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

[DOOM GUY]

My response to the article, and to every post here:

Who on earth cares?

Now shut up and go play some video games.

I agree, it's all very silly, but what can ya do, eh?

 

[DOOM GUY]

I hope to never see the day where "equal representation of everyone everywhere" takes center stage over making an interesting, fun game. Yes Lee was a good character. Not because he's black but because he's competently written and voice acted. Yes Clem is a noteworthy character. Not because she's inter-racial but because shes one of the only children characters in videogames that isn't the most annoying thing in the fucking game.

I think there's still a decent amount of developers left that actually like making fun games, so that'll probably never happen throughout the entire industry.

 

[Something Amyss]

I hope to never see the day where "equal representation of everyone everywhere" takes center stage over making an interesting, fun game.

Thankfully, as a strawman goal, it won't happen and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

You know, the really interesting thing is that even though I am a straight white male, playing a game as a straight white character never really registered in my mind as any sort of a statement.. In fact as far as I'm concerned the gender, sexual disposition and skin color of the lead character of the games I play has been utterly irrelevant.

I play The Walking Dead Season One as a black man. I play The Walking Dead Season Two as a mixed pre-teen girl. I think nothing of it other than "Hey here's a character and this is their story, I'm gonna go ahead and enjoy what is presented here".

I play as Nathan Drake in Uncharted, and I don't think "FUCK YEAH I'm playing as a good looking super bad ass white dude that is the epitome of the male adolescent fantasy", I think "This dude is a treasure hunter, kind of a fuck up and has an OK sense of humor... alright, brain, take a break while I enjoy the proceedings".

The thing that irks me is that the only people even bringing up the race/sex/orientation argument are those who feel they aren't represented enough. That's all well and good, mind you, but why should any creator of intellectual property be obligated to write a character that is of a gender, race or orientation they are A) Not familiar with, or B) doesn't fit with the vision in their head?

You bet your ass that a good number of AAA games pander to demographics, but you know where the problem is? It's with the publishers pulling the strings of the developers and telling them what to make. It's not with the gamers.

I'd imagine the reason playing a straight white man doesn't make a statement is because it's the status quo. It happens so often it's lost meaning. What possible statement is there to be made for straight white males that hasn't been made a dozen other times a year?
It becomes up to the story, the setting, and the world the guy is in to make things interesting for me.

On second thought, I'd say that there's so many statements made by straight white guys because they're so prevalent. Sure, they all kinda look alike, but they do all sorts of things in all sorts of ways.

It's different for non straight white men because it's not very often we get to play as an LGBT character. It's rare we get to play as a person of color. It's becoming a bit more common that we can play as a woman, but it's still kinda rare.
In other words, it's rare a person that's not a straight white man gets to see a face that looks familiar to theirs. At least outside of games with character creation which isn't a perfect solution because it forces the script to be one to represent everyone, generally, which forces the personality to be universal.
We get to see someone that resembles us in a positive, heroic role that we control, and thus can shape the world.

Ya know, most LGBT characters are usually villains? Or at least people we can assume are LGBT.
LGBT situations are also presented as bad, too.

Sure we might get some token LGBT NPCs that aren't villains, scum, etc, but NPCs just don't really have the impact of plying as them, IMO.

Generally the female NPCs we get are less capable than the main character, then they need saving, then they're almost always love interests. It's a harsh typecasting.
On the flip side, when we can play as the woman, outside of create a character adventures, we rarely get love interests for some reason.

A minority seeing a minority character in a positive light makes a stronger statement because it's rare.

On your last point, I agree. I'd imagine we'd see more diversity if developers weren't forced to make things the way publishers want. they definitely aren't making game the way the people want.

Personally, I've been playing as the straight white guy so much, I'm tired of it.

 

[Batou667]

A big thing here is that there's a big difference between games where you play as a predetermined character and games where you get to make your own. There's a world of difference between playing a black dude in Walking Dead and making a black dude in Skyrim or Mass Effect - mainly that in the latter cases, not much changes, if anything at all. It's a cosmetic choice, and nothing else.

Yeah, I almost completely agree. I don't know if these are the accepted terms, but I use "character" to describe an existing person in a game world whose role you assume, and "avatar" to talk about blank-slate game people who represent way for a player to self-insert in a game or else try out role-playing somebody different (but still defined by them).

