#dia lacina

The first episode of RTFM, the RPG book club podcast I cohost, was uploaded on this day in 2022. Now there are 73 episodes in the main feed, with so many cool guests. Happy birthday to us. Here's one of my favorite episodes, covering Wet Grandpa with Dia Lacina.

“ But, of course, it’s not merely that another AAA blockbuster did digital red and blackface.

 The problem is this kind of low-key racialized aggression doesn’t end with the act itself. This casting means a Black, Native (or, god forbid, a Black Native actor) didn’t get to play an actual Black Native role (and since Rockstar likes lesser known actors, a potential breakthrough role for them). 

They didn’t get to offer any feedback or help guide the role away from the regressive stereotypes present in the game, like Michael Greyeyes (Plains Cree) was afforded with 2006’s Prey. By not casting an Indigenous actor in the role, there was no real challenge to the racism in Houser’s story or characters, and that means that challenge has to come from us, from journalists, critics, gamers. 

Dia Lacina, reviewing Shadow of the Tomb Raider for Waypoint:

The game’s narrative gestures at wanting players to learn a lesson about colonialism, but even when it manages to make some small point, it's undercut by the very mechanics that make up 90% of the game.

Between this game and Shadow of War, I'm sick of faux-deep games that go, "Sure, you're having fun, but what if this is all bad?!" Don't do that, game, when you are the one providing that fun! That's not deep. That's a surface-level attempt to grapple with your mechanics' morality without actually making substantive change.

The Extreme Convenient Indian by Dia Lacina