Characters that aren't your race that you relate to.

[xPixelatedx]

Wow most of you are playing on easy mode. Back in my day we didn't just play as and relate to different races, but different species!

Mega Man (Not a robot)
Link (Not a Hyrulian)
Samus (Not a female amazon.. whatever she is)
Fox Mccloud (Not a space fox)
Leon Kennedy (Not that white)
Alucard (Not a Vampire)
Ruy from BoF 3 (Not a Dragon)
Sly Cooper (Not a pantless racoon)
Wander (Not a weird elf boy from the land of Ico)

 

[Jamieson 90]

Connor from Assassin's Creed III was the last character I played that wasn't of my race (I'm British/White) and I did enjoy playing through his story and his character arc, I found him a bit naive at times but he did have his values and principles.

 

[Xangba]

Garrus. What, was this restricted to humans? I'm still saving the money to get my Peace Officer Certificate so I can finally finish my training and join a police station, and I know the restrictions I'll be facing and how frustrated I'm likely to get. I've interned, shadowed detectives and officers, and am related to an officer, and I can easily see myself in Garrus. Wanting to stop the bad guys but red tape or a technicality or the right bribes and off they go, and just wishing I could do something about it. I relate to a lot of his views and feelings actually, which is why I think he was my favorite character in Mass Effect.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

I don't "relate" to fictional characters.

But I do "understand" their motives and/or reasons for doing things.

Race, gender, sexuality or age never factors into it.

Yeah, same here. I don't understand this fascination with race and gender. Go to IMDb, pick the first actor or actress you see, and you will find people discussing "he's/she's (color), but his/her great great great great great great grandmother was born in Paraguay to a Russian couple, then they moved to Namibia."

 

[kklawm]

I barely notice people's race... both in life and in games. As long as the character is likable to me(or at least interesting, well made), I have no problems with them. Gender I notice, but again have NO problems ever relating to.

Seriously, its topics like these that make me even take notice some of the characters I like arent of my "race". Is that good or bad ?

I'd say it's good. Noticing races, even if you aren't racist, can make you a kind of morally pretentious bigot, or reverse racist. For me personally, I tend to notice people's race, insofar as there is black asian white and, err... Middle Eastern/Indian/whatever? And if I'm describing a person I do tend to really broadly categorise them unless they're white (because living in a white city and being white can make you notice these things).

I thought the original question originally meant species and was an interesting jab at the relatability of alien looking creatures. Personal answer: no one. Can't think of any person I relate to in any game or movie as such.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Samus (Not a female amazon.. whatever she is)

She's a human that was infused with Chozo DNA to save her from injuries that would have killed her, it made her stronger then a regular human and compatible with the armor she now wears, making her a sort of chozo_hybrid.

Samus would be one for me, Lee from The Walking Dead would be another. Thane, Garrus, Wrex, Tali and Mordin were all characters I felt for and related to a little.

 

[Zeldias]

I'm black, so I'm gonna go with Locke from FF6 (whom I found to be a good man that found himself in impossible situations, and still sought to do right). Also FF8's Squall, since I just found him to be introverted and pessimistic (although that jacket of his was stupid as hell).

I'm kind of struggling, though. Most of the characters I get attached to are often player-inserts like Hitoshura of Nocturne and Shepard from ME. Well, I guess Erevis Cale from the DnD novellas; named my cat after him.

 

[Zeldias]

I barely notice people's race... both in life and in games. As long as the character is likable to me(or at least interesting, well made), I have no problems with them. Gender I notice, but again have NO problems ever relating to.

Seriously, its topics like these that make me even take notice some of the characters I like arent of my "race". Is that good or bad ?

I'd say it's good. Noticing races, even if you aren't racist, can make you a kind of morally pretentious bigot, or reverse racist. For me personally, I tend to notice people's race, insofar as there is black asian white and, err... Middle Eastern/Indian/whatever? And if I'm describing a person I do tend to really broadly categorise them unless they're white (because living in a white city and being white can make you notice these things).

I thought the original question originally meant species and was an interesting jab at the relatability of alien looking creatures. Personal answer: no one. Can't think of any person I relate to in any game or movie as such.

Noticing race is hugely important, because no matter what, a person is black. To strive to not notice race is the same as saying "Even though you're black, I'll treat you like you're white," or "I won't hold your race against you."

It's necessary to notice race in order to notice systemic racisms. Not noticing race just means you're ignoring a fact, not that you're a great person. Not meaning for this to come off as hurtful or anything, but ignoring race also means ignoring the terrible things that happen to people because of that race, be it in characterization in media or lack of representation or whatever. It also means that, when it comes to humans, you'd be ignoring a major factor of a person's identity; after all, I don't think anything makes a more indelible marker of identity than the bodies we inhabit.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I can't relate to any character of race, gender, age, or species.

 

[keiji_Maeda]

A well written one? With thoughtfullness gone into the character creation?

