Kobun Heat said:
You're all right.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/02/jades_black_rac.html
As I mention in the piece, I'd love to hear from everybody who posted in this thread about Jade's race -- how do you identify, ethnically? Jason Ellis is black, and he thinks Jade is black. I'm white, I figured she was white. This is going to be shitty science, but I'm starting to see a bit of a pattern there.
I guess we go by our own predetermined views as to what a person should look like, if they were a certain race. Little diagrams etched into the back of our mind, created from our first interactions with crayons, circumstance, and sometimes, how heavy the views of certain people around us are: culture and experience.
You brought up a lot of good points, and one of them I find to be the saddest.
I imagine that more black protagonists have been suggested, but ultimately vetoed, for game projects for the very reasons that I'm talking about here -- that designers and marketers might worry that the (predominantly nonblack) video game audience might not buy a game with a black main character
Are our views of our fellow people, that low? Why would they be able to identify with an alien, bald space marine Y, demon soldier U, or any other character before they would someone of opposite(different) race? That, and when they actually decide to let one in a game it has to be the most stereotyped character in the group? Are they trying to infer that one would be more likely to identify with the loud mouth blackman, than they would one like Mr.Freeman? Either that, or their role is reduced to forgettable side character X and their actual relevance to the main storyline is very little.
I can really care less about what race the character I am playing is. I never did care. I just find it sad that designers would have to change so much as a skin tone, because it might not sell to a particular group, based on "analysis" of the markets (how would they know?) preference in characters. Not really surprising though, since a lot of times, artistic freedom isn't always free.
I will give credit though, things have gotten a little better.
Enough of my mini rant though. That was an excellent article.