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During A Preview, Forspoken Devs Described Their Black Protag In Cringe-Inducing Ways
Black folks were surprisingly absent during the Forspoken hands-off event
kotaku.com
Kotaku is "worried" about Forespoken having a Black Female Protagonist written by only white people. Because you can't write a human experience in a fantasy world if you don't share the same amount of mellanin in your skin apparently.
That's actually Chun-Li with a Zangief skin. You saw a gameplay footage from the PC version, and the modders always doing crazy stuff with the game.
Considering how often Hollywood depicted blacks as negative or walking stereotypes to be as villains, or victims, or just thrown into the background with no lines, I can see where Kotaku is coming from. While gaming is better by comparison, the industry has made plenty of pratt falls and screws up as well. Not all were intentional, but some were. I am glad things are more diverse when it comes to different gaming protagonists and characters and that not all of them are negative stereotypes, but they have a right to concern as anyone else. It always does help that see a diverse or different view. They can make whatever game they want, but they better be careful. Honestly the more correlation you have with people of different backgrounds or more diverse staff, the better. At least that way you're getting different views and not all the same homogeneous. I still give the game the best of luck and I hope the designers do their best, but I just hope that lack of different viewpoints doesn't blind them to their mistakes. Because crap like this has happened before, where you get a staff or a bunch. This has happened in both Hollywood especially, and the gaming industry. I have no reason to get upset, nor look down on Kotaku for this concern. I'm still not the biggest fan of the website either, but at least they try. They definitely try more compared to how they were back in most of the 2010s.During A Preview, Forspoken Devs Described Their Black Protag In Cringe-Inducing Ways
Black folks were surprisingly absent during the Forspoken hands-off event
Kotaku is "worried" about Forespoken having a Black Female Protagonist written by only white people. Because you can't write a human experience in a fantasy world if you don't share the same amount of mellanin in your skin apparently.
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I’d like to see a hidden ending where those two sing karaoke to “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. Bonus points for “Talk Dirty To Me” as an encore.
Actually I do have a question in that regard. Because one of the writer's complaints is that Frey's origin is too stereotypically "black", she is basically too "from the streets". But wouldn't that make her more relatable? I mean if they gave her a Fresh Prince of Bel Air backstory would they turn around and complain that her experience is white-washed?
That's what always confuses me about opinion pieces like this, because you could make a "woke" complaint about the character on either side of the coin. If the experience of her being poor and black is too stereotyped, then having come from a stable moderate income home would make her whitewashed, and you can't avoid the criticism.
So which way do you think is the better way to go about it?
Just because someone's from "da streets" does not automatically make them more relatable to Black people. That's one of those stereotypes I was talking about. That's one has been used too many times in movies, tvs, and games. Movies and TV especially are finally around getting away from that. Kevin Hart is making movies and acting in movies that shows black people don't always have to be from the streets or the hood to get noticed. Just show a regular family. Jordan Peele's Us got this right. And just because someone's from the hood, doesn't mean it speaks for all black people either. There are many black people from different walks of life that that do not involve the ghetto. I suggest you start opening your views and looking at other options.
Also, what worked in the 90s doesn't necessarily make everything foolproof nor should be the ultimate golden standard. TV changed long after Fresh Prince ended. Changes come and go, but that is a stereotype that needs to die and unfortunately, is still enforced by certain people be they white, black, or a different race. Intentional or not. Besides, the point of Fresh Prince and Family Matters, was a show black people from all types of life in different economical classes. Though the latter was obviously more Blue collar focused. At least early on anyway.
That's your problem and your problem alone. You have a habit of assuming or acting as if nothing's wrong in certain parts of the media industry. That most racism/racial and cultural stereotyping is gone, or is not as big an issue as it once was. Or you automatically blow somebody off just because they have a most likely valid complaint or point. And even if it's imaginary or not, you feel the need to blow them off without giving it a second thought, or just assume everything is hunky dory with everyone, no matter the race or gender. Your view boils down to "I'm fine with it and then everyone else should be fine with it; end of story. No ifs and or buts." You don't speak for everyone.
The simple solution would obviously be getting more good and competent writers that are at least black or of a diverse racial background. And if they're not going to do that, at least consult with black people that know the culture and what to avoid of making unfortunate implications. It's not that hard to do. Just higher a few people as consultants and check your research. You be surprised that this is a bigger problem than you realize. The advertisement industry has had this problem a thousand times. Whenever they screw up, they panic and do all these quick apologies without learning much. All of it would be so much easier, if they gets somebody on the board of advertising/marketing that is non-white for once in their lives. Some have gotten better about this, but there's plenty of others that keep falling into the same mistakes over and over again.
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Adding to that, Black Panther was about an African man fighting someone representing the worst excesses of blaxploitation and stereotypes while making me feel like I can relate to Killmonger's motivations and interests (specifically his anime interest which has historical context in Blaxploitation cinema and Kung Fu films as Anime replaced Kung Fu films as the form of escapism the African American population turned to) while TChalla was a sheltered child who lived life like an royal envoy
Put Arthur to work as a bartender, dockworker, and deliveryman in this Red Dead Redemption 2 mod
You can also herd sheep, hunt animals, and work in a coal mine for a legitimate paycheck in the Jobs Mod.
www.pcgamer.com
Shouldn't that be in the gaming news thread? I appreciate you reminding me that this game exists though.
Good article, but I feel it downplays some games and never mentions blacks that are portrayed with out negative social stereotypes in older games. There are plenty that accomplished that well early on in the gaming sphere. With that said, I am always willing to see more characters of different racial backgrounds and gender not defined by negative or over used stereotypes.
kotaku.com
Deathloop Redefines Blackness In Video Games
Colt Vahn's voice actor Jason Kelley speaks about what sets the Black characters in Arkane's latest immersive sim apart
kotaku.com
I found it interesting when someone pointed out that wakanda is real close to South Africa. So they sat on thee doorstep of Apartheid and did Jack shit about it.
Modders Hack Elden Ring Demo, Sprinkle In Some GTA San Andreas
CJ was last seen wandering around the Lands Between with a huge sword
kotaku.com
Definitive edition!
