I am quite certain that, no matter what you draw on, someone will be offended when you attempt to create art.

And it sounds like you picked up Mafia II without realizing you were sensitive to racism.  I'm sorry, but not putting racism in a game doesn't make racism vanish from history, just like taking "weed" and "guns" out of rap songs does not magic them away from the real world.

Did you expect hugs and lollipops?  The rating was your first clue.  The era and the subject matter should have been big #2.  The Old West has been romanticized to death, so I forgive your comment on DRD... but...

Errol - Would you be offended if you heard this language in a film or a book about the same period and subject matter? 

Depicting racism does not make any form of media inherently racist.

I think this goes beyond merely depicting racism when the developers name an achievement after a racist caricature. The rest, I don't necessarily have a problem with, but I haven't played Mafia 2 extensively, either.

From the article, seems like the European developers maybe a bit insensitive by naming an achievement of Chinese-American caricature which is earned by running over no named Asian characters. It is like the GTA 3 mission killing - spree of all Haitians, it wasn't needed to advance the story. Regardless, racist characters can be used in telling a story. Some games do avoid it, Grand Theft Auto 4 Lost and The Damned episode avoided to show the type of racism motorcycle clubs are notoriously known for.

I think it's probably a good time to mention that the achievement is not awarded for "killing every Chinese person in the place", it is the Chapter 13 completion achievement.  I'm not naive enough to think that the achievement's name and what the chapter entails are an odd coincidence, but at the same time, I have to wonder.

You going around killing a bunch of Chinese people, that's fine.  But when the game puts words to it, you're offended?

Who's the bad guy?

Yeah, I do not agree at all. Your joking if you think Red Dead Redemption was less "offensive". So Mexicans drinking tequila and shouting at eachother isn't offensive to you, but Mafia 2 is? Irishman getting so drunk they can't even stand up properly in Red Dead Redemtion isn't offensive to you, but Mafia 2 is? Women being treated like animals by horny Cowboys and even being murdered in Red Dead Redemtion isn't offensive to your, but Mafia 2 is??

Come on now, that is just nonsense. Did you find it offensive when you played an African American character in Crackdown mowing down people of every race and sterotype? Did you find it offensive in Bioshock when Americans were depicted as addiction prone maniacs? What about in the dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of games where an American is portrayed as the ultimate greedy bad guy who you must defeat in order to save the day?

Recently they started moving to Russians as well. Were you offended in Singularity by the way they represented Russia? What about Metro 2033?

Thanks for sharing, Errol. I hope you don't mind my long note at the beginning; I just wanted to make sure people approached the article in a thoughtful way.

Look, there's a simple analogy. Watch just about any popular film from the era Mafia II is depicting: All of them are so racially insensitive, it's almost funny. But I've never heard any critic bashing those; in fact there's a lot of praise hailed from many a movie with abundant racism, pilgrim.

Sure, you can work your way around it and pretend it wasn't prominent back there, but that's sort of cheating yourself.

I wonder why this game gets so much backlash on ridiculous things like that. Same with the Italian stereotypes. Who did they talk to? I have an Italian heritage and I can tell you that no Italian person gives a smallish care about how mobsters are depicted, as it doesn't adhere with them, nor do they hold any affiliation with them. If anyone is going to be offended by a mobster stereotype, it'll be a mobster.

@ed Metro 2033 is a Russian novel with the game developed by Ukrainians, I would hope they got it right.

Aaron, I'd also add that an image of the player shooting a presumably Chinese person in the face accompanies the chapter 13 achievement notification.

It's no more racist than all the mobster movies it drew its inspiration from. Mobster movies that were directed by italian americans.  Why don't you ask them?

Thanks for pointing this out, Errol, I wouldn't have picked up on the specifics of the reference.

I haven't played Mafia 2 yet so I can't comment on the game as a whole. But the naming of the 'Chop Chop' achievement does seem to me to be in very bad taste. For me, it's not 'putting words to it' (as Bryan suggests) that's the problem, it's the rascist connotations of the particular name used, and that it's used in a way to celebrate the player's actions.

@Bryan Harper I'm a black man living in the United States of course I'm sensitive to racism. It's not a good look to have a product with thats insensitve to race come from a predominately white industry. Especially in 2010...

and if you take "weed" and "guns" out of a rap song you've got Kanye West

@Jay Henningsen If the racism were necessary to convey a point about the story like in "A Raisin in The Sun" it'd be fine. I feel like the racism in Mafia II is there for purposes of being funny and seeing what the developers could get away with. It's one thing to have racist characters saying whatever they wanted, but it's another thing to reward the player with an achievements that offend certain cultures.

@Juan Letona The "Kill All Haitians" line was pennies compared to the amount of times I heard about how I was about to kill a bunch of "Chinks" in Mafia II. It bothers me to even have to mention that word, so why is it cool for the developers to get away with it?

@Bryan Harper I didn't want to have to add a Spoiler Alert about Chapter 13, but Chapter 13 is based around a problem you have with the Chinese.

