Nintendo's lack of diversity

[Jmustang1968]

I'm sorry but I really, really don't see any good reason why the status quo of "white straight male as default" should be upheld.

If a member of the dominant group in society feels alienated because gaming suddenly has more non-white protagonists, more non-male protagonists, etc, then I'm not likely to have much sympathy for them.

I find it very worrying when the idea of greater diversity is portrayed as some kind of nightmare scenario. Worried that white people will become underrepresented? Well how do you think the groups that are currently underrepresented right now feel?

I dont think this is quite accurately portraying what I was saying or meaning. It doesnt have to be the default, but shouldnt also be villified or shunned if a game is made with the white male lead etc...

[dsheinem]

Worried that white people will become underrepresented? Well how do you think the groups that are currently underrepresented right now feel?

Well, two wrongs and all that...

In any case, I don't have any reason to believe at this point that us white folks will ever be underrepresented, and I don't see entertainment media striving towards parity as a cause to sound the alarm of looming marginalization.

[catnip]

Who's saying that, Queso? I hope I didn't imply that anywhere D:

[AppleQueso]

I'm sorry but I really, really don't see any good reason why the status quo of "white straight male as default" should be upheld.

If a member of the dominant group in society feels alienated because gaming suddenly has more non-white protagonists, more non-male protagonists, etc, then I'm not likely to have much sympathy for them.

I find it very worrying when the idea of greater diversity is portrayed as some kind of nightmare scenario. Worried that white people will become underrepresented? Well how do you think the groups that are currently underrepresented right now feel?

I dont think this os quite accurately portraying what I was saying or meaning. It doesnt have to be the default, but shouldnt also be villified or shunned if a game is made with the white male lead etc...

That wasn't directed at you (or anyone else), per se.

As for the vilification of white protagnoists, of their 'alienation', etc, well..

In any case, I don't have any reason to believe at this point that us white folks will ever be underrepresented, and I don't see entertainment media striving towards parity as a cause to sound the alarm of looming marginalization.

Pretty much this. This hypothetical scenario of white straight men being alienated and underrepresented doesn't reflect reality. That's just not what's going to happen.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I find it very worrying when the idea of greater diversity is portrayed as some kind of nightmare scenario.

I think you hit the nail on the here, AQ...

[Erik_Twice]

Can we at least agree that complaining about the diversity of Mario Kart's rooster when half of it is composed of animals and the other half is composed of "people who look like Mario" is absurd?

[Ack]

Worried that white people will become underrepresented? Well how do you think the groups that are currently underrepresented right now feel?

Well, two wrongs and all that...

In any case, I don't have any reason to believe at this point that us white folks will ever be underrepresented, and I don't see entertainment media striving towards parity as a cause to sound the alarm of looming marginalization.

I believe it ties into other fears of immigration, shifting demographics, worldview, culture, as well as language, etc. Consider how America has acted or reacted to each of these ethnicities or nationalities during the various waves of immigration: currently Latinos, but 1900s-1950s Italians and Eastern Europeans, 1850s-1950s East Asians, particularly Chinese or Japanese, 1800s Irish, and peoples of African descent since the end of slavery and particularly in the decades following the Civil Rights movement. Each group has been feared, for the supposed economic and cultural threat that they represented. I consider the debate about representation in entertainment to be a smaller portion of this much greater fear, regardless of whether it is founded on anything rational.

[catnip]

Can we at least agree that complaining about the diversity of Mario Kart's rooster when half of it is composed of animals and the other half is composed of "people who look like Mario" is absurd?

Yep

[dsheinem]

I believe it ties into other fears of immigration, shifting demographics, worldview, culture, as well as language, etc. Consider how America has acted or reacted to each of these ethnicities or nationalities during the various waves of immigration: currently Latinos, but 1900s-1950s Italians and Eastern Europeans, 1850s-1950s East Asians, particularly Chinese or Japanese, 1800s Irish, and peoples of African descent since the end of slavery and particularly in the decades following the Civil Rights movement. Each group has been feared, for the supposed economic and cultural threat that they represented. I consider the debate about representation in entertainment to be a smaller portion of this much greater fear, regardless of whether it is founded on anything rational.

Yup, we've been down this road before.

I mean, selling black authors in a bookstore?! I do declare!

A leading gay character on a sitcom?! Dear lord, protect the children!

[MrPopo]

I find it very worrying when the idea of greater diversity is portrayed as some kind of nightmare scenario. Worried that white people will become underrepresented? Well how do you think the groups that are currently underrepresented right now feel?

Without arguing against your point, how do you define underrepresented? If you take a representative sample of games, find that 13 of them star a black protagonist, is this underrepresentation? (note: according to wikipedia the demographics of the US is 12.6% black) Are you looking for an even distribution of the various groups, or is proportional fine? And yes, I think it's reasonable to assert that you can't have a majority of the portrayals of a particular group be negative.