269: The Pasty White Person Is King

[Chuck Wendig]

The Pasty White Person Is King

Why do we need more non-white characters when so many games allow you to create an avatar that looks like any race or color? Chuck Wendig experiments with some modern character creators and finds out that isn't exactly true.

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[BlueInkAlchemist]

I'm not sure which is worse - being railroaded into playing a pasty white person (Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and you know Master Chief's skin is painfully white under that ubiquitous Space Marine armor) or being teased with different skin colors that are merely 'painted' on.

Hopefully Dragon Age 2 will take a hint from its space-age cousin and let players customize Hawke in a similar way to Shepard.

 

[Avida]

The examples you give mentioning games in which you can change race but end up looking like a 'dirty-cheeked white person' is not racism of any sort, its prioritising, marketing, these guys only have so much time and budget and modeling other races means building a new character model which most of the target audience isnt going to pick as generally one will stick to one's own race in this sort of situation. Would you really rather developers spend yet more time putting in measures to stop people being offended by things like this rather than continuing with making their game?

 

[chuckwendig]

The examples you give mentioning games in which you can change race but end up looking like a 'dirty-cheeked white person' is not racism of any sort, its prioritising, marketing, these guys only have so much time and budget and modeling other races means building a new character model which most of the target audience isnt going to pick as generally one will stick to one's own race in this sort of situation. Would you really rather developers spend yet more time putting in measures to stop people being offended by things like this rather than continuing with making their game?

To be clear, I very distinctly say, "I don't think this is racism."

As to whether or not I'd like for them to take some time to offer more realistic racial choices than Pasty White Person? I would. I won't, however, subscribe to the false dichotomy of, "It's either wider racial choices or a better game." I don't think it's either/or.

-- Chuck

 

[Plinglebob]

I'm going to sound like typical BNP racist, but I think this is the first article the Escapist has had made me want to whack the writer round the back of the head. While I accept that character generators could be tweaked to try and represent more specific racial characteristics, the insistance that black people should be in middle ages UK settings because of the Moors is really stupid.

Even in current times, the UK is still 90% white and the majority of those that arn't are mainly in the larger cities. In the countryside (or even some of the larger towns) the percentage of people of an ethnic minority drops to ridiculously low levels. This means even if Albion was to represent the UK today, there would sill only be about 10 NPCs who wern't white. Seeing as the game represents the industrial age, it would be even less.

This article reminds me of when the (possibly former) leader of the race and equalities commission said that the BBC should have at least 1 minority memebr in each show. One commentators response was "If you stuck a black guy in Dibley (ficitonal country village) not only would it un-realistic, the only way to make it realistic would be for them to be shot"

 

[Flamezdudes]

Erm, you can choose to be a different Race Colour in Dragon Age: Origin's you know? I guess companies just expect the majority of their buyers are Caucasian, which for the most part is true but not hardly enough, only by a small amount is it larger.

I myself find it uncomfortable sometimes to play as the opposite sex in games and when i have the choice i always make my character look Caucasian, to look like my race. I can't imagine what it's like to be bombarded with White all the time as a different race.

 

[Silver Scribbler]

I'm going to sound like typical BNP racist, but I think this is the first article the Escapist has had made me want to whack the writer round the back of the head. While I accept that character generators could be tweaked to try and represent more specific racial characteristics, the insistance that black people should be in middle ages UK settings because of the Moors is really stupid.

Even in current times, the UK is still 90% white and the majority of those that arn't are mainly in the larger cities. In the countryside (or even some of the larger towns) the percentage of people of an ethnic minority drops to ridiculously low levels. This means even if Albion was to represent the UK today, there would sill only be about 10 NPCs who wern't white. Seeing as the game represents the industrial age, it would be even less.

This article reminds me of when the (possibly former) leader of the race and equalities commission said that the BBC should have at least 1 minority memebr in each show. One commentators response was "If you stuck a black guy in Dibley (ficitonal country village) not only would it un-realistic, the only way to make it realistic would be for them to be shot"

While Mr Wendig does mention the Moors, he's not saying that you should be able to create black NPCs in Fable III simply because of them. I think he's saying that the developers using the fact that their fantasy game is based in a time where there would have been few people of darker skin tone is bullshit, as the game is just that, fantasy.

 

[Ed.]

Fantasy does have one thing in its defence that you didn't really mention

Modern fantasy is massively influenced by tolkien who was well white and wrote his story as such. The it's based on medieval England excuses goes a bit further than credited to portra other races as merchants and foreigners is mostly fair though I'll give you there should be the odd moor.

 

[chuckwendig]

Erm, you can choose to be a different Race Colour in Dragon Age: Origin's you know? I guess companies just expect the majority of their buyers are Caucasian, which for the most part is true but not hardly enough, only by a small amount is it larger.

I myself find it uncomfortable sometimes to play as the opposite sex in games and when i have the choice i always make my character look Caucasian, to look like my race. I can't imagine what it's like to be bombarded with White all the time as a different race.

I apologize: you're right, you can. But it suffers from the same problem as WoW, to me -- it feels painted on and unrepresentative. And everybody around you is pasty and white.

Your second point speaks to the heart of the article, and thanks for making that point: so often, game characters are white-washed both in creation and in population of the avatars inhabiting the world. I'm a pasty white guy myself, and it surprises me to the degree that alternate races are either mis-handled or simply not handled at all. Or, "races" are described as fantasy beings (when really, they probably mean "species," right? Is a troll really just a different "race?").

