Breaking the immersion–Skyrim’s racism lacks authenticity

By Richard Naik on December 2, 2011 in Blogs

I really like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I want to state this now, since most of what I'm about to write will probably make it seem like I dislike it. However, just because I like something doesn't mean I can't criticize it as well. And believe me, there are things to criticize about Skyrim.

Most of the complaints I've heard from the various corners of the internet focus on the user interface, insufficient instructions, and good old Bethesda bugginess & instability. These are all legitimate complaints, and rest assured they'll be addressed in more detail in my review. However, there was one moment in the game that really bothered me, and it actually has to do with the (otherwise wonderful) game world itself.

The residents of Windhelm, one of the game's major cities, are supposedly extremely prejudiced against non-Nord races. Dark Elves are forced to live in a small slum in the city, and Argonians aren't even allowed to live in the city. Given that my character was an Argonian, I was looking forward to ruffling some feathers on behalf of my scaly brothers and sisters. However, when I entered the city, this oppression did not manifest itself in any way whatsoever.

Despite being told by anyone I asked that Windhelm wasn't kind to Argonians, nobody in the city seemed to care. The innkeeper rented a room to me with no problem. An NPC spouting racial slurs at a Dark Elf in the street as I entered the city didn't seem too concerned with me, and the town guards didn't hesitate to offer up the generic dialogue that guards in other cities had used. Hell, the innkeeper even complained about all the Dark Elves and Argonians right in front of an Argonian.

The last straw came when I entered the inn and, in addition to nobody seeming to care that one of "those people" had just walked in (and a pretty menacing one if I do say so myself), one of the inn patrons walked up and asked me (paraphrasing) "so are you one of those 'Skyrim for the Nords' types?"

What?!

Do I think Skyrim should be for the Nords!? What the hell do you think!? You make people like me sleep outside on the docks while you're all nice and warm, and you're seriously going to ask me if I think Skyrim should be for the Nords?!

NPCs acting like I was a Nord even though I clearly wasn't became a recurring theme in this city, and it really bothered me because I was supposedly part of an extremely marginalized group. It's similar to a problem that Dragon Age 2 had, in that while Mages were supposedly the subjects of brutal repression by the Templars, nobody seemed to give a second thought to my mage Hawke and his magey companions walking freely around the city with no Templar oversight whatsoever.

This experience really damaged the immersion factor for me. The game went to great lengths to tell me how oppressed Argonians were in Windhelm, but inside the city itself none of it was apparent outside of one scripted sequence. And to top it all off, an NPC actually spoke to me as if I was a Nord. I'm still playing and I'm still enjoying myself, but the lack of attention to detail here was extremely disheartening. Has anyone else experienced this? Or am I just missing something?

Richard Naik

Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Richard received his first console (the NES) at the age of six, and from that point on games have been an integral part of his life, whether it's been frittering summers away with the likes of Mario, Mega Man, and the Zerg or partaking in marathon sessions of Halo, Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead. After being a longtime reader of GameCritics, Richard joined the staff in March of 2009, and over the years Richard grew into the more prominent role of part-time podcast host.

In 2016, he spearheaded a complete rebuild of the GameCritics.com website, earning him the title of Chief Engineer.

His gaming interests are fairly eclectic, ranging from 2D platformers to old-school-style adventure games to RPGs to first-person shooters. So in other words, he’ll play pretty much anything.

https://gamecritics.com/richard-naik/breaking-the-immersion-skyrims-racism-lacks-authenticity/

Tetsuya Takahashi, creator of the Xeno series, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Shulk, states that his primary motivation in creating Shulk was to make a more likable and relatable protagonist than in most Japanese role-playing video games.[1] Xenoblade featured a prolonged, four-year development cycle dating back to 2006, where Takahashi states that, while the game went through many changes, the overarching plot following Shulk remained largely the same.[2] Takahashi's personal belief was that the more negative, jaded JRPG character type leads the player to resent them due to the emotional investment required to complete such long games.[1] Takahashi worked with anime writer Yuichiro Takeda on Shulk's creation. Takeda felt that the easiest way to make Shulk likeable would be to make him be a silent protagonist,[3] but Takahashi rejected this idea, feeling that it hurt the character's ability to "resonate with the player".[3] In the end, Takahashi went in the opposite direction, making Shulk's positive interactions and words of encouragement a focus of the game.[3] Takahashi tried to make Shulk react to in-game events as much like he thought game players would react to them. Nintendo's team of debuggers, the "Super Mario Club", assured Takahashi that he was on the right track for his goal.[1]

In English-speaking versions of the game, Shulk is voiced by Adam Howden. He was given instructions on how to portray Shulk, largely that he should have a neutral English accent, intelligent, "not posh", and fierce when necessary.[4] Howden was never given a full script of the game so that he could more realistically sound surprised at the game's plot twists,[4] but he was informed of the story progression shortly before he would have to voice it so he would not sound baffled.[4] Shulk's dialogue was continually revised throughout the sessions to make it more natural sounding, though Howden would still study the Japanese version of the game to capture the same emotions as said version.[5]

Public diplomacy of Israel

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Public diplomacy in Israel, also known as Hasbara (Hebrew: הַסְבָּרָה‎), refers to public-relations efforts to disseminate positive information abroad about the State of Israel and its actions.[1][2]

