the first trailer, and I expect to unfortunately see more and more of this as the game eventually approaches its release. Imho, the sad truth is this will probably get unjustified airtime on television, not unlike our friend Jack Thompson and his ridiculous claims of murder simulators. What do you guys think of this predicament Resident Evil 5 may be falling in?

link to the site?chrisrooR

Sorry about that, put it up now. Was trying to quote the article directly in the post, but I kept getting an improper HTML error, so I removed everything to see what was the cause of the problem. In any case, you can follow the link to see the original article.

This is just bullcrap. Zombies are zombies, it doesn't matter what color they are. Maybe, since RE5 is obviously taking place in an African location, Capcom should just throw in some random Caucasian zombies to make everybody happy...because surely, that wouldn't sacrifice any sort of atmosphere they were attempting to achieve with this new setting.

Start them young...fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.

give me a break!

I wouldn't put too much credence into this even being a genuine opinion of the blog writer. To me this just seems to be a cheap ploy at getting some attention and traffic driven to the site. Robio_basic

Bingo.

the things people do for money

Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...Ninety-2

Real quote:

"Yes, I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth."

Awesome. I respect that opinion. A good way to avoid controversy. Wait a minute...I'm curious...let's see what happens when we switch it around.

"Yes, I am more comfortable with the zombies being black. In fact, ALL zombies should be black from this day forth."

Now, we have two racist statements here. Which one is more racist? The second? WRONG. They're both, equally racist. And yes, the writer of that blog IS a disgusting racist prick And why isn't he in trouble? Simple, because he's not hating on blacks, he's hating on whites. And everyone knows that hatred towards whites is A-OKAY!

These double-standards need to stop right now.

[QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...v1cious04

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...Ninety-2

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...Ninety-2

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

Wow...so then you're a black guy saying that black people make scary zombies.:lol: Wow...you see, what's hilarious about this is the idea that people like that blog-writer consider themselves to be "fighters for black rights" when normal everyday black people don't give a crap about their ridiculous statements.

[QUOTE="Ninety-2"]

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...AquaMantor

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

Wow...so then you're a black guy saying that black people make scary zombies.:lol: Wow...you see, what's hilarious about this is the idea that people like that blog-writer consider themselves to be "fighters for black rights" when normal everyday black people don't give a crap about their ridiculous statements.

that's the thing. it's a very trivial matter that no one cares, or should, give a crap about. it's only the people in the business blowing it out of proportion so they can make money out of this whole ordeal.

I'm black. I saw the trailer. Didn't bother me one bit. All that ran through my mind was "gotta beat RE4! NOW!" so i can continue the story and play the next awesome game in the series.

[QUOTE="Ninety-2"]

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...v1cious04

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

No need for apologies...

Now, knowing full well that this is a touchy subject that is a possible candidate to degenerate into some serious butting of heads, it's something that I knew full well was coming, and is in my opinion, an inescapable topic of discussion. Black Looks, a black interest site, has already targeted RE5 and its foreign, seemingly African setting.

Garudoh

This is outrageous. We've only seen one trailer and its like the villagers from 4, theres probally going to end up with way different enemys later on in the game of 5.

I just finished reading the article and comments on the sight and it just shows how intolerable the tolerable think they are. We've only seen one trailer so far. The game is being made by japanese developers. And if its any consolation, resident evil 1 , 2, 3, CV you mostly killed caucasian's and there were even african-americans apart of STARS killing caucasian zombies.

But none of the people who are out raged choose to see the game for what it is to 99% of the people who play it, as an engrossing deeply entertaining game.

My problem with the game doesn't have to do it being racist, but with the setting of the game itself. I don't know how I feel about killing poor, hunger stricken people, but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are black.

This guys blog sums up my reasons for why the game isn't racist, link

5. Japanese Developed - She obviously feels the game is an intentional racist product, but last time I checked RE5 was being developed by a Japanese game company. Do the Japanese have a secret hatred for black people? The answer is no!

4. So Killing White Zombies is OK - Amongst the comments to her blog post she replied with this statement:

"Yes... I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth."

This comment just makes my head spin with the amount of stupidity in every word. I really can't think of what else to say about this comment.

3. Zombies Aren't Civilized - I think that the author needs to watch a zombie movie or two to realize that they are not tame or kind creatures. Zombies don't politely ask to eat your brains; they just chomp down on your skull like it was a big hairy apple. Luckily zombies are not real, or are they? Should the developers make them nice zombies just because they are black? The answer is no, zombies no matter what color are zombies, and any person who is smart enough to pass sixth grade can tell that. It is not racism it's called variety.

2. Location Location Location - This being RE's first go round with next gen hardware I imagine the developers wanted to go to a location that looked as gritty and earthy as possible. Africa is a perfect setting because it is a beautiful area that allows for many cool plot points. The game just would not seem right if the zombies in Africa were white. Africa is a great location for a game and just so happens to be populated heavily by Africans...imagine that!

