MANIFESTO: MUSLIM BLOOD IS CHEAP (THE FLAWED REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS IN VIDEO GAMES)
I’ll get right to it: the misrepresentation of Muslims in video games shows a Westernized and biased point of view on Islam. Muslims are a minority that consists of more than a billion people, yet still remain underrepresented or misrepresented in mainstream video games. The current gaming world generally exploits typical cliches and generalizations that either summed up by the binary stereotypes like the “fundamentalist aggressive muslim terrorist,” or “the victimized hijabi muslim.” These stereotypes codify Islam as the antagonist to Western society. That school of thought is then institutionalized by all forms of media, without the consideration of the consequences that that might entail. Spectators have become so desensitized to violence in the Muslim World due to mediums portraying Muslim characters as antagonists and by default “easy to kill” collateral, thus to the majority video game consumer Muslim blood becomes “cheap.”
While the industry has tried to address this issue by inventing games with Muslim protagonists, the characters reflect a disconnect with the religion and the culture by employing “redeeming” qualities or even associating “whiteness” with the religion to make it “consumable.”(Šisler, 133). For example, monolithic portrayals of Islam in video games include Assassin's Creed, which employs the “white washed Muslim” protagonist device; the “Muslim terrorist” in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, or the “good Muslim” woman in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Because of this lack of accurate Muslim representation in gaming that has contributed to the problematic perception of Muslim stereotypes and to the desensitization of violence in the Muslim world through “Western-washed” Muslim characters, a whole minority group is being targeted not based on their person or full identity, but rather on what people insinuate about their misrepresented system of belief. The issue can be addressed if gaming companies do a thorough research of Islam and its practicians and sensibly diversify their Muslim characters in their upcoming video games through complex, three dimensional personalities that don’t completely revolve around the beliefs. Additionally, they could increase diversity in their game designing, content, and engineering programs to include more employees and characters with a Muslim background, especially if the goal is to create Muslim centric characters. Game creators should inform themselves about Islam and stop using it as a lazy form of storytelling in their games. We need to start providing gamers with a new experiences and a receptive political community who is ready to consume new content.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEARDED: EXPLORING THE LIMITED MUSLIM REPRESENTATION IN VIDEO GAMES
From playing Tekken in a child’s adolescent years, to jumping on crates to free Princess Jasmine, there’s always been a limit to how Muslims have been represented in video games. Before we delve any further into the subject at hand, this author is going to request you consider a very important factor about the religion that is being negatively portrayed through any and all media outlets. It is important that the reader considers that there is a vast difference between the religion and people’s interpretations of said religion. To further this disclaimer, I would like to exclaim that there are those who pervert the religion, and there are those (the vast majority) who live practicing the system of belief that is Islam (and please excuse the redundancy) peacefully.
That being said, the following section will list example of the limited kind of representation that has codified Islam antagonistically in the video gaming industry. First, we start with the archetype that resounds cacophonously in today’s world: the figure of the Muslim terrorist. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, the images of the terrorists are predominately tall, bearded males, wearing traditional Middle Eastern abbaya, who are attempting to kill the protagonist. The protagonist of the game, a Westerner, is on a mission to annihilate any terrorist (whose images are isolated as these dirty, bearded, white abaya wearing men with bazooka's). The game is reminiscent of the war in the Middle East, as the white male male protagonist is attempting to share the cause in to “bring democracy” to the region and protect “American freedoms”. Historically the true intentions of that war was fueled by American economic greed to claim more oil, and to reinforce the view that Muslims are a threat to American democracy (despite the fact that these American soldiers are fighting in Middle Eastern territory, terrorizing the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians). And yet, you are encouraged to kill as many Muslims (civilians or not) as you can during the entirety of the game.
