Poll: Protagonists of a different race/gender

[RedHighwind07]

I don't really care, since I don't project onto my character much, but that's just me. Also, my favourite protagonist is Carl Johnson from GTA San Andreas. I'm pretty much indifferent to race and gender because I don't give a toss. Although I have to laugh at all the people who wouldn't play as an Arabic or black person. Is not being able to readily identify to a character because of their ethnicity or beliefs really a cause for not playing something? I don't get why people are like "Ohhh, I can't project onto the character if he isn't Mr. Generic White Ruggedly Handsome Hero No.354". Video Games aren't about that.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I do not remember playing a Turian, a Krogan, an Asari, a Salarian, etc. You did not get to play any of these races/species.

Those are different species, not races. You could play a human Shepard of any race by using the charater creator to make him/her black, white, oriental, etc. You could not play as a species other than human.

Humans are a singular race biologically identical. Racism is a misnomer as humans are one species with no races. Thus your comment is completely invalid because you had no idea of what I was talking about.

If you're going to try and get scientific, then you should do so accurately. There is one human species (homo sapiens) since our ancestors killed off the others, and many different races [http://www.racialcompact.com/racesofhumanity.html], or sub-species.

There are clear and obvious physiological and anthopological differences between the different human races that can be seen with the naked eye. If you get to the genetic level, there will be further differences that explain the above. If you cannot see the difference with your eyes alone, between someone from India, Sweden, Japan and Kenya for example, then you need to see an optician.

If you refer to "race" as a social construct, then I would agree with you that it should not exist.

 

[MammothBlade]

There are so many potential variations between characters of any race and gender, it's hard to tell. I would rather play as a White male or female, leaning towards female, but then it depends what they're like. Are their attitude, dress sense, and hairstyle appealling to me? I couldn't see myself as a naked White homeless person with a mohawk. At the same time, I don't want to play as a stereotypical "ghetto" Black protagonist, but when characters break the mould (such as Louis from Left4Dead), I find it easier if not quite as easy as a character of my own race.

However, I don't play to represent myself ingame, but a different, alternate reality version of myself. I often wonder what it would be like if I were a girl, or someone with different personal traits. I don't import "myself" into an rpg character, I make either an idealised, alternate reality, or more exaggerated version of myself. Or sometimes I make a completely different person entirely, albeit someone with whom I can sympathise.

 

[krazykidd]

Heh , i was actually thinking of making a thread similar to this , anyways my idea theif OP( lol joke) i'm black and i never usually play white female if yhe character is customizable , i also make her look and give her my girlfriends name for the lols . If it is just a pick male or female game i usuallt chose female . My girlfriend found it weird that all my WoW characters are female to which i respond , it's just a game i don't care. I don't see what the big deal is anyways . I have no clue what the big deal about immersion is , i made a thread on this , playing a different race/ sex doesn't change if i like a game or not so. I guess i could see why people prefer to play a character that resembles them but i'm not that picky, i don't think of myself as the character i realize it's just a game.

 

[everythingbeeps]

I play as a female whenever given the choice. It's easy because I've never been someone who needs to "relate" to the character in a video game. I don't put myself in the story. I see it as a game about a person, and I've found that many of these narratives are just more interesting with a female at the lead. Particularly games like Mass Effect or Saints Row 2, where said female is a supreme badass.

 

[Saulkar]

I do not remember playing a Turian, a Krogan, an Asari, a Salarian, etc. You did not get to play any of these races/species.

Those are different species, not races. You could play a human Shepard of any race by using the charater creator to make him/her black, white, oriental, etc. You could not play as a species other than human.

Humans are a singular race biologically identical. Racism is a misnomer as humans are one species with no races. Thus your comment is completely invalid because you had no idea of what I was talking about.

If you're going to try and get scientific, then you should do so accurately. There is one human species (homo sapiens) since our ancestors killed off the others, and many different races [http://www.racialcompact.com/racesofhumanity.html], or sub-species.