@Ed Grabowski There's a difference between Stereotypes and Racism. Mafia II uses offensive terms such as "Chink," "Mick," and "Moolie" freely which makes it different from all of the games you mentioned.

@Aaron Thomas It's cool. I appreciated the feedback. I like that it brought out questions rather than arguements.

@Daav Puke Would it be crazy to depict the 40's and 50's without showing some form of racism probably, but I think the developers took it too far by adding unneccesary references that could be interpreted as racist.

The could have depicted how segregated things were back then without being so insensitive. There's a part where you have to ask people where a certain character is. I approached a group of black guys and Vito thinks to himself "These guys don't look too friendly" I think that's a good way to depict it instead of calling them names like the game does throughout the story.

Errol: Laughed at the Kanye remark.

And honestly, man, I guess my problem is, knowing that the game dealt with a time period where racism and violence based on ethnicity was a real issue, you still picked up the game and proceeded to put yourself into a situation where you would become offended.  I'm assuming the developers didn't hold a gun up to your head and say "Play this or die".  And after becoming upset with the game, you continued to play it anyways, further subjecting yourself to more emotional distress.

That's the only reason I'm not understanding why you're upset.  At the first sign of trouble, you should have put the controller down and walked away.  Why would you do that to yourself if you knew you couldn't handle it?  That makes no sense.

@Bryan Harper It's summer which means that the from June to late August there isn't a game on the market worth playing in my opinion. By the time Madden comes out I'm dieing to play a videogame. Mafia II has been getting buzz since Grand Theft Auto IV came out in 2008. Of course I was going to play it. I'm a gamer afterall.

If I couldn't have handled the racism I would have turned it off and cried myself to sleep. I'm not upset at the game. I have no financial stake in it so I could care less. I'm upset that nobody has spoken up about the racial stuff. It makes me think that the industry, which again is predominately white, is okay with releasing games that offend certain cultures. If videogames were around in the 40's it would have been cool, but letting something so offensive be released to the public in 2010 is unacceptable.

I thought we were trying to move on from America's racist history.

@Ben Ingber I totally agree

"There wasn't anything else to play" is a poor excuse to subject yourself to subject material that you will find offensive ("I was disgusted" makes me believe you were, indeed, personally offended).  This stuff is portrayed in movies, books and television shows all the time.  I don't really see it necessary to not "let it slide" as it's an artistic representation based on facts, fiction and OTHER artistic interperetations, just as any movie, book, comic or painting that dealt with the same subject matter would be.

The REAL moral question here should be, "If we silence this game because it says things people don't want to hear, where will the line be drawn"?  Yes, bad things happened back in the day.  Yeah, people were ignorant and racist.  If the game's getting you angry, GOOD.  You're not supposed to laugh at it, assuming the player has half a brain.

While the achievement's in questionable poor taste, I highly doubt the programmer's intent was to disparage an entire race.  It's a reference.

I still don't understand why you're angry at a game.  Mafia II is not News at 6.  We ARE moving forward.  You should look at this game and say "Man, people were fucked up back then." and not "Jeez, the pricks who coded this game are ignorant racist assholes".

@Bryan Harper You not seeing where I'm coming from disgusts me. I feel like you assume I'm an angry black man. Does that make me mad? Not even close. I figure I'll try to show you where I'm coming from, and if not we can always agree to disagree.

Let's say another game came out focused on the Concentration Camps during the Holocaust. The same time period as Mafia II. You play a Nazi soldier who enjoys nothing more than killing Jewish people and expressing your racist views on life. Is that cool because the developers are artistically expressing the period of time? What's to stop developers from making this if nobody speaks up about the racism in Mafia II?

I see where you're coming from, and I know exactly what you mean.

Mafia II is not just about killing Chinese people.  There's an intricate storyline.  You're looking at a few bad parts and totally dismissing the rest of the game as unimportant.

A game based solely on killing JFK would be in poor taste, yes?  (And yes, unfortunately, that game does exist)  Because that's all the game entailed.  You killing JFK.  A game where you played a Nazi that did NOTHING BUT kill Jewish people would be no different from that: A relatively pointless, offensive game that almost nobody would be able to appreciate.

Are you telling me that's all Mafia II is?  A sixteen-hour game where you find an ethnicity and you eliminate it?  If so, I withdraw my argument and apologize for being insensitive.  It appears to me, however, that you are taking historically-accurate negative connotations included in this game (not the basis of the game), dismissing the whole picture and focusing in on something you can be angry about.

I see where you're coming from.  I don't see why you're being so selective in your critique.  I also can't help but feel you're being selective in your reading of my posts, where I'm attempting to create thoughtful dialogue that is apparently being ignored.  So maybe we should just stop this discussion.

@Bryan Harper Racism aside I think Mafia II is a great story. Replay value is low, but it was fun while it lasted. Gameplay is a bit too realistic. I think dieing after 2 to 3 shots is a bit lame, but that's my personal opinion.

That's exactly my point. Mafia II could have told it's whole story without saying any racial slurs. It could have thrown in as many stereotypical characters as it wanted like every other game, but the developers took it one step further by adding racial slurs. I pointed out a small amount of racist moments in the game to keep the article readable. If I mentioned everytime someone said a racial slur I'd probably still be writing the article.

