Most video games star white males.

[Fronken]

Racism is more than "actively discriminating against people". It is social systems like white privilege.

In fact, not seeing racism as anything outside of the behavior of an individual tends to the the sign of white privilege.

Racism isn't dead, not in the slightest. In fact, in today's society, most people don't realize they're being racist, that they're supporting racism, and that a standard is racist.

Wow, this has to be the stupidest reasoning i've ever read on a forum.

Modelling your buisness to attract the biggest audience possible is what you are supposed to do as a buisness, because guess what, if you dont, your buisness dies.

Majority > Minority, that is the way it's always been, and that is the way it should be.

And i'm not in the slightest racist by saying that, because that's the way democracy works, that's the way the modern world works.

And just to clear something out: Racism IS actively discriminating against people.

Just because most video game characters are white doesnt mean that everyone buying games or even the people creating the games are racist, not even close.

 

[Insanity72]

If race doesn't matter, then why are most video game protagonists white males?

The average gamer is a white male, and most white male gamers prefer to play white males. Hence the most profitable strategy is to make your game start a white male.

^ this, although I don't need to add anything i just thought i would make sure you saw it.

 

[3quency]

I dunno, I'm a middle-class white male and I'm kinda sick of playing that guy.

 

[Necroid_Neko]

I actually agree with the OP, I'd like to see a bigger diversity of playable race in video games, I'd like to say it doesn't matter because in games you mostly only see your character from behind anyway but I do actually care about it and will actively choose only games where there is character creation/character selection available (though in my case it's because I'm female and don't want to play as a male character...)
Personally I think more racial diversity in games, coming from a small country town I haven't really met many people from outside my own ethnicity, and I remember really liking Jade Empire for introducing me to an all-Chinese (characters) game because it gave me a glimpse at another culture, though it would have been nice if they'd been voiced by Chinese people too...

 

[Popeman]

I read somewhere that Snake was half Japanese in cannon so you could likely take Metal Gear off that list. Although he dose look rather white so whatever. But I do get asked if I am Japanese a lot and I am as white as a show man. But to what you said about it being raciest I guess if you want to see it that way.

 

[Wraith]

I'm not going to argue with anyone's views here. I'm not going to try to win any arguments that have been started. Though, I will say some of you may want to check the comments section of any website that has trailers or videos of Prototype 2. You will see countless comments referring to the main character as a "monkey' or "******".

Yes, racism is in the gaming industry, but it comes from the consumers pretty much exclusively. Check any online multi-player games you'll see what I mean.

 

[Palademon]

The reason that they're mostly white is because the people maken them are mostly white to it's easy to relate to.

When you make a character of another race there is a stigma to actual use that as a character trait or part of their story, which comes into worries of actually being racist.

Finding people of other races unnattractive isn't racist.

Most Japanese characters are actually JAPANESE, just like most anime characters are but you never want to notice it.

 

[skeliton112]

Most movies are about white males

Last I checked, this was a forum section about video games.

Seems a very typical white privilege thing to do to shift the blame so that something racist suddenly becomes irrelevant.:/

That's bullshit and you know it. You think the standard citizen believes that whites people are better than black?

On some subconcious level? Yes.

As en masse you find people who claim to think that they find black women unattractive and a myriad of racist notions that contradict their claim that "I'm not racist" and "I don't think any races are any better than any others".

Thing is, that most people don't realize that they hold racist notions. And white privilege tends to erase the idea from their minds that society might be racist.

Thinking black people are unattractive isnt racist. Am I a sexist because I dont find men attractive? Sexism and racism are saying that one race/sex has an advantage over another in something that doesnt pertain to race/gender. "All black people have black skin" isnt racist, because it pertains to race. "All black people are rapists" is racist as it is proven that black people are not all rapists.

 

[Sewora]

I'm so P.O.'d at games, because I'm not an American White Muscular Gun-toting Badass Male with Bulletproof skin!

...Actually I'm not all that pissed off. In fact, I don't care at all, I doubt anyone really does. The point of a game is to experience an interactive story told by someone else, so what sex, colour, race, religion or otherwise the characters have is irrelevant. If you can't tolerate a white or black character, then pick another game.

