Is Watchdogs Racist? (Hint: It's not)

It appears that there is a bit of controversy surrounding Ubisoft's new title, Watchdogs. Well, if I'm honest, there is more than one controversy. In this piece I want to tackle one of them. I would like to briefly address the claims of the game as being racist, and offer the counter claim that Watchdogs is not racist. Players may be racist, players may ignore reality, and players may not like what they see in the game. But the game itself is not racist. 

"Watchdogs is racist", or so some reviewers would argue.  Their argument is based on two things - the Profiler, an in-game tool that gives players information about the NPCs, and a play style as demonstrated on the video below. 

In this video, the player in question is seen walking around the fictional Chicago rendered in the game while killing non-playable characters (NPC) based on the information given to the player by the in-game profiler. Whenever the player sees an NPC that fits certain profiles - muslim, gay, immigrant, Canadian, and so on, the player would shoot them. Is the game racist because Moonpoke (and other players) are killing non-whites and non-Americans? The answer is "no". The game doesn't force players to kill these random NPCs. These are actions performed by the player. Does this mean that Moonpoke is racist? Maybe. The video does try to make a point when taken in context with the title, the point being that America would be better off without any non-whites, outsiders, or politically diverse people. This is, of course, a racist point. Certainly, anyone making a video doing the opposite (gunning down only upper class white males) would be frowned upon and maybe even placed in several lists. However, I am familiar with the gaming community, and I know it (regrettably) gets off on making racist and sexist jokes. Within that contexts, the video comes across, to me at least, more as a joke done in poor taste.  It may be that Moonpoke is a Justin Beiber / Donald Sterling - style racist, or it may be that he's just some normal kids with all types of friends who, because of what he has picked up through society and media, thought it would make for a "funny video". The one truth is that we don't know enough to make a value judgment, and personally I feel uncomfortable throwing around the "racist" label at anyone who makes a stupid joke due to ignorance or who in a rage-filled passion blurts out a racial slur and was caught on camera by some Paparazzi. I'd rather reserve the label for people who actively disenfranchise minorities or who are outspoken against minorities. But I digress. Is Watchdogs racist because some kid is killing all the minorities? No. What should be questioned here is the player, not the game.

But what about the profiler?

The profiler is the in-game tool that gives players information about the NPCs. The argument of Watchdogs as racist involves the information given by the profiler. In many cases, reviewers will say, the profiler gives information of black NPCs as earning low salaries and having criminal records, while those of white NPCs will show high salaries and levels of education.  Does this make the game racist? Sadly, no.  The reasons being that (1) the information given by the profiler is based on geographical location (NPCs living in poor areas will show low salaries, while NPCs living in wealthy areas will show high income levels) and that (2) the game actually depicts reality. In the US, the incarceration rate of black males is 6 timeshigher than that of white males. Other sources say that 1 out of every 3 black males go to prison.  Other sources show that minorities earn on average less than their white counterparts (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-income-gap-between-blacks-and-whites-2013-8), and that on average white students do far better in completing college thanminority students. With all these statistics in mind, it becomes evident that the Profiler in Watchdogs isn't "being racist"; it's somewhat accurately reflecting reality. 

And if that depiction of reality makes some players uncomfortable, then that's good. In the real world, a lot of us live in denial. "I'm not racist, so no one is racist", "there is no discrimination because I have never seen it", "we all live in a truly equal world". These are all lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better, to not feel guilty. But deep down, we all know that there is racism and sexism . Deep down, we know that the world really isn't equal. Watchdogs brings us face to face with that reality. And when we don't like it, we lash out against it and call it racist. But the truth is that Watchdogs is not racist. It's simply forcing us (the players) to come face to face with a reality we often ignore.