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Lack of (Human) Racial Diversity In Games!
_Entropy_
Member Posts: 9
edit: Honestly, even I think this post I wrote is stupid. There really is a decent amount of diversity in most of today's games. I don't expect games to just stick black people in it all over the place, that would just be silly and innapropriate. All I'm really frustrated about is that I've never come across a black character that I like (besides a few of the ones I've created in mmorpg's). It would be nice to be able to adore a character that looks a little more like myself. I figured if there were more black (and other minority races) I could finally find one that I coudl love. Anyways, so what if games have mostly whites and asians for their characters, that's because they make up the majority of the the people that play the games and/or make them. My post was a bit racist too, as I generalized white people in it.
I don't even care anymore really. All that matters it the human race!!!! HELL YEAH!!! hahah....I'm so stupid. Peace out.
/edit
Is anyone else upset that in most video games (at least in all of my favorite ones) all the cool (human) main characters are always white? I was watchin an episode of The Boondocks, which btw Adult Swim rarely shows and most of the jackass hardcore adult swim fans think is the worst show on Adult Swim (prolly cuz they're all too white to appreciate it's value and uniqueness), where they showed Huey and his brother as really cool anime-samurai-martial artist characters and I thought 'man, I wish there were actually some black characters in anime or in my favorite video games.'
Now, I'm black so of course I'd like to see some cool black characters that I could love; but I also think that other races of video game players should be represented more too. I also know that some games do have black characters - but on the rare occasion that they do, they're always retarded...at least in my favorite games. Final Fantasy VII had Barrett...I don't think I need to explain how lame and sterotypical Barrett was. I think Sephiroth shoulda been black... having nothing else about him changed - just made black. In EverQuest the black people had obnoxiously large foreheads - wtf was up with that. At least they were the most intelligent race though. And in EQII they stop being black and pretty much turn into alien-looking creatures...again, wtf. WoW has no black humans. Guild Wars lets you make a black character but I've yet to see a single NPC, or even PC, who is black. Oblivion has a black human race but I didn't like that game much.
As for like other races like hispanic, middle-eastern, indian, and etc. they're like non-existant. Anyways...yeah. /rant.
Comments
You're comparing fantasy, which is based on asian and european medieaval culture, to modern society. It's not that simple. Blacks were in those day's living (probably happily) in africa and some of it's surrounding regions. But where the basis for these fantasyworlds go, which as i stated are usually based on european or asian cultures, there were none.
I understand what you mean that 'it wouldnt hurt to have the choice now would it'? But that's not true, it would severly alter the fantasyworld's own laws of reality, it's like a dream where if it differs too much from your logic, you will feel disturbed and most likely wake up.
What i'm saying is that it would hurt the ability to get yourself imersed into the game and ultimatly and more important it would hurt sales. Now if you compare these fantasy games with the games with modern or sci-fi settings there are usually plenty of black people, because black people are a part of our modern culture.
It's simple as that really, like it or not...
*edit*
i'll give you an extreme example to illustrate my point. Imagine a movie about Nelson Mandela... In the movie he's played by a white man... Need i go on? I feel weird just writing that :P
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth." - Henry Mencken
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." - Steven Weinberg
"And what would you do with a brain if you had one?" - Wizard of Oz
now ypur judging on games you like,on star wars some of the jedi are black,and i love olivion and morowind has reduard. rdguard are crazy fighters and smart,it seems to me that you judge on games that ar based on other cultures,like that one guy said
Besides most of the games here are mad in america.with some exceptions,america is mainly white and usually whit game creates make ggames because we americans are usually racist(im an exception..just try to go around my house and make one racist comment wihtout dying)sot they give most of they advance jobs to whites who have studied white history. yes sad but true thats he reason why
You just gotta look at the context of the game. But games are starting to make new trends. More sci-fi is starting to come out, so you'll probably end up seeing a lot of diversity. If not, then aspire to become a game designer. There's your motivation.
i made a black bald paladin in WoW....