Gamers being exposed to so much violence towards Muslim characters can condition themselves to believe, through the process of playing this game, in generalizations that include that all Muslims are the enemy. The theory of desensitization in psychology in accordance with theories of mass communications states that, “constant repetitions of violence in the media makes people jaded towards violence” (Desensitization Theory). In that case, the fact that a gamers mission is to annihilate all Muslims because they’re terrorists, eventually desensitizes the image of Muslims dying in the Middle East not being given the proper media coverage because they’re that dispensable. The theory explains that “images that might have initiated a negative response before” are now allowing the person who is interacting with the medium to feel a “sense of calm because of its link to relaxation”(Desensitization Theory). So, if killing Muslims in video games makes people relax, then it’s safe to assume that they’ve been conditioned to believe that a dead Muslim man or woman inspires a sense of peace. It thus cheapens their worth by dangerously demeaning them and branding them as moving targets with no worth attached to their lives. It’s safe to say that because of this, people will be insinuating that the world is better off when Muslims are dead.
While the desensitization of Muslims has been established by shooting games like Call of Duty, the acceptability of a Muslim protagonist is also weaved into an array of complications. While the two dimensionally of the Muslim terrorist is offensive to the Muslim community, creating a character that disintegrates the system of belief and appropriates Islam as a vehicle of historical interest is just as offensive (Lee). The game Assassin’s Creed follows the story of Altair Ibn La’Ahad. The protagonist’s backstory involves a history with the crusades. The Altair soul is consistently reincarnated as generations progress (Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins) . The concept of “assassin” or “hashashin” is one that is apparent in Muslim-Arab history, not to mention that the protagonists last name means “son of no one.” Furthermore, while the first Altair should’ve been a man of color because we was Middle Eastern, he is consistently represented as a white man, in order to glamorize the character so it’s “digestible” and acceptable to the video game consumer. Thus, the Muslim-Arab history behind the character itself is not taken into consideration but is appropriated just enough to intrigue the player. It’s a tale as old as time; the white-washing, and westernization of history for the white man, or in this case, the white audience (Å isler, 218).
To be sure, while the negative representation of Muslim characters has become an archetype in video games, when there is positive Muslim representation, it usually carries out in two dimensional way. That and a non complex “good Muslim” character is most of the time always easily sacrificed because of their degree of irrelevance in the games. For instance, Faridah Malik in Deus Ex: Human Revolution encompasses the image of the “good Muslim.” The two dimensionality that surrounds her character just goes to show that the game developers attempted to encapsulate the faith, but did so in way they had trouble giving the character complexity due their lack of exposure to her religious background (Ramadan). At some point in the game she gets executed, which is eerily reminiscent of the “cheapness” of her Muslim blood.
I wanted to give you solid examples that are found in mainstream games of the kind of discriminatory and poorly researched depictions of Islam. These depictions obviously have ties to today’s antagonism of Muslims. This kind of negative depiction acts a as a form of propaganda, reinforcing a form of sociological segregation that demeans a whole belief system (Valeriano, Brandon, Philip Habel). In the 20th century the United States had brought back the notion of jus sanguini, which means “the law according to blood,” designed to purposefully brand “black blood and not necessarily skin color” as a “menace.” (Bloom, 130). When applied to today’s logic, different forms of media, and in this case video games, are deeming Islam as a “menace”. The “us” versus “them” narrative in video games is then translated into real life scenarios, with consequences for those embodying Islam in the real world.
