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Do white game developers not know how to represent people of color?

I mean, can we just start with complexion options?

Most of these games with a character creator have about 3 shades of brown, meaning most people of color can't even find a skin tone that reflects them. If you can't get your complexion right, any person of color will tell you that everything else that follows doesn't really matter because it's no longer you (if making yourself was the goal).
Yes, we all had those exact same arguments years ago. I even made a lot of the same arguments you're making now, sometimes even on NeoGAF. Check my post history from years back. Back then it was a lot easier to get banned for being an ignorant, privileged white dude. You should consider yourself lucky that you've even made it this far on a junior account.

I came around when I started thinking about how I might feel if I were them. "Them" being whichever group you're so nobly standing up against that just doesn't get it. Perhaps there's a reason why so many of them feel the way they do, and perhaps I just can't understand because I grew up in an entirely different situation. When you do that it starts to become rather obvious that there might just be something there. Especially when you consider American history.

So if you're really not an alt-right troll account, you should start examine the situation from that perspective. The arguments you're making here aren't new. The people of color on this forum have seen them their entire lives. You're not special. You would do well to go into this discussion with an open mind—hopefully you'll learn something.
excellent post. Each one teach one.
 
I mean, can we just start with complexion options?

Most of these games with a character creator have about 3 shades of brown, meaning most people of color can't even find a skin tone that reflects them. If you can't get your complexion right, any person of color will tell you that everything else that follows doesn't really matter because it's no longer you (if making yourself was the goal).
excellent post. Each one teach one.
Like I said, it's either lite brite or midnight
 
get banned for being an ignorant, privileged white dude. You should consider yourself lucky that you've even made it this far on a junior account.
Yes the all mighty be privileged white guy line.

perhaps I just can't understand because I grew up in an entirely different situation.
Yes, that I agree with. I can't understand fully.

when you consider American history.
Yes. Probably that too. I'm not American so it's hard. We never learned much about American history in school.

You would do well to go into this discussion with an open mind—hopefully you'll learn something.
I always do.

My takeaway is this:
Race is way more serious than I knew before. People of poor economics and social status can blame race as the discriminator in way wider area than I thought. I don't necessarily agree that it is all the time. But sometimes yes.
Probably USA has a history with it that I don't fully understand and never will. So i'm arguing from my perspective so please try to be open to it too.

Edit: Going to bed now, drunk as fuck. Sorry. Love all ♥. Dunno If'll reply to this thread anymore!
 
Five pages late so probably many people already stated it but...

Why would you assume most of these studios are comprised of just white game developers? If anything, game dev studios tend to be quite multiracial with people from many different places joining in to work on something. Assuming they're all just white devs is weird to me.

Second and most important for this case, making complex hair is more expensive (money-wise if it takes longer, performance-wise if it has lots of alpha sorting and whatnot) and people don't have unlimited time to work on these things. As you can see recently though, with technologies improving, most complex hairstyles are starting to look better and better in many games, so it's hard to think it's just white devs not knowing how to represent people of color, but rather are constrained and (sadly) those hairstyles might be lower on the priority lists (now that'd be a different issue).

I think it'd be only fair if we went a few years with character creators that have mostly hair for PoC's and the only white hairstyles are the schoolshooter bowlcut and soccermom.
 
Probably USA has a history with it that I don't fully understand and never will. So i'm arguing from my perspective so please try to be open to it too.

Yeah, a hell of a history. Many of the posters in this thread have parents who legally wouldn't have been able to dine in the same restaurant as my parents when they were children. Everyone in this thread is well aware of that history. If you're not, the onus is on you to educate yourself. You're arguing here from a position of ignorance.

We were all open to your perspective years ago. It's been disproven.
 
Like I said, it's either lite brite or midnight

Are you my second account? lol. This me trying to make myself in the BRAND NEW (still in beta!) new character creator in Elite: Dangerous -

It's either:

ecL3R3D.jpg


Or:

ayKBYDv.jpg



That's right, there are acually NO steps between "pretty damn chocolate" and "I was on the front lines of Chernobyl". That second pic just looks fucking sickly. And in fact, there are only 2 more steps for brown they've made available and they're all actually darker than that.

