2K Says Whites-Only Character Options "Wasn't Deliberate"

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imaroboturarobot

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Aug 27, 2008
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Lt. Sera post=7.69563.664351 said:
"I found that a bit offensive"

Please, stop being offended by little things that don't really matter. Oh no, i can't colour my character in my skin tone, the horror!
I totally agree people are out looking for things to get angry about! they should just lay off.

Oh and why are any of you playing Carnival games?
 

MurmurTwins

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Apr 3, 2008
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Carnival Games is yet another garbage game for the Wii and people should be more offended by its cheapness than its character creation options.
 

wrshamilton

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Aug 30, 2007
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It's a good thing we have white dudes around to decide for us which identity issues we get to complain about.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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wrshamilton post=18.69563.670319 said:
It's a good thing we have white dudes around to decide for us which identity issues we get to complain about.
Also it's wonderful how being 'white' nullifies any opinion on race you might have.
 

Iron Mal

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Jun 4, 2008
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Let us remember that a game is intended for entertainment. If someone is offended because they couldn't make their character quite the way they liked it, they are clearly taking it far too seriouly (wasn't the Wii aimed at more laid back and relaxed gamers?), I was never offended by the fact that I found it impossible to make a character in Oblivion who looked remotely human (never mind looking like me). And on top of that, does anyone else remember the original UT? Regardless of what character you were, your forearms would always have been caucasian even if your character was black, asian, hispanic or quite literally white (I see dead people), why wasn't anyone offended by that?
 

wrshamilton

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The_root_of_all_evil post=7.69563.670379 said:
wrshamilton post=18.69563.670319 said:
It's a good thing we have white dudes around to decide for us which identity issues we get to complain about.
Also it's wonderful how being 'white' nullifies any opinion on race you might have.
It makes your opinion about what is or isn't or should or shouldn't be important for people of different backgrounds pretty uninteresting and irrelevant, yes.

It's hard for people (me definitely included, not trying to make assumptions about you) with a certain kind of dedicatedly geek background to grasp, but there are some arguments that not only can one not win, but that moreover one has no real place in.
 

Aries_Split

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The_root_of_all_evil post=7.69563.670379 said:
wrshamilton post=18.69563.670319 said:
It's a good thing we have white dudes around to decide for us which identity issues we get to complain about.
Also it's wonderful how being 'white' nullifies any opinion on race you might have.
Well...It does.
 

ike_luv

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Aug 20, 2008
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Eggo post=7.69563.666442 said:
Realism isn't the point though; representation doesn't have to be limited to realism.

It would just be kind of nice to play in a role playing game as someone who represents me better than a white guy does.
Yeah I agree with that, I think it is a very light offense, but not to the point that I'd complain. I feel exactly the same way you do man!

The fact that people get angry offends me, because they clearly don't understand.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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wrshamilton post=7.69563.670430 said:
The_root_of_all_evil post=7.69563.670379 said:
wrshamilton post=18.69563.670319 said:
It's a good thing we have white dudes around to decide for us which identity issues we get to complain about.
Also it's wonderful how being 'white' nullifies any opinion on race you might have.
It makes your opinion about what is or isn't or should or shouldn't be important for people of different backgrounds pretty uninteresting and irrelevant, yes.

It's hard for people (me definitely included, not trying to make assumptions about you) with a certain kind of dedicatedly geek background to grasp, but there are some arguments that not only can one not win, but that moreover one has no real place in.
Hold on...so you're saying because of my race, my views on race are irrelevant? Doesn't that seem just slightly, well...racist?
 
Feb 13, 2008
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O...K...
But surely your Non-mainstream Culture means you are then incapable of understanding 'my' Western Culture?

And as far as I'm aware, you're equally indoctrinated into the 'Western Culture'

Let's look at it a different way.

I'm part of quite a few minorities: race, gender, sexuality, eyesight etc. and have suffered prejudice, misrepresentation and sometimes violence because of it.

Now, none of those faces up above represents me, but even the article's title lumps me in as "White" despite the many factors in my racial origins. (Which, tbf, none of you really know...I could be Inuit).

Let's say that all those faces were a shade of brown. Would I then be 'capable' of understanding and complaining about the racism?

Even if what we're saying is that most contemporary human game protagonists since the 16 bit era are white males...and I'm not disagreeing on that. Why is it suddenly all right to lump all 'Westerners' as incapable of understanding minorities?

As I said before, there's a few pakistani/hindu protagonists, but I can't think of one Irish or Welsh...or Native American apart from Turok...Or Eskimo...(And all four of those are counted as 'White' despite massive differences in Racial Origins)

I'm not saying that non-whites shouldn't complain about misrepresentation, just that whites should be equally able to; and that there should be an acceptance that sometimes there can't be the choice to be any hue...especially as creating a realistic skin hue takes a HELL of a long time, whether white, brown, black, yellow or any other colour.
 

bpm195

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May 21, 2008
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If the all the custom characters were all blue I doubt anybody would care as we wouldn't view them as human. If all the characters were asian I'm sure there'd be plenty of up roar as people will be upset they can't play a white guy. Though no game has done that in America (it's not socially acceptable), you can frequently see people take issues on forums if the main character isn't a white male in a Western Game with a western setting. The lastest example would be mirrors edge, where there's a fair amount of talk that having an Asian Female protagonist is a poor choice and this is claim backed up with varying degrees of bigotry. Conversely, people aren't allowed to take issue with games having no or very few minority characters, because bringing up a serious issue means you're taking it to seriously.

Personally I'd be quickly annoyed with any character customization that allows you to change the face but not the skin color. It's not an issue of being able to recreate myself, but I think of it as being able to play whatever I want. In this game is seems the developers don't anticipate anybody wanting to be anything other than white. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume poor design before racism, but it's still a significant fault.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Eggo post=18.69563.670639 said:
Tsk tsk, You're conflating realism with representation again.
Then let me know where you see the difference.

Judging from this and other threads, it seems the crux of this discussion requires far more understanding than can typically be found around here.

:[
Hrrm...that's a VERY negative attitude Eggo...perhaps it's your communication of the issue that's lacking rather than all of our intelligences?
 

dukeh016

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Jul 25, 2008
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Eggo post=7.69563.670639 said:
My (white American/French) girlfriend calls me an anthropological wolf in sheep's clothing :p
Whoa, none of us want to hear your pillow talk.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

Shifting gears, I'm going to go with Yes, this is annoying/offensive. Go ahead and ask an African American if they want to be white. The answer, more commonly than anything else, is no. Because being African American is part of their identity. Yes, race is tied to identity. Yes, its hypocritical in many ways. Yes, its frustrating. Honestly? Tough cookies. In a game in which you build an avatar, I can't help but think that avatar should actually represent the player, and a goodly number of players would include race as part of their inherent identity.

Thats all the go I'm going to give at explaining this. I realize that the roolz of gamzors result in rigid rules against doing anything that may in someway politicize a game, because as we all know games can't be political. No media could have political undertones.