THE POSSIBILITY OF DEMYSTIFICATION: DISSECTING IMAGERY AND REPRESENTATION
Perpetuating a specific image about a minority group by antagonizing them or painting them in a stereotypical light sheds light on the privilege that white non-Muslims have when playing a game that portrays a minority group. Professor Kishonna L. Gray of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University discusses the translation of images from the digital into the real and the consequences associated with that. Using Stuart Hall as a reference, she claims that he “makes it clear that while language is a very important vehicle of a given discourse, imagery is also heavily involved in how people are represented, and therefore carries with it significant social repercussions” (Gray,357). The images that one is subjected to while playing a video game is subconsciously being translated into their daily life. In the case of Call of Duty: Black OPs, it’s that all Muslims must die because they’re a “threat” to democracy; for Assassin's Creed it’s the validation of the westernized, whitewashing of history, and for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it’s the two dimensionality of character, and the devalued worth of a Muslim life. Gray goes on to discuss that the portrayal of a specific image being repeatedly and consistently maintained has repercussions that come in the form of oppression, through the codification of Islam. She states that “oppression can manifest in the materiality of the body and how it translates into virtual spaces (Gray, 355). Thus, the codification of Islam through the image of the bearded, brown, man wearing an abbaya, carrying a bazooka becomes the signified meaning of Islam, thus throwing the system of belief into a world of misunderstanding and falsehoods. The image however, has been established, and those who feel oppressed by such an image will inevitably feel the strangling effects of discrimination, while others will ignorantly live on privileged lives.
Perhaps the problem stems from the lack of transparency between the boundary that separates video game consumer and company. Prejudice is apparent in all aspects of society and thus will be present in both the production and consumption of a product (Lee). However a consumer is not always aware of the implications that surround the oppressive and discriminatory nature of diversity in video games. The representation will more often than not, be flawed and at times due to the repeating nature at which people play these games, will unconsciously condition themselves to believe in the images set before them, without understanding what’s behind the opaque shroud of the game itself. People need to ask the question; who was involved in creating this game? Did they do enough background in character development? Could there be inaccuracies in the character building? Professor of Communication and Media Studies Gregory Donovan, argues that at times the consumer neglects to see the veil that hides the reality of how media can be oppressive through it’s process of mystification. He discusses how consumers aren’t aware that their privacy is more often than not being invaded by media companies. As a solution he suggests that, “demystifying the boundaries and boundary-makings in and around these spaces is central to understanding the development of adolescents in relation to broader socio economic development” (Donovan, 274). With regards to the misrepresentation of Islam in “Muslim” characters in video games, this can be applied to the research being conducted to portray these Muslim characters and how it’s coming up to be so lacking. So, for a degree of positive “socio economic development”(in the sense where society trudges towards a more egalitarian socioeconomic structure), there must be proper diverse representation within these companies and proper research conducted in order to increase sensitivity in video game production.
While it might be said that approximately 67% of gamers are white, has anyone ever considered the fact that that may be because of the lack of diversity and the constant stereotypical representation of non-white characters (Statista)? Increasing diversity in characters might also attract more gamers of color, as well as increase the presence of people of color in the gaming community. Donovan goes on to say that “both people and media function as peers in shaping their tastes and thus identity configuration.” (Donovan, 374) If the media decides to change its portrayal of Muslim characters in its multitude of mediums, then perhaps a domino effect would manifest and change the perception of people on Islam.
HOW CHEAP IS MUSLIM BLOOD? : DEHUMANIZATION OF NON-WHITE BODIES
In March of 2016, at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, a panel of Muslim game developers came together to talk about Muslim representation in video games, or rather the lack thereof. The panelists had come to the conclusion that Muslims are dehumanized completely in mainstream video games. Farah Khalaf, one of the panelists who’s a student at Auckland University of Technology and board of the New Zealand Game Developers Association even went as far as saying that “Muslim blood is cheap” when it comes to video games. Her colleague and panelist Ramil Ismail, an indie game developer and cofounder of Vlambeer, a dutch independent game development studio, reinforced her point and and elaborated it by giving an example:
As Farah says, Muslim blood is cheap. We’re probably the cheapest blood on earth right now in the media. “We have to blow up about 130 Muslims, but we got the target. We don’t know who the other 129 were, but we got him.” And American blood is the most expensive. It says a lot about power structures (Takahashi).
