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[Caipirinha]

I just find it excruciatingly boring playing as an American white male in every single game, I'd be more than happy to play as an African woman or a Russian WW2 soldier etc. etc. etc.

That said I don't think that every game needs to have optional skin tones for the sake of immersion. For better or worse, Batman is a white male, Lara Croft is a white female. I don't need Persona 5 to give me the option of making the protagonist Caucasian in appearance etc. but yeah it's a generic character that can be customised, I agree there should be as many options for black appearances as any other.

And in terms of new franchises, yes, I would very much like to see more diversity, not just racially but also culturally/nationally/sexually etc. It's one of the many embarrassing aspects of the gaming industry; people complain about lack of diversity in Hollywood but if you look at international cinema in general the diversity is immense. Gaming? Not at all. Even European studies make games starring American characters.. Why?!?! Why can't Far Cry feature a French Canadian protagonist? It's a French Canadian game ffs.

 

[Basketball]

Rockstar should be praised
GTA online ... lots of stuff for created characters
Max Payne 3 multiplayer , (Brazilian though) but lots of braid, afro options, alternative
but some the chicks look like they slid down the stairs face first

 

[Lime]

What are the best character creators for playing as people of races other than white? I'm racking my brain trying to think of one and I can't think of any really great examples.

I basically always play as someone other than a white person if given the choice but there's always such barebones options.

I found Dragons Dogma's character creation to be pretty excellent

 

[Suburban Thug]

Nothing about this is racist at all.

Nope.

I didn't buy RE5 because it is blatantly racist to me. It's funny how the devs introduced a playable black character after backlash but she happens to have a light complexion. Pure ignorance, insensitivity, and a dash of racism made sure I will never give that game my money.

 

[Silent Hill]

Nothing about this is racist at all.

Nope.

Tell me how its racist please.

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

Can

I don't see hair.

become the new

I don't see race.

?!? Prolly not

I love it when they have ethnic selection in a game but you can tell they put minimal effort into black textures (especially when the game features ungloved hands or bare feet) and the palms and bottoms of the feet are the exact same color as the rest of the skin. I am always really impressed when games get this right (very few do)

 

[kitsuneyo]

Some people use that language on GAF too :/

 

[Lime]

Tell me how its racist please.

Read this and this if you still don't see why RE5 is racist.

white dude going into an African country and shooting up brown and black folks *along* with racist depictions of them as violent and primitive, even with the god awful zombies in Masaii costumes. You are familiar with European colonialism and postcolonialism, I assume.

The sidekick/ally (who wasn't even playable until after finishing the game) is even whitewashed, as suburban thug mentioned above.

 

[bman94]

This one is really petty. I have Dreads, I hate hate hate hate it when the only black hair styles is afro (and not even the big afro either) and corn rolls. Damn like how hard is it to program a dread hair style? Wii Sports did it 10 years ago and many games still don't have done it. And when I want my character to have a brush cut they don't have that either.

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

Japanese game companies most certainly should not get a pass. They absolutely know better. Japanese people know better than to walk up to people and say racist things. There is the occasional case of ignorance, sure, but tons of games and anime and manga still have insanely over the top racist stuff in them. If you see something racist and look uncomfortable about it folks almost always know the reason why. Additionally, Japanese are pretty highly sensitive to negative depictions of Japanese people in non Japanese media, so they know how it feels. I don't think a pass is warranted.

Besides, this sort of stuff is like the law in most developed countries, ignorance is no excuse.

 

[supermarioworldE]

It's fucked up how so little has changed when it comes to black hair and hairstyles over the years. It's to a point where anytime I play any game with a customizable protagonist, Im expecting the default 3-4 hairstyles, and I'm rarely surprised. That shit definitely needs to change asap.

 

[Dr. Benton Quest]

Just gonna offer you some friendly advice–this isn't gonna work out well for you. Might already be too late, I dunno.

Thanks for the advice. I respectfully decline it.

Lol.

The main reason I love GAF is because the moderation team doesn't tolerate this bullshit. It really allows us to have meaningful discussion without assholes who are "just asking questions" or saying "talking about race makes you a racist".

Everyone should take molnizzle's advice.

 

[GLAMr]

I feel that if the black characters in a game remind me of the crows from Dumbo, it's probably racist.

E.g. Lamar from GTAV.

 

[Moyospeed]

Shout out to dragons dogma for letting me have more choices than buzz cut,little afro,big afro. But hell some games don't even have that. And I can't really blame companies for shying away from ethnic leads, people lose their minds over this type of thing. They're in between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Nakazato]

I complain to my wife anytime I have to make a character about the same thing. Black hair styles and skin tones need to evolve asap.

