Good grief... it's Detroit... in a gritty future of increased impoverishment for the lower socioeconomic class... there would be a black person depicted less than favorably??! Stop the press.... There's a boatload of scummy sterrotyped white guys in the game too. And can I be offended that all the white guys in the game that greedy conspirators who want to screw everyone over? That's all we're ever portrayed as in the future... lol. Phenomenal game, but I do wish it gave players a chance to choose an ethnicity/gender for "Alex".

Warning, there are Chinese people in China depicted in this game. Throwing that out there.

Unless she's speaking in Gullah, I really don't see the problem. Is this the only black character in the game? If not, are all of them portrayed as racial stereotypes (not that this one is to begin with)?

Personally, I thought the universally sexy and enthusiastic street prostitutes were a pretty weird inclusion. Sure, that sort of stock character populates bars in all kinds of RPGs, but in this game they were swarming the streets in both major cities, almost always more upbeat and perkier than any of the normal citizens. They definitely seemed to be enjoying their careers more than the poor desk-jockeys at Picus and Tai Yong who write all those sad, desperate e-mails we get to spy on.

What about the chicano rebel leader? I'm hispanic myself, and even though I found the character to be a stereotype 'by the book' - I had a laugh at all he said. They actually did a pretty good job on capturing some of the nuances of 'cholo-speak'. As far as the homeless black lady, I've seen 'worse' in real life. Anybody ever walk Skid Row in Los Angeles? Anybody ever been spoken to by homeless people on the bus? Video games are a simplification of reality - any element they choose will be devoid of most of the depth that 'reality' contains. In this respect, most movies are equally racist and stereotypical. So the way I see it is like this. Yes, in reality there are black people that act that way and are in that particular social situation - and that in itself just shows us that our current society is far more racist than we think. So if someone decides to use this particular character of society and put it into a novel, video game, or movie, the end result will be a simplification (archetype) of that particular character - resulting in what seems a 'stereotype'. But think about it: *most* characters of every movie, or game are blatant over-simplifications.

I'm only about 2 hours into the game, and my only complaint so far is the voice acting is pretty weak. The attached YouTube clip only reinforces my opinion -- this is wretched voice acting and it makes CoD: Black Ops look like "A Man For All Seasons."

I thought the allegations were silly, until I watched the youtube video.

Its ok to have ghetto-fabulous characters.

...But that's the worst, and more offensive way that anyone could preform those lines.

I've gotta say, the voice acting in most games is beyond terrible. You would think these big budget titles could afford decent voice talent, or that someone on the development/publishing side would be bright enough to catch this garbage before it gets released. Roger Ebert should use it as an example of why games are not art.

Intentional or not there's some very lazy characterisation in what is otherwise a great game.

I wouldn't say the character is racist, meaning I don't believe she's meant to send some message about her neo-ethnic group, but it's certainly poor characterization. The game has a lot to recommend it, but voice acting and script as a whole are inconsistent and disappointing. BioWare games aren't perfect, but Deus Ex is noticeably a cut below Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc in this regard.

There is not one story driven game, movie, or book that I have read or listen to that does not use stereotyping to move a story along. Every character form the protagonist right down to the prop characters are nothing more than a stereotype of an archetype to drive a story. I assume the Times writer did this piece to draw attention to the use of race in games. Games are getting a bad rap now because it was quietly swept under the rug during the dawn of story driven Comic Strips and Movies in America, at a time where the racism where blatantly out in the open between all sides. The assumption that any media portrayal today is less stereotypical than in the past, because today we are taught tolerance, should be noted as a foolish assumption.



The problem is not in the stereotype, the problem is how its used and if its a proper fit for the genre its in. Is there a need for more minorities portrayed as the protagonist in media? Probably. Does this game use a character to portray a negative light on a entire race? That's debatable but I'm personally in the No category as far as this game is concerned. If one can bring up the voice acting of a character on one hand, then lets test the theist of other characters in the same light.

So we're no longer allowed to portray black homeless people in artistic mediums? I guess we should just make all "less-than-nice" characters white so everyone will be happy...

How dare they show anyones race in a bad light. I'm sure the game would be great fun if everyone in it were fine upstanding citizens.

I've seen black people talk like this and act like this in all kinds of movies--not sure what the big deal is when it is in a game...they were going for a feeling and they got it with the amount of commotion on this comment board and all over the intranets.



I would die laughing if there was some white trash caucasion in this game---Oh wait!!?!?!

Wow I really can't believe how ridiculous this has become. Depending on where you live people, not just black, talk like this. To say it is a slight or even racist is just stupid. Granted I wont say that the voice director had a particularly bright idea in deciding to use this stereotype for this character. Having listened to a lot of the voice acting for the game though, it doesn't surprise me since it is all pretty stereotypical and bad, no matter what race the character is. If you have a problem with it though don't buy or play the game. The game company isn't going to listen to the individual no matter how many blog posts they write, but talking like minded people into not paying to play it might. Of course that means finding enough like minded people that are as offended. Which begs the question: If one can't find enough like minded people, is this person merely just being over sensitive?