Why should we stop the discussion? Your opinion is opening up my perspective on the game. I value it.

Okay.  I was under the impression, with the tone of the article and your responses, that the game was filled start-to-stop with profane racial connotations, ethnic cleansings and completely devoid of any true artistic expression.  

And I see your point.  I also think the game would have been more boring, less realistic and created much less buzz if it were a "soapy-clean" depiction of the 40s.  It got us talking, didn't it?  And I think it got a lot of people talking, which may have been more of the point of GOING that extra mile, KEEPING the timeframe real and ADDING another dimension to the gameplay.

The racism isn't meant to make you happy.  Any progressive-minded individual would be offended, but it just seems like you're offended at the messenger, and not the message.  You should be angry at those times and thankful that we HAVE come so far since then.  Mafia II didn't create the setting; these attitudes and actions are based off very real, very sad history.

I would think you, more than I, would want how bad things were back then out in the open, so people can learn.  Honestly, until you wrote this article, I had no idea what/who Chop-Chop was.  After reading this, I did some research and agree that yes, the character was a disturbing portrayal of a race, made in more ignorant times by more ignorant people.  I don't take offense to the achievement because I recognize it as a reference, which is all this game is doing is *referencing* a more disturbing time, not capitalizing on it.

If Mafia II is guilty of capitalizing on anything, it's capitalizing on the buzz.  I see nothing wrong with this, and while I do not like racism, I do not see the developers as being negligent.  This is a mature game, made for adults who can realistically handle what the game presents to them.  I'm just sorry that it seems you cannot see what the game is trying to do.

I don't think it's out to hurt you.  Or anyone else.  It's just trying to ...be a game.

@Bryan Harper  It does add a level of realism to the game. I can't deny that. 

It was interesting to see what life was like as an Italian gangster. Funny part is Joe, one of the most racist characters in the game, was my favorite character. I'll write about why later. The game does do a good job at being a history lesson, as I think this conversation does.

I think it wouldn't bother me as much if the developers acknowleged it. I could settle for a screen that says this game may contain language that some might find offensive or something like that. Kind of like what Resident Evil used to do about it's violence and gore.

Now that's something I can't argue with.  The ESRB rating does, in fact, state "Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol".  I'm not sure "Strong Language" quite covers it; maybe that's something the ESRB will be paying attention to in the future.

Interesting how responsible Capcom is with something as simple as fantasy man-versus-demon violence is concerned, thinking about it now.

At the same time I'm concerned this game could open the floodgates to more videogames that make the use of racial slurs acceptable. Maybe it's because the industry is mostly white or it's becuase the people who will end up offended are minorities. Either way I hope this ends with Mafia II.

"The name "Chop Chop" appears to be a reference to a comic book character from the '40s and '50s. As you can see in the picture on the right  His image was that of a stereotypical Chinese caricature. It's insulting to for a game to take pride in killing a bunch of characters rewarding the player with a shout out to an offensive character."

 

I'll be honest, I think you're grasping with that one. The phrase 'Chop Chop' isn't exclusive to this character in any way shape or form. That he exists, is hardly proof positive that 2KCzech are deliberately referencing him, as you seem to have concluded in your article.  

 

Personally with period titles such as Mafia 2 I'd rather they try and be honest reflections of their time (regardless of how ugly and offensive that might be to modern sensibilities) rather than sanitised politically correct theme parks at the end of the day. I don't think it serves any good purpose to attempt to cotton wool the past in games, especially if we want the medium to be taken seriously by other media at the end of the day. If you consider some of the most critically acclaimed period dramas on TV over the last few years, Deadwood &  Mad Men. Both of those shows feature moments of vile racism and sexual discrimination, but wisely they leave it to the viewer to take on board what happens and draw their own conclusions rather than attempt to softball their audiences, or kowtow to modern attitudes, by sanitising them. 

 

Ultimately Mafia 2 is marketed as an adult game at the end of the day, and as such you have to accept that it's target audience expect to be treated like adults as well. I believe that it's misguided to make the jump that simply because a period game contains something we might deem offensive (but fail to make a commentary on it) that that the developers are necessarily promoting it.  

The one thing the producers of Mafia 2 did focus on was making things completely realistic from the songs played on the stations to the car models you drove during the time periods during the 40's and 50's..What also was realistic was the views of different ethnicities that was the popular beliefs everyone had

Yes I have played the game and they do talk about how the african americans sell drugs and kill eachother and they do use plenty of verbal slander for the chinese...But then they also make the italians out to be a bunch of money hungry hoodlums who kill and steal their way into the american dream

Im african american myself and yea i wouldnt want somebody to call me a "moolie" (whatever that is) but what this franchise has done is just taking the way things were and putting it into a game not trying to make any race look better than the others.....Maybe you would rather prefer to play as an african american in san adreas and guess what you're doing the whole game?? Selling drugs and killing other african americans...Its just the way things were and the way things are so its not that the developers are rascist...In all actuallity this game shows that they are impartial