Most video games star white males.
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ITT: Martin Luther King Jr. is spinning in his grave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness_%28race%29
I literally have never factored the race of the protagonist in my buying decisions, and neither have 98% of everyone else here.
It's no more or less racist than stating "Most people in China are Oriental." "Most residents of Africa are black." "Most Scandinavians are white." "Most Japanese game shows feature Japanese contestants." "Most video game protagonists are white."
When non-whites make video games, the racial diversity jumps significantly. As is, ANY producer of ANY medium ALWAYS makes most of their protagonists their own skin color. Call it white privilege if you must, but...
<spoiler=Various popular video game studio heads>http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1927/211971-jade_raymond_300_266520g_large.jpg
Jade Raymond of Ubisoft Toronto
http://www.gamergourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Bobby-Kotick.jpg
Bobby Kotick of Activision
http://www.igniq.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GabeNewell_230211.gif
Gabe Newell of Valve
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/5497/228414-rand_miller_large.jpg
Rand Miller of Cyan Worlds
etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness_%28race%29
I literally have never factored the race of the protagonist in my buying decisions, and neither have 98% of everyone else here.
It's no more or less racist than stating "Most people in China are Oriental." "Most residents of Africa are black." "Most Scandinavians are white." "Most Japanese game shows feature Japanese contestants." "Most video game protagonists are white."
When non-whites make video games, the racial diversity jumps significantly. As is, ANY producer of ANY medium ALWAYS makes most of their protagonists their own skin color. Call it white privilege if you must, but...
<spoiler=Various popular video game studio heads>http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/1927/211971-jade_raymond_300_266520g_large.jpg
Jade Raymond of Ubisoft Toronto
http://www.gamergourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Bobby-Kotick.jpg
Bobby Kotick of Activision
http://www.igniq.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GabeNewell_230211.gif
Gabe Newell of Valve
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/5497/228414-rand_miller_large.jpg
Rand Miller of Cyan Worlds
etc.
Okay, so you're not so racist, it's just most of other gamers that are bigots who get the horrible heebie jeebies at the thought of playing someone of a different race or gender identity, eh?Necromancer Jim said:
I generally don't even play humans when given the choice.ms_sunlight said:
It's just that (sadly) the generic target for sales likes himself and things similar to him above all else, so it's simply better for marketing. Whether that actually holds true or not, I can't say, but marketing generally aims for the lowest common denominator of the human race.
It's telling that the main reaction in this thread is to look at the many causes of this and present them as straight-up and unequivocal excuses. There's no, "well, part of the problem is that most developers are white guys" or "we're still at the stage where white male protagonists are more marketable, but...". It's just "Demographics, so SHUT UP". "Not racist, BECAUSE OF THIS". Yeah, I think the people who campaign about these issues, spend a lot of time analyzing them, hold them close to their hearts and are actually fucking affected by them might have considered this on the level of a teenage white forumgoer before now.
Thanks for linking that. I remember watching it back when I studied one of her books for English and loving it, then went and forgot all about it until now. It's probably not going to be the wake up call most people here need, but she is one hell of an eloquent and perceptive woman.Caliostro said:
Yeah, the general lack of empathy when it comes to these issues is astounding. Women and people of color do play videogames in large numbers, even if they don't represent the majority of gamers. Does their representation not at all matter?ms_sunlight said:
I can't really think of any women who have a problem playing as a male protagonist. There are, however, many women who don't like the fact that most games have male protagonists and/or very few women in them.
Let's not pretend that the only reason that game designers normally make white men protagonists is because there aren't enough women and people of color playing them. This is a problem in entertainment media. In fact, the majority of people who watch movies are female, but most movies have male (often white, male) protagonists.
Just ugh... seriously, you're THAT obtuse? That's not racism, it would be racism if I actively made the decision not to find black women attractive because purely they're black, it just so happens the black women I've met don't tend to have the traits I find attractive, I mean have you ever seen a black Metalhead/punk/goth? I've seen ONE, who I did have the hots for, and she was a character in a TV show, (Vod from Fresh Meat just for the point), ignoring the punk point though, I'd be on Alyx from HL2 in a shot if she were real.LilithSlave said:
Oh my God, a worthless statistic that means absolutely nothing! Stop the presses! You are over sensitive to the max and should really spend your time not worrying about worthless shit.
Although if you'd like to continue to scare people with meaningless race stats then you could get a job as a social science teacher.
Although if you'd like to continue to scare people with meaningless race stats then you could get a job as a social science teacher.
...why is it a problem that most games star white males? If there's no reason for him not to be a white male...let him be a white male. If your game is set in a country with a mostly white population, and you don't consider his race to be an important factor in his character, then make him a white male, because then you don't have to concern yourself with other aspects of the story that might involve race or gender.
Oh, and how about you don't generalise every white man as the same? I fail to see Niko Bellic on the same lines as Marcus Fenix. And Assassin's Creed? Really? For one, Altair is Syrian. He's not 'white', he's Arabic. And the rest of the games are set in Italy, featuring an Italian nobleman. It would be odd if he wasn't white. Well. Mediterranean.
