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Why is is that all the heros in games are usually big, muscular white blokes with unlimited supplies of ammo?
I have yet to play a "realistic" game where a person of minority ethnic origin is the main character. I'm not talking Mario jumping about on platforms, I'm talking those real-life type games, where you take on a role of a real person and stick to it.
There are plenty of Japanese or American characters, a few British (Lara Croft maybe), but what about African? Indian? Aboriginal? Surely we will open up new playing experiences if we start to include the character and culture of these races in our games?
I'm not saying developers are being deliberately racist, not at all, it's just playing the same stereotypes can be boring, uninspiring, and dull to be honest.
Discuss...
I have yet to play a "realistic" game where a person of minority ethnic origin is the main character. I'm not talking Mario jumping about on platforms, I'm talking those real-life type games, where you take on a role of a real person and stick to it.
There are plenty of Japanese or American characters, a few British (Lara Croft maybe), but what about African? Indian? Aboriginal? Surely we will open up new playing experiences if we start to include the character and culture of these races in our games?
I'm not saying developers are being deliberately racist, not at all, it's just playing the same stereotypes can be boring, uninspiring, and dull to be honest.
Discuss...
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Err... I'll be gentle next time.
Well I don't know if that's good enough.
*sniffs*
I mean, you really hurt me.
*sniffs*
I mean, you really hurt me.
I'll make it up to you, I promise.
You've grown bored of me.
That's it isn't it.
I have feelings too y'know...we used to be so good before it went bad
That's it isn't it.
I have feelings too y'know...we used to be so good before it went bad
Goatboy wrote:
> Oi Wookiee, you're supposed to have long protracted arguments with me.
Yeah, but you're a NOtable now, and I can't talk down to you! ;-)
> I used to annoy you just as much as this guy did...
Ah, don't get me wrong in these posts... funkygamer is not annoying me - no siree. In fact this is the best discussion I've had on here since some of our older ones (you know, before we got all silly).
I think me and funky generally agree that there could/shold be more 'minority' characters; I'm just saying that I don't think the market (or rather the public) are ready for it.
> Oi Wookiee, you're supposed to have long protracted arguments with me.
Yeah, but you're a NOtable now, and I can't talk down to you! ;-)
> I used to annoy you just as much as this guy did...
Ah, don't get me wrong in these posts... funkygamer is not annoying me - no siree. In fact this is the best discussion I've had on here since some of our older ones (you know, before we got all silly).
I think me and funky generally agree that there could/shold be more 'minority' characters; I'm just saying that I don't think the market (or rather the public) are ready for it.
Oi Wookiee, you're supposed to have long protracted arguments with me.
Not good enough anymore am I?
*sniff*
I used to annoy you just as much as this guy did...
Not good enough anymore am I?
*sniff*
I used to annoy you just as much as this guy did...
funkygamer wrote:
> WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Ah, right. So there are a lot of walking Egyptian
> platforms and floating platforms where you> live, are there? ;-)
Oops... that should obviously have read "walking Egyptian STATUES and floating platforms" obviously!
> Good point, but I say it would be easier for a the games world
> to start to break out of this stereotypical stuff than, say, the movie
> industry.
Not sure... in recent years there's been a lot more commotion over violent games than violent movies. It almost seems that the whingers have given up on movies and set their sights on games instead.
Again, this is where the public need educating, because - despite the 'PlayStation Revolution' bringing games to a wider, older audience, the majority of people still seem to see games as kids toys. They seem to overlook the fact that games are censored and rated by the exact same organisation that rates the movies.
The view still seems to be "should they be releasing 18-rated software for kids", rather than "ooh, an 18 rating - that's obviously not for kids".
A lot of this could be alleviated by the stores that sell the games. You can't easily get in to a cinema to see an 18-rated film if you're under-age, but you can easily buy an 18-rated game.
A few months ago, a PS2 magazine tried an experiment where they gave a 12-year-old boy £40 and sent him into a number of shops to buy either 15 or 18-rated games. This included all of the major high-street stores - Virgin, HMV, WH Smith, Woolworths, EB, Game etc. I think there were about ten stores in all. And of all those stores, only Game refused to sell him the titles he was after.
So, I think the games industry itself is being as sensible and responsible as it can regarding the content of games and the target audience. But until the *retailers* take similar responsibility, we won't be able to convince the critics that age-rated games really are strictly for adults.
Anyway, the point of all that is that the pressure-groups seem to be keeping a very close eye on videogames. As such, anything which depicts a central character from a 'minority' background, will immediately be pounced upon if it shows them involved in any kind of bad light - be that stealing cars or shooting people. And I think that the rampant politically correct BS running through the world at the moment is largely to blame.
Taking GTA3 as a prime example - why shouldn't a game be able to depict a black man committing a crime? They do do it. Not necessarily any more or less than white men, but they do. So why is it wrong to show a black man (or any other creed/colour), but okay to show a white man?
