Most video games star white males.

[TehCookie]

I don't like how you lump different races into "white". Italian or Elvish (or whatever Link is) don't count as different because they have a light skin tone? Also a lot of Japanese games do feature Asian protagonist, but we just want to relate to them so we see them as white. The Japanese who play them see them as Japanese. Honestly I can't see how you can call a character with blue hair a race from reality. I wish I could find that youtube video describing exactly why Asian characters are Asian and not western.

Honestly do you really care about skin color that much? I didn't even notice Dante from DMC1 was tan until I played the 3rd one. (Though you can argue that making him white is somehow racist, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Changing his skin color didn't change his character.) He's still white in DmC and that's a bigger change in character (and if you want to talk/complain about that make a DmC thread).

 

[Skillswords]

it kinda isn't the only medium, in case no-one else brought it up, movies with bruce willis/sylvester stallone/ anyoneelsefromtheexpendables show the main as a white male seeking revenge in some form for losing something, by killing anything else...

that's why my favorite action movie is Hanna

 

[BlumiereBleck]

By Cuban friends didn't even notice it until I showed them this thread. They still don't see it as a bug deal.

 

[Aprilgold]

So your saying that Asians are white guys? If we are going to judge Asians as Caucasians then Africans will ALSO count as black guys.

A correctly made character it shouldn't matter that their a certain skin color. For example, in a game like NetHack you don't choose a skin color, because it doesn't matter. Your characters in any MMS game or WW2 game you can pretend your black, since they never say your white. Gordon Freeman could be Black because it doesn't really matter hes white.

No, its not racist since there are plenty of other ethnicity characters...... Theres no gay characters, though, or any that are straight up gay, only Bi so far. Just saiyan.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Really? No one posted the- fuck it:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/diversity

 

[Landshark1]

Last time I heard anyone say this, It was on a youtube comment where someone posted "Watchmen is Racist because it doesn't have any black main characters". If the most important thing in a video game to you is the skin color of the main character, you are either playing the wrong type of games, or are in fact a racist yourself.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Last time I heard anyone say this, It was on a youtube comment where someone posted "Watchmen is Racist because it doesn't have any black main characters". If the most important thing in a video game to you is the skin color of the main character, you are either playing the wrong type of games, or are in fact a racist yourself.

Or maybe the person is black.

Hell, I bought GTA: The Lost and Damned just because the main character is Jewish. I honestly cannot name ONE other game that has this.

 

[Crazedc00k]

Why are so many people getting defensive about this. There IS a disparity, and yeah I can see why, but that doesn't mean that its endemic to games. Is it necessarily a bad thing, motivated by racism? Clearly not. That said, the time will come when games are better at approaching a variety of ethnicites, races, and cultures with a steady hand. When that happens, the industry will have benefited.

Quit complaining about someone who this DOES bother. Acting like it isn't a valid point is both morally and factually incorrect.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

This is a bit of a pointless thread! Most of those games listed have pretty standard reasons that they star white males...
Mario and Ezio are Italian...
GoW has a dominant Black main Character as well as a dominant Hispanic main character too, you play as a white guy, but they don't dominate the game!
Link is rarely portrayed to be human... And don't forget race couldn't be portrayed very well in 8bit games! With the black backgrounds that were often used as default, and the lack of shades, characters had to stand out so lighter colours were used.
Answer to the Asian/Western Question - Abridged version: They are actually considered by the Japanese to be Japanese... Its just an accepted culture thing... Its a western perception that they appear white...
Finally, the main question.. It's down to demographics... The average gamer is a white male... Seriously look around at a convention... Which is why nearly all characters are made as white male, for relatability, or hot white girls, for sexual interest, (we've all been there! We have all had the 'who is hotter' argument.) Its not just games, most western media plays to these rules. Movies have mostly white male main characters, and so do Comics...

 

[Dfskelleton]

Fix the lack of character complexity and personality. Then, we can worry about race.
It doesn't matter if I'm playing as a white man or a black man (or a white woman or black woman, for that matter), I'd much rather have a character I can like and relate to in some way.
For example, I don't like York from Deadly Premonition because he's white. I like him because he's a well written, funny, and interesting character.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

Why don't you say what "White Privilege OMG" is? Might help your arguments.

 

[Landshark1]

Last time I heard anyone say this, It was on a youtube comment where someone posted "Watchmen is Racist because it doesn't have any black main characters". If the most important thing in a video game to you is the skin color of the main character, you are either playing the wrong type of games, or are in fact a racist yourself.

Or maybe the person is black.

Hell, I bought GTA: The Lost and Damned just because the main character is Jewish. I honestly cannot name ONE other game that has this.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I personally believe that when buying a game the most important thing should be how much fun it is, not the ethnicity/religion of the main character. Also, the ethnicity of the buyer in comparison to a game protagonist shouldn't be a factor in deciding to get the game, and a black person not liking a game protagonist because they are white is just as racist as a white person not liking a game protagonist because they are black.