I am hoping that in AoC there will be a lot of diversity in character creation. I want to be like Wilt Chamberlin in the movie
In EQ1, the Erudites had large foreheads so that you could visualize them as intellectuals. They were still a cool race, in my opinion. True that SOE messed them up in EQII, but you could at least make a black human (I had several). I had black human characters in WoW, too. Final Fantasy VII had at least once character...that's more than any of the other Final Fantasy games have, so you should be grateful.
SWG and COV/COH are the best games I've seen as far as creative totally diverse looking characters. You can make a character look hispanic, indian, etc. if you wanted to in those games.
But otherwise - you sound a lot like me. I also want to see more blacks in my anime, RPGs and fantasy stories (and movies too). I don't want to hear that mess about fantasy being about "whites and asians" only....it is fantasy, those in creative charge can make the characters look anyway they want. I mean come on, there are giants, dragons, fairies, and people that can fly in these games - does having characters with brown skin actually hurt the "REALITY" of the fantasy that much? Ha ha - I personally think not.
What am I doing to remedy this? Starting to write my own fantasy stories. Who knows, maybe some gaming studio will hire me someday.
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well one of the biggest games: GTA: San Andreas had a main character that was black. now i know that he was created as a sterotype gangsta, but still for a company to make a game where a black character was the main character is progressive. in my opinion i would say cj is one of the most bad ass characters in a game too. signet in MGS3 was also black and he was responsible for most some of the technology used by snake and even assisted snake by informing with his knowledge. don't forget edie gordo in tekken as well. he is only of the most bad ass characters in a fighting game ever created.
I know where your comming from and it's slowly changing (I think). I'm black too. I know most games just had token black guys, but not much of a main character. The first black character I have ever noticed was Barret in FF7 and he had a nice peice of the pie taking part in the game (I would have to say Street of Rage games too).
A lot of games these days really do star white guys when there are very few that star black guys. I remember there was a lot of hate before San Andreas was released that most white guys didn't want to play becuase the main character was black and it took place (well the home) in the hood.
Think about it this way. In the whole line up of games from this year's E3, what games had you star as a black character and what games were you able to make/play as black guys?
I know that in Fable, you couldn't customize a black guy becuase the devs said lighting really didnt work out (that had to be a lie when characters can have paint on the face).
Other than asians and white, there is really nothing much else that is making a breakthrough. I know about PREY and that has a good feel to it. There wasn't even a black guy in Call of Duty. I can't even remember a high rated war game with a black in it.
Now the movie industry....
Overall, the majority these days is white. If only developers were a little expermental (espically the japanese), they could get in more sales. The Final Fantasy Series after 7 has been pretty mixed nationalty wise which is good. If I ever get into the industry, I would like to change this wave of noticable white video game characters.
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
But It's funny that someone says that it would take away from the immersion of a "fantasy" game if there was black people in it.... You know since we need to stick to the the empiricle truths of the times and keep a strict regiment of dwarfs, elves and orcs... Which are totallly true to medievel times..
The reason that there aren't more black "races" in fantasy games is because Orcs already fill the place of Black people... which was probably what the writers in the 50's were thinking of... Think of what people think of stereotypical black in those days... They were strong.... Violent.. Not very smart.... big.... large features.... fought amongst themselves .... very instinctive... Clumsy... animals..... Its sad.. to think that people would think of me that way in those days..
But when i think to where they got the idea of orcs from.... And the time period in which they were made... Someone brought that up to me... and it has just stuck..... And it makes sense..
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I think how they're working races into most games nowadays (not just MMO's) is fine the way it is going.
Speaking of... anybody play the Prey demo yet? Being a Cherokee, I loved it. :P
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-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
TBH i think this is one of the most pointless whines i've come across in some time. there are plenty of black people characters throughout single player games (too many to mention right now), and as for MMO's there's ALWAYS an option to play a black character.
Infact, TBH i was personally quite annoyed that in EQ1, if you were an Erudite, you HAD to be black (i personally would quite like to have played a white erudite). But you don't see me complaining about it, do you?
You can make pretty much any race you like in an MMO, be it chinese, indian, whatever.. It's easily doable with different skin tones etc.
