A popular video game now randomizes your race and gender — and many white men are furious

[sofa king]

47. There is a reverse side to this coin.

When I was playing Rust's evil cousin, DayZ (also an open-world survival-horror game in development with no rules or objectives beyond those we create for ourselves), I remembered my beloved "asshole filter," as I called my long flowing locks, and how they worked for me. Judgmental bigots avoided me, and I rarely had to deal with their low-information ways.

So I started playing DayZ as a black woman.

Why? Because asshole racists in the game simply tried to kill me on sight. And since I cannot hunt them in real life, I really like hunting racist scum in DayZ.

Just like in real life, racists are non-rational, unethical, low-empathy people who cannot be trusted, and it's even more true in-game where players are willing to risk more to be dicks. For me, the point of the game is to experience the emotions of having to risk all in interactions with other players.

It also made deciding who not to kill easier. People who were willing to interact with me in non-murderous ways were usually more trustworthy, fun to partner with and, duh, better players in general because they don't go through life guided by stupid beliefs.

So being a black woman made it easier for me to find the kinds of people I wanted to play with, and easier to kill those I wanted to hunt.

Don't know if there's a point to this story, but for those of you who don't play a lot of video games I thought you might find it interesting to hear the perspective of someone who likes to use racism against people, since it's an inextricable part of this sort of game.