White male protagonists in video games

[IceForce]

Pretty sure that Shepard grid is considering only the 'default' Shepard, ie: the one that was used in all the game's marketing and promotions.

That would explain why (among other things) "bald / crew cut" is circled, even when you can obviously change your hair. It might also explain the "supernatural powers" thing as well, since the default Shepard is solider class.

 

[lacktheknack]

I tried applying that bingo card to literally any defined character in gaming and the only one that didn't clear any of it was freaking Catherine from the Myst series (and that's me being REALLY generous on the "she's totally indigenous, not white" and "well, I don't think she's a criminal!" fronts).

It's too general to be useful.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Pretty sure that Shepard grid is considering only the 'default' Shepard, ie: the one that was used in all the game's marketing and promotions.

That would explain why (among other things) "bald / crew cut" is circled, even when you can obviously change your hair. It might also explain the "supernatural powers" thing as well, since the default Shepard is solider class.

If they were going by default shepherd, then he definitely gets a bingo, and nearly gets a blackout, since default shepherd is renegade, so he definitely gets a hell of a lot more of those. Then there's the fact that a lot of the Samus ones are a bit of a stretch, like vigilante, blase about killing, and lonely. Especially vigilante. In canon, she operates completely within the law.

 

[Zhukov]

(For example, I've always wanted to play a game with an unapologetic coward for a protagonist.)

If there's nothing but porridge on the menu, even a bowl of rice will seem novel.

That sounds like a great idea. For some reason I'm picturing a stealth game in which the most you can do if you get seen is throw things and run away making terrified sobbing noises.

I did actually try and think of any games with cowardly protagonists and I came up with nothing. Admittedly I haven't played every game in existence so there could be some, though.

I can think of a few where the protagonist starts out a scaredy cat, then "levels up", either literally or figuratively, to regular badassdom.

However, I've always wanted a character who remains a coward and isn't sorry about it. Someone who, upon being reproached for fleeing a confrontation, responds with, "Of course I bloody ran away, did you see those guys?! One of them was wearing a necklace made of ears!"

 

[bobthebobthebob]

Wait wait wait, Shepard is male?

Shepard is white?

...Shepard is BALD?!

.......Alright, Geralt of Rivia is interesting? Now you've gone too far.

 

[Islandbuffilo]

Does commander Shepard even count? Their race and gender, and sexuality are player determinate, and even going off of the lore of game series they're more than like mixed.

Edit: Also I wouldn't want to play an action game where in every time the main character kills a nameless, faceless grunt he collapses on the ground, starts rubbing Vaseline on chest and recites Shakespeare.

On your point of diversity for its own sake: Well... it may sound counter-intuitive at first, but if you think about it, creating more diverse characters with the intent of just having more diverse characters pretty much automatically leads to more interesting characters. That is because when you force yourself to do new stuff (like writing characters), you generall get better at it, tying back to your (correct) point that the quality of writing is extremely important in this matter. Even if you did not set out from the beginning to have a cast of different skin colors or whatnot, that does not mean the final product doesn't benefit from it.

That's new, usually it goes; forced work is your worst work, while work that natural comes to you is your best.

Spoiler: Snip

Ehhhhhhhhhh

Frankly I remember back around Mass Effect three that we had to pull fucking teeth with Bioware in order to get them to release a trailer that actually had a female Shepard in it. Commander Shepard CAN be anything. But white male mid 30s brown haired heterosexual Shepard (A few of the trailers for ME3 had him kissing Ash) is the face of the franchise. No real getting around that.

Well that usually the problem with games with character customization, being its hard to establish a face for the series. You can't really blame game companies for defaulting with one face, who happens to be a dude, who happens to look white. Imagine if during the trailer Shepard was constantly changing appearance? (And before anyone haphazardly announces how cool they think that'd be) That's 1. Expensive and 2. would confuse a lot of the general audience.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

snip

The only way I can really see a cowardly protagonist working (other than maybe a stealth game) is an RTS game where you take the role of a general or officer who is fine with sending troops to their death from the other side of a radio, but as soon as the fighting comes anywhere near himself he panics and delegates other officers to take over while he retreats to safety. You often see such a character in war films as minor antagonists (where the protagonist usually has to take over in the heat of combat), but you could certainly do a strategy game with someone like that.

 

[lacktheknack]

(For example, I've always wanted to play a game with an unapologetic coward for a protagonist.)

If there's nothing but porridge on the menu, even a bowl of rice will seem novel.

That sounds like a great idea. For some reason I'm picturing a stealth game in which the most you can do if you get seen is throw things and run away making terrified sobbing noises.

I did actually try and think of any games with cowardly protagonists and I came up with nothing. Admittedly I haven't played every game in existence so there could be some, though.

