Weird Cultural Trends in Games

[-Drifter-]

What are some strange cultural trends that you've noticed sneaking their way into your games?

There are few I've noticed in Japanese games. Firstly, in games where the characters are human, everyone is white, and usually they look very American. Any non-white characters are either very pale brown people with very white features, or stereotypes. [http://www.ffnet.org/images/barret3.jpg] Not that North America is a whole lot better in this regard, just replace "extremely pale, pretty people" with "somewhat tan, battle scarred people (usually with stubble.)"

Another one is Japan's portrayal of women, usually as extremely awkward, high voiced (to the point that you'd think they were trying to make a game only dogs can hear,) prone to bouts of what I can only call squeaking, and mentally 5 years old. This is probably the trend I hate the most. Once again, American games aren't a whole lot better, what with their "sassy" action chicks who tend to be equal parts annoying ***** and useless idiot, but while irritating, it isn't nearly as creepy in it's implications.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I'm beginning to hate the focus on making games "cinematic", and story-and-character driven.

I don't know if this is a cultural thing, really, but it has led to RPGs becoming more shallow, with a much stronger action focus. Case in point, Mass Effect 2. Part of my love for Dragon Age: Origins is that it represents a rarity. A game that doesn't shy away from tactical, party based combat. But it's mechanics are easier to grasp then say, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Party based, stat oriented, tactical combat really only still exists in JRPGs and MMOs, these days. And JRPGs are just turning into grind-fests, removing any of the strategy that previously existed.

And the previously basically story-light genres trying (and often failing) to deliver compelling stories.

I don't need cutscenes in a fucking Mario game!

And I don't need you to try and have a plot, Unreal Tournament 3.

Actually, I think these are cultural. Western games are focusing more and more on story. And Japanese games are focused more and more on grinding, length, and scoring systems. Japan fucking loves leaderboards. Vanquish and it's short length don't matter, because people will be playing it over and over and over trying to set new high scores.

 

[peter-lavalle]

The polarizing valley that's trying to grow between the "Artsy and Difficult to Understand Indie" edge and the "Mainstream is for Real Men" side?

 

[Pirakahunter788]

Probably over hype now-a-days. When you have a game, that shows you all the stuff that ISN'T in the game itself, or a bunch overly awesome trailers they suck you in, and spit you back out before you can say "WTF?"

The Phrase of the Day is.... Cultural Clusterf*ck.

 

[Melian]

More recent annoying trends: shooters that do most of the shooting for you, "RPGs" that are actually just a string of non-interactive thirty minute cutscenes (as Onyx mentioned), the way the Gruff Marine stereotype has metastasized to every other action game outside Japan, the continued overexposure of zombies.

Yes! Why all the zombies in every single game??? Why?

 

[mireko]

Another one is Japan's portrayal of women, usually as extremely awkward, high voiced (to the point that you'd think they were trying to make a game only dogs can hear,) prone to bouts of what I can only call squeaking, and mentally 5 years old. This is probably the trend I hate the most. Once again, American games aren't a whole lot better, what with their "sassy" action chicks who tend to be equal parts annoying ***** and useless idiot. Irritating to be sure, but infinitely less creepy at least.

I would agree with you if you were just talking about intrusive fanservice or overall misogyny (not singling anybody out, OTHER M), but squeaky voices?

If you mean dubs, then I can see this being a problem when the dub actress tries to imitate the original's voice, especially in last-gen games (Mistral in .hack...). In Japanese audio, however, this doesn't strike me as problematic at all. Their voices have a higher pitch, sure, but it's not usually a sharp tone. It's more of a soft sweeping sound, like a cloud of all-girls' schools and homo-eroticism, and I don't see why that would annoy anyone. [small]But apparently it does, so maybe I'm stupid or something.[/small]

 

[theonlyblaze2]

More recent annoying trends: shooters that do most of the shooting for you, "RPGs" that are actually just a string of non-interactive thirty minute cutscenes (as Onyx mentioned), the way the Gruff Marine stereotype has metastasized to every other action game outside Japan, the continued overexposure of zombies.

Yes! Why all the zombies in every single game??? Why?

BECUZ ZOMBIES IS AMAZING!!

OT: I am tired of all the gritty, chest-high cover games.

