White Guy, Brown Hair

[Smooth Operator]

Kinda shot yourself in the foot there OP, the hair at least gets switched up every so often.
Now a "30 - something white guy" thing... well that covers damn near everyone (also in movies and comics), and yes it is rather dull, but understandable because the designers are usually 30 - something white nerds who like to imagine themselves superheroes, that for once get The girl.

 

[Dendio]

Kinda shot yourself in the foot there OP, the hair at least gets switched up every so often.
Now a "30 - something white guy" thing... well that covers damn near everyone (also in movies and comics), and yes it is rather dull, but understandable because the designers are usually 30 - something white nerds who like to imagine themselves superheroes, that for once get The girl.

Eventually this discussion will drop the age restriction and the gender and just ask how many non-white protagonists have you played as the main character in a video game

My response aside from Japanese games would be Chell from portal...and thats it

 

[darlarosa]

Quite a few people ARE white guys with brown hair, why can't some video game characters also be this? If one of the common stereotypes for a western person was instead an anime esque guy with white hair and a srs face on all the time, I bet the same thread would be made about so many JRPGs.

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.

Looking at video games you'd think 90% of the world was 30-white and chiseled....and certainly that last part ain't the case(and I purposely used ain't there). It's just kind of boring after awhile...changing a character alters perspective and narrative. Think about there are some things people feel comfortable bringing up to females, or males based on their respective gender. A person could make a ginger or dumb-blonde joke about a close friend that could add levity to something serious. 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"


Back to the OP's question...not gonna lie, whenever I can make a character I make a female character who is black, with dark black hair or white hair.
In terms of premade characters there's FF7, Leon from Resident Evil 4, Left for Dead gives you choices so I change, Mario, Luigi, Link, the Agatha Christie Poirot games, Any of the protagonists in the Golden Sun series, those are all I can think of without actually looking through my collection

 

[Hazy992]

snip

>calls Americans 'mongrels'
>proceeds to call Americans racist

I hope you can see the massive hypocrisy of that statement.

 

[aestu]

>calls Americans 'mongrels'
>proceeds to call Americans racist

I hope you can see the massive hypocrisy of that statement.

There's nothing hypocritical about it. Ironic perhaps, but not hypocritical.

 

[GloatingSwine]

As a 30 something white male with brown hair*, I have to say I'm fairly bored of the same old.

Usually whenever I have the option I play as something as far removed from myself as possible, just to get some variety into my gaming.



* Well, mostly no hair, to be honest, but when I'm too lazy to shave it comes out brown.

 

[Hazy992]

>calls Americans 'mongrels'
>proceeds to call Americans racist

I hope you can see the massive hypocrisy of that statement.

There's nothing hypocritical about it. Ironic perhaps, but not hypocritical.

Calling people out for being racist then being racist yourself is absolutely hypocritical.

 

[XMark]

>calls Americans 'mongrels'
>proceeds to call Americans racist

I hope you can see the massive hypocrisy of that statement.

There's nothing hypocritical about it. Ironic perhaps, but not hypocritical.

Mixed-race people (such as myself) get really annoyed when the term "mongrel" is applied to humans. Just a heads up.

 

[aestu]

There's nothing hypocritical about it. Ironic perhaps, but not hypocritical.

Calling people out for being racist then being racist yourself is absolutely hypocritical.

You are proving my point.

"American" is a nationality - not a race.

Americans are of diverse birth, including white Americans, which typically have lineage from multiple distinct European ethnic groups. Hence, "mongrel" is a perfectly accurate term to describe these people.

And fwiw it is true of black Americans too, who typically have ancestors from several ethnic groups in Africa (hence some black Americans have the gene for steatopygia, which is actually not present in the black African populations that contributed most of the genetic material, but is endemic to another sub-group in Africa called the Khoisa). And yet, as with white Americans, what really distinguishes them is not the color of their skin but the fact they speak English and are inculated with the American culture (such as it is).

So why jump to seeing the issue through the lens of race?

Mixed-race people (such as myself) get really annoyed when the term "mongrel" is applied to humans. Just a heads up.

Why?

 

[Hazy992]

You are proving my point.

