Seeing as we’ve been discussing portrayal of race and moments that make us uncomfortable in games, I figured this article was worth discussing. In a nutshell, it’s about Mass Effect’s treatment of the Batarians, a downtrodden race that – given some incredibly heavy handed parallels – can best be referred to as, well, “space Arabs.” Thus speaketh the article:

But onto the batarians Mass Effect‘s writers have granted the special distinction of space Arabs, whose narrative role seems to consist almost entirely on their depiction as religious and/or political extremists who hate humanity and the American-dominated Alliance Navy in particular with bombastic fervor.

This has been evident in the games since their introduction in the Bring Down the Sky DLC, in which their codex entry first appears alongside a mission that has Shepard recapture a hijacked plane asteroid from terrorists attempting to ram it into the World Trade Center a human-colonized planet. In doing so, we’re repeatedly waylaid by the caveat, “not all batarians are like this.” But all the ones we see are.

Of course, the parallel on its own wouldn’t be a problem. After all, sci-fi – at least, in my opinion – is at its best when it’s sprinkling its fiction with a nice helping of slightly abstracted fact. However, as the article points out, Mass Effect says one thing and does another. It tells us that Batarians are just like any other race – a few bad eggs stinking up millions of cartons of good – but rarely shows it. It’s interesting too, because I don’t think there’s some massive ethnically charged conspiracy unfolding behind BioWare’s suspiciously tinted windows. Rather, certain mentalities pervade cultures – sort of like one giant collective conscious – and people unconsciously make reference to them. They can’t help it. In that respect, videogames – in addition to other forms of media – are incredibly useful as snapshots of modern societal perceptions. We can use them to learn things about people that said people don’t even know about themselves.

Granted, that’s only half of Mass Effect 2: Arrival’s unsavory equation. The DLC also forces you to make an incredibly questionable “decision” that – depending on the type of character you’re playing – could present a no-win situation. In summary:

Following the rescue, the situation is turned on its ear when it is learned that Shepard must destroy the nearest Mass Relay—and thus several planets full of millions of innocent batarian bystanders—to prevent the Reapers from quickly spreading across the galaxy. And we’re talking a matter of hours, not weeks or months.

There is no dialectic here. There is no happy medium, not even a pause for reflection. Narratively, the game commands that the Reaper invasion must be delayed for the DLC to successfully bridge events to the upcoming sequel, and so the batarian planets must be sacrificed.

The “choice,” then, is between warning the Batarians that you’re going to Death Star laser their planet into a fine powder or blowing them to smithereens without batting an eyelash. And the kicker? It doesn’t matter. The message won’t get through anyway. Personally, I know my Shepard isn’t afraid to get his hands a bit dirty to get the job done, but not with the blood of millions of innocents. That’s not just crossing the line; the line was hundreds of miles back. We’ve now forged ahead into objectionable territory, decimated the natives, and established a happy little nation called Line Crossdia whose main economic pillars are agriculture and disappointment.

I’m not saying games shouldn’t tackle issues of race and cultural perception. I’m not saying games should avoid manipulating choice systems to make players feel uncomfortable or upset. Executed correctly, both of those things can be incredibly powerful and involving storytelling tools. By and large, however, I think Mass Effect’s Arrival DLC is less of an example and more of a cautionary tale. As for my Commander Shepard, he’ll trudge onward toward Mass Effect 3′s grim finale. I’m just not sure he’ll he mine anymore.

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