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Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

Given that most games barely put any thought into black facial features and hair, sometimes you gotta work with what you have - which is nothing in some games. Sometimes my black characters look like white people who went wild with a tanning salon and hair relaxant.

As I got older, I realized how much this sucks. Games already are made by mostly white folks or folks of an Asian descent, and the games with human characters reflect the people who make the game. Then we get character creators and they're wack for the most part. My Shepard from Mass Effect looked like some dude who bleached his skin. It also didn't help he had the voice of Mark Meer, who was awesome despite my suspension of belief on playing as a black man being on a rickety bridge as I played through all three games.

If you've made any black characters, feel free to share them (though I do feel afraid this might open some floodgates for some offensive stuff to be posted so please don't be jerks.)

I've just started a new playthrough of Dark Souls 3. I've made a black woman and a black man, with the man being my second character. I'll say it's easier to make black characters in Dark Souls 3 than Bloodborne, specifically black women.

Here's her:

Here's my dude:

Just found a pic of my Commander Shepard:

Trigonometrize. · Apr 30, 2016

While I do pretty much always have a hard time making an appealing black woman, the grass isn't exactly that much greener for any race in character creators. They usually all look like terrible plastic doll versions of the race you were going for.

Duress · Apr 30, 2016

Something is off putting about the shiny skin.

Cindi Mayweather · Apr 30, 2016

Hard? Usually impossible. Here's one black hair style for your character! Go get it! You deserve it!

Noray · Apr 30, 2016

Saints Row 3/4 probably had the best character creators for true diversity, not just in gender and race, but also body shape.

I made a black dude in Bloodborne but yeah it can be hard in many Japanese games, and as you say a black Shepard with Mark Meer's voice is... yeesh.

Taruranto · Apr 30, 2016

To be fair in DS3 is hard to make anything that resemble an human being to begin with. :X

Desparadina · Apr 30, 2016

Even in MMO's it can be rather difficult with the character creators but at this point im not even surprised when there's barely a selection to choose from.

Akainu · Apr 30, 2016

Can we get some decent hair?

udivision · Apr 30, 2016

Cindi Mayweather said:
Hard? Usually impossible. Here's one black hair style for your character! Go get it! You deserve it!

I guess the problem is, most variety of hair works for any race, and black people are the only race which would most likely have "unique" hair styles for the obvious reason.

It's literally "black hair" and "everything else".

kodecraft · Apr 30, 2016

Same for other races too.

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun · Apr 30, 2016

Afrocious said:
Given that most games barely put any thought into black facial features and hair, sometimes you gotta work with what you have - which is nothing in some games. Sometimes my black characters look like white people who went wild with a tanning salon and hair relaxant.

As I got older, I realized how much this sucks. Games already are made by mostly white folks or folks of an Asian descent, and the games with human characters reflect the people who make the game. Then we get character creators and they're wack for the most part. My Shepard from Mass Effect looked like some dude who bleached his skin. It also didn't help he had the voice of Mark Meer, who was awesome despite my suspension of belief on playing as a black man being on a rickety bridge as I played through all three games.

If you've made any black characters, feel free to share them (though I do feel afraid this might open some floodgates for some offensive stuff to be posted so please don't be jerks.)

I've just started a new playthrough of Dark Souls 3. I've made a black woman and a black man, with the man being my second character. I'll say it's easier to make black characters in Dark Souls 3 than Bloodborne, specifically black women.

Here's her:

Here's my dude:

Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

Cindi Mayweather said:
Hard? Usually impossible. Here's one black hair style for your character! Go get it! You deserve it!

Haha I feel you on that. I'd edit the title if I could. Not everyone's gonna spend 2 hours on a character creator just to get skin tone and a nose right like I do.

Noray said:
Saints Row 3/4 probably had the best character creators for true diversity, not just in gender and race, but also body shape.

I made a black dude in Bloodborne but yeah it can be hard in many Japanese games, and as you say a black Shepard with Mark Meer's voice is... yeesh.

Dude yeah. I remember SR3's character creator. That was nuts.

fritzo · Apr 30, 2016

yup the hair is my biggest issue. my mgsv character had the worst facial hair. looked like black spaghetti. smh.

kerotan_eater · Apr 30, 2016

You know what I always find weird? Some games have default races. Usually they are only black, white and East Asian...

There are more types of people in the world game devs...

Huge Succeeded · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

Shit, fuck. Can someone help me with my eyes? They've rolled so far back they're on the other side of the room and I can't see shit now

GavinUK86 · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

And why is it offensive?

Brannon · Apr 30, 2016

Cindi Mayweather said:
Hard? Usually impossible. Here's one black hair style for your character! Go get it! You deserve it!