"American" is a nationality - not a race.

Americans are of diverse birth, including white Americans, which typically have lineage from multiple distinct European ethnic groups. Hence, "mongrel" is a perfectly accurate term to describe these people.

So why jump to seeing the issue through the lens of race?

No it's not, 'mongrel' typically applies to dogs so calling a group of people mongrels is just being offensive. It's like calling someone a half-breed.

I honestly don't know how you're getting away with the things you've been saying.

 

[DoPo]

how many games have you played with a non-white and/or non-brown haired human protagonist?

Lots. Can't really count them. But consider this - white skinned people usually form the majority of population where the developers have lived. Also, white people would usually form the majority of population where the game is set. Same goes for black hair, unless the game is set on the Scandinavian peninsula or something (I can't think of any games set there. Not counting Skyrim).

So you're actually asking why so many protagonists come from the majority of the population. I think we can all see why, because they are the statistically most likely. But I guess people would still complain if only blacks/Asians/blonds/whatever seemed to roam the USA in games. There is no pleasing of people.

 

[aestu]

No it's not, 'mongrel' typically applies to dogs so calling a group of people mongrels is just being offensive. It's like calling someone a half-breed.

Why do you find that offensive?

 

[Hazy992]

No it's not, 'mongrel' typically applies to dogs so calling a group of people mongrels is just being offensive. It's like calling someone a half-breed.

Why do you find that offensive?

Because you're comparing a group of people to dogs, implying they're like animals and because you see them as 'half-breed' it implies some level of inferiority.

 

[Xpheyel]

Bastion; brown guy, white hair?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You are proving my point.

"American" is a nationality - not a race.

Americans are of diverse birth, including white Americans, which typically have lineage from multiple distinct European ethnic groups. Hence, "mongrel" is a perfectly accurate term to describe these people.

So why jump to seeing the issue through the lens of race?

No it's not, 'mongrel' typically applies to dogs so calling a group of people mongrels is just being offensive. It's like calling someone a half-breed.

I honestly don't know how you're getting away with the things you've been saying.

neither do I.

Zeel has been necro'd into this thing, it seems like.

OT: while "white guy" definitely is prevalent in some cases, i don't think the brown hair thing is...at all really. i think your mistaking black+Brown hair as just brown, as there are lots when you combine both those groups, otherwise there are lots of variety among hair color. (not so many gingers...but that's for obvious reasons. *joking*)

not to mention when you talk about jrpg's and how most characters are called "white", when in fact, most of asia would call them all asian, their are such debates like that, and i think your doing one swoop generalization for things like that.

 

[Hazy992]

You are proving my point.

"American" is a nationality - not a race.

Americans are of diverse birth, including white Americans, which typically have lineage from multiple distinct European ethnic groups. Hence, "mongrel" is a perfectly accurate term to describe these people.

So why jump to seeing the issue through the lens of race?

No it's not, 'mongrel' typically applies to dogs so calling a group of people mongrels is just being offensive. It's like calling someone a half-breed.

I honestly don't know how you're getting away with the things you've been saying.

neither do I.

Zeel has been necro'd into this thing, it seems like.

I know, I thought the mods might have come down on him

 

[aestu]

Why do you find that offensive?

Because you're comparing a group of people to dogs, implying they're like animals and because you see them as 'half-breed' it implies some level of inferiority.

Human beings are, by definition, animals.

Animal populations with a broad genetic base are, all other things being equal, the hardiest and most viable.

 

[Hazy992]

Why do you find that offensive?

Because you're comparing a group of people to dogs, implying they're like animals and because you see them as 'half-breed' it implies some level of inferiority.

Human beings are, by definition, animals.

Animal populations with a broad genetic base are, all other things being equal, the hardiest and most viable.

You know what I meant by that, stop being deliberately obtuse

 

[aestu]

I know what you meant. I am pointing out that what you meant isn't logical.

You are trying to claim that my claims or the terminology used to express those claims are offensive; I am pointing out that simply isn't true because what is said is benign.

 

[XMark]

If I went around calling black people Negros it would be the correct terminology, but they would be quite offended for similar reasons.