White Guy, Brown Hair
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Hey it's better than that period we went through a few years back where every male protagonist was white and bald. At least having hair is an improvement.
Designers know their audience, mostly white males who enjoy projecting themselves in characters. There's always a reason for tropes dear friends. Unless it's Daikatana good God don't talk about Daikatana.
I know. I said it in one of my other posts. But a lot of people seem to miss that you play the virus.LastGreatBlasphemer said:
It may not accurately reflect the world (in fact if it tried to, one on three games would feature either an indian or chinese protagonist) but that is irrelevant. While games can and have told often interesting tales and made interesting observations of social phenomena, you nailed it at the end with the generic statement. Video game protagonists are usually mute "everymen" onto which the player can project. Being white or black in most FPSs is irrelevant. You aren't a character, just a pair of arms and a gun. In many other games we have character creators allowing us to portray any character we desire.darlarosa said:It's not that protagonists or characters can't be. It's that most of the "western market" is made up of Player Characters that are this, and thats honestly not an accurate reflection of the world in which we live.
The way a world may approach the generic 30-something year old brown haired dude could be completely different to how the world would treat a 30 something year old black guy, or a 50 year old white guy. Subtle differences can add something rich to the story. to quote a friend of mine "white people are so generic"
For the ones where we play a fixed character like Leon Kennedy or Adam Jensenn, what actual difference would it make to the game in any way if they had different hair or skin colour? In both these cases, being female would change the nature of the "save the girl" part of the story, but race and hair colour neither define the character nor make a difference.
Personally I don't really care who the player-character is. I'll have fun with the character creator if it's available, play the game twice as male/female if there's a difference (such as Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, other BioWare game) but I don't see why skin colour makes any difference.
I would presume that with the majority of games developers (in the West) and players being predominantly white males, games will cater for this demographic more than any other. Why though are people complaining about this and not about too much Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Jason Statham or Tom Cruise films? Are you complaining that video games don't have "token black guy" or "gay best friend"? I don't want political correctness in my video games thanks.
Firstly I don't really play FPS's....and you just explained part of why. They bore me really and thats my two cents on thatKingsGambit said:It may not accurately reflect the world (in fact if it tried to, one on three games would feature either an indian or chinese protagonist) but that is irrelevant. While games can and have told often interesting tales and made interesting observations of social phenomena, you nailed it at the end with the generic statement. Video game protagonists are usually mute "everymen" onto which the player can project. Being white or black in most FPSs is irrelevant. You aren't a character, just a pair of arms and a gun. In many other games we have character creators allowing us to portray any character we desire.darlarosa said:It's not that protagonists or characters can't be. It's that most of the "western market" is made up of Player Characters that are this, and thats honestly not an accurate reflection of the world in which we live.
The way a world may approach the generic 30-something year old brown haired dude could be completely different to how the world would treat a 30 something year old black guy, or a 50 year old white guy. Subtle differences can add something rich to the story. to quote a friend of mine "white people are so generic"
For the ones where we play a fixed character like Leon Kennedy or Adam Jensenn, what actual difference would it make to the game in any way if they had different hair or skin colour? In both these cases, being female would change the nature of the "save the girl" part of the story, but race and hair colour neither define the character nor make a difference.
Personally I don't really care who the player-character is. I'll have fun with the character creator if it's available, play the game twice as male/female if there's a difference (such as Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, other BioWare game) but I don't see why skin colour makes any difference.
I would presume that with the majority of games developers (in the West) and players being predominantly white males, games will cater for this demographic more than any other. Why though are people complaining about this and not about too much Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Jason Statham or Tom Cruise films? Are you complaining that video games don't have "token black guy" or "gay best friend"? I don't want political correctness in my video games thanks.
Also I do complain about the generic leads in Hollywood movies. Often in fact if you want the truth. This is a society based on White male default. In video games, books, movies white is often translated to mean average. For example in video games where you can build you're own character, for example let's go with any of the Bioware games you just mentioned the default is a white male. Actually your own statements prove my point that the inclusion of minorities is usally considered tokenism instead of just inclusion. It's not about political correctness, which isn't a dirty word to begin with. It's about the fact that white and male is always the default. You can argue "well devs are mostly white and male so that makes sense", but we have asari, elves, orcs, dragons, mutants, etc. but rarely is there a group of people that could be synonmous with Asian peoples, or black peoples, etc. Then people turn around when others complain about the default of whiteness, or maleness, and say "But you can relate to this person regardless of skin color or gender right?". Well, yes, but why can't white males relate to other people? Do others always have to accept this as standard. I say no. I say HELL NO.
You're just not even comprehending what I was saying.Race, hair color, nation of origin, and all don't define a character, BUT they do contribute to how that character interacts with the world and how they view themselves. In a game where you play as a man of middle eastern descent in a western military you would experience different interactions, and be viewed differently by others for instance. The personal story of that soldier could be it's post 9/11 and he has to prove himself as patriotic for instance. There is no reason why a game can't have the complexities that exist in real life revolving around ethnicity or nation origin or anything. If someone developed a REALLY interesting GTA style game, you're ethnic group would be the primary indicator of you're gang. If you're playing the old game Harvester changing Steve to being Italian would make a heck of a difference(and a slightly more offensive game). Maybe it's hard to understand but humans adjust themselves according to what we've been taught about others overtly and subtly.
In certain situations race is irrelevant and is not useful for discussion in every game. If Leon Kennedy was black or white it would not matter in the context of that game for the most part. Personally I think aspects of the audience would be less comfortable with Ashley flirting with him at the end of the game, and I think their relationship through out the game would be interpreted differently. To say that such changes have no effect on the character or world of certain video games is to be blunt a statement of ignorance or naivety
If I named all that came to my head the list would be pages long so I'll just name some obvious ones.
James Heller, a black man with black hair.
Sam B, a black bald man.
Leon Kennedy, a white man with blonde hair.
Garalt, a white man with white hair.
Every character I've ever made in a game with customization.
James Heller, a black man with black hair.
Sam B, a black bald man.
Leon Kennedy, a white man with blonde hair.
Garalt, a white man with white hair.
Every character I've ever made in a game with customization.
QFTGriffon_Hawke179 said:
I like the idea of more black, or native american, or female protagonists. If people are starting to really crave them, they'll get made.
I find it interesting people complain that society leans to whites in default.Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing if we lean towards not giving a fuck about race. I am pro not giving a fuck about things that don't matter. But perhaps, move to a society where it isn't? You can go to Japan where Asian males run the shit. Or China, Korea, etc. It's not our fault we were born the majority here, you damned racists!