At the end of the day, it's just a game anyway, so it shouldn't matter. You or I will just play a game, shoot someone (in the game, of course!) and not give a second thought to whether the character we're controlling is black, white or pink with yellow spots - but we still have these groups who insist on reading far too much into things.
Which was basically my original point - does it really matter what race your character is from, as long as the game is enjoyable? Why bog yourself down in subtexts that aren't really there?
> Yeah. Right. A slip of the mouse, the first time
> maybe, but the rest??
Well, the first proved it was a successful marketing gimmick - so why change? :-)
> Yeh, Like GTA.
Exactly. Great games, all 'controversial', but not very frequent.
> But you said you didn't car what you played as, yet you seem to
> take a lot of notice..
Nnnngghhhh...!!! It's getting frustrating repeating this. Let's put it this way: I remember a lot of useless information, without necessarily making a conscious effort to do so, or caring about it. These things have been remembered and brought to the fore because of this topic; I've not gone out of my way to remember them. i.e. I haven't thought to myself "Ooh, a black lead character - that's unusual - I must remember this."
I read a review which had a large picture of the lead character, and it stuck, just like Dante from Devil May Cry, Claire Redfield from Resident Evil, or Spyro the Dragon. Hope that's clarified it!
> WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Ah, right. So there are a lot of walking Egyptian
> platforms and floating platforms where you> live, are there? ;-)
Oops... that should obviously have read "walking Egyptian STATUES and floating platforms" obviously!
> Good point, but I say it would be easier for a the games world
> to start to break out of this stereotypical stuff than, say, the movie
> industry.
Not sure... in recent years there's been a lot more commotion over violent games than violent movies. It almost seems that the whingers have given up on movies and set their sights on games instead.
Again, this is where the public need educating, because - despite the 'PlayStation Revolution' bringing games to a wider, older audience, the majority of people still seem to see games as kids toys. They seem to overlook the fact that games are censored and rated by the exact same organisation that rates the movies.
The view still seems to be "should they be releasing 18-rated software for kids", rather than "ooh, an 18 rating - that's obviously not for kids".
A lot of this could be alleviated by the stores that sell the games. You can't easily get in to a cinema to see an 18-rated film if you're under-age, but you can easily buy an 18-rated game.
A few months ago, a PS2 magazine tried an experiment where they gave a 12-year-old boy £40 and sent him into a number of shops to buy either 15 or 18-rated games. This included all of the major high-street stores - Virgin, HMV, WH Smith, Woolworths, EB, Game etc. I think there were about ten stores in all. And of all those stores, only Game refused to sell him the titles he was after.
So, I think the games industry itself is being as sensible and responsible as it can regarding the content of games and the target audience. But until the *retailers* take similar responsibility, we won't be able to convince the critics that age-rated games really are strictly for adults.
Anyway, the point of all that is that the pressure-groups seem to be keeping a very close eye on videogames. As such, anything which depicts a central character from a 'minority' background, will immediately be pounced upon if it shows them involved in any kind of bad light - be that stealing cars or shooting people. And I think that the rampant politically correct BS running through the world at the moment is largely to blame.
Taking GTA3 as a prime example - why shouldn't a game be able to depict a black man committing a crime? They do do it. Not necessarily any more or less than white men, but they do. So why is it wrong to show a black man (or any other creed/colour), but okay to show a white man?
At the end of the day, it's just a game anyway, so it shouldn't matter. You or I will just play a game, shoot someone (in the game, of course!) and not give a second thought to whether the character we're controlling is black, white or pink with yellow spots - but we still have these groups who insist on reading far too much into things.
Which was basically my original point - does it really matter what race your character is from, as long as the game is enjoyable? Why bog yourself down in subtexts that aren't really there?
> Yeah. Right. A slip of the mouse, the first time
> maybe, but the rest??
Well, the first proved it was a successful marketing gimmick - so why change? :-)
> Yeh, Like GTA.
Exactly. Great games, all 'controversial', but not very frequent.
> But you said you didn't car what you played as, yet you seem to
> take a lot of notice..
Nnnngghhhh...!!! It's getting frustrating repeating this. Let's put it this way: I remember a lot of useless information, without necessarily making a conscious effort to do so, or caring about it. These things have been remembered and brought to the fore because of this topic; I've not gone out of my way to remember them. i.e. I haven't thought to myself "Ooh, a black lead character - that's unusual - I must remember this."
I read a review which had a large picture of the lead character, and it stuck, just like Dante from Devil May Cry, Claire Redfield from Resident Evil, or Spyro the Dragon. Hope that's clarified it!
How about a hero that is quater scottish, quater German Half dog and has twenty mouths, 16 legs and a bow tie. His weapons could be hamster bombs, the lamp post machine gun and the most deadly of all his cat generade launcher. His special ability is that he can hold in his whizz for 18 weeks.
Don't start with that rubbish with me or I'll smash you in the phasers.
Stunning.
Stunning.
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