I think we all know about the bad ending of the "get Kim to dance" check. And I think it is very interesting that almost everyone who fails this check says, that they had to reload afterwards.
I think this says a lot about society and the way society expects us to behave.
The way the main character behaves is inherently tied to the playing person. Thus the MCs actions are directly tied to the players actions and are also a reflection of the players morals in the minds of most players. And I think this is where it gets interesting.
Because what dies it tell us, that most people savescum this save? Does it tell us that we are not racist or that we cant stomach the IDEA that we MIGHT be racist?
In my eyes it is the second one that seems more likely. The human brain tends to categorize and it is on us to recognize racism in our own patterns and stop it. But society tends to play this side of racism down a lot it feels to me.
Anyway thats all I have on this, just thought it was interesting. Let me know what you think and if I made an oversight anywhere :)
Why couldnt it be both? It absolutely has an insidious side to it; people dont like being told that something they are doing is racist, especially if their racism is unintentional. But on the other hand, people who have been playing the game have gotten attached to kim by this point. Not calling someome a racial slur is really just basic respect. People see an option to call kim a racial slur, and the other option is to savescum but it lets you avoid hurting someone they have gotten attached to, the fact that he is fictional be damned. If you can do something to avoid hurting someone, why not do that?
(The fact that the check forces you to say it probably doesnt help. In almost every other scenario you need to actively choose to be racist or sexist, but in this case you cannot back out of it any other way.)
You are probably right about this. I think I wouldve done the same in the moment.
At the same time my brain tries to intellactualize and says that Kim is only some pixels on a screen, but thats easier said in hindsight I guess.
