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Kotaku: This Is How We Get More Black People in Video Games

H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
So Kotaku has an article up with a discussion between Evan Narcisse and David Brothers about the current state of black representation in video games and what they want to see going forward.

http://kotaku.com/5985340/this-is-how-we-get-more-black-people-in-video-games

That's why satire—and its ability to lower defense with laughter—seems like a much more attractive option. What I really want is a video game equivalent to Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks' classic Western comedy homes in on the anxieties of its time—a post-segregation moment when black and white people are still warily integrating in various social spheres—to fuel its jokes. There are tropes in black arts traditions that game designers can use, too. Cleavon Little's sheriff in Blazing Saddles has a bit of the trickster in him; he reorders society by going against the grain. The whole movie runs up and tongue-kisses every stereotype it can find. It's entirely possible that people watching can use them to reinforce really nasty world views but that's clearly not the film's aim.

And, yeah, Blazing Saddles is absurd slapstick. But so is the root of most prejudices, right?

I want a game that pokes fun at the fact that 99.9% of game protagonists look like cousins. I want a game that clowns the thinking that noble savages are still a good plot point in 2012. I want a game that doesn't feel the need to turn its black characters into thuggish stereotypes just because it's an easy shorthand for being a bad-ass. The Walking Dead was many people's Game of the Year in 2012 and it had a black lead that felt more human than any of his predecessors.
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I was a kid when someone pointed out how many black boxers there were in video games at the time (TJ Combo, Balrog, Dudley, Heavy D!, Boman Delgado). That led to me trying to figure out how many other black characters there were in games (Lucky Glauber, Dee Jay, Barret, the DARPA chief from Metal Gear Solid), how many black women there were (Elena, Storm), and how many of the non-boxer characters were something other than poorly-researched stereotypes or embarrassing (basically the DARPA chief, Elena, and Storm). Black boxers are the FedEx arrow for how race is approached in video games.
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There are more black characters in games now than there were then, which is cool. But at the same time, the types of characters that we see still leave a lot to be desired. Shinobu from No More Heroes is very cool, and I thought Emmett Graves from Starhawk was solid. But black characters are still basically limited to playing the sidekick (Sheva Alomar, Cole Train) or being some type of weird joke (Sazh, Drebin, though I love him regardless). I've seen a few games that have really good character customization options, up until you get to the point where you want to go brown, rather than pale, and then you're out of luck.

It sucks. It's a bummer. We're in a better place than we were when I was a kid and thirsty for brown faces on my TV, but it's like Malcolm X said: "You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress." Being the sidekick and comic relief (and sex object, let's not forget) is never going to be enough. I don't want the video game hero demographic to perfectly match the cultural make-up of the United States, because that's silly. But I feel like throwing me a couple bones a few times a year isn't that tall an order, you know?
Click to expand...

What do you guys think?
 
A

Alienous

Member
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur.

With media and journalists that go "OMG, BLACK PROTAG" everytime one happens, they are creating a tension around it. It's time to be mature and natural about choosing characters for games.
 
shira

shira

Member
final-fantasy-xiii-20100304112452393.jpg


I'm not sure if this guy stereotype or what
 
K

Kimawolf

Member
I think in this regard it's like any other form of media. I doubt designers are purposely not adding black people to games, but they are designing what they know and their own personal preferences.

to see more black lead characters who aren't ebonic speaking caricatures or athletes we will need more black people in game design, in production, direction all of it. So it's just like movies and TV in that regard.

Get more black people behind the scenes you will get more of them on the screen.
 
W

WorstUsernameEver

Member
jett said:
Why black people? Why not more latin people!?
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I'm not sure if this is supposed to be satire or you're serious, but assuming the second case I have to ask you: why not both? The article focuses on black representation, but, as stated in the very first lines, that's specifically because of Black History Month. It doesn't mean that the writer doesn't want more and better representation for other ethnicities.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Alienous said:
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur.
Click to expand...
When has that ever worked for anything?

With media and journalists that go "OMG, BLACK PROTAG" everytime one happens, they are creating a tension around it. It's time to be mature and natural about choosing characters for games.
Click to expand...

What's the "mature and natural" choice for a protagonist who lives in the future in space?

jett said:
Why black people? Why not more latin people!?
Click to expand...

