# far cry 4's narrative director mark thompson > it's not about race. at all > ~ troy baker's (privileged political) far cry 4 statement the toxic aspect of real player(tm) culture unceasingly denies obfuscates sidesteps and generally downplays (violently) any and all accusations of or even mere discussions about or around sexism and race in ir holy little entertainments. "they're just garmes get over it" is the collective snarl consider the interview garme informer did with narrative director mark thompson: an unpalatable conceptual salad of passive-aggressive contradiction and general disinterest causally tossed together with the bitter vinaigrette of dubious corporate race (mis)relations p.r. in short slippery pro-active damage control spin at its finest // video here consider the otherwise meaningless edgy title of the interview is "embracing chaos". read this as "let's cynically put out this interview out there and hope nobody notices" according to garme informer "far cry 3 fell into controversy surrounding racial tropes and a significant disconnect between the player's experience and the motivations of protagonist jason brody" first off it didn't fall; it wasn't pushed unfairly. there was no temporary media controversy slapped on here - nor any mere use of 'tropes' discussing far cry in terms of tropes conveniently de-politicizes what's racist about it from the ground up. far cry 3 didn't merely ignite controversy in the bellies of so called 'social justice warriors' - rather it's very foundation is constructed on ideas of the "white messiah" the "magical negro" and the "noble savage" such ideas are not mere 'tropes' floating abstractly above or around what is really going on; rather race is involved at every level. thompson however starts off by diffusing the main point of far cry's ugly ideas by framing them in the simplified context of standard development pressures and limited time the pink male gaze: mark's interview > strip everything down so that the story and the open world are the same thing **+** unfortunately they are indeed the same thing. as a commentator states this is a garme 'in which you mow down scores of faceless baddies in creatively dehumanizing ways'. perhaps the real story is the story of how bad cultural ideas get turned into video garmes > we're fixing the problems we thought we had with (far cry] three **+** as though current fundamental problems of race and culture can be fixed with a few select narrative tweaks while it was obviously down to someone else to make mark more aware of race in far cry ey still seems perfectly blase about it as though discussing a mere software bug - like it's still a mere 'issue' or 'trope' for other people to worry about > i'm not saying we're going to revolutionize open world garmes that would be bullshit if i said that **+** never mind open world garmes the question is what else in what's being said might be entirely b.s > we were definitely aware of some of the tropes we fell into.. **+** no you've been clearly made aware of your limited views on race by others - otherwise your entire garme wouldn't be based on such ideas and you wouldn't feel the need to do this p.r interview > the first thing we said was this guy is from kyrat **+** as though changing the skin tone of the main character auto-immunizes ir from toxic ideas around race which ir character embodies and which teh garme seems entirely founded upon > everything you do is part of your history culture and background **+** mark is entirely correct here; since the main character has been brought up in the u.s since the age of four perhaps performing headshots and stabbing random humans through the bottom of ir chins is indeed clearly representative of ir history but at the same time we want to make ir accessible and understandable **+** yes understandable to pink skinned amerikan teenage males already fully enculturated into a global culture based on false separateness radical difference along racial lines and violently asymmetric power relationships > we're trying to build this authentic himalayan culture **+** here seems the entire problem in a nutshell since trying to do so is already a matter of pink western cultural appropriation in the entirely obvious and outspoken naked pursuit of industry profits nobody plays video garmes to 'truly find out how the world works'; rather that they play at all too often means they actively want to avoid understanding and be content with whatever vapid nonsense and ideological ugliness is thrown ir way > even ir name (ajay ghale] is pronounced differently **+** as though having a 'foreign sounding' name is all anyone needs for a race 'issue' / 'trope' free video experience. the thing which is extremely pronounced is the sheer level of disconnect seen in western cultural notions about itself as clearly represented by this interview what "pronounced differently" really means: inherently false representations of 'exotic' lands and far off 'foreign' culture. it's only foreign mark if you falsely think you're somehow separate from other people > the jason brodies this time are the bad guys **+** as though this ultra privileged bunch of hollow skulled high-fiving dudebro gwats weren't also bad guys the first time around > we don't set out to offend people **+** as though stating something seemingly obvious makes one free of critical analysis and its repercussions. indeed since far cry is based on ugly ideas from the outset it does in fact 'set out' as offensive - through these very first steps it takes if your entire journey starts in entirely the wrong direction - if you think that that world's your dudebro playground just because you have pale skin for instance - then your offence is clear > the characters all had charisma and charm **+** as though this is the first thing any player might say about people who look like regular attendees at ir local blandly handsome school run by starbucks mark states the character vaas from far cry 3 was played by a 'hot guy' - that there was 'something sexual' and seductive about the character - just like citra talugmai who says about central protagonist jason brodude "you're so perfect.." (youtubers refer to ir as "voodoo bitch") > the guy (vaas from far cry 3) had lots of natural charm and charisma **+** as though if you're sexy and-or charming you can't possibly embody sets of ugly culturally entrenched ideas on being frank and earnest about race > then you realize that the door you walked through is now locked behind you and you're trapped in the room with this **+** despite the stage managed candor and cool tattoos narrative developer mark thompson still seems unconsciously trapped in a sealed room of bad ideas and thin excuses casually masquerading as half-thoughtful (corporate) commentary that mark swears during the interview as if to say "hey i'm kool just like you crazy player dudes speaking with honest off-the-cuff passion" - and the fact the swearing is bleeped out - says everything about the garming industry and it's ongoing disregard for anything other than r.o.i it appears that mark's job title of narrative director is an entirely honest one - that is the job is not only to construct teh garme's narrative but also the story and narrative of how we view teh garme - to frame it positively spin it aggressively to deliberately suggest through open and spontaneous officially sanctioned press releases / corporate garming industry interviews how everything's fine we're now superficially 'diverse' we're dealing with it the suggestion that the far cry series as a whole has a long proud history of 'exploring imperialism and racism' is a pathetic easily dismissed myth; in fact it's a troubled space where extremely conservative political values and dominant norms around race class gender and sexuality are both reinforced and reproduced // republic of bob