All right
So last week as you may recall we talked about propaganda games and the danger that they can pose
Wrapping up with a short section at the end about the more worrisome threat posed by a haphazard and lazy game design this week
I'd like to provide an illustration tah-dah
Please don't play this game not because it's reprehensible not because it's racist it is both of those things
But that's your place to judge for yourself. [I] say don't play this game because it is just plain boring
It's a nun fun slog of an FPS
That is so banal and brainless even the most ardent shooter fans are going to have a hard time seeing it through to the end
Maybe if you're an aspiring designer, and you want a great example of a poorly put together game for a learning experience
[maybe] and even then
Before we get into this we do want to thank Mr.. [Rob] Breath
He was [a] big help in putting this episode together so many thanks to him and now to the heart of it
What is happening in Mexico right now is a tragedy. It's a nation locked in a war
that's rarely talked about north of the border [a] war that is often dismissed as criminal activity because of the nature [of] its participants and
Thus not afforded the attention it deserves, [but] make no mistake the drug war is a very real war
40,000 people have died in the last five years in this war that's ten times the number of us soldiers
Who've died in Iraq or about a third as many Iraqi Civilians
This is a war being fought not solely by the Mexican police but by every branch of its armed services and even though the use
Of the army and the marines in the last Few years have done major damage [to] the drug cartels the level of violence has only
grown with each passing month
Today most major security assessments see the destabilization caused by the drug war as a major threat to the Mexican government
But while those [numbers] may capture the scope of this war it doesn't convey the horror that goes with it you see
It's not a conventional war no one's playing by the rules in this thing
Rape torture and kidnapping are all regular tools in this conflict the battlegrounds are apartment blocks and neighborhoods
children and families are both its victims and its weapons and the worst part is it's a conflict without end because neither side has a
Clear end goal
It's not like a war between two nations where one side can just surrender and then the other side will take over the drug lords
Have no interest in controlling the country and the Mexican [government] has no system in place for the Narcos to Surrender
It's just a complete mess
Now when I heard that a game about this subject was coming out. I'll admit
I was
Foolishly hopeful [I] thought you know this conflict gets so little publicity and most of the major video game buying nations have very little involvement
In it have a chance to really get a game that tackles tough
Complicated current events [even] [handedly] and lets the player explore many of the larger questions that surround events like these
Questions that matter to all of us no matter how far from these particular events. We live this word again. Can really make a difference
naive perhaps
but one can always hope
But instead we got a game that neither respects the lives that have been lost in this conflict nor the player themselves
Where do I even start to begin with this might be the most racist game? I've ever played by a major publisher
[I] know we often see games guilty of turning minorities into horrible stereotypes, but call of Juarez goes above and Beyond
This is where that thing we warned about last week comes up lazy design leading to terrible misinformation
[I] don't know if the designers just weren't thinking about what any other play meant or if they thought that maybe having playable minority characters
In the game exempted them from any accusations of racism probably the former, but then from the very outset
They do go out of their way to mention that the female [african-American] FBI agent was only recruited through a minority Outreach
Program and you know what I would totally let that slide if it weren't for the rest of the game
The entire game is about the evils of minorities about their criminal behavior, and how we should put them down
I know that sounds extreme
hyperbolic even but bear with me for like 30 seconds in call of Juarez the cartel you spend the entire game shooting waves of
African-Americans and latinos you shoot wave after wave after wave of them pretty much to the point where it's dehumanizing. So here
We have the clear start of that accidental indoctrination through lazy design thing we talked about before but [ok] call of Juarez
Isn't the only game guilty of this we said as much ourselves last week, but wait. I'm not done
There is an achievement for killing black people
Early in the game, there's a level called gangbang. No. I'm not kidding
Where you go to one of the poor districts of La to incite gang violence not kidding again on gangbang?
You're awarded a trophy for killing at least
40 people and it is at this point that I should probably mention that this is the only level where every enemy is black and
Yes
This is the only time you're given an achievement for killing enemies in a specific level of the game
The achievements called bad guy, you can look it up
This is a perfect example of why as a designer you have to think about what your mechanics mean
but the lazy design extends even further
Into the research all throughout the game there are small details that are just simply wrong
The characters in the game use the Phrase gold or lead?
But so far as I can tell that's not a phrase anyone actually says the phrase is plata O plomo silver or lead
was coined by Pablo escobar back in the 80s you pretty much can't google the drug war or spend 15 [minutes] on Wikipedia researching the
Topic without running into that phrase there's no reason for not getting that right as a designer when you're dealing with real-World events especially
[real-World] events that involve the deaths of thousands of people and are still happening as we speak
[there's] no excuse for that lack of effort
Think of how much time and effort gearbox software invested in making the brothers-in-Arms series as historically accurate as they possibly could
It showed respect for the subject matter and helps to educate anyone who played the game the guys at creative assembly and Paradox do
exhaustive research on their games
Fighting to make sure every minut detail is as accurate as possible and their subject matter took place hundreds of years ago by comparison
[techland] completely degrades their subject matter by demonstrating how little it [really] matters to them and commits the worst crime a designer can
Wilfully misinforming your audience, but the small details aren't really what get me know
It's the large ones the tragic ones that really bother me about a third of the way [through] the game
There's a level in a strip club called Candy store
You're ostensibly going there to look [for] a missing stripper due to am there enough leaf that [I] won't even try to explain
While going through the level you casually strangle two of the strippers to get information out of them and normally I'd spend the next paragraph
Railing against this casual violence toward disempowered women but you know what we're short on time
And it's honestly not even the worst part of the level the worst part is the lie it frames about sex trafficking
To me the kidnapping and sale of human beings into slavery to be exploited as sexual object is one of the world's most heinous crimes
Tragically it's become a very profitable activity for Mexican drug cartels and [call] of Juarez does bring the topic up
but even here they couldn't be bothered to research the subject in call of Juarez the cartel they frame the question of sex trafficking as
Mexican drug [dealers] are crossing the border [to] steal our women that is the most despicable perversion of truth
I've seen in the game that isn't how it happens Mexican cartels. Don't come to the u.s. To kidnap women that doesn't even make sense
Kidnapping American women to sell in Mexico would be insanely risky on their part and far less profitable than doing it the other way around
the overwhelming majority of sex trafficking between Mexico and the United States
Involves Mexican women being kidnapped and then sold in the us
And yet in call of Juarez they chose to Falsify this
Maybe this was done out of sloth or maybe out of some idea that the game would sell better in the states if they played
Off our basest fears and fully avoided implying that some portion of the [us] might in some way be complicit in this activity
But you know what we're big [enough] to take it, and if not well that's our problem
But as a game designer your audience trust you, it's your responsibility not to betray that trust. [I'm] willing to wager
There's now at least one person out there who now believes more firmly that Mexicans are stealing our women because of this game that is
(BEEP)ing disgraceful [it] is ashamed what it means to be a designer, and it belies the responsibility we as a group hold when producing
Mass media we can do a lot better than this we can inform and educate and entertain, but failing all of that
We can at least be honest Juarez Mexico has the highest number of female homicides per Capita in the world [I]
Would really really like it if this is the heaviest episode. We ever have to make thanks for second with me. We'll say next week