*beat*

No?Then i'd say a character wherein i am capable of relating to their plight while completely disagreeing with the methods with which they aim to end or ease their plight, or the methods which they employ to end them.

But that is only so much woolgathering, concrete examples would be.

Scoia t'el from Witcherpression is bad, so terrorism is our way out (Crapsack world so THEY might be right,but they're still kind of douchy)

Randy waterhouse(Woe-to-hyce) from cryptonomicon. I'm not a "dead white technosavvy male who rocks coding" but i have been in several social situations where i'm forced to belatedly argue my point just because my immediate values do not corellate to the ones of those around me.

Garrus vakarian: haven't been in the police force, nor have i been an alien. But i do recognize both the feeling of having to fulfill others dreams for them as well as the obstructive poilicies put into practice by bureacrats.

By the by, is anyone else thinking that choosing Fictional races (Aliens or Myth derived species) To be bit of a copout? I'm Mix-ed-mix, so i don't care if a character is white or not, since i'm whatever. But do games with "Make your own hero" gives us the ability to say "well, i don't see race, because my Dud'ette could be whatever race they may want to, and still be a liberal douch'ette or not"

 

[Aesir23]

Ummmm. I can't think of anyone I can relate to (not even characters of my own ethnicity) but one of my favourite characters of a different ethnicity is Wei Shen from Sleeping Dogs. He was very different from a lot of the protagonists you see in games, to see him caught between two worlds as well as sort of past and present was very interesting. Admittedly, I also loved that it was set in Hong Kong and not "Generic American City X".

If I were to choose a character of a different species, however, I would have to say Garrus Vakarian. Cocky, humorous but at the same time very awkward when placed in certain situations. I also liked that he was one of the first to join your side in all three games. It may seem silly but it made it feel like there was a real sense of loyalty there. (Screw you Kaidan/Ashley)

 

[Dfskelleton]

I don't think race really has any impact on how much I like a character; it's the character his or herself that really determines it. Having said that, a favorite non-white character of mine...

Spoiler

Lo Wang from Shadow Warrior is one of the few characters I really like who is of a drastically different racial background than myself. Is he a ridiculous embodiment of every politically incorrect Asian stereotype in existence? Absolutely. Is he also one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever played as in a video game? Without a doubt. I'll take an aging, agile, fortune cookie chomping karate master with a bad sense of humor and an even worse accent over a generic handsome white marine any day.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I'm inclined to say the characters from District 9. All of them were foreign (at least they were to an Australian audience), most of them were black, and some of them were aliens. Wikas, Christopher, and Thomas (he was the black guy who came with Wikas to the District at the start of the movie) were all quite relatable on some level.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Does it have to be from games? I don't play many JRPGs (though I'm not even sure if those characters are japanese in the first place) and I didn't relate to Lee from walking dead (mainly because I didn't like clementine) and he's pretty much the only black videogame protagonist I can think of with actual depth, so I honesty don't have an answer to that.

 

[Something Amyss]

On a similar note.
John Luther.

There's a series of books about a guy named Jack Nightingale. I always picture him as the guy who plays Luther, even though they definitively described him at white at some point in the books.

Rather than making a character more like me, I ended up black-washing him. Or something. I don't know, white-washing is ostensibly to make someone relatable, and I didn't need him to be white[footnote]I'm half Penobscot, so technically, even white doesn't match me completely[/footnote] or black or anything to be relatable. I just think Luther is awesome, and I think I projected the actor based on some similar traits.

If we're expanding this to non-game characters, it becomes easy for me. Game characters, however, I can't think of many characters I've played and liked, let alone from a different background than I am. Expand it to TV and film and the like, and I can think of a few. Mickey Smith (Doctor Who) comes to mind easily, I'm sad to say, because I was once the love-struck idiot who followed around a girl who was a complete jerk-ass to me. I'm so totally not the tin dog, though.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Err, most of them?

Being a Eurasian (Asian/European) means there are few if any characters who are the same as me. (The only character I can remember off the top ofmy head who identified themselves as Eurasian was Butler from Artemis Fowl)

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

I don't notice race buuuuuut....
I can empathize with Thrall from Warcraft 3 even though I'm not an Orc.

Okay, seriously. I'm of a mixed Middle Eastern and European background and there are not too many like that (I have a hard time liking Altair) but I'll try.

I can empathize with the cast of Japanese teenagers from Persona 4. No, I was never tracking down a murderer or fighting amorphous blobs of darkness. Aside from going to school on Saturdays and eating with chopsticks, they're almost as relatable to me as other Americans. I guess those from Persona 3. I did have bouts of depression at one point but not to that degree.

Lee Everett. Screw originality. A victim of circumstance whose motivations you can understand.

On a less serious note, James Ramirez from Modern Warfare 2. I mean one small thing to do after another!

 

[takemeouttotheblack]

Stacker Pentecost in Pacific Rim. Being in charge of something where everyone's pursuing their own agendas, and you're just trying to get the job done despite people trying to sabotage them. And still remaining honourable and principled. And kicking ass.