It's like calling someone racist towards the colour yellow because red is a much more common colour in cars. It's not really an issue since it's a personal choice, and if you borrow your friends red car you are not entitled to complain about it's colour.
Same thing applies with games. It is someone elses creation, so either you tolerate it or you avoid it.

Beside, no matter how you do it you're not going to please everyone. GTA San Andreas featured a black protagonist, and how many black people do you think can relate to him?
I highly doubt that all black people are hostile gangmembers, so how is race relevant when EVERYTHING ELSE matters so much more?
I can relate to a black protagonist even though I'm white, if he shares a similar personality or opinions as I do.

So, bottom line; There is no perfect protagonist, so the programmers are entitled to creating any characters they want. And whoever complains about the race of protagonists is the one being racist, because I believe everyone else feels that it is hardly racism if no one gives a damn.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Yes, that includes the ones made in Asia.

Uncharted
Gears of War
Crysis
Assassin's Creed
Metal Gear
Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
Deus Ex
Mass Effect
Max Payne
Hitman
Kane & Lynch
Devil May Cry
ect. x 1000

Surely I am not the only one disturbed by this.

Actually, the whole "anime chars are white" thing isn't really the case, sure, they're blank slates (unless given specific characteristics such as blond hair and American flag bikinis or with something like a funny accent) but to the Japanese since they take the default human as Asian and not Caucasian they see most anime chars as Japanese, rather than white, despite the crazy hair colors and whatnot. There's no naturally green-haired Japanese people any more than blond ones but that doesn't stop them from taking the blank slates as they do.


It is westerners that think they are white, because to westerners the blank slate human is a white man and not a Japanese man.

 

[Racistman3d]

I agree with OP, I for one am disgusted that not enough black/asian/latino/middle eastern/etc characters are shown to be perpetrators of mass violence, destruction and at times make morally bankrupt and questionable choices. Why only show whites as the most likely to gun down a million terrorists/aliens? Why can only a white male be allowed whether or not to kill someone or let them live, and why do the majority of GTA games only let white men run down hookers or sell drugs? It's just disgusting.

 

[Darth_Dude]

Also lets go at it this way. Out of the games you mentioned, say we changed the characters to either black, asian or latino... What exactly would that change?

Keeping with the flow of the thread;

Depends... if black the levels that require you to swim would get a lot harder, if asian the math puzzles would become much easier, and if latino you could climb fences really well.

Not sure if racist....or joking....

OT: Yes, they are. But thats because most gamers are white males anyway. It's not really a major issue, considering that alot of supporting characters are black or latino etc.

For example, Eli Vance from Half Life, or that Black guy from CoD4.

Although, there is a line between a genuine supporting character that is of a different race, and one that is in there for comic relief, or to prevent accusations of racism.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Yes, that includes the ones made in Asia.

Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.

Surely I am not the only one disturbed by this.

These two you lost all your credibility in your post. I will start with Mario seeing as how he is one of the oldest there is. He is Italian he is going to be white. He has also been around since Donkey Kong arcade game in the 70's(I think) so he doesn't really fit your arguement.

And now onto Legend of Zelda. Look at his face. His "bone"structure is not white it is Asian so he actually isn't "white" as you put it. If you want to nitpick about race Link is YELLOW.

You argue about those characters like a lot of people argue about anime. You actually have to look at the way the characters features are and not just their skin to tell what race they are. I think its Blassreiter that you can tell the most. The main character is German but there is also a character from japan. They both have white skin but their features are A LOT different than each other. The creators of the things actually put thought into who their characters are going to be so maybe try and pay attention to that and not just go OMG HIS SKIN IS WHITE HE MUST BE WHITE AND NOT A DIFFERENT RACE.

 

[Kingjackl]

I'm just as annoyed as anyone about the lack of diversity in games, particularly the general lack of black main characters in games. Why is that, by the way? I'm white, but I've never met a black person who wasn't cooler than me. This probably sounds condescending, but I think it would be fun to play as a black main character.