I find your line about "In EverQuest the black
people had obnoxiously large foreheads - wtf was up with that. At least
they were the most intelligent race though." quite offensive, you seem to be suggesting that black people should always be portrayed as more intelligent than others in games, I'm not saying black people can't be intelligent, but you are quite blatently claiming one race is superior to another (which in any case is nonsense).
I really find it irritating when people (of ANY race) go out of their way to take offense to quite obviously non-offensive things.
MMORPG's are about escaping from reality not dragging the whole thing along with you into a 'GAME' and forcing PC views on other people, you can seen at lot of this sort of thing happening in WoW for example with the infamous removal of the 'Maine Coone' cat as a pet, or people wanting to proclaim Gay Pride. They are games the Real World should not influence them at all. The whole country is headed back to the puritanical times of the 1700's. Before long we'll be having witch burnings because the religuous right demand it !
I'm all for diversity but please please keep it out of gaming, don't like the game don't play it, but don't try to mould it into something you want without at least considering other people who come to the games to escape the real world and just socialize with friends, MMIO's are the one are in life where it shouldn't and doesn't need to matter what your age/sexual preferemce/race/sex are its all anonymous peole will react to you purely based on your gameplay.
If'n you wants success
In yo F.. P S
Then you must use the black man more
And the white devil less!
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Can we get anal over everything? Please? Trust me when I say, with the bad publicity games have been getting these days due to violence, that last thing you need is a black guy running around shooting people. Notice, Grand Theft Auto didn't get any bad publicity (it actually only got GOOD publicity) until San Andreas came out and you played a black guy. Now, I'm not racist, but politicians and the "people in charge" are (for the most part).
Do I think its a bad idea... no. I just don't think it'll get the positive results you're looking for. Why? Because somebody is bound and destined to scream racism and sue whatever company portrays black people in a light they find inappropriate... let alone the voice over. I'm not saying every black person will scream racism, but it only takes a few (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton) to ruin something for everybody... and... looking at how they handled Hurricane Katrina... they'd just use video games to get their names known in another political circle.
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Certainly racial diversity is lacking in MMORPGs. While its true that if a game takes place in Africa the NPCs and PCs will most likely be primarily Black and a game that takes place in Asia will have mainly Asian characters, a game that takes place in a fantasy world can contain any race it's creators want, real or imaginary. In a fantasy world anything is possible.
I have yet to see an MMORPG that properly represents me racially. The closest game that has come to do this is the Tiger Woods golf series. It would be wonderful if a massive multi-player online role playing game offered such customization.
My suggestion: Contact the developers via email, pre-paid comment cards and official game forums. Let them know how you feel and what you would like to see in an MMORPG.
I personally would like to see an MMORPG that takes place in the old west. Or, a fantasy world similar to the old west.
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Entropy you are the racist... Your statements are ignorant and selfish. It shouldn't matter if the hero character is black, white, asian, middle eastern, whatever... You should enjoy the game for what it is. The moment you start looking at what color people are thats the moment you become prejudice and racist. Making everything equally colored everywere just makes things more racist if you think about it, the best thing for humanity is not to look at the color of the skin at all, if you make things equal your just accepting the fact that socitey is racist and your making it all equal to give everyone a fake sense of happiness. A real an truely non-racist person wouldn't really care because they accept the fact that race has nothing to do with anything, they accept the fact that they don't care if its a black or white person running things, they look if the person is doing a good job not if the person is black or white. This is what Martin Luther King Jr. taught.
I think how they're working races into most games nowadays (not just MMO's) is fine the way it is going.
Speaking of... anybody play the Prey demo yet? Being a Cherokee, I loved it. :P
I agree with the point you are trying to make, but the reason why you disagree with me doesn't coincide with what I was saying. Take Everquest, for example. It is a world called Norrath, that was made up. It has imaginary creatures, and races. Like most fantasy stories - they are made up. There is no logic that says why there can't be people with brown skin there, besides that the creatures didn't "imagine" any brown-skinned people as part of their made up civilization. A game about ancient samurai's that is supposed to be based on actual history is a totally different scenario.
I too am fine with how they work races into most games these days too, personally.