Why not both?
 
A

Adam Blue

Member
This is the same thing with women. It will naturally occur as a wider audience adopts. This wider audience will grow up with an interest in games, going as far as developing them. This goes into the average gamer through the years going from a younger age group to the 30's.
 
M

massoluk

Banned
Speaking for myself, I'm fine with every Southeast Asian male character in video games being a martial artist god of death.

/not really for affirmative action, really.
 
Z

zewone

Member
The protagonist is black in The Walking Dead game. He's a strong leader, and race only comes up in jest once or twice.

It will be better when we don't care about race. I for one don't play games based on the race of the protagonist or sidekicks. As a Mexican man, I've not seen many strong Mexican characters.
 
I

Imm0rt4l

Member
Alienous said:
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur.

With media and journalists that go "OMG, BLACK PROTAG" everytime one happens, they are creating a tension around it. It's time to be mature and natural about choosing characters for games.
Click to expand...
It won't come by letting it "naturally occur"
 
Jackben

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Alienous said:
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur.
Click to expand...
Just ignore racial stereotyping and it will go away naturally. Right.
Screamapillar said:
Affirmative action in video games, now?

Oh, come on people. Seriously, that is retarded.
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This isn't 'affirmative action in video games'. Media representation is a major part of public perception of blacks. It's not retarded to want more characters nor ones who are mature and break the 'thug' stereotype.

I would like to see more characters like Lee from Walking Dead.
 
J

jett

D-Member
EscoBlades said:
Because the increased inclusion of one minority group paves the way for others. Or are you joking?
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I'm joking. As a latino myself, I've never given two shits that latin americans just plain don't exist in video gaming, outside of thugs in GTA. I've never understood the notion of having to cater to all demographics. I see this topic pop-up every now and then. Personally I don't care who I play as.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
The truth about the video game industry is that, relatively speaking, there aren't a lot of black people. The vast majority of forward-facing game-makers are white or Japanese guys, as are most of the main characters. That isn't a bad thing, and I certainly don't think it's any kind of conspiracy making it so. But it's hella boring to look at. Moreover, this state of affairs makes the games medium feel strangely walled off, like it's surrounded by a force field that repels the real world.
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But to what measure are we supposed to regulate "diversity"? The Japanese market is completely unreachable--they're completely homogenized. I could count the amount of "black protagonists" I've seen in Anime on one hand.

That just leaves the USA and European markets. I hope the author of this article isn't proposing some kind of pseudo-affirmative action legislation for video game characters.
 
S

Screamapillar

Member
BibiMaghoo said:
Super Smash Bros don't have a single brother...
Click to expand...

That's because there aren't any black Nintendo characters. Obviously.

Also, it's worth pointing out that Nintendo games are made by the Japanese, and I'm willing to bet the percentage of Japanese people who are black is essentially around the 0% level.
 
J

Jackpot

Banned
There are more "races" than caucasian or african. How many decades do you think it'll be before having a single character who's of Indian/Pakistani origin where their race isn't their whole personality a la Apu or terrorist middleman xyz?
 
A

Alienous

Member
Speaking of Kotaku, I remember one writer talking about Prototype 2, saying something along the lines of: "Prototype 2's main character is as far from me as I can get. He had his family taken from him, he's black, and he has superpowers."

I remember when the Starhawk team was being interviewed, and they were asked (I think by IGN), "So, why did you chose a black main character?"

Race is a touchy issue, but I think that when you make a game saying 'Alright, we have to make the main character black' you are going about it the wrong way. Both the Prototype 2 and Starhawk developers just naturally made a black person the main character, and didn't make any big deal out of it.

You can't force more black people, or any ethnicity, into games. And, personally, I've never seen the issue. Games tend to follow films, and films are in an era of 'Whitification'. The issue isn't so much regarding black people, but the fact that many games have very similar casts and characters, with common character design shared between them.

Regardless, I think that the integration of more varied races into games is something that is going to happen naturally, especially as video games don't have the same 'untouchable' icons that can burden film (Idris Elba could be an awesome Bond, or even Batman, but that isn't likely to happen).
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Sazh is indeed the best character, personality-wise, in FF13, just wish he had a better battle stance lol.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Screamapillar said:
That's because there aren't any black Nintendo characters. Obviously.