Oh god, black hair is so hard to find. Would be nice if somebody or a bunch of somebodies went into the big game engines (unreal, unity, etc.) and just jammed out a bunch of black hairstyles and open sourced them. Go to a basketball game and get some inspirations from the players and the audience.

I can dream.

Nzyme32 · Apr 30, 2016

kodecraft said:
Same for other ethnicities too.

Yep. A fair bit annoying. The only times i don't really mind is if the context of the game's narrative dictates only particular fictional races can be of certain ethnicity - but then I tend to go for the ones that match me

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

Oh I know. Not all black people have large noses and large lips. I would like representation on that end though.

Also my dude is named Texas Pete, he's a Pyromancer, and he's also on fire atm from killing the first boss.

If the issue is about his clothes, I personally think they look awesome.

bobbychalkers · Apr 30, 2016

Yep, a constant problem with a lot of new games. Saints Row 3 and 4 were great in that aspect and I remember being impressed with Dragon Age Inquisition. Some games nail facial features but fuck up hard with the hair. Were usually limited with a ceaser, a perfectly shaped 70s afro, bad looking dreadlocks, or cornrows with no hangtime.

Noray · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

Are you... telling a black person what black people look like?

holy shit

RedSwirl · Apr 30, 2016

Fallout 4 is better with the hair than most games.

Haribi · Apr 30, 2016

Don't pretty much all character creators have an option to change the shape and size of your nose, mouth, lips etc.? I don't get why you say you can't apply "black facial features" when all the options to do that are there.

CassidyIzABeast · Apr 30, 2016

Outside of GTA and sports games its still struggle braids and the Stephen A Smith/Chiwetel Ejiofor cut as the only hair option.

Step it up games industry.

Fat4all · Apr 30, 2016

Basketball games have pretty good character creators for black characters.

FromSoft character creators never pulled it off too well.

woopWOOP · Apr 30, 2016

Yeah, I'd like it if there were some moderate afro selections instead of just the one bigass 70s disco 'fro

Aters · Apr 30, 2016

What is wrong with the neck in the second picture? Son of a giraffe!

Look at it closely again, maybe It's not neck?

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

Haribi said:
Don't pretty much all character creators have an option to change the shape and size of your nose, mouth, lips etc.? I don't get why you wouldn't be able to apply "black facial features" when all the options to do that are there.

Not necessarily. Also, as I said in an earlier post, not many folks are gonna spend 2+ hours making a character look black. Out the box, it would be nice to have a black character as a preset for both male and female.

I was legit surprised that Demon Souls had that Jubilant dude as a preset.

SaintMadeOfPlaster · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

Did you know that some do, and OP is trying to make a character that has those traits?

I won't even dignify the second half of your post with a rebuttal.

WhiskerFrisker · Apr 30, 2016

I fully agree. The struggle to find a great hairstyle besides the default Caesar cut is too much nowadays. I was so pissed with Dark Souls 3 character creation; it fucking blows.

SpideySenses · Apr 30, 2016

The less options there are, the better it normally is, I have a black Division character and he looks great... but he also looks like every other black created character in the game.

JayTapp · Apr 30, 2016

Huge Succeeded said:
Shit, fuck. Can someone help me with my eyes? They've rolled so far back they're on the other side of the room and I can't see shit now

They rolled behind the couch near mine...

coredecepts · Apr 30, 2016

If you haven't already, you should read Evan Narcisse's essay on this exact topic, The Natural.

http://kotaku.com/the-natural-the-trouble-portraying-blackness-in-video-1736504384

jackissocool · Apr 30, 2016

Noray said:
Are you... telling a black person what black people look like?

holy shit

Like, it's a true and underappreciated fact that American perceptions of Africans are mostly of West Africans, and if you go to East Africa (Ethiopia for example) you'll find very dark skinned people without very "black" facial features. As an anthropologist, I like this as a way to discuss why race is a social construct and not a biological reality.

But damn, could you miss the point of this thread any harder? There's a marginalized group of people who can't even get good character creator options ffs.

One tons of games miss is the light skin on palms of hands and soles of feet.

Sheentak · Apr 30, 2016

How are the WWE games for this? The games rosters tend to have pretty good diversity i wonder how the character creators are

Speely · Apr 30, 2016

Oddly, ESO has fairly decent black character creation. I say "oddly" because the Redguard race is fictional and thus not African in origin but rather a loose analogue of North African/Persian cultures.

I'll maybe post a pic when I get home. I have gotten what I feel are pretty ok results, though I will admit even there the options are somewhat limited... But it's more a customization limitation attributable to the engine itself that is shared by every race than it is a "bad black options" thing.

