A Global Platform Through a Western Lens

I grew up in Serbia in the '90s. When I looked out of the window of my second floor flat, I could see a good deal of my hometown on one side, and barely anything on the other side because a tree was obscuring the view. If I visited my family friends, who lived in the only ten storey building back then, I could see the entire town. I knew every corner of my elementary school, except for that one door that was always locked, which we thought led to an attic where demons slumbered. That was my world, but if I wanted to see beyond, my two options were to travel, which I couldn't afford, or to watch TV.

That might not seem out of the ordinary - after all, a lot of '90s kids had access to the same TV, toys and video games. Think about that for a moment, though: the same TV, the same toys, the same video games... Sure, some Japanese animation never made it overseas to Serbia, and there were local TV stations with local shows and movies, but many of us were fed Western culture through movies, cartoons, games, news... I could even speak English at a young age because of it. But, even with that shared cultural input, there was a disconnect: whilst you watched Sky News do a live broadcast of planes taking off to bomb Serbia; I watched Sky News do a live broadcast of planes taking off to bomb us.

The world has changed since, at least for most of us. Now, the Internet is widespread, everyone is connected, we have the means to better empathize with one another, to understand and react to the cruelty and bigotry of the World. If the game Soldier of Fortune was made today, for example, I could openly condemn it for its depiction of Serbs. I recall reading an interview with the developers in a Serbian magazine, years after the title's release, where they said something along the lines of "Sorry, but you just happened to be the bad guys in the World at the time". And really, as far as the Western World was concerned, that was true. I have too many anecdotes of my friends and me talking to foreigners and being asked "Isn't there a war going on there right now?"

The Internet is a global platform, but most often viewed through Western lens and values. It is not an issue exclusive to video games, it is an issue society as a whole needs to face and overcome, but talking about it in the context of this medium might help us further understand the issues, our fellow developers and our fellow players. By no means is understanding a behavior condoning or forgiving it, but informed decisions are usually better than uninformed ones.

Some time ago, people asked why the Witcher 3 had no people of color. It was a question that set the community ablaze for a few days, because that question had a different meaning to different people. Obviously, this question is about racial inclusivity, which again, has different meaning to different people. In most of the Western World, it's a logical and relevant question that reflects its society and history. What would the question mean in a country like mine? If you asked your average player here, they'd probably say "pandering to the politically correct crowd".

However, before you get angry, or before you cheer me on, there is some follow-up information to take into account. People of color aren't as common in Serbia. It's to the point where a bus full of people would keep secretly turning around to get a glimpse of the "black man" just trying to get to wherever his stop was. Does that mean that there are no racial issues in Serbia? No - there are issues, mostly reflected in the way Roma people are treated: there's racism here, in different forms, but no less terrible. Sure, you could argue that by being exposed to as much Western media as we were, this wouldn't strike us as odd, but US media was heavily romanticized from our point of view. For a lot of people around these parts, Western media is alien, not "real life".

One Eastern European gamedev example I recall was a team working on a game heavily themed after a certain cultural heritage. It just so happened to be one that was subjected to various non-flattering depictions in pre-2000 Western media. Of course, since the devs were exposed to the same media, but not the culture they were depicting, the entire game was a bit of an offensive mess. It was something you really didn't want to release in today's climate. Thankfully, someone on the project did their own research and realised all the things they got wrong and how it might affect or offend potential players, so they did some heavy revisions before the release. The point is, the team's initial work did not reflect their sentiments, so after becoming more informed, they changed the game. It's the usual climate here: developers want to make games as many people as possible can enjoy, but they might not always be aware of how heavy certain social issues weigh in countries other than their own.

Now, the million dollar question is how do you fit the previous two paragraphs into a single tweet? But before you even try to, the contextual and cultural barrier are only one part of the problem.

A lot of meaning is lost in text communication - you don't have a voice, expression or gestures to go by. If you do a lot of your communication via email or chat, you've probably misread others or been misread yourself dozens of times. Now, it's bad enough when it's just two native speakers, but what happens when only one person is a native speaker? Or when two non-native speakers are using a language that isn't their primary one? "Everyone speaks English", but there are several different levels of proficiency.

So now we are dealing with people who are outside of Western culture, who aren't proficient in the language primarily used in Western culture, but who wish to be a part of the discussion. Obviously, these circumstances can't be used as justification for deplorable or hateful actions. No one who has had to go through online harassment will feel better because the other person "didn't know better". However, every time we show zero tolerance or patience for people who don't know better, they can get swooped up by actual hateful people. And really, when you are the target of any sort of harassment online, having someone defending you lowers the burden, even if said person is actually being manipulative.

What this means for game development is that we have to be careful when criticizing and making games. The previously-mentioned Witcher 3 controversy is just an example. Only the developers know why the game is the way it is. My bet is that it was an "out of sight, out of mind" issue. There was simply no one there who would possibly see that as a problem. I do think it would have been a better game if it did feature more people of color, simply because it's a globally-marketed product and many players would have appreciated it. But the developers should not be berated for it, nor should the people asking them that question. It's a conversation that needs to happen, rather than be stifled.

Because, really, the Witcher 3 is just one of many such games. There were many before it, there will be many after it. There is a climate of fear right now when it comes to speaking about various forms of inclusivity (whether social or physical), and this will only hamper game development further. It will encourage bigger projects to play it safe, it will encourage smaller projects to not be prepared for a misstep. I, for one, know I'll be terrified if I embark on a solo project, because one minor cultural difference I wasn't aware of might create a PR nightmare for me (and I consider myself at least fairly socially savvy).

This is one of the problems we face on a global scale; how do you put people from different parts of the World in the same room and have them understand each other? How does a platform dominated by First World tone and thought communicate with people from Second or Third World countries? I wish I knew. I've been thinking about this subject for a few years now and haven't come to a solution, so now I at least wish to point out it exists. It might take years, decades to finally overcome it. We'll make a lot of mistakes along the way, others will, too. We shouldn't accept any hate culture, but rather than berate, we should try to educate others, and we should learn to accept being educated ourselves.