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A bit of dangerous thing to do is discuss Racism, my best and longest running friends are both racist who love to joke about the fact that there is a race of people who aren’t white. If you mock the acne problem one of them suffers he will respond, “It isn’t fair you pick on me because of my looks.” The irony in that statement is incredible and maybe one day I’ll point it out to him. Now naturally I don’t hate racists (considering these two happen to be my friends) but I’m far from racist, I see no problem with dating a black woman (in fact I have) and I see no problem if a black man/woman takes charge of the country. Colour doesn’t tell me if the guy walking down the street is going to mug me or not, just as the way a woman looks won’t tell me what sort of person she is.
Women in fact are enjoying (well should be) the decline in sexism that is slowly occurring throughout the world. This being a gaming forum will of course have me relate to games. Every Resident Evil title will have a main character featuring both genders, Pokémon now comes equipped with both sexes and characters such as Lara Croft, Joanna Dark and Samus Aran (the latter has been around a while) can all stand by Mario, James Bond and Indiana Jones as pioneering characters of the game industry. I still question some small sexist problems in games, Resident Evil was one of the first games to feature both genders as a main character but why is it Jill Valentine gets a gun to start with whilst Chris only has a knife? And why in the sequel does Clare have the pleasure of the best weapon (Rocket Launcher) whilst Leon has to deal with pitiful items? So there is still many sexist issues to be addressed but with the dawn of this new generation comes a new respect for the female gamer, and the role models they have. So whilst the ladies are having their problems addressed with there is another overlooked part of gaming, racism. I now set you all a task to find for me a black action game character that is from the imagination of the designer and not copied from a film (a.k.a Blade).
Difficult isn’t it? Mike Le roi (Shadowman - Acclaim) is the best I could think of, who is in fact taken from a comic book. More to the point though he is also a troubled man who had his entire family killed because he couldn’t pay of a debt from a gang of thugs. Sounds like the perfect role model the gaming industry has created for black people doesn’t it (Note: sarcasm doesn’t work in text)? What other games do black people appear in then? Why of course black people appear in beat ‘em ups all the time, but here we have again a major problem, why is it the majority of dark coloured characters appear in fighting games? Is it because the majority of black people run around beating people up? Ok I’ll quit these rhetorical questions for the moment. The industry whether they’re aware of it or not depicts the black man as either a man with a disturbed and troubled past or a guy who’ll beat you up at the nearest opportunity. Are game developers aware how many children play games? And how they are affecting them? Whilst playing Resident Evil I soon discovered the token “black guy” who occasionally appears in the games gets killed every time. Yet why is it the black characters are simple “token” characters to add to the body count? Why aren’t they the main characters?
Could films have a direct influence over this? I watched Jurassic Park 3 the other day for the first time and I knew it wouldn’t take long for the black pilot to be eaten, and I wasn’t disappointed. Yet this happens frequently in films, the black guy is either bad or is good but dies relatively quickly. Nevertheless movies are slowly edging away from the racial prejudice they’re famed for, as more and more black men are becoming main characters in films. The use of “men” is an important one; it is as if coloured people will constantly live a less developed life than white ones. Whilst games and films have finally acknowledged white females as the heroine rather than the eye candy, black men have only just reached the same state. How long will it be before Black Women take the leading role? Oh yes god forbid the idea of a leading character in a computer game being both female AND black that is surly ridiculous? And as stupid as my statement maybe you’ll find it even harder to think of a black female character in a computer game PERIOD yet alone as a main character. The only one that springs to mind is Jacqueline from the WWF (or WWE) games.
No matter how much I hope I just can’t see the next resident to the mushroom kingdom to be anything but a green Dinosaur or a white male. A game world like Hyrule (The legend of Zelda) is filled with many different species including water people and giant talking rocks, yet throughout the entire adventure you won’t find one black man, not even in the desert worlds. So take note Capcom, if you’re looking for a new hero for Resident Evil 4 (5) try and make it female and black, to set a precedent for millions of others and make the future a better place.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
Women in fact are enjoying (well should be) the decline in sexism that is slowly occurring throughout the world. This being a gaming forum will of course have me relate to games. Every Resident Evil title will have a main character featuring both genders, Pokémon now comes equipped with both sexes and characters such as Lara Croft, Joanna Dark and Samus Aran (the latter has been around a while) can all stand by Mario, James Bond and Indiana Jones as pioneering characters of the game industry. I still question some small sexist problems in games, Resident Evil was one of the first games to feature both genders as a main character but why is it Jill Valentine gets a gun to start with whilst Chris only has a knife? And why in the sequel does Clare have the pleasure of the best weapon (Rocket Launcher) whilst Leon has to deal with pitiful items? So there is still many sexist issues to be addressed but with the dawn of this new generation comes a new respect for the female gamer, and the role models they have. So whilst the ladies are having their problems addressed with there is another overlooked part of gaming, racism. I now set you all a task to find for me a black action game character that is from the imagination of the designer and not copied from a film (a.k.a Blade).