I never said that they don't have influence, I was more saying that in cases like this these complaints wont get more than a "we're sorry you feel that way" kind of statement. It wasn't as though every African-American in the game was portrayed this way, that would have garnered a much bigger response and probably a game patch or something. The beginning of the video shown was really the worst of the dialog and I agree it was done in bad taste, but I wouldn't elevate bad taste to racist. I've felt that African-American characters in many Japanese titles tend to come off cliche or stereotypical so I do agree that they need to wise up a bit.



The problem I have with this and with a lot of the comments to this article is that someone feels offended and they jump straight to racism. I don't run around screaming reverse-racism at every redneck white person they have on t.v. or in games because I know there are a lot of rednecks out there. There are a lot of cultures that see us white Americans as only that, but I know that is not me and I can prove it by my actions. The real question should be who you blame for this. The company or the people that create the stigma? If this were some wildly made up characterization that had absolutely no grounding in the way real people can be portrayed then I could understand the craziness it has received, but the fact is that there are people like this all over the U.S.



I'm sorry you feel like this is a slight or even racism. If you really feel that way then there is nothing anyone here or myself can say to convince you otherwise. Real racism exists all over the world and so I think a lot of people just feel like in this instance we are dealing with something completely different.

This is a long discussion for a different forum though.

First comment on the Times article says it all:



" I'm more offended in the animation, lip sync and voice acting than anything that is deemed racist here. Replace the skin color and it's still portraying a character who is of lower class. People offended by this are the real problem with racism today. "



- rowsdower



@Ben: Go through all the characters and get me stats on skin color, implied education and occupation in the game. I've found the game to portray a gritty future in a gritty future way. Calling this stereotyped character racist is a step backwards for social equality and racist toward the other stereotyped races portrayed in this futuristic Blazing Saddles.

The white guy waiting for a bus in the background of the clip seems to be reading a book.



But actually, it seems to be more about poor directing than anything - the hero's I-need-a-strepsil voice is a macho cliche, even worse here than in the Batman movies.



I wouldn't slam the company for deliberate racism here, just cliched thinking - which unfortunately usually results in racial stereotyping. (Throaty white guy = heroic, trashy black woman = gritty.)



Slam them for lack of sensitivity and poor character design.

I think the thing that most people are missing here is that unless she is voiced by a non black person (and considering I haven't looked at the credits for the game that could be the case) it isn't racist. Actors, voice or live action put their own spin on a character. The character is, by all evidence of that video street walking, homeless chick obviously living in the 'ghetto'. So that leads to it somewhat...but watching tv, movies, and probably games (though none come to mind) there are plenty of homeless bums who happen to be black also that aren't your token black person.



So yah, if a black actress is portraying her black character like that that isn't racism at all. It would be more racist for Squenix to have said "Oh hells no, you sound too ghetto, we're gonna get complaints if you make your character sound like that". Not only that but it would be dampening the actress' artistic vision of her character.



Just my way of seeing it at least. Unless of course anyone has something from Squenix saying that she had to do the character exactly like that.

All I see when reading that article is... Martin Lawrence in "National Security"



Spin it to make it seem what it isn't.



Only blacks digging through trash? Nope

Only blacks friendly? Nope

Only blacks using an exagerated accent? Nope



So what was racist again? Cause she was black... yeah that sums it up.

I'm kind of on the same page as Christian Keichel here, in that I don't see the racism present. Letitia is a stereotyped character, just like the rest of the characters in the game (with perhaps the exception of the initial Latino badguy who I thought had interesting depth despite his brief appearance - Was a war Veteran, had PTSD, struggled with family issues, was a compelling leader and typically did not hurt civilians, though was about to do so when backed into a corner).



Racism implies a widespread treatment of all individuals of a race in a negative light not because they are actually that way, but simply because they are different then the persecuting individual. Ben, from the enormous number of posts I see here form you, you obviously have some very strong feelings about racism as an issue that extend beyond Deus Ex; and I don't say that in judgment, but rather as the context in which to say - if you take a look at this game, and ONLY this game, there does not appear to be any racism involved.



1) Pretty much all the characters are Stereotyped so the player can quickly and easily frame them: The white/mediterranean main character is a stereotypical gravely voiced hero, the business people are all sufficiently shady, greedy, and corrupt, and all the Asians have a terrible accent when speaking English.



2) When we get to the individual characters, there is a surprising amount of variety in characterization, even among Random NPC's. Among the poor of Detroit are White, Black, and Hispanic denizens of seeming equal proportion. Some of them sound hyperbolic and irrational, while others seem to have balanced and nuanced understandings of the situation.



3) Letitia seems like a pretty savvy lady, selling information to the main character at pretty fricken extravagant prices. If anything, I'd even say she took me for a sucker - the prices on her information were pretty steep. She had a thick as hell accent, but nothing else particularly notable. She was, apparently, also homeless and liked booze. Most people I know like booze, homeless or not.



Taking Deus Ex as an individual entity, there doesn't seem to be much of anything to complain about on the racism front - this argument seems to stem more from, oddly enough, the belief that game developers (and producers of other media) are totally ignorant of the issues involved, and are choosing to portray a character such as Letitia in what you consider to be a negative light out of ignorance or racism.



If you have an issue with the characterization of black people (and other US minorities) in video games as a whole Ben, I can understand and empathize, but choosing Letitia is perhaps not the best rallying point here, despite the negative feelings it obviously causes for you about racism in the US and the characterization of Black's in media and entertainment.