So, it’s 2008 and a glimpse of blue ass has sent the media
into an utter outrage, it’s the Normandy, Commander Shepard at the helm. (Not
of the ship, but the buttock, probably left Joker to it.) Which is impressive,
I've never seen a blue buttock evoke such shock. Or any other colour of
buttock. There’s a veritable spectrum of buttock out there, doing nobody any
harm. But this blue buttock, the buttock of Dr. Liara T'Soni, an Asari just
rocked everyone’s world. Clearly, the implication that Liara and Shep were
smooshing bumps just set the world ablaze.
Since then I've always assumed that the media would explode
should anything controversial make it into a game, in 2014, the world is over
virtual bums, like in 2013, GTA V had bums galore, I think I even saw Trevors
junk at one point, the strippers had nipples, which was new, but everything was
quite open and there was nowhere near as much controversy as a blue buttock had
caused. Weirdly enough it was the same year the media twitched a bit over alien
drugs being consumed in Saints Row IV, but ultimately that was only really left
out in Australia.
In 2014, we saw South Park, the Stick of Truth launch,
infamously censored here in the UK and in America, over scenes like an Abortion
and Anal Probing, oddly something that had never really been censored in the
show itself, and let’s face it, we all saw it on youtube.
Six years on here I sit, I’d forgotten all about that blue
buttock, I've had to pause this game and take a breather. I just want to state
I’m not advocating censorship, but just wanting to share an experience of how a
game made me feel. I’m playing Watch_Dogs.
Now there’s a tonne of articles out there about
Ludonarritive dissonance and Watch_Dogs, but just to touch on it, yes, it’s
weird. I've run down the street after someone who just stole a purse. The
person who was just robbed, (the game tells me through my magical handy
scan-o-scope is Takisha Harrison, a 21 yearold gas station attendant who’s been
sending out her demo tapes.) So, I barrel after the thief, forget his name, but
on my way I, with the push of one button, siphon about $8,000 from a cancer
patient, a man who’s going through a messy divorce and a man who recently
attended a funeral. I tackle the thief to the ground, and somehow get karma up,
and my vigilante protagonist is super fine with this. This is the separation of
plot and gameplay, that whilst it wants to generate a challenge, it still has a
story to tell.
But I want to talk about one specific mission. Spoilers will
happen…. Now.
So, I’m knee deep in chapter 2, I've just shot up a car
showroom, killing and stealing the identity of a businessman, as well as his
car to infiltrate an auction. I get welcomed to the auction, they take the gun
from me, I’m probably still coated in the blood of this guy and his henchmen, I
didn't stop off to change. I walk down a corridor, surrounded by naked women, I
pull out my magical scan-o-scope and point it at one of them, her name,
1101101.
My stomach sinks, oh fuck.
They’ve all got numbers for names.
I reach the end of the corridor, push open the double doors
and there it is, a slave auction. Naked women being paraded around on stage,
people taking photos, bidding, there’s screens everywhere with their details…
And five minutes later I've just left the place and am
shooting dudes in the car park. That is… weird. My stomach is still sunk, I’m
still feeling horrified, and now I’m shooting all these random dudes. I’m still
not sure how I feel about all of this. It didn't give me time to process it. It
felt…pointless? Like they’d just used the horrors of slave trafficking for a
small five minute section of the game.
Once again, I’m not advocating censorship, videogames are an
artform, and a platform for social commentary and should be used to raise
awareness of social issues. But I’m not convinced this was handled well in this
game and am puzzled why I've not heard anything about this in the media.
I’m going to write more, but holy hell, I had to step away
from that and have a cup of tea and just say something.
I’m hoping this isn't the reaction they wanted, it was just
all so different in tone, it felt they trivialised human slavery.
Well fuck.