Edit: I really dislike it when games just include a darker skin option but the features are all still European and/or Asian.

tirkaroKujo · Apr 30, 2016

I'm impressed you even managed the second pic. I tried for ages trying to get something that looked like a black dude in Dark Souls 3 and I just get people who look indian at best. (Like holy shit how was there no black person preset at all? All the other games had them.) In the end I just went with a slightly dark skinned woman.

In comparison I had a pretty easy time making my dude in Bloodborne

bobbychalkers · Apr 30, 2016

Sheentak said:
How are the WWE games for this? The games rosters tend to have pretty good diversity i wonder how the character creators are

The month I owned WWE2K16, I was impressed by my options.

Sakujou · Apr 30, 2016

as dumb as it sounds but i have darker skin and creating a character is a problem for me(so i dont play open-world-create-your-character in general) .
so if i really have to create a character, i usually create the most dumb/normal looking one. i take one of the "already ready to go" builds.

and i think this issue will never change. most people do not give a fuck, or it seems to be an issue if you have to play a black character. so as long as this problem stays, we wont progress in character creation.

True Fire · Apr 30, 2016

OhNoDangerItsaPentagonRun said:
Did you know not all black people have large lips and large noses depending on which African country their family is from?

That may make it easier. Also that 2nd image looks offensive.

What the actual hell? This is why people think gamers are ignorant.

People with certain facial features deserve to be able to make characters that look like them, and it's not "offensive" in the slightest to be proud of features associated with your race.

Galang · Apr 30, 2016

I don't think it's hard most the time.... Rather it's all the time. I've yet to be able to recreate something close to my hair style and texture in a character creator. They always go with the most basic choices for black hair that almost nobody uses irl anyway... Laughable

Huge Succeeded · Apr 30, 2016

True Fire said:
What the actual hell? This is why people think gamers are ignorant.

People with certain facial features deserve to be able to make characters that look like them, and it's not "offensive" in the slightest to be proud of features associated with your race.

if that 2nd pick is supposed to be some sort of caricature then it's a damn subtle one because it looks just like my grandpappy

KirbYuuYuu · Apr 30, 2016

udivision said:
I guess the problem is, most variety of hair works for any race, and black people are the only race which would most likely have "unique" hair styles for the obvious reason.

It's literally "black hair" and "everything else".

Oh man, tell me about it. I mean I have a hard time doing anything with my hair beyond two styles.

I mean, I'm fine with across and whatnot, but they're usually either like a globe or nothing. No mid range or small afros.

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

Huge Succeeded said:
if that 2nd pick is supposed to be some sort of caricature then it's a damn subtle one because it looks just like my grandpappy

lmao

I'll take that as a compliment then though my dude's neck is long as hell. I think that's just this game's engine though

Faustek · Apr 30, 2016

OK I'm jealous.
I didn't have the patience and just went with...well my char doesn't look any good at all. Only one I've gotten was a few Black Dessert ones but I spent a fuck ton of time just playing around with everything there.

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

Faustek said:
OK I'm jealous.
I didn't have the patience and just went with...well my char doesn't look any good at all. Only one I've gotten was a few Black Dessert ones but I spent a fuck ton of time just playing around with everything there.

Don't worry. I'm OCD about this stuff. It just sucks it takes so much time.

EASTC0AST_GH05T · Apr 30, 2016

Your guy looks like Morgan Jones from The Walking Dead, is he a Aikido expert as well? I pretty much gave up on trying to make black characters in games and usually go with the default settings or just make a white dude.

Afrocious · Apr 30, 2016

EASTC0AST_GH05T said:
Your guy looks like Morgan Jones from The Walking Dead, is he a Aikido expert as well? I pretty much gave up on trying to make black characters in games and usually go with the default settings or just make a white dude.

Ever hear of the hot sauce Texas Pete? That's his name since he's a pyromancer.

EASTC0AST_GH05T · Apr 30, 2016

Afrocious said:
Ever hear of the hot sauce Texas Pete? That's his name since he's a pyromancer.

I have, very clever and unique name to fit with your characters class.

oSoLucky · Apr 30, 2016

I almost always make females as my created characters and I end up making ones that could pass for Mediterranean, light skinned black, Hispanic, etc. because anything darker than that looks absolutely terrible. It's almost insulting when you go to a creator and there are 20 skin tones for whites and then 2 for Oriental, 2 for black, and 1 that could be Middle Eastern/Hispanic. The portion of the gaming world that causes these things to happen(both developers and consumers) irritate the fuck out of me (the guys that say they won't play a game with a non-white protagonist because they can't identify with them which subsequently makes devs want to cater to that crowd).

Guild Wars 2 and Saints Row the Third are the only games that I have played and actually been happy with the creation tools. GW2 was lacking in black women's hairstyles but I wanted my character relaxed anyway.

Edit: Sorry if I'm kinda ranting here as I don't want to bring that kind of negativity but it's a hard subject not to be infuriated about.

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