So the new Assassin's Creed is announced, and our resident ex-Destructoid host has already taken the first shots.
Now, I will give him a bit of credit; the game footage I've seen does have 4 similar-looking men, at least in build. However, they are all assassins with the same lean body type, all wearing hoods and coats, and -most importantly- all presumably Frenchmen in the 1790's. The people are going to look much the same if they want to keep even a veneer of historical accuracy (at least in terms of race; AFAIK, at this time France was still supporting the slave trade and there were very few free non-white people running around Paris).
This criticism seems really out of line to me, especially when the games so far have starred(in order) an Arab, an Italian, and a Métis man (with a white guy interlaced throughout), as well as a French/African woman in ACL and an Englishman (EDIT: Sorry, Welsh) in AC4. Meanwhile, the regular multiplayer generally has a pretty diverse cast. I've got no problem with the preview of the game only showing a single character model for the 4-player game, because I'm certain that's not going to stay. What do you think: Is Jim overreacting to a perceived slight, or is it a valid criticism?
Edit: Thank you to those people who found a decent picture of the 4 guys; I'll put it here for easy reference.
I see a lot of people are saying that Jim was making a joke. I can see that interpretation, but it's not the first time Sterling has talked about sexism and racism in games. On first glance, I couldn't tell if it was meant to be a joke for humour's sake, or a snide comment about a real issue. It might be the limits of the medium, but given his history I felt more inclined to the latter interpretation.
[HEADING=3]IMPORTANT EDIT[/HEADING]
EDIT 2: I found a black guy! It took some looking, but I eventually turned up Jean-Baptiste Belley, a black Haitian who spoke at the Convention, alongside the mulatto Jean-Baptiste Mills and Louis-Pierre Dufaÿ, a European. This is the first confirmed person of colour I've found who was in France at the time, although he went back to Haiti soon afterwards (Not counting Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who if anything would show up as an NPC). Are there more? Almost certainly; this journal article says that between 4000 and 5000 black people entered and left the country throughout the century (0.025% of the population) but it doesn't have really concrete numbers. If anyone does have a JSTOR account and wants to read the whole piece and let me know what it says, I would be grateful. Does this mean that one of the characters should be black? I leave that in your hands.
Edit 3: Thanks to @mecegirl, I now have a third man for the list: Joseph Bologne, aka Chevalier De Saint Georges, aka the "Black Mozart". Some pretty wonderful music. Another potential NPC. He also was (according to Wikipedia) a champion fencer, and formed a regiment of coloured troops to defend the Revolutionary state.
Now, I will give him a bit of credit; the game footage I've seen does have 4 similar-looking men, at least in build. However, they are all assassins with the same lean body type, all wearing hoods and coats, and -most importantly- all presumably Frenchmen in the 1790's. The people are going to look much the same if they want to keep even a veneer of historical accuracy (at least in terms of race; AFAIK, at this time France was still supporting the slave trade and there were very few free non-white people running around Paris).
This criticism seems really out of line to me, especially when the games so far have starred(in order) an Arab, an Italian, and a Métis man (with a white guy interlaced throughout), as well as a French/African woman in ACL and an Englishman (EDIT: Sorry, Welsh) in AC4. Meanwhile, the regular multiplayer generally has a pretty diverse cast. I've got no problem with the preview of the game only showing a single character model for the 4-player game, because I'm certain that's not going to stay. What do you think: Is Jim overreacting to a perceived slight, or is it a valid criticism?
Edit: Thank you to those people who found a decent picture of the 4 guys; I'll put it here for easy reference.
[HEADING=3]IMPORTANT EDIT[/HEADING]
EDIT 2: I found a black guy! It took some looking, but I eventually turned up Jean-Baptiste Belley, a black Haitian who spoke at the Convention, alongside the mulatto Jean-Baptiste Mills and Louis-Pierre Dufaÿ, a European. This is the first confirmed person of colour I've found who was in France at the time, although he went back to Haiti soon afterwards (Not counting Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who if anything would show up as an NPC). Are there more? Almost certainly; this journal article says that between 4000 and 5000 black people entered and left the country throughout the century (0.025% of the population) but it doesn't have really concrete numbers. If anyone does have a JSTOR account and wants to read the whole piece and let me know what it says, I would be grateful. Does this mean that one of the characters should be black? I leave that in your hands.
Edit 3: Thanks to @mecegirl, I now have a third man for the list: Joseph Bologne, aka Chevalier De Saint Georges, aka the "Black Mozart". Some pretty wonderful music. Another potential NPC. He also was (according to Wikipedia) a champion fencer, and formed a regiment of coloured troops to defend the Revolutionary state.