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Have you ever felt uncomfortable playing a character of a different skin color?

When given the choice and there are only human characters to create or choose from, I will not play a character that doesn't have my etnicity.
If there are fantasy/sci-fi races besides human available, I may consider one of those.
 

Forceatowulf

G***n S**n*bi
As a Black male, if this actually bothered me, I feel like I wouldn't be able to play anything but games with a create a character...

In principle, I don't mind playing as white males, but I've become real fucking tired of that being the overwhelming majority of the options available to me.
 

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
The black dude in Cadillac and dinosaurs was my favorite character(the first example that came in my mind), so not at all.
 

mieumieu

Member
I played a Black tall skinny female in all games with a character creator. Basically the total opposite of me. It's pretty fun!
 
I get triggered from bald space marines and this guy:

NjaKm.jpg
 

beril

Member
As much as I hate to admit it, I kindof did for in the beginning of GTAV. Not for skin colour but for how unappealing that specific subculture is to me; then my strong disliking for it started to make me feel like a racist, which made me uncomfortable. Though I didn't like the game any more when I got to play as a white dude later, so I'm probably ok.
 

fedexpeon

Banned
LOLWUT. How do people feel uncomfortable playing an avatar?

I play a lot of MMO.
My characters vary from darkskinned elf to pale skinned dwarf.
 

Moodz

Member
Nope, but I'm not entirely white either...
I'm more bothered by the 30 something white male with short hair in boring dad clothes. Characters with a cool style are lacking. That's why I love Delsin and Fetch.

Something that made me feel uncomfortable though, was a white friend I had back in the day Who always created black male characters, always. I found that kind of weird but hey that's what character creation is here for...
 

ffdgh

Member
Meh nah, I've been doing it for decades as a black guy. I do enjoy using my mii when the option is available.
 

N30RYU

Member
NO, but I feel uncomfortable with a thread like this, 'cause noone should ever or he/she has a serious problem.
 

lazygecko

Member
I played another multiplayer game years ago where players spawned with randomized character models with different ethnicities. I never gave it a single thought until I noticed some people refering to me through racial slurs.
 

DC1

Member
I'm black and as others have stated, I had to like it.

The rules of FUBU apply to most things in life. The contents creators build the boundaries of engagement through which you can enjoy the art. Love it, like it or leave it.

However:
From a base association perspective I would love to have a choice in the matter when it doesn't conflict with the core story or regional setting.

For example: I would love to play (at sometime in the future) as a black Witcher from the southern continent- But would never want to replace Geralt.
 

Dr. Buni

Member
As someone who felt uncomfortable about her own body her whole life and will probably feel that way until she dies... Eh, not really.
 
Yeah, I really hate playing a blue character in those Smurf games and Avatar, not really my thing :)

Who cares about skin color, sex, orientation.But I do play as a female character whenever I get the option, especially in third person games, rather spend hours looking at a female characters ass than some buff macho guy.
 

DC1

Member
Yeah, I really hate playing a blue character in those Smurf games and Avatar, not really my thing :)

Who cares about skin color, sex, orientation.But I do play as a female character whenever I get the option, especially in third person games, rather spend hours looking at a female characters ass than some buff macho guy.

Revealed self have you.
 

dock

Member
Playing first person games as female, I've definitely had moments where other characters refer to my character's gender and I had completely forgotten about it.

Are there any games where you are treated differently because of your race, and not just because of your character?
 

Matty77

Member
No, as a white guy with a shaved head I am sick of playing white guy with a shaved head #14567. I play games partly to experience things I cannot in real life and that extends beyond environment and events. So I am usually excited when games are diverse.
 

DC1

Member
Playing first person games as female, I've definitely had moments where other characters refer to my character's gender and I had completely forgotten about it.

Are there any games where you are treated differently because of your race, and not just because of your character?
Dragon Age Origins does this better than any game that I have played in the last 30 years. The game gives you a very wide character creation palette. The world reacts to your ethnicity, sex, regional origin and social class.
 
Uncharted 1 made me feel weird since when I played it, it seemed like all the enemies were black guys, and given the context of the game being in South America and not Africa, it didn't make sense.

Resident Evil 5 gave me this feeling times 1000 in Act... 3 was it, where they started dressing the enemies up like those Disney cartoons from the 60s? That was fucked up. The acts before had enemies that made sense though, they could've kept them 100% black people and I wouldn't have cared.

I guess this is relevant because had drake been black or i had been playing as Sheva I wouldn't have been uncomfortable.
 

eso76

Member
duh. No.

