Week 5 - Formative Assessment + Q&A

 

This week we gave our pitch presentation as part of our formative assessment, the powerpoint for which you can view here:

We had a few questions after the presentation, but the one I answered was how would we make sure the game is inclusive. I don't remember exactly what I said, but basically one benefit to having animal characters instead of human ones is that everyone can relate to these characters, and we don't leave anyone out the way we would if we had human characters - in hindsight it probably would be quite easy to have a range of human characters especially in a university setting, but animal characters are more dependable that way as you can't misrepresent anyone.

Since the pitch presentation I've realised it would be better to put in the effort to represent people, even if it's only animal characters - my initial answer reminded me of the phrase "I don't see colour," which is often used as a sort of dismissal of or a way to ignore potential racism. Durfee explains: "the phrase “I don’t see color” carries with it an unintentional, implied message that we can ignore what makes others and their experiences unique." (Durfee 2022). It would be better to put in the effort to represent people even if it's only animal characters, as simply leaving representation up to the interpretation of the player seems like a bit of a
cop out. Therefore, we're going to include animals associated with other countries to make the diversity a bit more obvious. Not everyone will realise, but the people who do notice will hopefully also be the ones who appreciate it.

 

Reference:

Durfee, A., 2022. What I Hope You Mean When You Say “I Don’t See Color.” [online]. Public Square Magazine. Available at: https://publicsquaremag.org/dialogue/racial-healing/what-i-hope-you-mean-when-you-say-i-dont-see-color/ [Accessed 18 November 2024].