There are none of these:

RNGIBxd.jpg
vbSmMqm.jpg
2d1hA5e.jpg



I guess I just continue to wonder why most of these character creator games don't give us this:

YbcE1uO.jpg


We could at least get the complexion issue taken care of.
 
Zebez consider this if you want to start to understand where race fits in with America.

Not too long ago white people largely considered black people to be things they could own to make the housework easier.
 
Are you my second account? lol. This me trying to make myself in the BRAND NEW (still in beta!) new character creator in Elite: Dangerous -

It's either:

ecL3R3D.jpg


Or:

ayKBYDv.jpg



That's right, there are acually NO steps between "pretty damn chocolate" and "I was on the front lines of Chernobyl". That second pic just looks fucking sickly. And in fact, there are only 2 more steps for brown they've made available and they're all actually darker than that.

There are none of these:

RNGIBxd.jpg
vbSmMqm.jpg
2d1hA5e.jpg



I guess I just continue to wonder why most of these character creator games don't give us this:

YbcE1uO.jpg


We could at least get the complexion issue taken care of.
So let's see, that's skin color, hair, facial features, and that's just the issues with character creators.
 
Five pages late so probably many people already stated it but...

Why would you assume most of these studios are comprised of just white game developers? If anything, game dev studios tend to be quite multiracial with people from many different places joining in to work on something. Assuming they're all just white devs is weird to me.

Second and most important for this case, making complex hair is more expensive (money-wise if it takes longer, performance-wise if it has lots of alpha sorting and whatnot) and people don't have unlimited time to work on these things. As you can see recently though, with technologies improving, most complex hairstyles are starting to look better and better in many games, so it's hard to think it's just white devs not knowing how to represent people of color, but rather are constrained and (sadly) those hairstyles might be lower on the priority lists (now that'd be a different issue).

Spare me. The gaming industry is predominantly white washed, it is in no way, a diverse workforce. A few minorities sprinkled in a few areas does not make it 'quite multiracial.' In fact, there was a topic a few weeks back about influential developers of color, and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of black talent. It's not weird to assume at all.

Also, black hairstyles are not complex. As proven multiple times in this topic already. There is no excuse for lack of diversity in said hairstyles, and the fact that representation is low on the priority list, in games based on representing the player, is indeed a bad thing.

White developers can't get it right, thats all. If we need representation, we need to do it ourselves. Plain and simple.
 
I think it's just ignorance in the most general sense of the word. I would just straight up not feel qualified to write dialogue for a minority character. If I'd have to I would do research although I imagine most people straight just do not have the time or budget in the work day to bring consultants in to discuss these things unless management makes it a priority.
 
I'm also assuming people of color in Asia, don't know how to represent people of color in their games.
Same way you represent everyone else, have them in the game. As just characters. Nothing special because I don't trust people writing ganes not to get racist real quick.
 
Wasn't aware white people made characters, have you not seen those Andromeda character presets? That's them minority filled asset farm teams I tells ya. Not the white man's fault just because they provide the template and approved it!
 
I can get Iman Shumperts nasty ass hair in 2K or Marcus Smarts horrible dye job but can't get a fade in a space game where racism doesn't exist anymore?

Little much.

In an ideal world they would patch Shumpert's hair outta the game. Jesus Christ. Watching that shit through the final was struggles.
 
No. It's about talented developers making the best possible hair for every possible person there is. Not about white developers neglecting other races.

Nah. That's bullshit. Played too many games with custom character creation with a plethora of options to make the guy European but one or two Black selections.

It's about eurocentism in game development that has the unfortunate side effect of not being willing to learn the details and difference among different phenotypes.

You're a perfect example of that. Instead of humbling yourself for five minutes and actually listening to concerns you'd rather pull the "reverse racism!" claim.

It's about making the best possible hair and customization options for every possible person? You really gonna "all hair matters" the thread, dude?

Yes the all mighty be privileged white guy line.


Yes, that I agree with. I can't understand fully.


Yes. Probably that too. I'm not American so it's hard. We never learned much about American history in school.


I always do.

My takeaway is this:
Race is way more serious than I knew before. People of poor economics and social status can blame race as the discriminator in way wider area than I thought. I don't necessarily agree that it is all the time. But sometimes yes.
Probably USA has a history with it that I don't fully understand and never will. So i'm arguing from my perspective so please try to be open to it too.

