“Every Other Effin’ Black Video Game Character”

Ah, the Cole Train. Not exactly the deepest of characters. Says Morgan Grey, Senior Producer at Crystal Dynamics:

Here’s the thing: Cole Train on his own, no harm no foul. But what is Cole Train? Cole Train is basically like every other effin’ black character in a video game. Like here comes the urban stereotype. Where is this 1990’s — not even 2000 — black slang, where does this fit in this futuristic world that doesn’t even take place on Earth? They go really far to do a lot of fictional justifications for this culture that they’ve built, and they go right back to this urban stereotype for the black character.

I’m not knocking Epic; the game was fun and gorgeous. But it’s just a lack of thought, right? All it does is reinforce dumb stereotypes and it sort of reinforces casual racism.

The man has a point. A very, very valid one.
Black Professionals in Games [MTV via Joystiq]