Katryna Starks

CULTURAL REPRESENTATION IN TACOMA

A Game Review

By Katryna Starks

IT is well-known that video games have a lack of representation, though there are efforts to have more characters of varying ethnicities. However, there are two types of cultural representation: representation “of” and representation “for”. Representation “of” happens when a game includes a character of color but doesn’t include expressions of their culture. For instance, a game set on a space ship may have a multi-ethnic crew, but all human members are “generically” human, not referring to specific places, foods or cultural practices. These characters are often added for the sake of diversity itself, which is not a bad thing. Games need diverse characters.

Representation “for” involves representing characters with cultural references that place them specifically from a particular place or within a specific culture or ethnicity. These characters are often written by people within the group the characters represent. This type of representation is “of “ diversity, but it includes the idea that the playerbase itself is diverse. Small bits of cultural representation can help diverse players see themselves as the characters in a deeper way. One game, Tacoma, displays this concept quite well.

Like many games, Tacoma is set on a spaceship, but the crew is more diverse than in standard AAA games like Mass Effect. It consists of a Cascadian First Nations woman, E.V. St. James, a Station Administrator who acts as the ship captain; Clive Siddiqi, Operation Specialist; Natali Kuroshenko, Network

Specialist; Roberta Williams, Mechanical Engineer; Sareh Hasmadi, Medic; and Andrew Dagyab, Botanist. The names alone reveal varied cultural backgrounds, but there are other clues as well. Sareh Hasmadi wears a Shayla (head scarf) and a letter from her parents revealed her to be Muslim.

Tacoma is a game that focuses on exploration, and includes several cultural references throughout. The player can explore the main ship, but also each crew member’s quarters. These quarters often include specific items like hand soaps and other touches that make it seem like the crew requested these items to bring some of “home” on the ship. One bathroom contains an Indonesian soap called “Cokelat Sabun Tangan”, a package of oolang tea written with Mandarin Letters, and a bottle of Luster Curl, which seems to be a stand-in for a real product, Luster’s Pink.

The game also features several LGBTQI+ relationships. Roberta and Natali are married, and have several scenes including intimacy and conversations about their future. Andrew has a husband and son back home on Earth, and we see letters and pictures exchanged between them. Furthermore, your character, Amitjyoti “Amy” Ferrier, uses American Sign Language to communicate with the AI. Though the game does not specify whether Amy herself is deaf, ASL is represented as the language of the AI, which is inclusive and a nice spark of joy for players who recognize the language. Again, a representation “for” the players.