I'm pretty sure it's just a myth that executives have that gamers can't relate to characters that aren't white males. Even if we assume the tired old stereotype of every gamer being a pasty white male shut-in, surely anyone can relate to a character who's well-written and engaging.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Because the character designers have just as little creativity as the writing staff.

This really shouldn't be taking people so long to figure out.

 

[Jaythulhu]

*snip*

Seems to me that you have quite a racist attitude towards "white people". The term "white people" in and of itself is a tad racist, just like "black people" or "yellow people".

Truth be told, you remind me of the Aboriginals I saw a couple of weekends ago who were sitting (drunk before lunchtime) on a street corner hurling abuse at every "white person" who passed for "keeping them down" and all that rot.The only people keeping those folks down were themselves. Schools are open to everyone, and if they'd bothered studying they could have gotten a job and made something of themselves. Instead, they prefer to do nothing and demand everyone else look after them.

Hate to break it to you, but negro, arabian, indian, asian and hispanic cultures have just as many racists as caucasian ones do. Instead of sitting on an internet forum whinging about it, why don't you get out and try to affect some kind of positive societal change?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Most game developers in the west are white males. Developers in Japan have more contact with white than with black people. It's about familiarity. It's not racism.

 

[DioWallachia]

Also lets go at it this way. Out of the games you mentioned, say we changed the characters to either black, asian or latino... What exactly would that change?

Keeping with the flow of the thread;

Depends... if black the levels that require you to swim would get a lot harder, if asian the math puzzles would become much easier, and if latino you could climb fences really well.

Classy -__-

I said names. name me people that...

1. matter

2. are making a big deal out of this

So even if i am a normal citizen that pay its taxes i cant say what i think its a honest opinion? Or what if people doesnt make a big deal out of this because no one started yet? or how about people being too lazy or afraid to question things because someone in any minute will disregard their opinions or even punish them for it??

Yes, that includes the ones made in Asia.

Uncharted
Gears of War
Crysis
Assassin's Creed
Metal Gear
Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
Deus Ex
Mass Effect
Max Payne
Hitman
Kane & Lynch
Devil May Cry
ect. x 1000

Surely I am not the only one disturbed by this.

How cute that you actually mention games that have a marketing strong enough to even appear in my language in a ad on Youtube (seriously, that Uncharted 3 thing is everywhere)
Its almost like there isnt any other games available in the world....oh wait, they are, you are just being lazy.

But aside from that, why no one here thinks that the developers want to appeal to an audience that may have a greater chance to pay their checks and feed their families that have been banging around for months because daddy is wasting his life making CHILDREN'S GAMES (instead of you know, having a real job like killing people for a country whose ideals you dont even believe, or work in a senate where you can strip the freedom out of people you dont know but dont care because they arent as important as you are, are they?)

I dont believe in statistics (mostly because there are 3 kind of lies: lies, bigger lies and statistics) but in case there is one that ISNT biased, then we could see how many people are actually from a white demographic and see that its just a marketing decition so they get money and release the games in time.

There is this game called Nier that have 2 different protagonist depending of where it was released. They are both white but for the Japanese people, there is the white androgynous pretty boy who wants to protect his sister, and for the western people there is the more mainly, grunty and muscular man who wants to protect his daughter. But of course, no one hear of that game.

 

[Darth_Dude]

I find the "male" part to currently be the most problematic. It is unnervingly difficult to find a non-sexualized female main character who isn't Samus Aran.

Though, video gaming is still probably better than Hollywood in the whole "white male main character" regard.

What about Alyx Vance? Or that photographer woman from Beyond Good and Evil?

And I dispute your claim that video games are better than Hollywood in representing other races. Hollywood is lightyears ahead of the games industry, you just have to look at actors like Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and.....

Oh my God. You're right, I started this post with the intention of proving you wrong, but the more I think about it, the more I realise just how small the number of non White protagonists are, (Apart from the Big movie stars ie. Will smith)

 

[Popeman]

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

When was that done? because I can think of I think 3 people in Fallout:NV that are openly gay? That just jumped out at me just wondering?