Ria wrote...
I want games to evolve as a storytelling medium and that means tackling challenging themes including those of discrimination and abuse. Just because it's difficult to please everyone, shouldn't be a reason to shy away from difficult social issues. A game can include sexism without being sexist. Fiction is a great way to explore themes that in real life are hard to talk about.
Sure, it's a risky ground. DA2 attempted to deal with the theme of mental disease (though magically altered ones) and oppression. I don't think they managed to conquer that challenge completely but it was a commendable effort. I would have wished even more depth and courage to really delve into the minds of say, Anders or Meredith.
The theme of discrimination has been prevalent in the series since beginning though it follows the traditional mainly white elves vs. mainly white humans route, which is a little unfortunate. The Chantry vs. mages is obviously another big one. The mechanics of discrimination are similar to the real world and most importantly we get to fight against them. As long as that choice is present, I don't care how much darkness the game throws at me.
My character doesn't even have to win that battle against cruelty as long as she can fight it. I enjoyed playing DA:O through as an elf because PC was able to stand up to all racist (speciest?) comments that she encountered. In fact, I don't feel as engaged into the game when I play as a human noble, though I still enjoyed getting a different view on the society of Thedas. That is because I like being psychologically challenged by a piece of fiction.
Now, perhaps games shouldn't force every player to wade through heaps of betrayals, offensive comments and abuse. I get that not everybody enjoys it and even I have my limit (and when it's crossed, I just roll my eyes at all the negativity). However, Dragon Age is rated an 18+ game series, right? Of course ratings mainly refer to the level of gore and sexual content, but it also gives a possibility for developers to create some psychologically heavy content. I'm in the camp who says, go for it Bioware.
I don't think a gaming company should shy away from the negatives exactly - but I can understand why they may not want to address them on
head-on, and in an exact parallel to what we may see IRL. Having one character be openly hostile to another based on race, gender or sexual identity would be a heavy area - and not just heavy as dark, gritty etc, but difficult, frustrating, and depressing to deal with over and over. If my PC had to make some kind of check when speaking to another character because my PC happens to be a woman, and a certain skin tone, and from X country in the game world, that would get old really fast. If my PC had to add all of those elements as things working against her and that she had to overcome in addition to showing her skills or being diplomatic, that would become tiring and may hinder enjoyment.
Bioware does address issues, yes, but they mask them in the fantasy element - the hatred towards mages and the distrust of elves, and so forth. The negatives go deeper and these matters can have underlying parallels to conflicts familiar to us, but they are handled in a way so as to potentially not make them so harsh as to distract. This also allows the player to interpret those in-game concerns as they wish, and draw what they can from them.
So too, by putting these things in a
game-specific context, they can be surpassed (as with your comment of fighting against them, and with my earlier example of human and elf/dwarf alliances). When sexism, racism, and homophobia are not even vanquished in our own world, and are not always seen as issues or are addressed properly, it makes sense to me to not try to have those
same exact things, as they appear IRL, injected into the game. As I stated before, it's a delicate matter, it's tricky and difficult to balance - because it is something that we respond to on a very personal and emotional level.
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