 

[OsirisBlack]

Can't even think of a single brown main character.

Edit: I can't even think of a brown side character in
a video game. :|

Edit2:Forgot about fighting games. But for single player eh.

The Order 1886 represented Indian culture and very well in my opinion.

 

[Silent Hill]

I didn't buy RE5 because it is blatantly racist to me. It's funny how the devs introduced a playable black character after backlash but she happens to have a light complexion. Pure ignorance, insensitivity, and a dash of racism made sure I will never give that game my money.

Read this and this if you still don't see why RE5 is racist.

white dude going into an African country and shooting up brown and black folks *along* with racist depictions of them as violent and primitive, even with the god awful zombies in Masaii costumes. You are familiar with European colonialism and postcolonialism, I assume.

The sidekick/ally (who wasn't even playable until after finishing the game) is even whitewashed, as suburban thug mentioned above.

Still dont see it. All I see if people over reacting as usual.

Theres no way Capcom would go out of there way to do this intentionally. Of course you are entitled to your opinion but I just cant get my head around it.

 

[Sai-kun]

Still dont see it. All I see if people over reacting as usual.

Theres no way Capcom would go out of there way to do this intentionally. Of course you are entitled to your opinion but I just cant get my head around it.

Racism and intent are not mutually exclusive. You can be intentionally racist, and also unintentionally racist.

 

[Tangled Up in Blue]

Racism and intent are not mutually exclusive. You can be intentionally racist, and also unintentionally racist.

Absolutely this. At this point, I just assume that anyone who says they don't see the racist imagery in RE5 is being disingenuous at best. The imagery is clearly there and whether or not it was put there intentionally is completely immaterial to the discussion.

 

[Andrew J.]

I feel like we've had this conversation about RE5 before. Remember when N'gai Croal was saying it looked racist before the release, and everyone dismissed it, and then after it came out and had spear-wielding enemies and Sheva's fucking tribal leopard-print costume everyone admitted he'd been right all along?

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Yeah if there are any other black ppl in gaming media I'd love to know about them. It's sad that it's so rare to see.

There's Allegra Frank from Polygon and Shawn and Brandon from Hardcore Gamer.

 

[NavNucST3]

One of the biggest issues I have with customization in so many games is the lack of understanding on how many different tones there are for darker skinned people. I can't fucking stand the "ashy brown" tone I often have no choice but to settle for. Then there's Pokemon with the single black skin tone that's too dark to match my own complexion, with the lightest one before it being a tanned person...

I was about to mention how difficult it is for me to find my tone or really tones since I fluctuate from Chicago winter "where did my color go?" through Chicago summer and "butter pecan highly tanned". But at least there is some semblance of my color in games with character creators but when I look at/for darker shades I'm oft left wondering if the artists have any grasp of the skin color spectrum.

 

[tareqsalah1]

As an arab i am possibly the least represented in gaming. But i dont think the solution is to demand from developers to include arab language, hair, facial features, stories from developers. I think more arabs should enter the feild of video game development and try to tell stories that represent our culture.


Similarly i think all underrepresented groups should do the same. This is how this issure is resolved instead of acting like we r entitled to be in those games.

 

[DedValve]

I didn't buy RE5 because it is blatantly racist to me. It's funny how the devs introduced a playable black character after backlash but she happens to have a light complexion. Pure ignorance, insensitivity, and a dash of racism made sure I will never give that game my money.

And this is perfectly fine. I think people have a problem with finding faults in the things they like, I still love RE5 but I'm not gonna pretend that the game is racist. Hell you could make the case it was intentionally so given how awful the swamp and tomb area are.


They seemed to have learned their lesson with Edonia in RE6 but I only played RE6 once years ago so I could be misremembering but I don't remember having the same feelings of "wow really capcom?" as I did playing through RE5.

As an arab i am possibly the least represented in gaming. But i dont think the solution is to demand from developers to include arab language, hair, facial features, stories from developers. I think more arabs should enter the feild of video game development and try to tell stories that represent our culture.


Similarly i think all underrepresented groups should do the same. This is how this issure is resolved instead of acting like we r entitled to be in those games.

I agree with the sentiment that diversity will come about faster and more natural when the industry itself is diversified however a major problem is that the industry fights diversity tooth and nail and its hard for people of color and women to move up the ranks compared to white males.

