Well, I'm sure that there are at least some people who play games and are racists, maybe even a lot of them, but unless there is something inherently racist about playing games then labeling the entire subculture of gamers as racists is inaccurate. It may simply be the case that there are racists who play games, in much the same way that there are violent people who play games but it doesn't mean that gamers are inherently violent.

I think of raccoon skin. What else does it mean?

Certainly nothing racist, I hope.

NIIGA :D
I said nigga :D

What's racist about my name? The town I grew up in is called Frisco, TX, and their mascot was the Frisco Coons. When I was younger I made my AIM sn a spinoff of our mascot, which tons of kids did when they were younger. That name then moved on to XBL, which then moved on to here.

ok, so notice the lighthearted responses here.

I think if anyone around here was actually being discriminated against, people would step up pretty damn quick to defend the victim.

I think around here people are [/i]unracist[/i] enough to be able to make these jokes, knowing that they aren't going to offend each other, and it's in good fun. (insert statement about perpetuating stereotypes)

On gamers as a whole: No I dont think we're any more racist than another group. We're probably more accepting than a lot of people. But the INTERNET is ANONYMOUS and people on the internet feel at ease to say whatever bullshit they please to whoever they please, so all the shit actual racist people are afraid to say in public comes out online.

@Mantra: I don't think there is anything inherently racist about gaming, just that there seems to be an inexplicably high concentration among gamers.
@JACK of No Trades: Don't you go making fun of my good friend Honkey Joe!
@atheistium: Ummm... OK. I think you really shocked people there, maybe even BLOWING THEIR MINDS. Or maybe it's a joke?

Thank you cookskin.

I knew you were from the Dallas area, but didn't know where.

Yeah, Frisco only just recently changed their high school mascot out of pressure from the majority white community fearing non-existent problems from some unknown non-protesting group of blacks.

It's stupid really.

They're the "Fighting 'Coons".

And a raccoon is their mascot.

MPT? I fail. That is supposed to be NOT again. :(

I'm going to talk from my perspective because I don't like generalising about other people.

I don't like racists, but I also don't like anti-racists - they tend to be as inflamitry as the racists. Of course, I love the fireworks display between the two groups, but I don't like it when it spills out into the audience. Because the whole issue is just dead to me. It's been like 100 years now since that shit, society as a whole should have moved on. The only thing that is going to define a difference from one racial culture to the next is continuing the idea that there's a difference, and anyone who contributes to that, with it be pro or anti, is making the whole thing worse. The fact is that your personality is formed from the way you are raised, so anything you do is the responsibility of the people who raised you. Now, don't think I'm ignorant to the role of genes, because they do definately have an effect, but not the extent where they are tied in with the colour of your skin, or the colour of your hair and so on.

As such, I will continue to make fun of the whole issue, because I think it is so ridiculous that it should be completely demonised to the point where anyone who seriously makes the distinction is outcast, like you would a Nazi or a psychic or the Irish.

@ Max: I knew that probably wasn't what you were asking, I was just trying to point out that the question suggested more than what you may have intended.

I don't think that there really is a higher concentration of racists among gamers than other social groups. While there is certainly a higher percentage of upper-middle class white males in the gaming community, I have found that, as a kind of counter-culture ourselves, we tend to be more tolerant of minority social groups. As far as why there are so many racist remarks made by gamers on the Internet, the same question can be asked of homophobic remarks as well. Certainly, if all you looked at were Halo 2 online players you might think that most gamers were homophobic, but just look at the support from the gaming community when GayGamer.net was DoS'd by homophobic hackers. Gamers generally like to joke and be ironic, and gamers on the Internet in particular really lend credence to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory. There is a huge difference though between supporting someone's racial slur and lolling at it.

Really? Frisco? It's a growing city, and getting more covered in the metroplex area, so maybe that's why they changed it. Also, they're starting to get big in the soccer world(FC Dallas, FTW!) so maybe they wanted to nip it in the bud before anyone from out of town heard about it and got offended.

On the main topic, I don't think anyone(well, most anyone) on this site is racist, I think that when they make comments such as the ones on the last few days controversial posts, they're trying to get a rise out of other members who may not have a "black" sense of humor. And no, I didn't mean that as a pun.

Max, I've been wondering the same thing for the last few days due to the abnormal postings of race relations on the site.

What was frisco's mascot?

& MaxVest I wholeheartedly agree, even on editors posts the n word comes up, I know it's in good fun, but it's unnecessary I didn't come here to be degraded lol

@UglyPhil: I agree with many of your points, and I don't necessarily believe that gamers are somehow ultra-racist.

However, as a community we are pretty quick to shut down other types of shit-disturbers. For example, the gaygamer.net DOS incident was handled rather tastefully, by internet standards. I just haven't seen the same when it comes to racial matters. It also seems odd that some of the commenters who criticize minorities for refusing to let racial scars heal emphatically repeat this criticism at every opportunity, rather than just... letting racial scars heal.

Also, I choose to believe that AngelsDontBurn was replying to my title question. Optimistic? Perhaps.

My reply ended up kinda huge, so I turned it into a cblog instead. Read here, if you wanna.

Otherwise, to sum it up, I mostly agree with what MaxVest said...

Maybe not racist, but lacking any connection to the social awareness, like you said. I think that's the primary "thing". Not an issue, or a major negative. Just a facet of not generally having to or choosing to deal with the concept of actually being a social miniority.

Also, the sftuajpg mentality is in there somewhere.

Also black zombies.

. . .

JimSterlingdoesn'tcareaboutblackpeople.

coonskin05 I figured, because when you first came on dtoid i was watchful but then you seemed like a really sound guy so I figured your username wasn't racial at all

@MaxVest;
You're obviously an intelligent person, and I admire you for saying what you think so eloquently. I don't think that it's at "every opportunity"... I think it's very simple. If someone comes on here and in all seriousness says "I was offended by a joke that someone made on here, so you all must be racists", without really seeing the irony in that, then I think the response is probably, on average, going to be a critical one.

I also think there's a difference between healing scars and venting your insecurities at a large group of (more or less) innocenct users. You don't need to excorsize your demons by attacking random people, you do it through debate or persuation or understanding, or at the least, you just come to accept it.

Also, when it comes down to it, I don't think we're living in a world where people really cater to other peoples feelings. On the internet anyway - at the very least, here, the place of un-apolagetic offensiveness. If that were the case then we'd all be piling our sympathy onto emo people. Like I keep saying, the Internet is a harsh place. It's unforgiving and cold, and you can't expect to be loved wherever you go. You're gonna get criticised and part of what makes you a strong person is to learn to irnore it or at best learn from it.

I do see what you're saying, and to a certain extent I think it would be nice if there was a warmer, more considerate understanding, while still having that entertaining jokey aspect. Y'know, to be able to stand back from the joking podium and say "yeah, I understand what you're saying but we're only having a joke here, so chill out". But it's not going to happen.

Also, I mostly agree with Mantra. Very well put. :)