1. White Zombies Have Been Done to Death - Ever since we first got a taste of Resident Evil every mindless slow walking zombie we have come across has been white, in skin color at least. Black people get killed in movies all the time yet I have not heard of protests about it. Would we be seeing an uproar if the zombies were all women or would PETA be upset if there was nothing but dog and cat zombies. The United States has a lot of work yet to do when it comes to race relations, but we have come quite a long way so far. A video game about zombies should be the last thing we worry about as a culture. Maybe we should pay more attention to huge number of kids caught up in skinhead groups or the reorganization of the KKK that is happening in America, but no we are sitting here talking about a video game...and that makes me kind of sad.

I wouldn't put too much credence into this even being a genuine opinion of the blog writer. To me this just seems to be a cheap ploy at getting some attention and traffic driven to the site. Robio_basic

That is exactly the impression I got. Hardly anyone read this blog before and now there is suddenly 100+ comments. The responses from the owner of the blog also seem like they are designed to just bait more comments.

Where were all of the groups claiming racism against Spaniards or Spanish-speaking people when RE4 came around? :?MAILER_DAEMON

Si! ¿Dónde Están?

Where were all of the groups claiming racism against Spaniards or Spanish-speaking people when RE4 came around? :?MAILER_DAEMON

They were busy not caring. Which is what we should be doing. It's a video game. All people want is money out of this crap.

[QUOTE="AquaMantor"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...Sonick54

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

Wow...so then you're a black guy saying that black people make scary zombies.:lol: Wow...you see, what's hilarious about this is the idea that people like that blog-writer consider themselves to be "fighters for black rights" when normal everyday black people don't give a crap about their ridiculous statements.

that's the thing. it's a very trivial matter that no one cares, or should, give a crap about. it's only the people in the business blowing it out of proportion so they can make money out of this whole ordeal.

I'm black. I saw the trailer. Didn't bother me one bit. All that ran through my mind was "gotta beat RE4! NOW!" so i can continue the story and play the next awesome game in the series.

It's only an issue when people make it one. Same goes for any race, religion, creed, favorite bubble gum flavor.

[QUOTE="Sonick54"][QUOTE="AquaMantor"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]

[QUOTE="v1cious04"][QUOTE="Ninety-2"]Gotta admit, black people make some scary ass zombies...SemiMaster

I don't see how, seeing as I myself am black...

Wow...so then you're a black guy saying that black people make scary zombies.:lol: Wow...you see, what's hilarious about this is the idea that people like that blog-writer consider themselves to be "fighters for black rights" when normal everyday black people don't give a crap about their ridiculous statements.

that's the thing. it's a very trivial matter that no one cares, or should, give a crap about. it's only the people in the business blowing it out of proportion so they can make money out of this whole ordeal.

I'm black. I saw the trailer. Didn't bother me one bit. All that ran through my mind was "gotta beat RE4! NOW!" so i can continue the story and play the next awesome game in the series.

It's only an issue when people make it one. Same goes for any race, religion, creed, favorite bubble gum flavor.

exactlly. people are MAKING this into a problem when it shouldn't even be one.

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/08/01/african-womens-blog-critical-of-resident-evil-5-trailer/

Ok, this article really pissed me off. Apparently because the zombies are black people it's racist to kill them but lo and behold it's perfectly fine if they are white or spanish. I hate how it's perfectly fine for other races to be portrayed as enemies but all of a sudden when they're black it's a hate crime.

Here's a reply the author wrote to one of the commenters:

"Yes; I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth."

Right, equality goes both ways *****. You take the good with the bad.

Well, I'm Mexican, so I'm probably part Spaniard somewhere down the line, and RE 4 didn't offend me. I'm not exactly surprised that this is happening, but I don't agree with it. It seems that this is being made an issue because black hate crimes have a more explicit history. Plus, looking at the game you could see Chris isn't out for blood (actually, it hasn't really been revealed what the story is exactly), no, the villagers are ATTACKING HIM. It's a survival/horror experience, he's outnumbered, so he has to defend himself.

BTW, hearing the Spaniards curse you in Spanish was pretty amusing and known to be a stereotype, but no one made a big deal about it. Heck, I found the Splinter Cell enemies to be a lot more offensive in their depictions, speaking with typical accents.

A blind man could see this coming a mile away. gaminggeek

Yep. Saw it coming a mile away. Im black BTW.

It's just ****ing stupid. It's not a hate crime if it's a ****ing zombie trying to kill you.capthavic

Truer words have never been spoken.

This is just bullcrap. Zombies are zombies, it doesn't matter what color they are. Maybe, since RE5 is obviously taking place in an African location, Capcom should just throw in some random Caucasian zombies to make everybody happy...because surely, that wouldn't sacrifice any sort of atmosphere they were attempting to achieve with this new setting.

sCaReCr0W

Exactly, these are not people, they are zombies. If anything, by killing them, you're helping them through putting them out of their misery so to speak.

Something important to remember is this...has anyone here heard of any of the sites prior to them saying RE5 is racist? I certainly hadn't, and Im certain this is mainly a publicty grab. I'm also sure that nothing will come of this.

