I spoke Ross, in-game known as John Marston, inside his virtual office. His avatar is working
as a security guard at a security company called Redline. The character was involved in
criminal activities in the past and was fired from the police force.

His avatar looks like a black male, wearing body armor in combination with black suit pants
and a beige short-sleeved shirt. In reality Ross is a white teenager of 17 years old. Because
he wanted to become someone else for once, he created a character based on someone
with an different ethnicity.

If he would have created an avatar based on himself, he wouldn’t have had the same amount
of role-playing possibilities regarding crimes. A black character fits his criminal narrative,
according to Ross.

In real life he was raised in a middle-class neighborhood and saw many incidents of
stereotyping behavior. The same racial stereotyping also took place inside the game. Ross
experienced racism while role-playing as John Marston. He mentioned situations where other
players would assume his character would be a “gang member” or “baller” because of his
skin color.

He also stated he was arrested multiple times by the virtual police force without a reason.

When asked how that made him feel, he responded:
“You can understand from their perspective how they feel when certain things are said.
So I think that’s kind of cool.”

Transcript

Disclaimer

The transcription of the interviews published on the analysis page are the exact words, tone and language used by the participants during the interview. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings of the research, but should not be treated as an authoritative record. Their word choices and grammar are an exact extraction from the interview and not my own interpretation.

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My name in real life is Ross Boyne.

All right, and I see that you have a dark skin character. Are you a white person in real life?
Yeah, am I in real life? Yeah.

Why did you choose to be someone else on a role-play server like this?
To be honest, I wanted to be someone else to play... To play a different person for
once instead of playing myself all the time. Yeah, that's pretty much.

Do you think if you create a character which is, similar to yourself, is that more boring or
something, or how is it?
I mean, I think you don't have as much fun because if you playing someone else, like I
am now. I can feel feel like I can do a lot more , can have a lot more fun. And enjoy
some good RP scenarios with different characters and stuff like that. Whereas if I was
myself like in real life now... I wouldn't be doing much to be honest But because I was
playing someone else I can do a lot more like, activities for like, criminal activities and
stuff like that.

Why do you think that is?
To be honest I am not sure man because… That's a hard question though. Because if
I was just a character based on myself, I wouldn't be doing much. Because in real life,
I'm not doing this what I'm doing now. So I got the opportunity to play another
character. Like I am now. I was John Marston who is a criminal but also owns a
security business. I get to do a lot more and... obviously go around protecting people.
Also getting into the criminal business as well. Whereas in real life. I don't do any of
that.

I mean, I am myself... I talk like I do in real life and stuff like that, I act the same way.
But I just got.. because I've got I go by a different name. I got to do a bit more and
because my characters backgrounds. The character who I play is a criminal. But also,
he is also ex-military, have a lot of guns. I'm now in the security business.

Can you tell me something more about your background as the role-play character?
Yeah is ex-military, Special Forces. Pretty much, we are covering Afghanistan, combat,
about ten years ago. And he suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder. So, John
Marston, my character had to retire after three tours. He flew out to the city of Los
Santos.

Is there a reason why you picked a black person?
Not really, I mean, not like he is... well not in real...in character. In character I feel…It
just fits fits my character more. So it's easier for me to play. I mean I can also play me
in real life. I can't, but I feel that like... I get more, I get more advantages playing a
different character, you know. Playing as a colored person. Not to be stereotypical, but
in real life, there's a lot of stereotype things about black people in real life and in real
life as well where I'm from, there's quite a lot of... I'm not from a rough background,
but I’m, say middle class, and there's quite a few things that go on where I where I'm
from. Stereotypical stuff and stuff like that.

And what country was that?
In the U.K.

Yeah, definitely man And also you can, if you.. you can, you can understand from their
perspective how they feel when certain things are said as well. So I think that's kind of
cool.

When you spoke about the stereotyping, did you also experience that in this virtual world?
I have, yes.

Can you maybe explain a bit more about that?
I have been called some names like, people are trying to say that I act like a baller, like
a gang member and stuff like that. Because of my characters skin. Whereas if my
character was white, I would not have been searched. And stuff like that man, pretty
much.

Do you also have a white character?
Yes.

How is it to play on him compared to this character?
I mean, the white character I play is... He works at a police force. Whereas I used to
work for the police force on this character. Who I am playing now. Well he went
corrupt and started selling drugs and dealing guns and that's when he got fired.
Did you ever consider being a less criminal person?

Yeah, my second character, the white one, called Richard Hillman. He works for the
police force now. And he's a legit character, he doesn't commit no crime.

What is your opinion on crimes in real-life?
In real-life, I mean we need crime to keep the world going. Because without crime the
world will be boring. But I feel like... I mean if the world was all kind and everyone was
nice, it would be very boring you know, and stuff like that. So I think... I think it's
manageable now and the way it is. Obviously a bit more going on so it's not as if,
there's stuff for everyone to do, you know, in real life.