你游戲化身的皮膚應(yīng)該和你匹配嗎？

你游戲化身的皮膚應(yīng)該和你匹配嗎？

Most people who play video games just want to have fun. But is there the potential to do more than that? This week on Ask Code Switch, we're answering a question from Catina in Northern Virginia. She reached out to us because her son was trying to counter racist bullying in the games he played.

大多數(shù)玩電子游戲的人只是為了開心。但還有其他潛在的目的嗎?本周在Ask Code Switch節(jié)目中，我們將回答來自弗吉尼亞州北部卡蒂娜一個問題。她找到了我們，是因為她的兒子試圖在他玩的游戲中對抗種族主義欺凌。

Dear Code Switch,

親愛的Code Switch,

My 11 year-old son loves playing online video games like Roblox and Minecraft where he can create his own avatar. Sometimes he will choose a black or brown skin for his character. We spend a lot of time talking about race, and when I discussed digital blackface with him, he told me that he is trying to fight underrepresentation, discrimination, and racists in the games he plays. He's a good kid and really wants to be an ally. What advice would you give him?

我11歲的兒子喜歡玩像Roblox和Minecraft這樣的網(wǎng)絡(luò)電子游戲，在那里他可以創(chuàng)建自己的游戲化身。有時他會為他的角色選擇黑色或棕色的皮膚。我們花了很多時間談?wù)摲N族問題，當我和他討論數(shù)字化的黑人臉種時，他告訴我，他正在努力在他所玩的游戲中對抗代表性不足、歧視和種族主義者。他是個好孩子，真的想成為一個盟友。你會給他什么建議?

Hey Catina,

你好，卡蒂娜，

In the time since you wrote this question, you say that your son found that making characters of color didn't help his cause, and that he stopped doing it. But this is actually a question a lot of people have. There's a lot to think about, especially when it comes to figuring out when it's acceptable to play a character you don't share a race with. Like, can video games be a vehicle for allyship?

當你寫這個問題的時候，你說你的兒子創(chuàng)造的角色的皮膚對他的事業(yè)沒有幫助，他停止了這樣做。但實際上很多人都有這個問題。有很多事情需要考慮，尤其是當你要弄清楚什么時候可以接受扮演一個和你不是同一種族的角色時。比如，電子游戲能成為聯(lián)盟的工具嗎?

In a video game, you can be anyone. In a medium that's all about imagined experiences, it would be absurd to be confined by your real-world identity (and impossible for many players of color).

在電子游戲中，你可以是任何人。在一個充滿想象的體驗媒介中，被現(xiàn)實世界的身份所限制將是荒謬的(對許多有色人種玩家來說是不可能的)。

Video games have different norms than real life (for instance, in many online games, it's relatively acceptable to walk up to someone and like, kill them), but players and developers bring their real-world ideas and biases with them. Unlike reality, the circumstances of your character's world were crafted by artists and programmers.

電子游戲與現(xiàn)實生活有著不同的規(guī)范(例如，在許多網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲中，走向某人，喜歡或殺死他/她是相對可以接受的)，但玩家和開發(fā)者會帶有他們在現(xiàn)實世界中的想法和偏見。與現(xiàn)實不同，你的角色的世界是由藝術(shù)家和程序員創(chuàng)造的。

It might help to take a look at Rust, an online survival game that takes a unique approach to character creation. In 2015, they implemented randomly generated and completely immutable faces and skin color to the default male character model. In 2016, they added the possibility of being a woman.

看看Rust這款網(wǎng)絡(luò)生存游戲或許會有幫助，它采用了一種獨特的方法來創(chuàng)造角色。2015年，他們將隨機生成的、完全不變的面部和膚色默認為男性角色模型。2016年，他們增加了成為女性的可能性。

Rust strips race of context, making an attempt at neutrality. Everyone is born into the game an adult, naked and afraid, facing a vaguely post-apocalyptic death parade. The characters have very little personality outside of the player, and they all play exactly the same way. It doesn't take place in a society where historical power dynamics affect everything.

Rust 脫離了種族的背景，試圖保持中立。每個人生來就是一個成年人，赤身裸體，恐懼地面對著一個模糊的后世界末日的死亡世界。這些角色在玩家之外幾乎沒有什么個性，他們都以完全相同的方式玩游戲。它不會發(fā)生在一個歷史權(quán)力動態(tài)影響一切的社會。

It's easy, almost comforting, to think that embodying a video game character that looks different from you gives you an elevated understanding of those people.

幾乎是令人欣慰的是，很容易想象一個與你不同的電子游戲角色會讓你對這些人有更高的理解。

Rust is also a unique example; not every game is able to depoliticize itself as much. Red Dead Redemption tried to skirt around issues of race.

Rust也是一個獨特的例子;并不是每一款游戲都能將自己去政治化?！都t色死亡救贖》試圖回避種族問題。

It's not inherently exploitative to play as a character of a different race, but it requires players to be aware of the context they and their characters exist in — and that it's not going to truly help them understand what it means to live in a different body.

扮演不同種族的角色并不是一種剝削，但它要求玩家意識到自己和角色所處的環(huán)境——這并不能真正幫助他們理解生活在不同的角色里意味著什么。