-- Chuck

 

[chuckwendig]

I'm going to sound like typical BNP racist, but I think this is the first article the Escapist has had made me want to whack the writer round the back of the head. While I accept that character generators could be tweaked to try and represent more specific racial characteristics, the insistance that black people should be in middle ages UK settings because of the Moors is really stupid.

Even in current times, the UK is still 90% white and the majority of those that arn't are mainly in the larger cities. In the countryside (or even some of the larger towns) the percentage of people of an ethnic minority drops to ridiculously low levels. This means even if Albion was to represent the UK today, there would sill only be about 10 NPCs who wern't white. Seeing as the game represents the industrial age, it would be even less.

This article reminds me of when the (possibly former) leader of the race and equalities commission said that the BBC should have at least 1 minority memebr in each show. One commentators response was "If you stuck a black guy in Dibley (ficitonal country village) not only would it un-realistic, the only way to make it realistic would be for them to be shot"

While Mr Wendig does mention the Moors, he's not saying that you should be able to create black NPCs in Fable III simply because of them. I think he's saying that the developers using the fact that their fantasy game is based in a time where there would have been few people of darker skin tone is bullshit, as the game is just that, fantasy.

Exactly that! Thank you!

-- Chuck

 

[Chebs]

Erm, you can choose to be a different Race Colour in Dragon Age: Origin's you know? I guess companies just expect the majority of their buyers are Caucasian, which for the most part is true but not hardly enough, only by a small amount is it larger.

My husband attempted to make all his characters in DA:O black, and they came out looking like a white person who sat in a tanning bed too long. If I were being kind, I could say they looked Native American, but really, they looked like really tan white people. There isn't a skin tone that's dark enough to be actually black. At least not on the console version - perhaps there's a PC mod that does it.

 

[Mr. Grey]

I'm not sure which is worse - being railroaded into playing a pasty white person (Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and you know Master Chief's skin is painfully white under that ubiquitous Space Marine armor) or being teased with different skin colors that are merely 'painted' on.

Hopefully Dragon Age 2 will take a hint from its space-age cousin and let players customize Hawke in a similar way to Shepard.

You mean... Master Chief isn't... purple?

Why would you crush my dreams like that!?

 

[chuckwendig]

You mean... Master Chief isn't... purple?

Why would you crush my dreams like that!?

SPOILER WARNING:

Master Chief is actually just a 'roided out Covenant grunt.

-- Chuck

 

[CitySquirrel]

While I accept that character generators could be tweaked to try and represent more specific racial characteristics, the insistance that black people should be in middle ages UK settings because of the Moors is really stupid.

You are missing the point. Does it make sense to have elves in in a middle ages U.K setting? Magic? Dragons? Hordes of demon like things? Unless it is a historical simulator then reality should be no constraint. And you know what? It isn't for most things. It isn't that we should have black people in a medieval U.K. setting because there were moors in England, we should have them, and all other races, because those races all make up the people possibly playing the game. Because it makes no sense to say, "You can be an elf, a dwarf, a demon creature from another plane, but you can't be black." It isn't overt racism, but it shows how easy it is to forget about the existence of people who are not us.

Anyway...

Back when I played WoW I noticed there were few black people (characters) in the game. I figured this was because most people where just using their own race, but then it occurred to me that people use sexes different from their own all the time... why not race? So I made a black female warlock, and since then I always try to make my human characters black. I partly measure any game I play by the ability to do this. Good article, Chuck.

 

[Mr. Grey]

You mean... Master Chief isn't... purple?

Why would you crush my dreams like that!?

SPOILER WARNING:

Master Chief is actually just a 'roided out Covenant grunt.

-- Chuck

That would explain why I enjoyed pistol whipping those little intergalactic gnomes...

 

[Silver Scribbler]

Snip
Exactly that! Thank you!

-- Chuck

You're very welcome. By the way, "Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming" was one of the funniest things I've read in ages, although I felt bad for laughing at frustration which I have felt myself...

 

[AboveUp]

The only thing I'm really afraid of is when we finally do get to the point of having racial equality in gaming, we're going to get that pesky problem of "you can be a white person killing black people" debate by (willingly) ill informed media outlets and politicians.

As for Shepard in Mass Effect, there's still that problem of him/her having the exact same voice no matter what he/she looks like. I've seen cutscenes of a... well... let's say very stereotypically big mean black dude version of Shepard. He sounded like the same pasty, unshaven and scarred white boy Shepard I knew. It felt weird to say the least.

 

[chuckwendig]

Back when I played WoW I noticed there were few black people (characters) in the game. I figured this was because most people where just using their own race, but then it occurred to me that people use sexes different from their own all the time... why not race? So I made a black female warlock, and since then I always try to make my human characters black. I partly measure any game I play by the ability to do this. Good article, Chuck.

Thanks! I think it's valuable to play outside's comfort zone and ensure that other gamers have equal opportunity to see themselves or their families represented, even in some small way.

Of course, skin color is really only a very small part of it -- beyond that, games could also do a better job actually attempting to embrace different cultures and the traditions of those cultures, but really, one step at a time.

-- Chuck

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

You mean... Master Chief isn't... purple?

Why would you crush my dreams like that!?

Because reality is cruel and unforgiving. Especially when it comes to Microsoft.