Although i can't recall when was the last time it happened, probably Frankliin in GTAV, which happens to be my favorite character in the game.
I love the VA and his humor, i just really enjoy hearing he speak. I sometimes wish i could talk in his voice, do an impression irl, but i just can't.

Or well, Juan in Guacamelee.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
I would be limited to pretty much only games with create a character if I had a problem with emphasizing with characters of a different skin color.

Women would have it even worse since 99.9999% of premade protagonists are male, it seems.
 
As much as I hate to admit it, I kindof did for in the beginning of GTAV. Not for skin colour but for how unappealing that specific subculture is to me

GTAV is probably not helped by the fact that some of the dialogue between Franklin and Lamar is so over the top stereotypical that it borders on racist.
 

Rephin

Member
I'm Asian. The majority of my games have me play some white guy variant in the majority of games I've played since I was a kid.

The answer is no. Never even thought about it. It's "normal" since I've done it since childhood, so it doesn't bother me in the least.

When I found out Samus Aran was a girl at the age of 9, however...
/s
 

Harmen

Member
No. I actually like it when a character is pretty distinct from me and is well written.

I get triggered from bald space marines and this guy:

NjaKm.jpg

I do not like that figure, as if their skin color and hair makes all those characters the same. Snake in no way remotely resemles Nathan Drake, for example. Not even close. And a guy like Niko Bellic is Serbo-Croatian. (also, Shepard is up to the player)

I absolutely want to see more variety in terms of skin color and gender equality and all, but those are not the same guys.
 
No, as a yellow guy I never felt anything uncomfortable for me when playing any kind of characters in any game.

In games where you can craft your own character however, I never make a dwarf.
Reason being that I feel like I am not like a dwarf at all (characteristics wise) and it will be hard for me to role play one.

They are the best companions though, like my bro Zoltan.

But this is an entirely different thing.
 
No, never. But it's not something that usually comes up for me as a white guy.

I can understand people of others races might find the lack of choice when choosing a character disappointing or lacking though. Unless you're playing a specific character in a game there's really no excuse for not having fully customizable characters including age, skin colour, etc, etc.
 

panty

Member
Nah I don't think so. Whenever possible I play as a female character anyway. GTA, Destiny, ME etc. I just like it.
 
nope, can't say that has ever crossed my mind really.

Although I'm white, so I don't really have an issue in todays AAA market when it comes to possibly playing as someone not white for the most part.
 
I don't care what race or gender the protagonist is in a game.

Choice is always good for those that do, but I've never thought game X is good but it would be better if I was a different gender etc.
 

Robaperas

Junior Member
Jason Brody was amazing though. One of my favorite FPS characters from last gen.

I'm currently playing FC3, I hope this is a joke post.


If I recall correctly, I've never felt uncomfortable playing with any type of character, no matter what ethnicity, gender or body type they are, or have. I'm South American by the way.
 

BPoole

Member
Nope. Given the option I usually make my characters either Hispanic or Asian.

Nice trap thread though. Anyone that says yes is probably a racist and will get banned
 
The black dude in Cadillac and dinosaurs was my favorite character(the first example that came in my mind), so not at all.

That's pretty much what I was thinking, anybody with some sort of prejudice would be missing all of the fun from that game by not playing with... Mustafa was the name?


I was remembering when in M&M: Global Gladiators you played with the black kid by default but you could switch to the white one in the menu. I liked more the colors (blue shirt), but I would think "Does this make me racist in some way?". Although maybe it is just a thing with me, always liking more the alt character in arcade games and similar.
 
I usually try to make my character a different ethnicity and/or gender if given the option to do so. If there's the option for non-human races, I often opt for that, instead, as well.
 

brett2

Member
I've never understood the appeal of creating a character that looks like me in real life. I'm an average size white guy 23 hours a day - being something totally different for 1 hour of gaming a day is part of the fun.
 

jesu

Member
I've never understood the appeal of creating a character that looks like me in real life. I'm an average size white guy 23 hours a day - being something totally different for 1 hour of gaming a day is part of the fun.

For me it's because I'd really like to be a wizard in real life too.
 

sirronoh

Member
Nope. In non-character creation games, having a white male protagonist will never in itself stop me from playing a game. Gameplay above everything else is what's most important to me. (Graphics are also really low on my priority list.)

Now having said that, after 25 years of gaming while black, and because I'm a programmer who also likes to write game stories on the side, I do give a second look towards games that offer cultural experiences and/or protagonists that aren't white or male in order to help expand my own knowledge of gaming experiences outside of what I'm used to.
 
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