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

[ZeroAX]

and Faith from Mirror's Edge.

You're going to have to be way more specific

[Erik_Twice]

^They changed her for US release? What the hell man?

I mean, it's like they were to take a very Japanese game and after making all asian characters white they turned one of them into a Black Best Friend (TM)

[dsheinem]

And almost every one of these characters you mentioned are one-dimensional negative stereotypes of black people. The problem of quantity of represntation isn't nearly as important as the problem of quality of representation...

I don't know that they were necessarily negative, but one-dimensional, sure. That's not exactly unusual as far as video game characters go, though...Actually, now that I think about it, I can't really think of too many video game characters who aren't one-dimensional, outside of a few adventure games.

I completely agree. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise, though I do think that those one-dimensional characteristics we see most frequently associated with non-Caucasian/Asian characters in games are more reflective of negative cultural stereotypes than those associated with Caucasians/Asians.

In my view, the overabundance of one-dimensional characters is a big part of the reason why gaming isn't taken seriously as art by most people. That's a topic for another thread, but as has been said already here: gaming is in its early stages and so stereotypes abound as do cliches of every stripe (gameplay, story, etc.). For every new game that bucks this tradition, a string of others are released that reinforce it...

[Limewater]

^They changed her for US release? What the hell man?

I mean, it's like they were to take a very Japanese game and after making all asian characters white they turned one of them into a Black Best Friend (TM)

No. The image on the right is a piece of fan-art created by a Japanese gamer.

See this article:

http://kotaku.com/#!5062933/faith-from-mirrors-edge-fan+designed-for-asian-tastes

This is apparently a case of Japanese gamers being unhappy with a western-designed asian protagonist.

[Erik_Twice]

Uff, thanks I got scared! I saw that design and since it was released in it's original form in Europe I guessed it was changed for the US. Yes, that means I forgot the game was made in the US in the first place!

[Ack]

There have been popular games featuring African or black characters as the leads or major characters. Crackdown, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Final Fantasy XIII, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing.

Fighting game have featured characters like Balrog (M. Bison for you Japan fans...), Zack, Vanessa Lewis, TJ Combo, B. Orchid, Eddie Gordo and Jacks,

And almost every one of these characters you mentioned are one-dimensional negative stereotypes of black people. The problem of quantity of represntation isn't nearly as important as the problem of quality of representation...

Which you'll note is why I said this:

I'm not trying to say if these depictions have been positive...just saying they do exist.

I'd also point to Limewater's mention of characters in fighting games generally being one-dimensional. While there is plot in place in an attempt to give a reason for these guys to act the way they do, it generally has little real impact on the game beyond the choice of characters in each title, and I usually only see that in larger games like the KOF series.

I would also like to point out that in some of these cases, the negative stereotypes are being propagated by African Americans. 50 Cent, Wu-Tang, and the folks in Def Jam were more than happy to sign away and continue pushing the stereotype for a paycheck. I did really like CJ in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but that's because I see him and his entire universe as purely satire of early 90s America (I see the entire GTA series from III on this way). He exists to point out the faults with American culture so we can laugh about ourselves.

I think it would be interesting to look into what genres are dominated more by ethnically African characters, and which ones are generally played by ethnically African gamers.

[Hatta]

In my view, the overabundance of one-dimensional characters is a big part of the reason why gaming isn't taken seriously as art by most people. That's a topic for another thread,

I know, but I'm going to jack the thread anyway. I don't think characters have much of anything to do with whether something is art. There are no characters in a Jackson Pollock painting or Bach fugue. Those are art because they are beautiful. Robotron 2084, Tetris, Rez, all these are beautiful works of art with barely any characters at all. If games are to succeed as works of art they need to be appreciated for their unique qualities. If gaming is just another way to tell a story, we don't really have a new art form, we have an old form of art in a new medium. That's not good enough. Gaming and narrative art have about as much in common as wood carving and opera do.

Sorry about that. Carry on.

[saturnfan]

The initial question to this thread was “is gaming a white man’s medium”? I believe the fact that no blacks have contributed to this thread is somewhat part of the answer. Also, I am unaware of any regularly contributing members to this forum who are black.

Granted, I don’t know the ethnicity of everyone who regularly contributes, but I have gotten that impression from not only this thread, but the mug shot thread and the thread about Huck Fin. I don’t think I am wrong in this assumption, but I might be.

Video gaming has never struck me as part of popular black culture. I don’t believe there are many game developers who are black, I rarely encounter black players online and as other members have pointed out, many black characters are generally one dimensional and a stereotype.

Now this brings up an interesting question, should game developers intentionally strive to make their games more multicultural, knowing the primary audience is white and Asian males? I would say no, in the sense that it shouldn’t be done for the sake of political correctness. However, if the developer wants to incorporate different themes, including those on race, because they feel it truly enhances the experience of the game, then they should act on those creative impulses.

[pakopako]

The initial question to this thread was “is gaming a white man’s medium”? I believe the fact that no blacks have contributed to this thread is somewhat part of the answer. Also, I am unaware of any regularly contributing members to this forum who are black.

Hnn. Too many variables to account for.

• Sexist angle: Perception of an Internet user is still a 14-year old brown-haired pale-skinned boy, possibly with freckles. Despite various Nielsen surveys of varying scope show over 40% of 'net surfers are now women.
• Marxist angle: Poor people can't afford games; more poor people in the biggest gaming nation in the world are black. Though not every household may have a PS3 or BlackBerry, nearly every child plays video games. Every. Child.
• Anonymous coincidence. There are way too many communities online. From GameSpot to RacketBoy, sometimes you just don't know who you meet. Also, see "Sexist Angle".

I don’t believe there are many game developers who are black, I rarely encounter black players online and as other members have pointed out, many black characters are generally one dimensional and a stereotype.

No there are not. I have met gamers online who were black, but I troll web boards and not game hubs. My friends play online, but mainly only with themselves. Also, stereotypes are really easy. Creating a complex multi-faceted AND sympathetic character instead of a generic poster-child is marketing suicide. You want the cheap gags, the quick jokes, and you want lots of them. Obey. Obey.

Now this brings up an interesting question, should game developers intentionally strive to make their games more multicultural...

Two things come to my mind after that sentence: Mario and Fallout 2.

Mario, from Nintendo's own Mario Mania book, was designed to be a visible blob people could see. He would have to be brightly colored (red) against a backdrop (blue sky) and would have to have a face of some kind. Being the NES, the palette was limited, so the programmers settled for a moustache. Seeing how it resembled their landlord, game the sprite the same name: Mario. Then again, later games did show off that non-FFFFFF didn't always have to blend into the background.

At some point in Fallout 2, you come across Vault City, a place where high technology meets the barren wasteland. A place where, akin to the movie A Boy and His Dog, cloning is the secret behind the fabled city's healthy population after the giant A-Bomb fallout. One NPC even remarks this might be why everyone in the game looks so alike. Now, if you were in charge of making up game characters (even with development kits), could you (and would you) try to keep track of it all and seed the world with unique diversity and purpose? Or would you get bored and make everyone a 2-line NPC out of mud?

[GSZX1337]

Granted, I don’t know the ethnicity of everyone who regularly contributes, but I have gotten that impression from not only this thread, but the mug shot thread and the thread about Huck Fin. I don’t think I am wrong in this assumption, but I might be.

Maybe I'm dense, but how does the Huckleberry Fin thread show that none of us are black?