About King

I've read in a few spots that people think the character of King in Sleeping Dogs a one dimensional racist stereotype. That sucks, because that was definitely not my intention in writing him.

Now, I haven't played the final version of the game yet - I've been busy with other projects since leaving Sleeping Dogs in the wake of the Activision cancellation debacle - so I don't know how he ended up. I'm very curious to see whether what I envisioned for the character was implemented but that the vision missed the mark, or whether the character of King shifted to something else (or, I suppose, whether the critics in question are being unfair; but I suspect they probably have a point).

I'd like to set out what I thought King was about as a character.

King was supposed to be a talented and very successful producer of gangster rap. In spite of a carefully cultivated reputation as a gangster, King is a happily married middle class guy. Not just that, but he's tired and jet-lagged and just wants to get back to his hotel and get a good night's sleep before going to work the next day. Of course, he has a reputation to maintain so since he's there it's ideal if he's seen living the high rolling crazy party lifestyle; but for King the ideal situation is to get it over with so he can call his wife and go to sleep.

The whole deal is that Sonny - the unmitigated obnoxious asshole that he is - is buying into the worst excesses of rap culture 100% and is trying to impress King on those terms. Wei, of course, is there to do what his boss tells him even if it's a little cringe worthy, and King goes along with it for the sake of his reputation and because he's doing business with Sonny.

Perhaps not a super complex situation, but it is a little more nuanced than what's being said about King right now. I'm looking forward to playing the game to see if any of that shines through or whether it got lost in the shuffle as production went into the home stretch.

The point I'm trying to make here is that I was aware of the potential pitfalls for King when the character was conceived. If the character did end up falling into them as critics say, then I am as disappointed as they are.