Not only that but when so many games culturally appropriate such as Dues Ex using the plight of black people and literally just using "find & replace" from black to "augments" its more than silly to say people are acting entitled when its their culture being used without their ethnicity appearing in any significant role (disclaimer: I haven't played the new Dues Ex so I don't know if POC play a big role in its story).

Besides we have threads every day demanding gameplay changes or new features, or story improvements, etc. etc. all in order to make the game better, asking or demanding does not make you entitled and I really dislike that word given how liberally its thrown around by anyone asking for anything these days. I'm sure you've asked for your games to be better, that wouldn't be entitled that would just be....asking to make the game better. Same thing here.

 

[EASTC0AST_GH05T]

I just want to say that her name is amazing.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

fuck that excuse

This should be quoted in the OP along with the first question "What is black hair?"

That said, this thread gives me LIFE and I hope it never dies. Good God, this has been something I've been conscious of my entire gaming career.

Where do I even start?

Evan Narcisse ok Kotaku wrote in 2012, Let's See some Black Characters I'm Not Embarrassed By. I think he has others like it, too.

Last year, one black dude on a friggin Christian website was brave enough to write an article called Blerdvision at the tail end of Black History Month.

We're getting there, fam!


Yall need to play Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. African-developed (Cameroon) indie game that hits all the checkmarks, including black hair. I dare you to find a game that is more "black."

 

[Loudninja]

Man this is such a issue. :/

Dark Souls 3 character creator is so terrible.

 

[EASTC0AST_GH05T]

The thing I miss least about game chat.

Its the thing I miss most about gaming online. I haven't heard anyone actually use the public voice chat since Xbox 360 days and I game alone without being in a party quite often.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Absolutely this. At this point, I just assume that anyone who says they don't see the racist imagery in RE5 is being disingenuous at best. The imagery is clearly there and whether or not it was put there intentionally is completely immaterial to the discussion.

"I don't see color, man. I just see zombies."

/rolls eyes

 

[Coriolanus]

I agree. He had the best suit imo and the most ruthless fighting style. What other Assassin could assassinate four people at the same time?

Every assassin since revelations.

Spoiler

Is when they added lethal bombs.

 

[Grief.exe]

That happened just last night while playing with a group, I was surprised.

 

[Kwame120]

Yall need to play Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. African-developed (Cameroon) indie game that hits all the checkmarks, including black hair. I dare you to find a game that is more "black."

Random comment from nowhere: I was thinking of this game the other day, and had completely forgotten what it was called. Thanks!

 

[molnizzle]

That happened just last night while playing with a group, I was surprised.

Could the person have been black? It can be hard to suss out online, at least for me. I always feel awkward when I see the word posted on the Internet or hear it said through my headset. I just assume the person is black.

Sometimes I think people assume I am too because of my username. I once had a reeeeeaaaaally awkward Destiny raid where all of my teammates were throwing around the word constantly and I was just like "Yeah, great job... uh... guys..." lol

 

[Ashtar]

That happened just last night while playing with a group, I was surprised.

With the hard R???

 

[Skenzin]

I hear her! As a man with body hair and general masculine features i feel game and jrpgs especially don't offer me any character choices. Peeps of Mediterranean (POM) heritage are regulated to low class jobs of plumbers and non-college educated careers surrounded by the beautiful androgyny of hairless fantasy nymphs. Triggered!.

 

[yunbuns]

What are the best character creators for playing as people of races other than white?

The Sims. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

Black != Rabbit.

It's crazy how many non-black FF fans actually think that Fran is a black woman. :/

 

[lum0s]

Not enough ethnic hair options? Racist.

Enough ethnic hair options, but not designed specifically by a black person? Cultural appropriation, racist.

We need more of these completely constructive threads referring to hyperbolic Tumblr posts.

 

[xKilltheMx]

Not enough ethnic hair options? Racist.

Enough ethnic hair options, but not designed specifically by a black person? Cultural appropriation, racist.

We need more of these completely constructive threads referring to hyperbolic Tumblr posts.

what in all fucks is this trash post

 

[Cimarron]

There are characters that are explicitly white, to the point where it's stated.

Girls on the far right and two on the left are supposed to white.

Girls with blonde, red, and blue hair are supposed to be white.

And those are just from harem anime. I could go on.

Oh come on! People try to get away with this BS all the time. They all look EXACTLY THE SAME! the fact that in anime you have to be explicitly told that a character is European speaks volumes about the state of world wide white washing. Geesh. Anime typically is ok with rainbow hair colors but draw the line with skin tone.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Not enough ethnic hair options? Racist.