The Israeli government and its supporters use the term to describe efforts to explain government policies and promote Israel in the face of negative press, and to counter what they see as attempts at delegitimisation of Israel. Hasbara is also a euphemism for propaganda.[3][4][5][6]

Lexicology

While hasbara literally means "explanation", its exact import in its current usage is debated. Gideon Meir has said that there is no "real, precise" translation of the word hasbara in English or any other language, and has characterized it as public diplomacy,[7] an action all governments around the world undertake with the growing importance of what Harvard professor Joseph Nye termed soft power. Gary Rosenblatt describes it as "advocacy".[8] Individuals who engage in the practise have been called hasbarists.[9]

Hasbara has been described as "pro-Israel propaganda,"[10] and "the new user-friendly term for Israeli propaganda"[11] but while "propaganda strives to highlight the positive aspects of one side of a conflict, hasbara seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified."[12]

Historian Giora Goodman considers "hasbara" to mean "propaganda" in practice, explaining

The term "propaganda" acquired a pejorative sense during the first half of the twentieth century. Accordingly, British and American propagandists used "information" to describe their work and the positive-sounding word hasbara has generally been preferred in Hebrew. "Propaganda", ta’amula in Hebrew, is mostly reserved for what opponents do, but the term was often used by the Zionist movement to portray its own efforts to influence mass audiences.[13]

The art of deception: How Israel uses ‘hasbara’ to whitewash its crimes

17 MAY 2021

The Israelis have long relied on a public diplomacy strategy to dominate the arena of narrative control and information manipulation.

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-art-of-deception-how-israel-uses-hasbara-to-whitewash-its-crimes-46775

MEET THE WOMAN WHO SUPPOSEDLY RECORDED THE WHOLE BRITNEY SPEARS ALBUM

May 13, 2014

So, Britney Spears probably/maybe/most likely didn’t sing all that much on her latest album, Britney Jean.

Yep, one of Britney Spears’ longtime backup singers, Myah Marie, who sounds EXACTLY like Britney, has been accused (revealed?) to be the one doing most/all of the singing on Britney Jean.

Recently, some stems (the different audio sources in a song, like the main vocals, backing vocals, etc.) from Britney’s song “Passenger” were leaked online by some of the song’s producers, and many of those “stems” for so-called Britney songs were labeled “Myah Marie.” If you listened to those “Myah Marie” stems, they sure sound a lot like Britney’s voice on the final song.

One insider even said, “You can hear that some parts sound more of somebody impersonating her than her actual voice. Some main vocals are drowned to the point where the background singer takes the lead place.”

All we’re saying is…why would a clip from a Britney Spears song, which sounds a lot like Britney, be sent to the producers but labeled as Myah Marie?

Listen to this version of “Hold It Against Me.” It’s JUST Myah Marie singing the background vocals.

Doesn’t Myah’s background vocals sound exactly like the actual song? It makes us wonder what part of the final track even features Britney’s actual voice?

Now listen to Myah’s solo song, “Animal.”

This is ALL Myah, but it sounds like a Britney song!

Below is a demo for the song "Black Widow," which Myah recorded for Britney. They might as well have just released it as is—it sounds just like Brit.

When the Britney Jean album dropped, Myah’s dad Murray Langston told Star magazine, “My daughter sings for Britney Spears. The truth is, Myah can sound just like her. Maybe Britney doesn’t know whose voice is on her album. Maybe she just comes in, lays down the track, leaves, and doesn’t care."

Whether she was pressured by the label to do so, or was speaking truthfully, Myah swiftly denied being the voice on Britney Jean.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to provide background vocals for Britney Spears on a small number of her most recent works, I most certainly cannot take credit for her tremendous talent as a singer,” Myah released in a statement, “She is a veritable ‘living legend’ with a longstanding reputation for excellence in all aspects of her artistry.”

Something about that overly gushy statement just seems phony. Considering how much Britney Spears is worth, we imagine Myah Marie gets paid a lot to keep her mouth shut and just keep singing like Britney.

But things really started to heat up when Myah recorded a parody of Britney’s song “Piece of Me,” but called it “Don’t Take My Kids from Me.”

Some of the lyrics include:

“I was miss preteen wet dream

When I was 17

I lip sang and

Pretended to sing

Got breast implants

And a wedding ring

Then I flashed all my privates they put pictures in the magazines

Don’t take the kids from me, Don’t take the kids from me”

Of course, Myah is mocking Britney’s now infamous custody battle with ex Kevin Federline when she locked herself in her bathroom and was immediately placed on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold.

This parody song was uploaded to Youtube in 2011. Apparently Britney’s people never saw it, because they kept bringing Myah back to sing on the album.

The song was recently unearthed online, and naturally, Britney fans are outraged.

So what do you think? The facts are: Myah sounds exactly like Britney, she mocked her in a parody song, she is credited as a backing vocalist yet her vocals for “Passenger” sound an awful lot like the final product, and her dad even said she’s the one singing on the Britney Jean album.

Via hollyscoop

http://thejoodlumgroup.com/whats-what/2014/5/13/meet-the-woman-who-supposedly-recorded-the-whole-britney-spears-album

>>14158879

The flood waters as well.