Why Straight White Guys Shouldn't Always Play Games As Themselves

[Imp_Emissary]

"The best and worst thing you can say about someone is that they're human."

I think Mark Twain said that, but I'm not 100% sure. Correct me if you know please.

Oh, god.
I'm a wise *ass*, not a wise *person*.
Sounds like something he would have said, ... he was born too early.
It would be more than interesting to hear his opinion on current events.

Indeed, that would be neat.
Also, don't worry about it. You're only human. ;D
P.S. Post 72 on this page. You may want to write more so you don't get a low content warning.
Edit: You can add to it by hitting the Edit button on your post.

Oh and nothing compares to flare in ME3! ;p

 

[Vigormortis]

Friend of mine once pointed out that there's a spectrum: Community on one end, Diversity on the other.

Community ain't all that bad either.

I run into someone at work, we both have service time, we bond. Doesn't matter color, creed, gender, or sexual preference. Dunno, maybe I'm atypical, but that's my experience.

We spend all this energy on 'zomg! appreciate the differences!'

People should focus more on how we're *alike* rather than how we're *different*.

Would make a better world.

Absolutely, but I still believe celebrating our differences is just as crucial as celebrating our similarities.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Also, don't worry about it. You're only human. ;D
P.S. Post 72 on this page. You may want to write more so you don't get a low content warning.

Meep? That's a thing? I've always tried to shorten, to be honest ... if I end up with a page-sized post I think I've failed.

Edit: OIC. Sorted (I think). Thanks!

Oh and nothing compares to flare in ME3! ;p

Weeeeeeell, part of it is funnzies. Energy Drain was what I was running with for the longest time, but ... seemed kinda OP.
I've not done the multi-player, because EA was pushing it, and I was on an EA hate tear at the time.

Yeah it's one of the rules in the Escapist Code of Conduct. It's mostly there to keep people from just posting videos/pictures with no words in the posts, or just posting "LOL" "Lame" "Fake" ect. You can look up the rest by using the site's search. Mostly basic stuff, but a few things were changed recently.

As for ME. I just like the adepts and flare is fun. Using only the pistol makes it recharge pretty fast and it works kind of like a giant warp doing a good amount of damage to enemies in range of the explosion. Taking out most grunts in one shot.

 

[Vault101]

Friend of mine once pointed out that there's a spectrum: Community on one end, Diversity on the other.

Community ain't all that bad either.

I run into someone at work, we both have service time, we bond. Doesn't matter color, creed, gender, or sexual preference. Dunno, maybe I'm atypical, but that's my experience.

We spend all this energy on 'zomg! appreciate the differences!'

People should focus more on how we're *alike* rather than how we're *different*.

Would make a better world.

you know...I'm really effing sick of this

I mean I'm really sick of the fact that those who will automatically jump on the hippie dippy love [i/]"lets all sing kumbya around the campfire of equlity"[/i] tract are always the in *that* particular group

they don't want to actually hear anything that will in some way (in their heads) cast them as bad/the villan in the grand play of life...they don't want to hear any of it...they'll fucking bend over backwards to convince those silly *other* group that "nuh uh...see you silly confused *other* person...the fact is straight white males are equally laid low by the powers that be, you've just never considered it before...now may I have my progressivness cookie?" because GOD FORBID anybody ackowledge the way things are

There are 2 types of people in this world:

1) Those who role play their characters and couldn't care less about their race, gender, species, sexuality, ect... so long as the character is well written capable of sucking them into its universe.

this would be all nice and dandy if things weren't as skewed as they currently are...

people love to overatate "nah men! we don't care!" but you try and point it out all of a sudden the iron gates of defensivness shut up

 

[Vault101]

Fair enough. But, if we can't come to an accord, all that's left is war.

At some point, the war has to end.
If you say 'unconditional surrender!' the war takes a lot longer than anyone would like.

war?...there is no "war"

my point is its not up to straight white guys to tell the "others* how they sould/shouldn't be feeling or take up the mantle of "equality for everyone" just to dismiss disenting arguments

 

[Vault101]

Gamers have never tended to care what gender or race they played as long as the game itself was good.