I can think of a few where the protagonist starts out a scaredy cat, then "levels up", either literally or figuratively, to regular badassdom.

However, I've always wanted a character who remains a coward and isn't sorry about it. Someone who, upon being reproached for fleeing a confrontation, responds with, "Of course I bloody ran away, did you see those guys?! One of them was wearing a necklace made of ears!"

Maybe Michael from the point-n-click game "Scratches" works? He spends most of the game completely freaked out yet bizarrely drawn to the stuff that's going on in his house, but when it really comes down to confrontation...

...he slams the door in the creature's face, runs to his car and drives the hell away. End of game. xD

Then again, he's never really in danger beyond being scared out of his wits by a couple bad dreams and a possessed tribal mask for most of the game.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Shouldn't the "Title or Rank instead of Name" option be circled too? A lot of times people just called Tenel Ka "Commander" in my game...

As someone already said, this is just to point out that the character design of a lot of video game characters could stand to be a bit more...interesting. Robin from Arkham City should not look like a younger version of Cole from Infamous and whatnot.

 

[Islandbuffilo]

(For example, I've always wanted to play a game with an unapologetic coward for a protagonist.)

If there's nothing but porridge on the menu, even a bowl of rice will seem novel.

That sounds like a great idea. For some reason I'm picturing a stealth game in which the most you can do if you get seen is throw things and run away making terrified sobbing noises.

I did actually try and think of any games with cowardly protagonists and I came up with nothing. Admittedly I haven't played every game in existence so there could be some, though.

I can think of a few where the protagonist starts out a scaredy cat, then "levels up", either literally or figuratively, to regular badassdom.

However, I've always wanted a character who remains a coward and isn't sorry about it. Someone who, upon being reproached for fleeing a confrontation, responds with, "Of course I bloody ran away, did you see those guys?! One of them was wearing a necklace made of ears!"

I own a few games with protagonist like that, and know of a few more I don't own, people seem not to like those as the protagonist's cowardice is usually the chief complaint when it comes to criticizing the character or why said character is the worst in the game.

 

[Spider RedNight]

Where was I when we changed the face of the generic white guy from Nathan Drake to Commander "customizable" Shepard? Man, that cave I frequented must've been comfy.

But yeah, I agree with everyone else. That's just too generic and applies to waaay too many characters regardless of race, gender, etc. Hell, even Amaterasu (Okami) doesn't escape without the "white" box being ticked.

(Also lol picking a character that didn't ACTUALLY get Bingo on bland white male bingo though character choices means the entire board is filled)

ALSO also... for some reason, I'd love to see a generic white male protagonist bingo being led by Steve Blum... can't imagine why. (I love you, Steve Blum)

 

[Zhukov]

snip

The only way I can really see a cowardly protagonist working (other than maybe a stealth game) is an RTS game where you take the role of a general or officer who is fine with sending troops to their death from the other side of a radio, but as soon as the fighting comes anywhere near himself he panics and delegates other officers to take over while he retreats to safety. You often see such a character in war films as minor antagonists (where the protagonist usually has to take over in the heat of combat), but you could certainly do a strategy game with someone like that.

I think it would match a stealth game perfectly. After all, those are games where you spend a lot of time hiding under a coffee table waiting for the baddies to lose interest and go away. Especially the ones that lean toward horror. (Think Amnesia or Alien: Isolation.)

It could work with a platforming or parkour game. (Although for some reason the idea of a coward knowing parkour seems really odd to me.) Really, any game where the mechanics focus on movement and navigation over combat.

Then there's the basically endless possibilities in point-and-click and the Telltale style games.

And yeah, an RTS or strategy game could work. Although those rarely do characters at all.

 

[balladbird]

However, I've always wanted a character who remains a coward and isn't sorry about it. Someone who, upon being reproached for fleeing a confrontation, responds with, "Of course I bloody ran away, did you see those guys?! One of them was wearing a necklace made of ears!"

This concept needs to be made. Now. I'd crowdfund the hell out of it. We could call it "The bland but survivable anti-adventures of Citizen Sensible"

 

[deathbydeath]

Not that gaming can't use a good dose of diversity, but this seems like someone trying to be clever whithout getting the facts straight.

Pretty sure you just described everyone in the "Games & Social Justice" debate/shouting match.

 

[cleric of the order]

Not that gaming can't use a good dose of diversity, but this seems like someone trying to be clever whithout getting the facts straight.

Pretty sure you just described everyone in the "Games & Social Justice" debate/shouting match.

yeah, I think that's pretty much the problem here.