Also, I do feel like some games can add extra depth to a character by adding a differing religion, sexual preference, or race (Prey and Persona 4 come to mind), but I also feel that developers often just add a race to a character as an afterthought to make the game more politically correct.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

It's true, many games star white protagonists. But does it matter?
-Black guy
Also are you counting Asian, African, and Spanish main characters? Sure there aren't as a whole as many as white main characters but it isn't as if there's an undercurrent to racism about what skin color the main characters race it. Pulling this guess out of my butt but I would guess that most game makers are white right? Many who play are white right? If the entire industry and fan base were predominantly black then there would be more black characters right? It's all about who is making and playing the games without racism being a factor. B.E.T has many black viewers and many of the shows star black people. Doesn't mean it's racist, it's just who is watching and who is *creating.

I'm curious LilithSlave. What race are you? I'm Black and Hispanic. Ghanian and Puerto Rican.

*is it just me or do Japanese games try to go for the European/American look for there characters? I'll be frank, I don't see any slanted eyes. I mean never. Can't think of one in a game ever. I know not all Asian people have slanted eyes of course but not even one in a game I can think of? Or Anime? What's up?*

 

[DeltaEdge]

Why are you saying this like it's a problem. People will make what they will. If they claim that white males are superior, then this would be an issue worth talking about. But just because most video games star white males, it doesn't mean there is a problem. I once read in a Steven King book, "Write what you know". I like to think that this applies to pretty much all forms of story telling. Many video game creators are white, thus they know first hand what it is like to be white. Thus, it is easier to make the main character a white male. If the majority of developers were of a different color than white, then in an alternate universe, this thread would be about how video games feature only black people, or asian people, or hispanic people. This just seems completely pointless to discuss in my opinion. It's just a given that the majority of developers would model the characters after their own race unless the setting of the game dictates that a specific race would be better. I don't really have much else to say.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I find it difficult to care what race my character is. I've played black guys, I've played Asian guys, I've played white guys, and all the female variants. They all play the same, anyway, so who cares?

 

[darron13]

Most gamers are white straight males, so they make main characters to appeal to said demographic.
It's really as simple as that.
Not that it matters, really. I mean I live in the Caribbean, I'm mixed East Indian, Black and White and I'm gay.
There are (as far as I know) literally no main characters like that (games with character creation aside). But it doesn't really bother me, if you're trying to tell a story, the character's race is really a non-issue.

 

[DarkRyter]

Assassin's Creed
Legend of Zelda
Mass Effect

Altair is from the Middle East. By extension, that means Desmond is mixed, to some extent. Ezio's pretty clearly white (not a descendant of Altair, by the way), but he's Italian, so, him being of a darker complexion would be pretty weird.

Link isn't technically human(he's a hylian. Note the pointy elvish ears), so it's questionable as to whether he really counts. Even if he does, the whole "elves are fair skinned" probably goes more into tradition and mythos rather than genuine bigotry.

Shepard can be any race or gender. Hell, even the default Shepard looks really mixed. Like, Tiger Woods Jessica Alba mixed.

It's understandable to be concerned over the implications that a great man games do indeed star white male leads. It's also understandable that a game developer would want their target demographic (which in the west, tends to be white males) to relate to the protagonist. This pretty much applies to many forms of media. Movies, tv shows, books, comic books especially.

For the more Eastern side, it's a bit complex.
This tv tropes article describes it better than I could.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mukokuseki

 

[revjor]

I know you probably aren't all white. But I know most of you are in this thread and this site. There is something you need to know about brown people... many many many of us think IT'S FUCKING HILARIOUS WHEN YOU GUYS BICKER ABOUT RACE. We got you bitches wound up like a mother fucker.

If you could see and read all of these responses from a non white point of view. t all reads like a bad joke.

 

[Safe in the Dark]

The other is any time Square Enix tries to have a black character and they end up being dumb hulking men with ghetto mouths that fire their chain-gun arm into the air because they stubbed their toe or the toast burnt. Or they end up being some gangly afroed thing from the 70's instead of, you know, just a guy who happens to be black.

Well, Sazh can be explained simply by the fact that every FF character is kind of gangly and outlandish, I did like him and Barret though, but Square did a really good job back with Daniel from Parasite Eve, he was a great character and his race wasn't really a part of his personality, his loyalty was.

*is it just me or do Japanese games try to go for the European/American look for there characters? I'll be frank, I don't see any slanted eyes. I mean never. Can't think of one in a game ever. I know not all Asian people have slanted eyes of course but not even one in a game I can think of? Or Anime? What's up?*

Well as someone else stated, anime designs as we know them now developed from the early manga of the 60's, one of the most popular artists Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy), was heavily influenced by Disney and the look just kind of stuck and slowly evolved into the Japanese manga/anime styles we know now. The funny thing is, whenever someone says that the character looks anglo/ European, as true as it is, the Japanese do consider them whole-heartedly Japanese.

 

[Commissar Sae]

There are of course examples tat can be found, but they are relatively rare compared to white males asically for the reason most people have already mentioned: most gamers are currently white males.

The problem isn't really that most gamers are white and/or male, it's that the developers in American studios are. I mentioned movies earlier, where a majority of viewers are women, while a majority of protagonists are men. We'd still have the same characters even if women were the majority of gamers.

Another good point. However it doesn't really explain that trend in asian/japan made games. Sure most of the developers there are male, but the fact that they are still making predominantly white protagonists is rather strange.