Difficult isn’t it? Mike Le roi (Shadowman - Acclaim) is the best I could think of, who is in fact taken from a comic book. More to the point though he is also a troubled man who had his entire family killed because he couldn’t pay of a debt from a gang of thugs. Sounds like the perfect role model the gaming industry has created for black people doesn’t it (Note: sarcasm doesn’t work in text)? What other games do black people appear in then? Why of course black people appear in beat ‘em ups all the time, but here we have again a major problem, why is it the majority of dark coloured characters appear in fighting games? Is it because the majority of black people run around beating people up? Ok I’ll quit these rhetorical questions for the moment. The industry whether they’re aware of it or not depicts the black man as either a man with a disturbed and troubled past or a guy who’ll beat you up at the nearest opportunity. Are game developers aware how many children play games? And how they are affecting them? Whilst playing Resident Evil I soon discovered the token “black guy” who occasionally appears in the games gets killed every time. Yet why is it the black characters are simple “token” characters to add to the body count? Why aren’t they the main characters?
Could films have a direct influence over this? I watched Jurassic Park 3 the other day for the first time and I knew it wouldn’t take long for the black pilot to be eaten, and I wasn’t disappointed. Yet this happens frequently in films, the black guy is either bad or is good but dies relatively quickly. Nevertheless movies are slowly edging away from the racial prejudice they’re famed for, as more and more black men are becoming main characters in films. The use of “men” is an important one; it is as if coloured people will constantly live a less developed life than white ones. Whilst games and films have finally acknowledged white females as the heroine rather than the eye candy, black men have only just reached the same state. How long will it be before Black Women take the leading role? Oh yes god forbid the idea of a leading character in a computer game being both female AND black that is surly ridiculous? And as stupid as my statement maybe you’ll find it even harder to think of a black female character in a computer game PERIOD yet alone as a main character. The only one that springs to mind is Jacqueline from the WWF (or WWE) games.
No matter how much I hope I just can’t see the next resident to the mushroom kingdom to be anything but a green Dinosaur or a white male. A game world like Hyrule (The legend of Zelda) is filled with many different species including water people and giant talking rocks, yet throughout the entire adventure you won’t find one black man, not even in the desert worlds. So take note Capcom, if you’re looking for a new hero for Resident Evil 4 (5) try and make it female and black, to set a precedent for millions of others and make the future a better place.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
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i like black people. they can jump high, they can run fast, they can rap, they can look cool in just about anything, and so on.
Being able to customize the appearance of controllable characters is the way forward.
I don't think racism exists in games, if there was it would be totally pointless.
Game characters are designed to look the part. They are an instrument used to portray realistic motions and emotions in a game, so where does racism come into this?
Well, it shouldn't and doesn't! White or black, we all play games for a good experience and from most games I've played, I don't really think developers are being racist. Instead, they're thinking logically - which kind of character would be best for the game and how would they respond.
Game characters are designed to look the part. They are an instrument used to portray realistic motions and emotions in a game, so where does racism come into this?
Well, it shouldn't and doesn't! White or black, we all play games for a good experience and from most games I've played, I don't really think developers are being racist. Instead, they're thinking logically - which kind of character would be best for the game and how would they respond.
Again that is because the players are black, like the character in Shadowman, the reality dictates the colour, not the designers own imagination.
rockin nanan wrote:
> nba courtside there aint no whites in that game
You see.
Should they have made up some "white" teams and players to "balance" things out and show kids that white people can play basket ball too?
It just wouldn't have been right.
> nba courtside there aint no whites in that game
You see.
Should they have made up some "white" teams and players to "balance" things out and show kids that white people can play basket ball too?
It just wouldn't have been right.
rockin nanan wrote:
> mr game and watch is black
Could that be because of the screens being black and white?
> mr game and watch is black
Could that be because of the screens being black and white?
I still think that making a black hero "just to equal things out" is wrong.
A character should be how the designers envision.
As for Zelda, thse Gerudo (sp?) women had dark skin.
A character should be how the designers envision.
As for Zelda, thse Gerudo (sp?) women had dark skin.
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