Both characters and avatars have their own values. In a narrative-driven game I'd echo the sentiment that good > diverse: I'd rather invest myself in a game with strong characterisation than empty check-box diversity, but obviously it's great when the two overlap as in The Walking Dead. In sandbox and MMO games the ability to play as "somebody like me" seems to be a lot more important for immersion and feeling included (say a character creation feature in a game didn't allow you to make a realistic-looking black character: even if accidental, that'd say something about the game creators priorities and who the game is "for".)

So yeah, it's two different types of inclusion: representation within the context of the game's narrative, and the more "meta" player-mirroring representation. The latter is a lot more personal and difficult to nail down. For example, the article writer was happy he could create a Hawaiian-looking Shepherd - great, but any meaning or enhanced immersion resulting from that was a product of the player. I could play through the game as Hawaii-Shep and be completely nonplussed as it'd be a meaningless cosmetic change for me. I wouldn't come out of the game with a deeper understanding of what it is to be Hawaiian.

 

[Skaven252]

I played Oblivion as a Redguard (despite being one of those cis white dudes) to get poison immunity. That's pretty much the only effect race has in Elder Scrolls games.

But yeah... when I was totally new to the game, unaware of the things to come, and approached a town, and suddenly an Orc started talking to me (ie the game zoomed on a weird looking face all of a sudden) I admit to being so racially prejudiced to the bone, that my first reaction was to get startled, "gah! What the hell is that?!"

 

[Autumnflame]

Yes making assumptions about people is the best way to bring them around to your way of view.

For shame people say you should experience stories outside of your own gender,sex and race.

when they have no idea that i and many others do this on a regular basis.

Picking alternates to yourself wont make for a better story.
The better story comes in the writing and acting. not the genders, races, sexualities they are part but shouldnt be a characters defining trait

 

[MrFalconfly]

You want me to play a game where the player-character is "outside of my comfort-zone"?

Alright. Is there even a game where you play as Colonel Fuckhead from the 3rd Waffen SS Panzerdivision? Because if there isn't then I'm fairly certain that whatever "socio-political" character you can come up with is within my comfort-zone.

Be it male, female, hermaphrodite, Caucasian, African (Egyptian or Nubian or whatever), Asian, Native American, Middle-Eastern (Palestinian, Iraqi, Iranian, whatever), Indian, Aborigine, Christian, Mormon, Muslim, Jew, Hetero, Homo, Bi, Trans, whatever.

As long as the story is engaging, and the gameplay is fun I'm gonna play it.

 

[blackrave]

You want me to play a game where the player-character is "outside of my comfort-zone"?

Alright. Is there even a game where you play as Colonel Fuckhead from the 3rd Waffen SS Panzerdivision? Because if there isn't then I'm fairly certain that whatever "socio-political" character you can come up with is within my comfort-zone.

Not exactly, but there is something pretty close
ZOG's Nightmare
Please don't.

 

[MrFalconfly]

You want me to play a game where the player-character is "outside of my comfort-zone"?

Alright. Is there even a game where you play as Colonel Fuckhead from the 3rd Waffen SS Panzerdivision? Because if there isn't then I'm fairly certain that whatever "socio-political" character you can come up with is within my comfort-zone.

Not exactly, but there is something pretty close
ZOG's Nightmare
Please don't.

Christ on stilts.

I was only joking. I didn't know there were people, actually idiotic enough to make a game like that.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Ya know, most LGBT characters are usually villains? Or at least people we can assume are LGBT.
LGBT situations are also presented as bad, too.

*ehem* ...Bull.

Didn't you also say that JRPGs are much better with diversity than all of our filthy "western" RPGs? Even though there doesn't seem to have been a single JRPG released this year that allows you to play as a black character? (excluding dark souls, which is more heavily influenced by western RPGs than anything else)

Hell even upcoming JRPGs seem to have you play as the same, semi-anime cast of vaguely white/asian characters.

LGBT characters being villains? Are you just joking? The closest to anything you described is Anders from DA 2, and he's more conflicted than anything else. Only reason the LGBT situations can be presented as "bad" with Anders is because it seems like you can't even be a nice guy to him without him wanting to jump your bones.