Also, it's worth pointing out that Nintendo games are made by the Japanese, and I'm willing to bet the percentage of Japanese people who are black is essentially around the 0% level.
Click to expand...

You would be correct about that. I think like 97% of that country is comprised of "Japanese Asians," with a small minority of "Chinese Asians."

Any other race only has a handful of representatives.
 
W

WrenchNinja

Member
shira said:
final-fantasy-xiii-20100304112452393.jpg


I'm not sure if this guy stereotype or what
Click to expand...
He's not really. I mean I guess visually, he's got an afro and he uses guns but thats really as far as it goes. He's like the most down to earth character in that game, sarcastic, loving father, ace pilot. I suppose Im describing Barrett but he's nof poorly done like Barret. He's pretty cool, but maybe that is cause most of the characters in the FF13 world suck.
 
E

Eidan

Member
Alienous said:
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur.

With media and journalists that go "OMG, BLACK PROTAG" everytime one happens, they are creating a tension around it. It's time to be mature and natural about choosing characters for games.
Click to expand...

When things go "naturally" all characters become remixes of Nathan Drake.
 
D

Dragon

Banned
Htown said:
When has that ever worked for anything?



What's the "mature and natural" choice for a protagonist who lives in the future in space?



Why not both?
Click to expand...

If you want to look how not to integrate minorities into different aspects of our culture, look to the NFL and the Rooney rule. They have completely fucked that up so well that it's actually hurting minorities rather than helping them. Forcing them in is not the way to go.

I don't even think Sazh is that bad. SE did take 13 years to go from Barret to Sazh though.
 
F

Forceatowulf

G***n S**n*bi
Alienous said:
You don't try to get more black people in games, you let it naturally occur
Click to expand...
And how long do you estimate that's gonna take? Video games have been here for like 3 decades now and I don't see a whole lot of headway being made thus far. It's better than it was, sure, but it isn't where it should be. Period.

Kimawolf said:
I think in this regard it's like any other form of media. I doubt designers are purposely not adding black people to games, but they are designing what they know and their own personal preferences.

to see more black lead characters who aren't ebonic speaking caricatures or athletes we will need more black people in game design, in production, direction all of it. So it's just like movies and TV in that regard.

Get more black people behind the scenes you will get more of them on the screen.
Click to expand...
Yup, pretty much.

Mael said:
hidden09_080318d-l.jpg

Then again it's true that you talked about SSB which had only 12 chars.
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You better be joking with this fucking post...

This is just as bad as that one time Fran from F12 was posted in a thread about the lack of Black characters in VG's. jesus fucking christ
 
S

SolsticeZero

Banned
zewone said:
The protagonist is black in The Walking Dead game. He's a strong leader, and race only comes up in jest once or twice.

It will be better when we don't care about race. I for one don't play games based on the race of the protagonist or sidekicks. As a Mexican man, I've not seen many strong Mexican characters.
Click to expand...

Lee is actually a perfect example. He's black, but he doesn't portray the media stereotype. He's a human being, that's all.
 
S

Skilletor

Member
Htown said:
That doesn't mean he isn't a stereotype.

I haven't played the game

I mean, I'm sure Cole Train is some people's favorite Gears of War character.
Click to expand...

He's not a stereotype. He's down to earth and real. Some black people have afros. /shrug
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Seems odd that they wouldn't mention Lee from Walking Dead when talking about black characters in games. He's the player character and a history professor.
 
E

EscoBlades

Ubisoft Marketing
Kimawolf said:
to see more black lead characters who aren't ebonic speaking caricatures or athletes we will need more black people in game design, in production, direction all of it. So it's just like movies and TV in that regard.

Get more black people behind the scenes you will get more of them on the screen.
Click to expand...

As a black guy, i agree with this 100%. It effectively mirrors the same debate that is currently happening concerning female representation in games and the industry.
 
S

spwolf

Member
whole argument is ridiculous... if they think race of main character influences people's buying of game, then there would be no black main characters, right? I dont think it does though.

I dont think you can make a game targeted towards black community like Tyler Perry makes his movies, or any other community for that matter.
 
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