CJ was black because the game was about the African-American gang culture of the 90s. Dead Island features only one white protagonist, and a sports star at that. That game was meant to show the story from four very different viewpoints. Hardened cop, Chinese (I think she was Chinese, anyway) student, troubled rapper and disgraced football player. Each of a different ethnicity and spread across the two genders.
In fact, the only characters I would pass off as 'white males' for the sake of being white males are the voiceless, faceless player avatars. BioShock, for example. The protagonist's race was of no import, and so the standard Caucasian model was used.
This thread shows a clear lack of understanding of the creative process. We are not dealing with real people here. We are dealing with vehicles for a message. If GTAIV didn't want to show off the harsh reality of America, compared to its reputation abroad, then Niko would not have been Eastern European. The reason Altair isn't a white man is because that would add another facet to his character - his ethnic difference to his comrades. Which would have been irrelevant.
See. Non-whites and women have been oppressed much in the past. Fiction is all about symbolism. A fictional heroine doing heroic things is a message that women can be better than men if need be. A fictional hero doing heroic things is an action film. The white male is a blank slate. Nothing more. So there's nothing else to see here.
Oh, and how about you don't generalise every white man as the same? I fail to see Niko Bellic on the same lines as Marcus Fenix. And Assassin's Creed? Really? For one, Altair is Syrian. He's not 'white', he's Arabic. And the rest of the games are set in Italy, featuring an Italian nobleman. It would be odd if he wasn't white. Well. Mediterranean.
CJ was black because the game was about the African-American gang culture of the 90s. Dead Island features only one white protagonist, and a sports star at that. That game was meant to show the story from four very different viewpoints. Hardened cop, Chinese (I think she was Chinese, anyway) student, troubled rapper and disgraced football player. Each of a different ethnicity and spread across the two genders.
In fact, the only characters I would pass off as 'white males' for the sake of being white males are the voiceless, faceless player avatars. BioShock, for example. The protagonist's race was of no import, and so the standard Caucasian model was used.
This thread shows a clear lack of understanding of the creative process. We are not dealing with real people here. We are dealing with vehicles for a message. If GTAIV didn't want to show off the harsh reality of America, compared to its reputation abroad, then Niko would not have been Eastern European. The reason Altair isn't a white man is because that would add another facet to his character - his ethnic difference to his comrades. Which would have been irrelevant.
See. Non-whites and women have been oppressed much in the past. Fiction is all about symbolism. A fictional heroine doing heroic things is a message that women can be better than men if need be. A fictional hero doing heroic things is an action film. The white male is a blank slate. Nothing more. So there's nothing else to see here.
Screw you my Commander Shepard is a white CHICK.LilithSlave said:
I would go into a long explanation as to why this is the way it is, but I suspect that the "why" is less important to you then the outrage for the fact that it is the way it is. So in short it is the way it is. No, it isn't likely to change.
Also
Heavenly Sword
Beyond Good and Evil
Metroid Prime
Tomb Raider
Bayonetta
Portal
Lollypop Chainsaw
Mirror's Edge
Okami
Any RPGs that let you select gender.
Because anime largely takes its art style from manga. One of the first manga artists, Osamu Tezuka, was heavily influenced by Disney. So, in a sense, anime is based off of Disney.Somonah said:
Bollocks, it's probably not even a conscious decision. Creators create in their own image (or the image of what they'd like to be).LilithSlave said:
If it is a concious decision you can guarantee it's a marketing decision based on research into the target market which is largely white males.
I notice that you're not making much of deal about these supposedly racially selected characters not being female.
OMG! U r such a sxist!!!!!!!1!eleventyone!!!!!
Yes, but let's face facts. Character customization of this kind is a cop out and both of those characters are relatively blank slate characters. The same is true in any game where this sort of character customization is used. In fact both Shep, and Denton's default character designs are white men which voids this point right off the bat. The problem is that there are not enough non-white/male protagonists that are actual strong leading characters with decent writing behind them. At best, these other characters are almost always villains or sidekicks. You don't think it's a little insulting that there isn't more genuine diversity in gaming, and for that matter in the media at large? You don't think that imprints on and affects a public's perception of race and what roles a people of different races end up getting to have? Look up minstrel shows before you answer that question, unless you already know what those were.Matthew94 said:
ForgottenPr0digy said:
I was trying to think of examples of atypical protagonists as well. A Jew/greek spartan has whiter skin but he is far from the typical white (anglo american) male lead the OP was talking about. As for Kratos he is said to have dark skin but is ash white because he has been cursed to wear the ashes of his daughter and wife.
Eh that is a different kettle of fish as it is an art style and not a representative of real life. They also try to make them have a general look of races as because as far as I know skin tone wise Japanese are quite pale. The large eyes is just something they like.Somonah said:
I think they(an anime company or conglomerate) did a poll and white people associate the characters as being white while the Japanese associate them as Japanese. So I suppose the general thing tends to work.