Enough ethnic hair options, but not designed specifically by a black person? Cultural appropriation, racist.

We need more of these completely constructive threads referring to hyperbolic Tumblr posts.

Nice.

 

[Lime]

I hear her! As a man with body hair and general masculine features i feel game and jrpgs especially don't offer me any character choices. Peeps of Mediterranean (POM) heritage are regulated to low class jobs of plumbers and non-college educated careers surrounded by the beautiful androgyny of hairless fantasy nymphs. Triggered!.

Not enough ethnic hair options? Racist.

Enough ethnic hair options, but not designed specifically by a black person? Cultural appropriation, racist.

We need more of these completely constructive threads referring to hyperbolic Tumblr posts.

These posts are straight out of a Breitbart comment section.

 

[adversarial]

Not only that but when so many games culturally appropriate such as Dues Ex using the plight of black people and literally just using "find & replace" from black to "augments"

Is outrage the general sentiment from gamers to this narrative in the latest Deus Ex?

As a black dude, I thought it was fairly interesting for them to adapt some of the issues we are having in real life to their story. With parallels like racism, poverty, police brutality and non-augmented (white) bitterness towards augments (blacks) and adapting it to their over-arching story-line and weaving it into their narrative and timeline.

I'm all for games exploring these sentiments, but I am under the impression I am in the minority.

It's crazy how many non-black FF fans actually think that Fran is a black woman. :/

Yeah, I never thought she was black. That's news to me, if she is.

 

[Bladelaw]

This has been bothering for a long time too but no one bats an eye about it. I really hope we have Tiana, Pocahontas, or even the Muses from Hercules to balance this shit out.

Ok now I want a Muse summon in KH3 that operates like a rhythm game to do bonus damage/effects.

 

[Suburban Thug]

Not enough ethnic hair options? Racist.

Enough ethnic hair options, but not designed specifically by a black person? Cultural appropriation, racist.

We need more of these completely constructive threads referring to hyperbolic Tumblr posts.

You will not last long here with that attitude. This is a pretty offensive post.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Still dont see it. All I see if people over reacting as usual.

Theres no way Capcom would go out of there way to do this intentionally. Of course you are entitled to your opinion but I just cant get my head around it.

Who gives a shit about intent? You think something only qualifies as racist if it is full on stated as such? Are you black. Have you been to any part of Africa? We had guys in grass skirts and paint holding spears jumping 20 feet in the air and you don't grasp how that shit is not a racist depiction of Africans? You fucking serious?

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Yes, quite a number of examples. Aerith, eiko, the kids from ffiv etc.

Jesus, I fucking hope so!

What are the best character creators for playing as people of races other than white? I'm racking my brain trying to think of one and I can't think of any really great examples.

I basically always play as someone other than a white person if given the choice but there's always such barebones options.

Dragon's Dogma

Man this is such a issue. :/

Dark Souls 3 character creator is so terrible.

Eh, it's not perfect, but I've made decent black and brown-skinned characters in Dark Souls 2, 3 and Bloodborne. Honestly though even the white-skinned characters can look weird in DS3, there's always that "ashen" complexion (I guess it's intentional, Champion of Ash and all that?) you can't ever get away from.

 

[Mista Koo]

...wait hold up. Are you saying S&M isn't very diverse? It's one of the most diverse games that came out this year!

I'm saying I couldn't find screenshots featuring the brown player character/trainer. They look so ashy and gray when they're in the same frame as Hau.

 

[Gator86]

Man this is such a issue. :/

Dark Souls 3 character creator is so terrible.

Japanese games are trash at this, in general, I feel. Booted up the new Pokémon game and saw they allow racial options for the character selection process. Someone should introduce the devs at Game Freak to a non-white person.

I feel like you could present games to people of color and they could accurately tell which games had no diversity on staff purely by looking at the character designs.

 

[Azure J]

I'm saying I couldn't find screenshots featuring the brown player character/trainer. They look so ashy and gray when they're in the same frame as Hau.

This one really burns me up too. I saw a few people speak out about this and even chimed in on Twitter about it in the initial hashtag because I really really really can't stand it when "black" options boil down to two shades equally as lacking in warmth/life are chosen. It's always either "top of the pot of hot chocolate" frothy ashy dark or "charcoal as black people" midnight black with no in between.

Then best character Hau is just there enjoying life and a Malasada with a cool ass hairstyle to boot.

 

[galvatron]

Yall need to play Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. African-developed (Cameroon) indie game that hits all the checkmarks, including black hair. I dare you to find a game that is more "black."

"An action video game with soul" - Kotaku