In China’s gaming world, lucky ‘Europeans’ and unlucky ‘Africans’ expose racial stereotypes
While players say popular descriptors are not intended to cause offence, critics see them as ‘verbal microaggression’ and inappropriate
Within China’s vast online gaming community, a new phenomenon has emerged that puts racial stereotypes in full view – lucky players are known as “Europeans”, while unlucky players are referred to as “Africans”.
“Am I an African or a European?” one player asks on social network Baidu Tieba. He has just received his characters in a lucky draw for Warship Girls R, a naval battle simulation game from Shanghai-based Moe Fantasy.
Everyone knows what he is talking about – and it’s not his nationality or identity. He will be considered “European” if the characters are good, or “African” if they are weak.
The use of European and African as synonyms for fortune and misfortune has become so popular among online gamers in China that entering the two words into search engine Baidu will produce a long list of results that have nothing to do with geography or anthropology. On Baike, the Chinese version of Wikipedia, there is an entry for “African” as an “online expression” to describe those who are “unlucky” or “do poorly” in online games.
These descriptors are now widely accepted in the online gaming community, according to Zoe Guan, who plays Onmyoji, a fantasy strategy game for mobiles developed by NetEase.