Creative Synthesis

at this year’s alt.chi conference, tyler pace will be presenting Can an Orc Catch a Cab in Stormwind? (doc download) an insight into the roles of race in the massive multiplayer on-line game Worlds of Warcraft. he proposes that the character selection process itself imposes racial (and gender-based) constructs on the game inspired by the largely white male population of players (and game designers). he points out that all character options are depicted as deviations from a white male north-american norm, and other genders and races have fewer permutations the more distant they are from the white male ideal. he peers inside game user forums to reveal that players commonly associate fantasy species with real-world races and ethnicities (above), with greater scorn inflicted on those most different from the overwhelmingly white and male human race. with all of this fantasy the idea of including traditional races and sexes into an alternate world seems to invite racism and sexism - which can only reinforce these ideals in society. why can’t they invent more and stranger types that defy earthly conventions?