Edit: Going to bed now, drunk as fuck. Sorry. Love all ♥. Dunno If'll reply to this thread anymore!

Your perspective is complete ignorance and next time you should take the time to educate yourself instead of popping off about subjects you yourself concede you don't understand.

But truth be told you never wanted to understand in the first place. That's called white privilege.
 
Five pages late so probably many people already stated it but...

Why would you assume most of these studios are comprised of just white game developers? If anything, game dev studios tend to be quite multiracial with people from many different places joining in to work on something. Assuming they're all just white devs is weird to me.

Horizon's team.

I don't think there's an assumption; it's pretty well-known and admitted that there is a lack of diversity in tech; especially blacks, hispanics, and women.

But regarding hair choices, this doesn't mean artists on the ME team (or any other team) can't do research because their skin is X or Y color. Research is part of an artist's job. Shit, all they need to do is walk into a barber shop, or maybe pay a stylist a consulting fee.
 
Five pages late so probably many people already stated it but...

Why would you assume most of these studios are comprised of just white game developers? If anything, game dev studios tend to be quite multiracial with people from many different places joining in to work on something. Assuming they're all just white devs is weird to me.

Second and most important for this case, making complex hair is more expensive (money-wise if it takes longer, performance-wise if it has lots of alpha sorting and whatnot) and people don't have unlimited time to work on these things. As you can see recently though, with technologies improving, most complex hairstyles are starting to look better and better in many games, so it's hard to think it's just white devs not knowing how to represent people of color, but rather are constrained and (sadly) those hairstyles might be lower on the priority lists (now that'd be a different issue).

barber-hairstyle-guide-poster-barber-shop-posters-3682001.jpeg

This is complex? These types of hairstyles not being included has nothing to do with time or complexity.
They don't care to include them because they think outdated hairstyles like an unkempt afro and cornrows are completely acceptable.
 
cacf5aa005d9e68b79dc4878d4d66895.png


Wow. Hero of the game? Really? I'm supposed to be stuck with this through an entire trilogy?

This looks like they put a slave in a space suit.
 
This is really going to have an effect on immersion in this game for people like me.

I am the pathfinder supposed savior of humanity bad ass of the galaxy. For some strange reason the powers that be neglected to give me my charcoal skin color and supply me with a barber to produce a basic fade. Give me an edge up in between waking up and walking around the base the first time.

Give me the bald fade option as well and animate my hair moving properly like everyone else. This shouldn't take up too many resources from the team. This really sends a wrong message to all the youth that the savior of the galaxy cannot get a decent fade and have a plethora of skin colors and tones to choose from.

Someone needs to send them an email talking about this because this has been going for far too long. It sucked in ME2 as well.
 
This is really going to have an effect on immersion in this game for people like me.

I am the pathfinder supposed savior of humanity bad ass of the galaxy. For some strange reason the powers that be neglected to give me my charcoal skin color and supply me with a barber to produce a basic fade. Give me an edge up in between waking up and walking around the base the first time.

Give me the bald fade option as well and animate my hair moving properly like everyone else. This shouldn't take up too many resources from the team. This really sends a wrong message to all the youth that the savior of the galaxy cannot get a decent fade and have a plethora of skin colors and tones to choose from.

Someone needs to send them an email talking about this because this has been going for far too long. It sucked in ME2 as well.
Like for real, we can't get various skin colors for black people? Basic ass hairstyles? Miss me with that
 
Well at least the Asian option for Female Ryder is pretty good this time... or one of them, at least (number 1). Good Asian looking character is very rare these days, especially in an AAA game like Mass Effect... prolly even worse than black characters, maybe.
 
Like for real, we can't get various skin colors for black people? Basic ass hairstyles? Miss me with that

They have the blaxploitation fro with sideburns but left a basic fade out. Check the video. Everyone else gets multiple hair styles but the fade is not allowed apparently.
 
Whoa shit. I haven't given Horizon any thought, but now you got my full attention. This is fucking beautiful. This is what I want out of a character creator. These guys get it.
I have bad news....

This thread is full of racist aggression against white people. Stop blaming "white people" for the problem, it's not a matter of race. Making any kind of hair look good in computer graphics is hard.
This can't be real. *sees more posts*

Oh dear... yeah, keep making this about white people being oppressed. Ugh.