This article does a lot of finger pointing and finger waggling at a generalization of an entire race/sexuality combo within a sub-culture and it's rather frustrating because this sort of stuff usually comes out of Kotaku or Cracked, which is why I've been with the Escapist so long.
.

correction..."white straight guys haven't" untill somone suggests things are skewed...then they try really hard to convince us all how little it matters...because what would women/colored people/gays know about playing something that isn't "them"?

 

[Vault101]

Then ... dissent. :/

I didn't object to the OP's title because I agreed with it.
Do I not get to disagree because my skin is white and I identify as male?

you can agree/disagree with whatever you want...I just find they tend to be very disengenious when pulling the "equality for everone" card...just like the "we don't need feminism, just egalitiarianism" bullshit

 

[the December King]

you know...I'm really effing sick of this

I mean I'm really sick of the fact that those who will automatically jump on the hippie dippy love [i/]"lets all sing kumbya around the campfire of equlity"[/i] tract are always the in *that* particular group

they don't want to actually hear anything that will in some way (in their heads) cast them as bad/the villan in the grand play of life...they don't want to hear any of it...they'll fucking bend over backwards to convince those silly *other* group that "nuh uh...see you silly confused *other* person...the fact is straight white males are equally laid low by the powers that be, you've just never considered it before...now may I have my progressivness cookie?" because GOD FORBID anybody ackowledge the way things are

I'm sorry this has ruffled you, Vault101!

I dunno, I can see how some get rather tired of being lumped into a group of people, implied or not, and accused of doing things they don't do. It gets tiring that they are to blame for the misfortunes of others (in gaming, just in gaming) when they might actually agree with them, want change, and concede the point... or at the very least don't enjoy games that necessitate detailed narratives about the protagonists, and commentary on the human condition. Preferring spiders, if they're sexy at all.

On the other hand, I certainly would never say that white males are being treated like a minority, or oppressed, or something, at least in this context. The market appears to predominantly cater to them. And me, on those criteria. I'm the 'White Whale' - Male, caucasian, hetero and overweight. And not proud of any of those things in and of themselves, but proud of myself for who I am as a person.

...

Well, my mom thinks I'm cool.

 

[Something Amyss]

people love to overatate "nah men! we don't care!" but you try and point it out all of a sudden the iron gates of defensivness shut up

I really wish we could get more mainstream titles with gay male protagonists if for no other reason than this one. I want to see if all the "shut up, race/sex/gender identity/sexuality doesn't matter!" folks would buy a game if the character was a big black guy especially in a game where homosexuality is as prevalent as heterosexuality is in most games.

Oh, I'm sure there will be a percentage of the whole who would still play and enjoy the game, but I'm also positive it'll be fairly small compared to the number of claims. Hell, just the rage when a character gets gender or race swapped in media should prove that "we don't care" really means "we don't care as long as they're like us."

 

[balladbird]

an interesting read. I'm all for more diversity in scripted characters. Variety can only enrich the quality gaming narrative.

I do admit to being a pretty unimaginative guy when it comes to role playing with non-scripted characters though. XD Goes back as far as when I played dungeons and dragons regularly. For a decade I've played the game, and even with all those fancy races, with all their strengths and lore, I can count on one hand the characters I've played that weren't boring old humans.

Likewise, when it comes to the WRPG trend of "create your character and play in our sandbox" I typically just go with the straight white male, since typically when I roleplay I just portray myself as I would behave in that situation: a milquetoast but good-natured guy who wants to help the greatest number of people and only resorts to force when all other avenues have proven fruitless. I idealize myself a little bit, but regular old me is always the base of the character. Guess you could say I think outside, but right up next to the box. XD

All that said, if gaming were to decide to do away with all variety except for the straight white guy in character creation, I'd be put out, even though I don't use those options. My personal taste shouldn't be the guideline for how other people have to play, and all.

 

[StriderShinryu]

This article pretty much says what I've been saying for a long time, games with more diversity doesn't just mean making games with female protagonists so that it reduces some invisible "stigma score." Games with more diversity means more interesting and compelling experiences. It means inviting more players to play but also means enriching the experiences for those who already do play.

Having more female/non-white/gay/etc. developers doesn't just mean more "games for girls/non0whites/gays/etc." but also more games for everyone that may not be the same experiences we're already getting (and, no, that doesn't mean the experiences we're already getting are somehow going to magically disappear).

In short, it's not about any sort of agenda. It's about better games and if you, as a gamer, don't want better games then maybe you aren't as much of a gamer as you claim to be.