Ethical disclosure:
MODE 5 is written by a
cisgendered white male shitlord who could not locate his privilege
with both hands.
~
Characters in videogames
have called for better racial and gender diversity in gaming
journalism.
The outcry comes hard on
the heels of figures revealing that many popular videogaming websites
are staffed predominantly by white male hipsters who list their
interests as “eating canapés and discussing foreign politics in
the rooftop gardens of pricey hotels” and who describe their
turn-offs as “videogames, gamers and fun.”
Clyde - an orange ghost,
who inhabits a perplexing alternate universe consisting entirely of
two-dimensional mazes said:
“The workforce at my current place of employment is extremely diverse. All my colleagues
are ghosts of various different colours and creeds.
“What brings us together
as a team is the common goal of deterring an invasive species of
Pac-man from irresponsibly stripping our habitat of its natural
resources. If we want to ensure that there are enough yellow pac-dots
and windfall fruit for our children, their children and their
children's children, then we need to take action now.
“Although we have
disagreements from time to time, the important thing to remember is
that, despite our varied skin tones, when a Pac-man ingests a power
pill we all turn the same deep shade of blue.
“If only online gaming
sites could learn from our example, the industry might be a more
diverse place.”
Asked whether he had ever
considered a career in website game journalism, the tangerine-hued
spectre replied:
“The chances of someone
like myself being employed by a site like Polygon, which is staffed
mostly by white men, and has no orange ghosts on the payroll, are
minimal.”
Clyde's experience
reflects mounting evidence that points to online game journalism
having fallen behind gaming when it comes to promoting racial and
gender diversity in the workplace.
Dr. Eli Vance, a former
employee of the top secret Black Mesa Facility, told MODE 5:
“The occupation of our
world by The Combine – an alien gestalt intent on sublimating the
human race as obedient foot soldiers and worker drones - has done
nothing to prevent of an increasing number of women entering STEM
fields.
“My daughter Alyx, for
example, is a gifted student of robotics and teleportation. As we
speak she is on the roof of one of City 17's numerous residential
blocks, rocking out to Guitar Hero 4, with Dog – the
autonomous robot bodyguard that she helped to build – accompanying
her on drums.
“It saddens me that Alyx
who, under the tyranny of alien occupation, has flourished as a
scientist, a soldier and an engineer, would struggle to find a job in
online videogame journalism which remains a profession dominated by
white males.
“Furthermore, in City 17
a black man like myself can play an integral role in developing
teleportation technology or a device that can manipulate gravity.
However if one takes into consideration the poor racial diversity
reflected in the workforce of websites such as Polygon, the chances
of this technology being reviewed by a black man are low.”
Indicating a sealed
bulkhead in the Earth resistance's secret underground bunker,
Dr Vance said:
“That's the passage to
Ravenholm where Kotaku and Gamasutra have offices. We don't go there
anymore.”
Enemies and would-be
enslavers of the human race have also joined in criticising the
regressive stance taken by popular online gaming sites towards
employee diversity. A joint statement issued by The Combine and The
Covenant read:
“We realised that the
conquest of the galaxies and parallel dimensions necessary to fulfil
our respective manifest destinies would only be achievable through
different races and cultures working together in partnership to
defeat a common enemy, either as a collective brought together by a
wrong-headed holy crusade, or through enforced hybridisation: In one
case this enemy takes the form of a lumbering armoured cyborg.
In the other instance the thorn in our side resembles a geography
teacher in a hazard suit with a crap built-in torch, whose weak
telekinetic abilities allow him to pick up objects and steer vehicles
without using his hands.”
On contemporary earth,
opportunities for racial minorities to gain a career foothold on
established videogaming websites remain limited. San Andreas
businessman, Carl Johnson said:
“Where I grew up on
Grove Street, a career as a journalist on an online gaming site like
Polygon or Gamasutra was always just a pipe dream. I made my stack
the same way we've always made it in the hood: By driving cars,
bikes, and hovercraft in a manner liable to endanger public safety;
by being taught how to fly a variety of aircraft by an agent from a top secret government
agency; by infiltrating Area 51, and by bringing down a corrupt
police officer in a dramatic fire-engine chase. Even now the
profession of online videogames journalist seems like a closed door
to me.”
Johnson's experience is
echoed by that of Balrog - a street fighter whose bone-breaking
victories in the world of extreme mixed martial arts are used to fund
his medical school tuition fees. He told MODE 5:
“The brutal combinations
of head butts and uppercuts that I routinely deploy in a bid to
dispatch challengers in the arena will one day be put to better use
in the operating theatre, where I will attempt to undo the heinous
effects of the blunt force trauma that I have unleashed upon my
opponents.
“My father, Avery
Johnson, was a talented writer and gamer who found himself unable
to secure work as an online gaming journalist. He eventually joined the
UNSC Marine Corps where he rose to the rank of Sergeant Major,
earning numerous commendations that included the Colonial Cross, and
taking part in the defence of the Cairo Orbital Station against
Covenant forces. Were he still alive, I would like to tell him that
things have changed – that were I of a mind to pursue a career in
online gaming journalism, the doors that were closed to him had now
been opened. However that would not to be true.”
Asked whether he thought
that writers and advocates of social justice such as Ben
Kuchera and Leigh Alexander might inspire minorities who were hoping to make
it as gaming website journalists, Balrog responded in the negative:
“These people are less
role models than they are prototypes for a new range of human
douchebag.”
~
(If you created the informative image below and would like to be credited, please get in touch)
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