Ismail is alluding to a certain divisive hierarchy of human worth where the white American reigns supreme, and the Muslim festers in unimportance at the bottom. While the Muslim character deserves to die, whether or not he is guilty of a crime; he carries this universal adjudication of perpetual guilt established by stereotypes in video games, and dare I say beyond. Takahashi writes, “It’s easy to depict Muslims as the villains in video games these days. How we show Muslims in video games is slanted in a way that reflects the storytelling biases of Westerners who don’t follow Islam.” (Takahashi) This echos the argument I make about Call of Duty and Deus Ex. Rather than seeing Muslims as complex humans with complex histories that have nothing to do with their system of belief, they are devices that need to expire in video games. So why can’t video game developers and companies paint them in a positive light.
Dr. Romana Ramzan, also a panelist discusses the lack of perspective that reinforces this static representation of Islam. She asks the public to acknowledge that even Muslims are victims of Islamist terrorist group.
In most instances, I think you should get to experience both sides of a story. In this instance, I don’t think there’s a value in playing as the terrorist, necessarily, as it’s currently depicted in games. The terrorist happens to be, from what we hear in media today, is Daesh. And their ideology doesn’t fit into what Islam is. We don’t identify with them. They’re the ones who are killing Muslims. So I don’t think there’s any value in playing from that point of view. We know what that point of view. In doing so you reinforce negative stereotypes that already exist (Takahashi).
Her statement rings true; according to the National Counterterrorism center, “Muslims have suffered between 82 and 97 percent of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years.” They also posited that “Al Qaeda kills over seven times more Muslims than non-Muslims.” Perspective is important. If these statistics weren’t lost in the frenzy of misrepresentation, then perhaps people would be more compassionate and sensitive to the unjust ways that Muslims are being represented (Schulzke).
Additionally, assuming that Muslims need a white savior is also a form of “cheapening.” It makes no sense to have a non-Muslim representative speak for the Muslim community. But, what happens when no one is willing to listen unless we have an approved representative by the hegemonic committees? Gamers who are Muslim and wish to express their “active participation within gaming”, while often raise their voices to become “savage critics of the hegemonic culture in which they exist, resisting many oppressive and hostile realities within games, among gamers, and in gaming culture in general,” their voices aren’t heard because of discussed “cheapness” that they represent in American society, and in society as a whole. They become figures that are obsolete and at best and in active state, antagonists and threats to the structures of society (Gray, 351).
We come to a point in the manifesto where we have to ask ourselves, what is the quantitative worth of Muslims in our societies? There is an institutional devaluing of non-white bodies that is proportional to the valuing of white bodies (Fine & Ruglis 31). Like Ismail said, the reflection of society’s power structure is apparent; “elite, white youthful bodies represent merit and a worthy investment,” whereas, “many African American, Latino, immigrant, poor, and increasingly Muslim and queer/trans youth are being read as disposable, embodying danger, worthy of dispossession, or in need of containment in order to protect ‘‘us”” (Fine & Ruglis,31). Fine & Ruglis go on to explain that this kind of narrative is intertwined within the structures and institutions of society since“the walls of exclusion slide like glass doors, oiled by public dollars, moving between structure and psyche, between polities outside and the interior of the soul” (Fine & Ruglis, 31). Alluding back to the “us” versus “them” narrative, it’s true that the antagonization of Muslims is used as a unification device. Little did they know that Muslims are part of this society, and they are an inevitable part of the “us.” The negative connotation behind Islam is attached to the image of the enemy; media has seen to that (Å isler). It is the public’s responsibility to call for change, and to remove the rotten floorboards of oppression and discrimination that riddles and misleads the world with misinformation in order to move forward for the betterment of society.
FAILING THE ISSUE: NOT SIGNED, SEALED, NOR DELIVERED
While the video game industry has attempted to make changes for the inclusion of positive Muslim representation, they have not succeeded on a large scale (Šisler, 140). In fact, characters like Altair from Assassin's Creed and Faridah from Deus Ex, were attempts at solutions by gaming companies. However, the two dimensionality and the westernization of the character makes these attempts seem perfunctory at best. The stereotypes remain, the lack of diversity is alive and well. Muslim representations is still being veered towards tokenism with regards to Muslim characters. Rather than implementing a random Muslim character like Faridah in Deus Ex, and killing her off execution style (due to her presence as a foil to the protagonist within the game), sprinkling other characters that share the same belief system but practice it differently, celebrating it, or even bringing Faridah back, accurately depicting her beliefs and giving her dynamic a personality that lies beyond her faith would be a welcome step forward. Other attempts include indie gamers, who have tried to create games that attract consumers, but none have become mainstream enough to value mention (due to the low number of sales). Furthermore, no rules or institutions have attempted to diversify the workplace for an increased amount of research in the content stages of game development for more accurate Muslim representation. And while that is true, this does not mean that there aren’t any solutions to this problem.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS & INCENTIVES FOR COMPANY AND CONSUMER TO VIE FOR CHANGE
Diversity in game creation is key. Because the demonization of Muslim characters has been normalized and political communities are thus inoculated against the idea that Muslims come in many shapes and forms, we have to deconstruct this point of view by increasing diversification in Muslim representation in all forms of media. This means that we shouldn’t just antagonize Muslims for being villains in fictional and non-fictional worlds, but also celebrate them by getting institutions to allow them to infiltrate society as equals. In the video gaming world this can be done if companies invest more in the research and hiring of Muslims to reinforce accurate representation on the culture that they’ve decided to depict. The question here remains, what is the incentive for the companies to spend more money on research and diversity? The incentive would be institutional; through federal legislation, I propose the Diversity in Image and Representation Bill that would allow media companies either subsidies or tax deductions if they diversify their workplace and their products. This would work because it would give media companies an excuse to diversify their hires and push for a break in stereotypical character depiction for money. This isn’t a long term solution. It’s a start; something to change perception and biased public opinion about diversification in video games. While I’m not overtly calling these media behemoths greedy, I do believe that money would be a fair incentive for them.
Unfortunately, while responsibility does lie with the producers of media content, the success of this solution depends on how the consumers will respond. According to Shoshana Zuboff, a professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, “declarations [solutions] are successful to the extent that others accept them.” It is important that the public also has to be receptive to the kind of character portrayal. However, if the change happens gradually, and the amount of games representing minorities by big gaming companies increases, I strongly believe that the zeitgeist will undergo a positive change. If gaming companies spend as much money marketing their white centric games as they would their more diversified games, I’m sure they would be able to sell these new perspectives to consumers. Professor of Sociology at Central Connecticut State University Stephen Adair, claims that “a manufactured commodity refers to an item that is physically produced, and as such, the human activity that produces it, is transformed into an objective quantity of value that is contained within it”(Adair, 247). So, if video gaming companies see the worth in diversity, then their consumers will follow.
CONCLUSION: DEATH TO MISREPRESENTATION
The objectification of Islam is visible in every aspect of media. Islam and the image of it has to come to represent an enemy of the Western world and of freedom. It is suffice to say that it is completely and utterly ridiculous and a major oversimplification to make the claim that a system of belief, that has been neither studied or understood by many, is assumed to be a danger to democracy and freedom. The rigidity of the image that surrounds Islam is dangerous as it creates this misinformed message of what it is to practice Islam. What if we did the same with other belief systems? What if we were to believe every stereotype that we’re being gluttonously fed? What would the world come to? What if we were to stop codifying and associating a rigid image to a spectrum possibilities? The world is made up of so many different people, and so many different systems of belief. There is no need for us to oversimplify or make claims that we know not enough about. There’s a need to detach from this objectification of Islam. It’s time to deconstruct the current hegemonic power structure to create an all inclusive progressive environment that includes people of color, men and women from all spectrums of discrimination, including Muslims.
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