Digital Discrimination Exacerbation

Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect battles racist accusations

On Nov. 2, Microsoft launched its newest expansion to the Xbox 360, the Xbox Kinect.  In an effort to compete with motion-sensitive games like the Nintendo Wii, Kinect uses motion sensing technology to enable gamers to control video games with their whole bodies instead of just their hands.

What is important to understand about Kinect is that unlike Wii and Playstation Move, Kinect does not employ the use of any controller or body attachments in order to work—only the player’s body.  The Kinect sensor simply detects motion and light to capture the player’s actions and facial features.

While some criticism was expected, surely no one could have guessed that Xbox Kinect would be accused of racial discrimination.  Gamespot.com, a popular video game news and review website, published an article by Brendan Sinclair on Nov. 3 suggesting that Microsoft’s new gaming apparatus has trouble recognizing the faces of “dark skinned users.”

Sinclair also states in the article that the Kinect “may be more accessible to some than others.”  Reffering to the race of the person using the technology.

The Kinect was apparently tested on a multitude of Gamespot employees.  While the tests in other areas worked fine, Sinclair argues that the Gamestop staff ran into problems when testing out the Kinect’s facial recognition abilities.  

According to the article, two “dark skinned” employees had trouble getting the Kinect’s facial recognition software to recognize their faces as opposed to the lighter skinned employees who did not experience any problems.  It should be noted however that the Kinect was able to identify another dark skinned employee without incident.

This argument may seem preposterous, because it is.  

Even without acknowledging the fact that such a claim cannot be taken seriously with such meager evidence, bussinessinsider.com claims that Consumer Reports have not been able to emulate the same facial detection bug that Gamespot employees allegedly experienced.

The racially biased Kinect theory can also be debunked through the use of elementary science.  While a more in depth explanation can be found here, Kinect essentially uses a range imaging camera that detects the distance of objects based on their relative brightness.  Logic dictates that if there is no light energy, or at least very little, being directed at the Kinect sensor, the Kinect’s camera would be as good as blind.  

A little background knowledge in the physics of wavelength tells us that when an objects displays color, it is because the atoms that compose the object absorb some wavelengths and reflect others.  Brighter objects emit more light energy, whereas darker colors emit less light energy.  Since Kinect “sees” things by absorbing this energy, it would be naturally more difficult for it to detect darker hues.

Therefore if anyone runs into problems with their Xbox Kinect, a simple way to remedy any problems with facial recognition would be to try to adjust the lighting in the room where they are trying to play the game.  If this does not work for some reason, players may then want to try re-calibrating the distance between themselves and the Kinect sensor.

The claim that Microsoft has designed a racially biased motion-based gaming accessory is no more than an exaggerated rumor with poor evidence to support it.