Virtual Reality Can Bridge Cultural Divides
Video games can help others understand the lived experiences of people of color
Most of us know the textbook definition of racial profiling. But you don’t really understand it until you’re dodging glances from convenience store clerks who suspect you of shoplifting, or you’re being ordered out of your car at a traffic stop, with zero incriminating evidence except your skin color.
When I wrote SLAY, a young-adult novel that’s pitched as The Hate U Give meets Ready Player One, I wanted to create an immersive space — a game called SLAY — where Black people can be ourselves without having to explain our experiences, and at the same time, write a book about said space that shows readers who aren’t of color what our experiences feel like.
You might have tasted a slice of what existing while Brown feels like if you’ve played Life is Strange 2, a video game that follows two Latino brothers as they navigate their lives after a police brutality incident. As a player, I normally opt for pacifist routes, because I don’t like conflict and combat stresses me the frick out (Sekiro might be the death of me). But if you’re playing as Sean, a runaway teen on the brink of starvation, who’s to say whether you’d steal from a gas station or not, especially if the owner already suspects…
