My term paper about representation in video games(self.Blind)
submitted by notafirekeeper
Hello! This semester I took a course about accessibility, inclusion and representation of players with disabilities. I need your help anwsering a question. In my paper I will be fousing on a League Of Legends character named Lee Sin. He is a martial arts fighter who lost his eye sight in battle, after channeling all of his powers. You can read the full story here (https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/champion/leesin/). Regardless of his blindness, he is still a deadly fighter using superhuman abilities. In game he uses abilities that capture his surroundings using sound waves, similar to a bat.
So my question to you, especially to all vision impaired users, friends and family: How do you feel about this kind of representation of blind people in videogames? Is there a misrepresentation, inappropriate or even disrespectful rendering of vision impaired players ocurring in videogames? Does it enable false views or is it even mocking the struggles vision impaired people face on a daily basis? Or would you describe the character as empowering? Maybe inspiring? I would love to hear your opnion and thank you very much for your help!
LysetteChaproniere3 points1y ago
Before attempting to answer your questions, I should say that I don’t know a huge amount about gaming, and definitely don’t know anything about League of Legends, except for having had a quick read of the link you provided. I follow, and sometimes comment on, discussions like this because I’m interested in the cultural issues.
You say this character has superhuman abilities. I don’t know enough about him, or the broader context of the game, to have a definite opinion, but here’s why that might be inaccurate representation. Obviously, it’s fiction, so not everything in the fictional world needs to be accurate per se. The problem is that giving the blind character superpowers reinforces a trope about blind people, or disabled people more generally: either they can do absolutely everything, because they have superhuman abilities, or they can do absolutely nothing and are totally helpless. “Being offended” isn’t the best way of framing this concern; it’s more that tropes like this perpetuate bad ideas about blindness/disability that are already prevalent in our culture, and we might worry about how fiction like this affects people’s perceptions.
But, I don’t know. Maybe League of legends does something more nuanced and sophisticated than “he’s blind so he automatically has superpowers..” Based on your link, it sounds like he has a story and a personality, that there’s more to his character than his blindness, which is a good sign. And, even if it relies on some problematic tropes, maybe they’re forgivable, if it’s otherwise decent representation. I do worry, sometimes, that if we’re overly critical of depictions of marginalised groups in pop culture, it’ll scare people away from writing these characters, which will reduce the amount of representation. Having creators from marginalised groups (blind game developers, in this case) does help up to a point, but obviously blind people disagree about what constitutes good representation. Just because a blind character was written by a blind author, doesn’t mean other blind people are going to like how they were portrayed.
The final issue I’d raise is, is the game accessible? If a game developer cares about the impact of their work on blind people, one of the best thing they can do is to invest some time into making sure blind people can actually play it. I’ve heard of at least one game with a blind protagonist which was totally in accessible to blind players, and that’s… frustrating, even for someone who never had any intention of actually playing it. It just goes to show people’s attitudes; so much of the time, even when sighted people are thinking about blind people, they’re not attempting to think from the perspective of blind people.
Here’s a forum thread you might find interesting: https://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados-gaming/please-no-more-games-where-playable-character-blind
gunfart3 points1y ago
if there was a video game where a character is deaf, but can see words coming out of people’s mouths when they speak, would that offend you as a sighted person? probably not because it’s a fictional character in a video game. not everything has to be absolutely politically correct, and we are allowed a bit of (or any amount of) leeway with video games or any other form of media.
i can’t say i get any sort of enjoyment or feeling of pride with blind or visually impaired characters in media, hell sometimes i forget that i mysself cannot see and the rest of the world can. now, constant reminders that i am part of a minority and not just a human being does get slightly annoying, or when people treat us impared folks as some sort of majestic creatures that are rarely found in the world and have to be handled with absolute care, or people think that we are able to provide some grandious point of view that nobody else has or is allowed to have.
notafirekeeper [OP]2 points1y ago
Thank you so much for your help on my term paper and in general. I always try to find the balance between taking care of impaired people and still treating them like I would any other person I meet. I don't want to ignore it but at the same time I am trying not to overthink how to approach them in general Have a nice day and thank you for your post!
Tarnagona2 points1y ago
I don’t play League of Legends, so all I know about this specific character is what you’ve written here, which is not enough to tell whether I’d find the character good representation or not. Some things I’d consider. Are supernatural abilities commonplace? If the blind guy is the only one with super powers, that the blindness gave him said super powers, that’s problematic. And, do his supernatural abilities fix all the problems caused by his blindness? If yes, that’s also a problem, because then blindness is just window dressing and might as well not be there.
A really good character in media (though not video games) who is blind, is Toph from Avatar: the Last Airbender. She has a super power that compensates for her blindness, but it’s not uncommon in the world, or something the blindness caused. And her earth bending ability doesn’t solve every problem her blindness causes; she still can’t read, and can’t “see” on certain surfaces like water or sand. Plus, Toph is more than her blindness, it’s an important part of her character, but not her only defining trait.
There are ways to do the blind person with superpowers well, but it’s tricky. And the trope gets really annoying after a while because of how often I have to explain to regular, well-meaning people that, no, I don’t have super hearing/touch/smell because I can’t see well. So an individual character can be done well, but it’s based on a stereotype that sometimes gets tiring to deal with in regular life.
bradley221 points1y ago
I like it, sure it's not "real" but that's the point.
I'm an easy going kind of guy, if you want to give people superpowers; go for it.
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