Weren't people praising Guerrilla for their handling of this exact issue?
I would say that's the point, Guerrilla handled PoC characters pretty well despite being an almost all-white team, proving that the "oh it's a white dev team" excuse is bunk.
 
If I get the game (more of a Dragon Age player, not too into shooter stuff, though I did see a streamer do a lot of head butting melee), I'll hope for mods, and modders that add great options. For games that base their series on custom characters, it sucks when they offer such limited options.

I've been playing Black Desert lately, and while their hair options are limited, everything else is off the charts. I hope custom character RPGs step their game up.

Dragon Age 4, believe!
 
The amount of diversity in horizon is so refreshing. And it took a European studio full of white guys to get great strong black characters not bogged down by tropes or stereotypes. Need more games like horizon....badly.
 
I don't think it's a matter of hard, they probably just don't care.
barber-hairstyle-guide-poster-barber-shop-posters-3682001.jpeg

These can't possibly be harder to recreate than the hairstyles in the video.

These all look the same to me. Except for #7 (2nd row, 2nd column).

I'm not going to fault a developer for not having those 30 hair styles... They are barely different.
 
These all look the same to me. Except for #7 (2nd row, 2nd column).

I'm not going to fault a developer for not having those hair styles... They are barely different.

Your eyes are fucked. And we don't need all of those. Just two or three.
 
Ironically, Jacob from ME2 was like the only good representation of a black character in a major AAA game. Most every other AAA representations of black characters have basically been digital black face and offensive stereotypes.
 
These all look the same to me. Except for #7 (2nd row, 2nd column).

I'm not going to fault a developer for not having those 30 hair styles... They are barely different.

They all look the same huh... interesting.
No one is asking for all of of them but including a few variations would be a huge step up from lazy fro and cornrows.
 
I read that both Harada and Ono (Tekken 7 Director and Street Fighter Producer respectively) both consulted the middle eastern region for designs. Harada got feedback on things like Shaheen's ceremonial sword and such. I'm not middle eastern but it doesn't seem like the designs are bad at all, since you can google pictures with people like modern Saudi Arabian males for example, wearing white or light colors and headresses. Then they add some fighting game flashiness to it.

Nobody in the Middle East actually wears what those characters are wearing though, it's cool that they added diversity, but it's still very stereotypical. Middle Eastern characters with standard clothes still don't exist in video games.
 
http://www.bayouinharlem.com/pic/barber-hairstyle-guide-poster-barber-shop-posters-3682001.jpeg[/IMG
This is complex? These types of hairstyles not being included has nothing to do with time or complexity.
They don't care to include them because they think outdated hairstyles like an unkempt afro and cornrows are completely acceptable.[/QUOTE]
It's too complex, they don't have time for that when they are making aliens or a angle of zombies. That poster is unable to see in person except all barbershops in locations
 
Are you kidding me? lol
lmao bruh
Well, I can't really disagree, I thought the point of the pic was to show that it'd be an easy haircut to render, not that the examples in the pic are really diverse from one another.

For example 6 and 7 are pretty different, but 11 and 12 are almost identical and many of the others look like 11 and 12 as well, just with slightly different densities of hair.

Then again I tend to think all short hair is samey and boring regardless of who has it, so don't mind me :D
 
Nobody in the Middle East actually wears what those characters are wearing though, it's cool that they added diversity, but it's still very stereotypical. Middle Eastern characters with standard clothes still don't exist in video games.

At least tekken let's you change their outfits with customization capcom makes racist shit for non Asian non white characters
 
I'd say sure.. but they also don't do white people very well either. I've never played a game where I can make my face right.

Not to mention all Asians in games look Chinese or Japanese .. you hardly see Indian or south east Asian features.
 
Well, I can't really disagree, I thought the point of the pic was to show that it'd be an easy haircut to render, not that the examples in the pic are really diverse from one another.

For example 6 and 7 are pretty different, but 11 and 12 are almost identical and many of the others look like 11 and 12 as well, just with slightly different densities of hair.

Then again I tend to think all short hair is samey and boring regardless of who has it, so don't mind me :D
Yet there are dozens of games with 40 hairstyles that look the "same"
 
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