Nintendo's lack of diversity

[pepharytheworm]

Why oh why must everything be diversified . I'm so tired of everything having to be "politically correct" it's an entertainment medium why place limits on someones creativity by forcing them to have a diversity of race, political parties, and sexual orientations in their games. Do we really gain any enhancement to our enjoyment just by ensuring that every nationality, sexual orientation, and political view gets their equal share of screen time in a game?

It is a game it's meant to be enjoyed the guys aren't trying to brainwash people into joining the Nazi party or anything.

No one is claiming every game needs all parties covered. On the other hand how would you feel if you were rarely represented and when you were it was negative or a stereotype? Also trying to diversify causes creative thinking not stagnation. Most artist become less creative unless there are challages. No one should just shoehorn diversified characters as that is also a lack of creative thinking.

[MrPopo]

Doesn't bother me at all. I don't see any legitimate reason why it's an issue. By all means, if they come up with a cool character concept of a different skin color or whatever, then add them, but... Yeah, it just matters so darn little to me. As long as the game is good, I could care less either way.

It's an issue because we now have the media and activists groups with their PC agenda who are pushing for change in every area of life. Nothing is off limits to them, even our video games. When their machine is done, they'll have laid waste and changed everything. At least that's their agenda.

Ok, you're either Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly; which is it?

[AppleQueso]

I think I am in the middle here. I have no issue with games or films wih heavy influence of minority characters or in locations not often represented. This can give fresh perspectives and experiences.

But I also dont like it when it feels forced and they seemingly have some minority coverage check box they go through solely for the sake of being inclusive. If a character trait be it minority or not adds to the experience and feels authentic, then hey, why not? So it annoys me to a degree when this happens as I do want the creators true vision or original purpose for the game or film.

On the flipside, those productions that have a minority focus shouldnt be derided because of that either, and take it for the experience it is.

I really think I dont care the ethnicity, gender, or sexuality of the characters for the most part, I just want good or well written ones. However, when these mixes are jarringly shoved in to placate PR interests, it often feels forced and can be noticable.

Tokenism is its own problem, sure. Ideally, we'd have minority representation that is also well-written.

Thing is, though, there's not really any reason for "white straight male" to be the "default" character, and I don't see any detriment to getting rid of that idea.

[Konacha]

If Nintendo was an American company I can understand it. Nintendo is mainly a Japanese company, completely different rules are in play due to the cultural differences. As much as I would like us to have equal treatment, Japan's culture isn't and we shouldn't push our culture on them (because that has worked so well in the past )

Plus, if the characters become a different color and gender you'd have a huge uproar over changing of the content from the original release.

[jvalentine98]

Well in the US, white straight male are the guys buying the games, like it or not. That's majority race, and the majority orientation. If you want your product to make money, you better make sure the core customers are going to be interested.

The media may not want you to know this, but the US is still 70% white to this day, immigration and rise of minorities babies notwithstanding.

[Jmustang1968]

I think I am in the middle here. I have no issue with games or films wih heavy influence of minority characters or in locations not often represented. This can give fresh perspectives and experiences.

But I also dont like it when it feels forced and they seemingly have some minority coverage check box they go through solely for the sake of being inclusive. If a character trait be it minority or not adds to the experience and feels authentic, then hey, why not? So it annoys me to a degree when this happens as I do want the creators true vision or original purpose for the game or film.

On the flipside, those productions that have a minority focus shouldnt be derided because of that either, and take it for the experience it is.

I really think I dont care the ethnicity, gender, or sexuality of the characters for the most part, I just want good or well written ones. However, when these mixes are jarringly shoved in to placate PR interests, it often feels forced and can be noticable.

Tokenism is its own problem, sure. Ideally, we'd have minority representation that is also well-written.

Thing is, though, there's not really any reason for "white straight male" to be the "default" character, and I don't see any detriment to getting rid of that idea.

I agree. The white male is considered 'safe'. But minority leads are fine by me.

What I dont like that has started to happen, is that if a game or movie has a white male lead or doesnt have enough female leads or insert x minority or social justice issue, it receives complaints, despite the possible merit the production might possess.

So lets encourage the minority leads, but I also dont want games derided if they dont.

The big factor is that so many writers/directors/developers are white males. So, I think one typically writes characters with whom they can relate to, or are at their strongest when they write those characters.

[catnip]

Thing is, though, there's not really any reason for "white straight male" to be the "default" character, and I don't see any detriment to getting rid of that idea.

I agree with there not being any detriment to getting rid of this idea. That said, for example, when I write, it's often centered around a white male, just because that's what I am and that's been my experience. I'd definitely feel a bit phony writing about something I didn't have much experience with, especially if I'm writing about the struggles of a person with a different set of circumstances, y'know?

Certainly, I could learn more about other people and sympathize with them, but I also think that tokenism can be a challenge to avoid, even if one is trying to. I think that adds to the lack of diversity in a company that's based in a culturally homogeneous country like Japan.

[dsheinem]

The big factor is that so many writers/directors/developers are white males. So, I think one typically writes characters with whom they can relate to, or are at their strongest when they write those characters.

^this and this:

Well in the US, white straight male are the guys buying the games, like it or not. That's majority race, and the majority orientation. If you want your product to make money, you better make sure the core customers are going to be interested. If you alienated all the white straight males, you'd be hurting.

are closely related.

Straight white males might be a majority of the game-buying public in the US now, but they aren't the majority of the public as a whole (and their numbers are shrinking). If companies want to make money, they need to be finding ways to appeal to/attract additional audiences, audiences that will also want to become invested in making those games themselves.

The same problem exists in film (especially as regards the production side), and that industry is dealing with the same thing. The fact is that population demographics have shifted considerably in the past generation and will continue to do so - and that the industries that account for this will be those that find success. "Default Straight White Male worldview" is still going to be availble and prevalent, but there will be (and should be) a much wider variety of perspectives to see, stories to hear, characters to choose, etc. going forward.

[AppleQueso]

I feel like it's probably worth pointing out that these "uproars" are often blown way out of proportion, and often start with someone just calmly pointing things out and getting severe backlash for it and things escalating from there. I've seen it happen a few times. These sorts of criticisms most often come from people who are actually fans of the works in question, and often from the very people who would benefit from better representation.

Well in the US, white straight male are the guys buying the games, like it or not. That's majority race, and the majority orientation. If you want your product to make money, you better make sure the core customers are going to be interested.

The media may not want you to know this, but the US is still 70% white to this day, immigration and rise of minorities babies notwithstanding.

So what you're basically saying is that media should continue to perpetuate current social inequities.

"B-b-but we can't have diversity! What about the status quo!?"

[dsheinem]

As a straight white male, I find it infinitely more fascinating and refreshing to play a game from another identity's perspective. Most recently this was the case when playing the "Left Behind" DLC for The Last of Us and the indie PC game "Gone Home" - both of which put me in the "virtual shoes" of a character who was different from me in gender, age, sexuality, or some combination of those things in a relatively "meaningful" way (at least, for a video game narrative). These weren't examples of "tokenism" by any stretch, they were games built around a kind of experience or kind of relationship I wouldn't ever have otherwise - they offered both escapism (which some people seek in all games) and a new perspective on the world (which too few games provide). There are far too many games with male protagonists and/or trope-filled stories about the great male hero who rescues the girl, saves the world, etc...