As time goes by, I hope people will be smart enough to realize that RE5 isn't meant to be racist and that this opinion be relegated to only a few attention seeking people. Hopefully, this doesn't escalate to the point where Capcom has to delay the game to alter it or even cancel it all together.

[QUOTE="MAILER_DAEMON"]Where were all of the groups claiming racism against Spaniards or Spanish-speaking people when RE4 came around? :?TheMierArmy

Si! ¿Dónde Están?

Aquí estoy. ¿Llegué tarde?

On topic: This is, of course, ridiculous. But reading the comments section to the aforementioned blog, I believe the author has a much clearer picture of the situation now.

What bothers me the most isthat gaming outlets and we as gamers ourselves are even reporting on this. The Internet has enabled every idiot to make their opinion widely known. That's fine. But we don't need to perpetuate idiocy.

It's sad that people even think in terms of 'That white guy is killing those black guys'. Just like the developers of Resident Evil 5, I live in an ethnically homogenous society and I can't view these things the same as people from multi-cultural/racial countries, but seriously - people need to stop looking for problems where there are none.

4. So Killing White Zombies is OK- Amongst the comments to her blog post she replied with this statement:

"Yes... I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth."

This comment just makes my head spin with the amount of stupidity in every word. I really can't think of what else to say about this comment.

HiResDes

That is too hilarious. This chick actually said that? She just threw her whole foolish crusade out the window with that one sentence.

What's really funny, though, is that in the end, once Capcom reveals the plot and what's going on in the game, the main villains are going to be white guys like Wesker, and then you'll have a black guy who you end up teaming up with, like the equivalent of Luis Sera from RE4. So everything will be just fine and the world can continue spinning.

I think it's poor taste on Capcom's part, and there is a difference between this setting and Spain or Dead Rising. You got thousands of Africans being slaughtered in Darfur/the rest of the country daily with little to nothing being done to stop it. Africa is just one of those sensitive spots, much like Iraq(which would be another area that should not be used in games) and having a form of media that is designed to be fun set there just FURTHER trivilizes the real, daily hardships Africans that are never reported. Bottom line it's offensive and Capcom deserves whatever flack they get, legitimate or not.

What bothers me the most isthat gaming outlets and we as gamers ourselves are even reporting on this. The Internet has enabled every idiot to make their opinion widely known. That's fine. But we don't need to perpetuate idiocy.

It's sad that people even think in terms of 'That white guy is killing those black guys'. Just like the developers of Resident Evil 5, I live in an ethnically homogenous society and I can't view these things the same as people from multi-cultural/racial countries, but seriously - people need to stop looking for problems where there are none.

UpInFlames

Yea, this woman is pretty much an internet troll seeking attention to feel better about herself because she thinks she's making some kind of point.

I think it's poor taste on Capcom's part, and there is a difference between this setting and Spain or Dead Rising. You got thousands of Africans being slaughtered in Darfur/the rest of the country daily with little to nothing being done to stop it. Africa is just one of those sensitive spots, much like Iraq(which would be another area that should not be used in games) and having a form of media that is designed to be fun set there just FURTHER trivilizes the real, daily hardships Africans that are never reported. Bottom line it's offensive and Capcom deserves whatever flack they get, legitimate or not.

trifecta_basic

I couldn't disagree more. It's a game. A zombie/infected-people game. It's called Resident Evil. It's not called Evil White Man Kills Blacks. I think the site purposely said something about RE 5 just to promote itself which was briliant because it apparently worked. What we all should do is just scoff at the proposterous accusations that were made and move on. In fact, this whole thing doesn't even need to be dignified with a response.

I think it's poor taste on Capcom's part, and there is a difference between this setting and Spain or Dead Rising. You got thousands of Africans being slaughtered in Darfur/the rest of the country daily with little to nothing being done to stop it. Africa is just one of those sensitive spots, much like Iraq(which would be another area that should not be used in games) and having a form of media that is designed to be fun set there just FURTHER trivilizes the real, daily hardships Africans that are never reported. Bottom line it's offensive and Capcom deserves whatever flack they get, legitimate or not.

trifecta_basic

Dude, it's a bloody video game :|

[QUOTE="trifecta_basic"]

I think it's poor taste on Capcom's part, and there is a difference between this setting and Spain or Dead Rising. You got thousands of Africans being slaughtered in Darfur/the rest of the country daily with little to nothing being done to stop it. Africa is just one of those sensitive spots, much like Iraq(which would be another area that should not be used in games) and having a form of media that is designed to be fun set there just FURTHER trivilizes the real, daily hardships Africans that are never reported. Bottom line it's offensive and Capcom deserves whatever flack they get, legitimate or not.

juradai

I couldn't disagree more. It's a game. A zombie/infected-people game. It's called Resident Evil. It's not called Evil White Man Kills Blacks. I think the site purposely said something about RE 5 just to promote itself which was briliant because it apparently worked. What we all should do is just scoff at the proposterous accusations that were made and move on. In fact, this whole thing doesn't even need to be dignified with a response.

Agreed