There are clear and obvious physiological and anthopological differences between the different human races that can be seen with the naked eye. If you get to the genetic level, there will be further differences that explain the above. If you cannot see the difference with your eyes alone, between someone from India, Sweden, Japan and Kenya for example, then you need to see an optician.

If you refer to "race" as a social construct, then I would agree with you that it should not exist.

Oh sue me for making a mistake.

 

[ThePirateMan]

I'm perfectly fine with playing multi-sexual green people from outer space.

Black women are just a step too far for me though.

In all seriousness, I don't mind either way. Then again, I rarely play games where I can fully see the protagonists (FPSes), where there even is one (Strategy, among others) or when the immersion would be near or completely non-existent either way (Shoot-em ups and other genres lacking in "srns bsns").

 

[McMarbles]

I'll play as anything if the game's good enough.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

nope doesn't bug me at all really.

the ONLY one that bugs me, in the slightest, is playing as an orc/dwarf, idk what the hell it is but i don't like being one at all. (probably because i don't like playing a super bash/brawl character in the first place)

but besides that as long as the protagonist is interesting i probably couldn't give a flying fuck.

 

[chadachada123]

I like playing as either white females or kinda-dark-ish males (not white, not black, but a nice tan brown). I personally can't stand playing as a black or Asiatic person. At all. Exceptions include GTA San Andreas. CJ was cool in that.

I'm a white male, in any case.

 

[nekoali]

For the record, I am a white human female. I never had much problem playing a different race or a different ethnicity. However, I do have some difficulty adjusting to playing male characters in most cases. In games where you make your own character, mine is nearly always a young to middle aged female. About 1/2 to 2/3 my characters are Caucasian and if I am given a non-human option I will take it about 3/4 times. But I will almost never choose to play a male (not counting my one cross dressing character in City of Heroes here.. Most of the time he looks like and uses the female model anyway.

Games where you play a fixed protagonist usually throw me a bit in the beginning. While playing RAGE, I have to keep reminding myself that enemies shouting 'He's over there!' mean they are talking about me. At the start of the game, I kept having the urge to look over my shoulder to see who they were talking about...

 

[Saulkar]

I do not remember playing a Turian, a Krogan, an Asari, a Salarian, etc. You did not get to play any of these races/species.

Those are different species, not races. You could play a human Shepard of any race by using the charater creator to make him/her black, white, oriental, etc. You could not play as a species other than human.

Humans are a singular race biologically identical. Racism is a misnomer as humans are one species with no races. Thus your comment is completely invalid because you had no idea of what I was talking about.

If you're going to try and get scientific, then you should do so accurately. There is one human species (homo sapiens) since our ancestors killed off the others, and many different races [http://www.racialcompact.com/racesofhumanity.html], or sub-species.

There are clear and obvious physiological and anthopological differences between the different human races that can be seen with the naked eye. If you get to the genetic level, there will be further differences that explain the above. If you cannot see the difference with your eyes alone, between someone from India, Sweden, Japan and Kenya for example, then you need to see an optician.

If you refer to "race" as a social construct, then I would agree with you that it should not exist.

Oh one last thing I forgot to mention is that I often use race and species interchangibly through force of habit even though I know their true meaning. A person early in the thread mentioned that he did not enjoy playing humans in games because he already is one and likes to shake things up by playing different species. I agreed with him and commented on how I was dissapointed that it was only in Mass Effect 3 that you would finally be able to play one of the alien races. Because I said races instead of species and did not use the word alien someone thought I was saying you could not configure your character to appear as a different ethnic race and called me out on it. I decided to be playfully snarky and give a faux scientific lesson upon the difference between species and races with the limited knowledge that I had. XD

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

I instinctivly always chose a male. It's not that my female side doesn't get along with Portal's Chell, in fact it was a very nice experience but if given the choice:
gender => male; race => whatever from squishy tentacle supermonster to furry space alien.

Oh and for the record: I'm an alien parasite residing inside a white male chauvinistic mysogenic philanthropist.