Share games containing strong elements of ethnicity

When asked, many people will define ethnicity through race or nationality. But according to the dictionaries, ethnicity also includes traits, backgrounds, allegiance and associations. By that, in my opinion, means that everyone may be of the same race or nationality, but it won’t mean a thing as we naturally drift towards our own ethnic circles which we have the strongest association/allegiance to.

“Assassin’s Creed 3” gives a very good and strong example of ethnicity of nationalities through the character of Connor. You are given the chance to explore some Native American backgrounds such as their language, clothes, culture, hunting styles, tribal rituals and many more. For example, you will actually hear and experience the Native American language as they actually speak to each other. They wear clothes made of animal skins with feathers and fangs of animals as their accessories. Connor will still wear these as he adopts the assassin’s garbs. Players will also get the idea of how these people hunt daily for food and resources. A simple tribal ritual would be the hatchet being buried into a post. As explained in the game, a hatchet is buried into a post when war is waged, only to be removed when the peace is returned.

Another game that promotes a more subtle element of ethnicity through race would be “Dead Island.” There are four very different types of characters, but all which are fairly stereotypical. You have an asian chinese, portrayed as smart and good in martial arts. An African American rapper who swears a lot and has a history of drugs and alcohol use. Your average white boy football star who is spoiled by his successes in life until he took an injury to the knee, and also killed someone. Lastly, an Australian Aboriginal who is never taken seriously, abused and hates rich people.

Lastly. and perhaps the most subtle element of ethnicity through backgrounds and association is portrayed in “Left 4 Dead”. Yes, this is a zombie outbreak game where everything and everybody seems equal, but I believe there are subtle messages while playing each individual character that makes each of them unique.

1. You have Zoey, your average white college girl, portrayed by her wearing jeans, a tank top and a jacket over it combined with a simple ponytail, showing that she had belonged to the younger and educated circle (her healing animation is different).
2. Francis comes in as a bad-ass, bonehead biker, outfitted with leathers and tattoos, prone to violence and swearing, where he belonged to the more outcast and bad circle. He likes to drink too(and hates everything else for that matter).
3. Louis is your typical junior manager: High enough in rank to have some authority, but still low enough that life is just full of shit from the higher ups. He wears a white long sleeve shirt untucked that is rolled to the elbow with a red tie, a brown slacks and leather working shoes. He use to belong to the young working adults circle (he bitches a lot about not being able to go back to work like normal).
4. Finally, there is William “Bill” Overbeck, a Vietnam veteran who served the US Army 1st Special Forces with a knee injury. He wears his old army clothes bearing his name with army boots. But his beret is that which defines his past the most, which bears the emblem of the 1st Special Forces group. This clearly shows that he belonged as one of the war veterans. (He smokes a lot too. His cigarette only goes out when he dies in the game. He also has a severe limp when health is low.)

Through them, you are able to experience a diverse group of different ethnicities by how they talk, react, move and shoot (character animation). It might not be so obvious from the get go, but you will definately get a feel of the character just by playing them and hearing them talk to each other. The four characters retain their original ethnicity as the college girl, bad ass biker, low ranking manager and war veteran. However, one thing transcends their former ethnic group and binds them as a new ethnic group: They are all Survivors.

*Bear in mind that this is just my opinion.

Crystal