On that thought I think doesn't matter in a lot of cases what your arguments are if some chuckle head, or a number of them come up and pull shit like this.
Makes it look like a bunch of outsiders are coming in trying to mess up the place or at the very least means people are going to argue the point.
and that naturally devolves.
some person to lazy and self important to do some fact checking or to really know what the fuck they're saying before they do so will try and save face in the more violent ways or just ignoring the rather justified criticism.
And if you get enough of these conversations going people will just reflectively take a stance against it because it's identified with these people spouting stupid shit

Then again, the whole things seems rather dumb to me.
AAA games can be headed by whatever the fuck they want,they're engineered for mass market apply, they're usually shit and are designed to make money.
And lets be fair the majority of those games with white straight male devil shit are modern AAA, not videogames as a whole.

 

[Dizchu]

OT: This card exists to point out trends, and if you're gonna try and convince me that Blando McWhite-dude isn't a trend in video games, excuse me while I throw my head back and laugh like a Musketeer.

There are a thousand characters to point out to show trends, and the person OP pointed out has singled out a customisable character that can be male or female, white or non-white, straight, gay or bisexual. The point that is trying to be made falls flat from the beginning and displays a remarkable ignorance of the source material.

This is something that has angered many lately. Not criticism, but illegitimate criticism. It's like saying Bayonetta was designed to appeal solely to straight men when there is clear evidence that it was not. It's a needlessly confrontational stance based on a flawed interpretation of the text that undermines any good arguments that can be made.

Yes, but the cover can still tell us some things. After all the point of the cover is to draw in, so it should say something when the cover is made to not really be reflective of its content.

Mass Effect isn't my favourite series for some of the reasons you pointed out. I think there are many things about it that can be and should be criticised. But the whole "straight white male" thing? Nah. Promotional material like trailers and posters for video games generally require a main character to be the highlight (or at least, that's how many in marketing see it). That's why we have the typical helmet-clad brute in Skyrim's advertising even though you can play as pretty much anything you want.

The discussion on the prevalence of white men in advertising for games that feature character customisation is an interesting one, but the image in the original post does not deal with that.

 

[New Frontiersman]

(For example, I've always wanted to play a game with an unapologetic coward for a protagonist.)

That sounds like a great idea. For some reason I'm picturing a stealth game in which the most you can do if you get seen is throw things and run away making terrified sobbing noises.

I did actually try and think of any games with cowardly protagonists and I came up with nothing. Admittedly I haven't played every game in existence so there could be some, though.

Well, in the Luigi's mansion series, Luigi is portrayed as pretty cowardly.

 

[Casual Shinji]

(For example, I've always wanted to play a game with an unapologetic coward for a protagonist.)

If there's nothing but porridge on the menu, even a bowl of rice will seem novel.

That sounds like a great idea. For some reason I'm picturing a stealth game in which the most you can do if you get seen is throw things and run away making terrified sobbing noises.

I did actually try and think of any games with cowardly protagonists and I came up with nothing. Admittedly I haven't played every game in existence so there could be some, though.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Ofcourse you're not a complete coward, but you're one of the most unlikely heroes in gaming. The humor in that game comes from the fact that you're just this emaciated and rather gullible slave up against the most horrid killing machines and predators.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

Well I have a very simple solution to this problem. Put a helmet on him that covers his/her face completely . In some of my favorite games, like Fallout New Vegas, the face of the main character is never shown, even in promotions. (They had some gameplay, but in those they used different characters to keep it fresh). Even in screenshots half of them either have their face hidden by shadow or wear a hood of some kind. Robin from Fire Emblem did something similar. By giving Shepard a face, Bioware basically said "This is the iconic face of the franchise and of the character". Even with female shepard's limited publicity it seems to have become accepted fact that she's a redhead. Honestly not giving the character a face would just overall be better, it would make custom made characters feel more special and not like they're deviating from the norm. I'd remember something as iconic as the Vault 101 jumpsuit over a bland face.

 

[Gladion]

Don't "force" anything, just explore possibilities. The end result will be the same.

I think trying to "force" anything of that nature if where you'll probably fuck up and offend people. At least if you're thinking about diversity over writing an interesting character.

That's new, usually it goes; forced work is your worst work, while work that natural comes to you is your best.

I used the word "force" in this context, because usually, we tend to create characters that are more like ourselves, because we tend to tell stories that relate to ourselves - so when we "force" ourselves not to do that, that means we're making the conscious decision to do what we normally do, just a little differently. I didn't mean it to say "write things you know nothing about and don't care for". I think that's the same as "exploring possibilities".

You can still write the stuff that you want to write, tell the stories you want to tell. If you decide to randomize your characters' gender and/or skin color, that won't worsen your work. Of course, you should do it properly and not resort to stereotypes, but I considered that a given, it's part of the process.

I hope I clarified that a little.