 

[-Drifter-]

Another one is Japan's portrayal of women, usually as extremely awkward, high voiced (to the point that you'd think they were trying to make a game only dogs can hear,) prone to bouts of what I can only call squeaking, and mentally 5 years old. This is probably the trend I hate the most. Once again, American games aren't a whole lot better, what with their "sassy" action chicks who tend to be equal parts annoying ***** and useless idiot. Irritating to be sure, but infinitely less creepy at least.

I would agree with you if you were just talking about intrusive fanservice or overall misogyny (not singling anybody out, OTHER M), but squeaky voices?

If you mean dubs, then I can see this being a problem when the dub actress tries to imitate the original's voice, especially in last-gen games (Mistral in .hack...). In Japanese audio, however, this doesn't strike me as problematic at all. Their voices have a higher pitch, sure, but it's not usually a sharp tone. It's more of a soft sweeping sound, like a cloud of all-girls' schools and homo-eroticism, and I don't see why that would annoy anyone. [small]But apparently it does, so maybe I'm stupid or something.[/small]

Try watching all the way through this without cringing once. Oh god, number 3... (Note that not all of them are in the original Japanese. They're still annoying as fuck, though.)

 

[Melian]

BECUZ ZOMBIES IS AMAZING!!

OT: I am tired of all the gritty, chest-high cover games.

Noooo, noooo (Well, except for the Half-Life 2 zombies and the ones from Plants vs zombies), they're awful and gross! XD Gimme demons or... skeletons or something any day!

And yes, so tired of every gruff-marine game. Have you played one, you've played them all. Seriously.

 

[Hashime]

The voices are the main reason why I cannot stand japanese games / movies.
They are painful.

 

[mireko]

Try watching all the way through this without cringing once. Oh god, number 3... (Note that not all of them are in the original Japanese. They're still annoying as fuck, though.)

Those voices aren't annoying. The characters may be annoying, but I haven't seen those shows so it's a little hard for me to say.

The music between every fucking clip was by far the worst part.

 

[mireko]

In Japanese audio, however, this doesn't strike me as problematic at all. Their voices have a higher pitch, sure, but it's not usually a sharp tone.

In the Japanese language, female speech is typically higher-pitched than male speech. But anime routinely exaggerates this to an absurd degree even in the original Japanese. If you watch Japanese live-action films this tendency is nowhere near as universally grating.

(EDIT: Ehhh... I just took a good look at your username, and hope I didn't just try to lecture someone who's actually Japanese about the Japanese language...)

Lol, I'm Norwegian, not Japanese. Don't worry.

Anime does exaggerate (visually, audibly, etc), but I've never found it to be especially grating. A lot of the examples people point to (for example, the video above) are supposed to be over-the-top and comical.

But even in cases where it really is exaggerated across the board ('K-ON!' being a good example), it's still not "squeaky". There's more to sound than pitch.

 

[Ranorak]

Another one is Japan's portrayal of women, usually as extremely awkward, high voiced (to the point that you'd think they were trying to make a game only dogs can hear,) prone to bouts of what I can only call squeaking, and mentally 5 years old. This is probably the trend I hate the most. Once again, American games aren't a whole lot better, what with their "sassy" action chicks who tend to be equal parts annoying ***** and useless idiot. Irritating to be sure, but infinitely less creepy at least.

I would agree with you if you were just talking about intrusive fanservice or overall misogyny (not singling anybody out, OTHER M), but squeaky voices?

If you mean dubs, then I can see this being a problem when the dub actress tries to imitate the original's voice, especially in last-gen games (Mistral in .hack...). In Japanese audio, however, this doesn't strike me as problematic at all. Their voices have a higher pitch, sure, but it's not usually a sharp tone. It's more of a soft sweeping sound, like a cloud of all-girls' schools and homo-eroticism, and I don't see why that would annoy anyone. [small]But apparently it does, so maybe I'm stupid or something.[/small]

Try watching all the way through this without cringing once. Oh god, number 3... (Note that not all of them are in the original Japanese. They're still annoying as fuck, though.)

Just to point out the fact that the other side can be just as true.
In your video, the Bleach part, the boy with the white/silver hair....yeah, he's voiced by a woman.
(AKA Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist)