Week8 Stereotype

 I could see how March carefully not to have any stereotypes within their story because this book is about racism. I could understand racism is one of the biggest issues in the U.S. and people very sensitive about it. However, I believe that stereotype is a really useful tool for developers.

I am using stereotypes in my game a lot especially to show the job, characteristics, and circumstances of characters, which I would like to call them surface-level information. It is important to present this information to the player quickly by visual and by the first impression.

 First of all, the game requires a quicker decision of customers than any other media such as animation and film because the video game is interactive work between the player and the story. While the animation and film keep go through without any viewer’s action, games require the player to play: move the character, choose a response, or fight against enemies. We do not have so many times to introduce the information of character because the player may not choose to speak with the character (and video game player hates to be forced by the developer to do something). In this case, the stereotype is helpful to show a quick introduction about the character in a short time. 

 Also, the stereotype does not always work a bad way because sometimes it creates surprise to the player. In general, the player will be excited with the story about the bad guy (or visually looks bad guy through the story) turns into the companion of the main character. For example, if there is a deep foodie guy with a crazy smile, the player may hesitate him by looking at his surface-level information. However, if his inner level of personality was good and player realized it during or the end of the story, the character will be the best appearing character in the game. This gap between surface-level information and inner level personality is a great strategy of character creation.

 I guess this character does not seems friendly for the first time, and it created to be felt like so from the player.

This game is a multiple ending game, and following this character leads to the true ending, which is not supposed to be seen for the first gameplay.

 In both ways, a stereotype is a great tool for creators. Using it effectively makes the characters appearing to the player. However, to use stereotypes effectively, I am needed to know the stereotype correctly because the wrong treatment of stereotypes makes the wrong treatment of humans and culture, such as the racism issues which told in March.