Gaming.... a "white mans" medium?

[flamepanther]

I mean, anime is such a simple style that "facial features" and "bone structure" simply don't exist. They are made from an oval with two squares and two lines plastered over.

There's very little ambiguity when it comes to race in anime. The default, generic character is seen as Japanese, caucasians are depicted as blonde, with blue eyes and big, pointy noses.


Without a deep research I'm sure you will find that most Japanese characters are Japanese and most Western characters are Caucasian. Probably more characters are male after disregarding those games that have a reason for it (Based on real people, older characters or based on realistic settings, for example) but how much is something I can't say without researching.

Anime is not technically a style at all, but otherwise I agree with this.

[Erik_Twice]

No offense, but the part I bolded makes me literally feel nauseous when I read it. I agree with the rest of what you said.

Why that so? It's undeniable that most African countries have had barely any development in regards to economy and sociopolitics compared to the Western world. And it's hard to say that they are as developed culturally when most people lack the capacity to read.

non of these characters look very "American" or "French". They are just characters, with "comic" features (aka features you'd expect a comic/cartoon character to have).

The French assume Asterix is caucasian because if he were say, Asian, he would have Asian facil features. It's not about the picture itself but the cultural perception.

They don't have any features because their race is the de facto standard in that culture. The same people who drew Elmer drew his black alter ego like this:


I'm pretty sure that if a black culture were to draw his "Elmer" they wouldn't draw those lips and may give our white Elmer say, a pointy nose.

Strictly speaking, you can't look at an anime character and say "The character's race is Japanese" but Japanese people see those characters as Japanese because they aren't different from the basic model.

It's funny because you have probably seen people claiming the contrary too, how "Western" anime characters look and how it's racist for them not to look more "Asian".

So is the race of Anime characters ambiguous? Well, the drawing is, the cultural assumption not so much. So I think we are both right, we are talking about different things with a difficult degree of overlap. In the end, I don't think I'm qualified to say much about the topic, those are just the trends I have noticed or read about somewhere else.

@flamepanther

Yeah, I know it is not a "style". But I don't know what to call it other than "Betty Boop without rubberhose arms"

[flamepanther]

Yeah, I know it is not a "style". But I don't know what to call it other than "Betty Boop without rubberhose arms"

That's a common, difficult, issue. However, it's one that needs a remedy, or "anime" and "manga" will continue to be miscategorized. It also lends the impression that these two related media are much more homogenous and generic than they actually are. Where possible, I try to relate the image I have in mind to a particular title or artist, but I'm aware this is cumbersome.

I'll drop further discussion of the issue in this thread, since I don't want to derail it.

[Breetai]

No offense, but the part I bolded makes me literally feel nauseous when I read it. I agree with the rest of what you said.

Why that so? It's undeniable that most African countries have had barely any development in regards to economy and sociopolitics compared to the Western world. And it's hard to say that they are as developed culturally when most people lack the capacity to read.

Why are most African countries so "underdeveloped"? What is the history of how the borders were made (ie. Berlin Conference, European Imperialism/Scramble for Africa, earlier Islamic Imperialism, etc.), and how did it lead to much of Africa's present economy?

I'm not denying that what you are saying is true (it is true, and I am not making this a personal thing at all), I'm just remarking on the reasons for it being true.

[TopherMan]

Oh god.... you're really gonna hide behind the word "probably?" Even if I used that word in my first post you'd still be up my ass about proof.

There's no hiding. The word means what it means.

You were asked for proof and you dimissed it instead of providing it. It's that's simple, mate

And although this may not be proof of video games throughout time... its still a good showing of white males in games (today).

That study is actually pretty well-known for being a pretty good example of incompetence. They weighted each game based on their sales, meaning that the number of fat Italian pumblers is ridiculously huge.

To add to the injury they compare the games to the population of the United States as if it should be the reference point for everything including Japanese games

They also very much included games based on WWII and added them to the numbers as if black people in that setting were as expected as in any other game.

And even then, the very own article you linked contradicts you:

Overall, males, Whites and Asians are overrepresented,

It doesn't contradict me. I never said Asians aren't overrepresented. Both, White and Asians can be overrepresented... but I feel theres a big gap between the amount of each of the two races.

I feel like asking for proof on this matter is like asking to prove the sky is blue. Its just pointless, if you can't see whats right infront of you... then thats a pity.

I believe you stated somewhere (I could be wrong) that anime characters are supposed to be japanese? Well this may be the case in, anime... but not in many video games.

Why is this? Because most anime style games, don't even take place on earth! These anime characters are one of the races of their own planet.

And as for the inevitable asking of more proof coming from your end... well you can just shove it. This thread isn't being published, its just fellow gamers having a conversation. You wouldn't ask for proof if we were all having this conversation in real life.

HOWEVER.. where I do agree with you and other members of this thread is on the topic of

Isn't this because the overwhelming majority of people who play games in the US and Europe are white? This is the same reason that nearly all lead roles in Asian games are, well, Asian. All companies are doing is catering to the predominant section of their audience.

Heck if African countries develop to the point our societies have, then I can guarantee that the overwhelming majority of their game characters would be black. I would imagine it's a simple as that.

But then again... for years and even till this day, Japanese developers have been creating many of the their main franchises with the idea of having a WHITE lead characters.

example: Contra, castevania, metal gear solid, silent hill, resident evil, devil may cry, final fight, super mario bros, punch out and many more.
(Only stating games that take characters from the planet earth)

I think the big misconception is of people thinking characters from other universes are of the same race as the ones from earth (zelda, final fantasy and metroid for example).

[Erik_Twice]

^This is simple, mate. You don't want to prove your claims? Cool, we will ignore you.

If you think I'm going to accept what you say because you say so you should grow up a little.

@Breetai

There are, of course, many reasons for that. I'm no historian but I can't help but feel that Africa as a whole has been underdeveloped for practically forever, missing many of the key moments that made the Western world as advanced as it is.

It's slowly improving but it will take very, very long.

@flamephanter

Sent you a PM

[ZeroAX]

I'm no historian but I can't help but feel that Africa as a whole has been underdeveloped for practically forever

Egypt and then.......chaos.

I just think that it is a very hostile environment for humans to thrive. Look at it this way. Good luck trying to farm the land or build factories (which means workers have to work in them) when most of the continent is very hot all year long.

[pepharytheworm]

^This is simple, mate. You don't want to prove your claims? Cool, I will ignore you.

Sorry, had to fix your statement. If your going to say "we will ignore you" I would like to know first who this "we" is and then proof that they will also ignore him.

But part of proving something is from personal observation. If everyone just got their info from someone else then where did it come from, someone made an observation. Nowhere is the author stating anything as fact, only what he has seen. The title itself has a question mark.

On Japanese anime characters in video games, a lot of them were changed in Western releases, their look and attitude. Do we need to show all those ugly box art. I didn't think a lot of the characters were asian at all when I was a kid, there weren't enough clues.

[flamepanther]

@flamephanter

Sent you a PM

OK, but somehow I didn't receive it?

[Hatta]

There are, of course, many reasons for that. I'm no historian but I can't help but feel that Africa as a whole has been underdeveloped for practically forever, missing many of the key moments that made the Western world as advanced as it is.

Mainly because you're familiar with history as portrayed by western historians. There have been plenty of times when Africa has been ruled by civilized kingdoms while Europe was riddled with barbarians. Today, it's reversed. This has nothing to do with the inherent qualities of the land or the people, just the fickle nature of history.