But the much beloved Leonardo DaVinci from the AC games was all but outright stated to be guy. Ezio's response? Essentially: "I approve."

Mass Effect has had "Lesbian" options from the beginning and recently added gay romances in the third game. Nothing wrong depicted about LGBT there.

FFS it now seems weirder if an RPG doesn't include at least one gay romance than if it did. We've had homosexual relationships in RPGs since freaking JADE EMPIRE.

Much better diversity than the west is NOT hard to do. It really isn't. It's like a car with 4 wheels can run better than a car with no wheels.
When was the last time you heard a japanese company say "We're not including women because it's too hard?"
It seems quite the opposite.

You talk like I said the Japanese companies were perfect at diversity. I'd never say that coz it simple isn't true. But hey, if you wanna talk character creation, Fantasy Life is coming up. Tomodachi Life? Frankly I hate using character creation as a way out coz it limits the character's personality a great deal.

Why's it gotta be limited to JRPGs?

Koei's Samurai Warriors 4 is allowing you to re-color characters. I don't know how far it goes for skin tones, and I know it's not the greatest option, I admit, but it's a lot farther than most western companies. PLUS there's mercenary mode allowing create a warrior which might allow enough customization to allow a more familiar character. Koei's decent at character creation.

Dragonball Xenoverse is -finally- letting you make your own character with gender select among Nemekians, Majins, and half-breed saiyans. Odds are skin tones are going to be there, but I can't promise anything. Not only is that a milestone in a Dragonball game, IMO (With gender select anyhow), it's a damn sight farther than Ubisoft went, and I'd think Ubisoft is bigger than Bandai-Namco.

As towards my point on LGBT not getting great representation,
<youtube=XdmJXHJLZ6M>

A few examples from a few companies (well, largely one company, Bioware), some NPCs don't make for great representation in my book. Especially when companies take steps back from it.

Jade Empire's a Bioware game. Bioware's progressive about these things. I'm glad for them being a beacon of light in a Dudebro western world.
Honestly, outside of Dragon's Dogma (via Capcom), and Bioware games I don't know any game off the top of my head where the character you play as has LGBT romances.

 

[faefrost]

I think if ever we would be able to look at the actual data we would not be surprised to learn that a vast number of straight white guys, if not an outright majority play as big breasted pointy eared blue girls with tails. But then again, that probably could technically be considered their "comfort zone"

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Much better diversity than the west is NOT hard to do. It really isn't. It's like a car with 4 wheels can run better than a car with no wheels.
When was the last time you heard a japanese company say "We're not including women because it's too hard?"
It seems quite the opposite.

You talk like I said the Japanese companies were perfect at diversity. I'd never say that coz it simple isn't true. But hey, if you wanna talk character creation, Fantasy Life is coming up. Tomodachi Life? Frankly I hate using character creation as a way out coz it limits the character's personality a great deal.

Why's it gotta be limited to JRPGs?

Koei's Samurai Warriors 4 is allowing you to re-color characters. I don't know how far it goes for skin tones, and I know it's not the greatest option, I admit, but it's a lot farther than most western companies. PLUS there's mercenary mode allowing create a warrior which might allow enough customization to allow a more familiar character. Koei's decent at character creation.

Dragonball Xenoverse is -finally- letting you make your own character with gender select among Nemekians, Majins, and half-breed saiyans. Odds are skin tones are going to be there, but I can't promise anything. Not only is that a milestone in a Dragonball game, IMO (With gender select anyhow), it's a damn sight farther than Ubisoft went, and I'd think Ubisoft is bigger than Bandai-Namco.

As towards my point on LGBT not getting great representation,
<youtube=XdmJXHJLZ6M>

A few examples from a few companies (well, largely one company, Bioware), some NPCs don't make for great representation in my book. Especially when companies take steps back from it.

Jade Empire's a Bioware game. Bioware's progressive about these things. I'm glad for them being a beacon of light in a Dudebro western world.
Honestly, outside of Dragon's Dogma (via Capcom), and Bioware games I don't know any game off the top of my head where the character you play as has LGBT romances.

So one eastern RPG allows you to change clothes and you're hoping skin color as well. Also a Dragonball fighting game allows you to create a character too. So they're more diverse than western games.

<youtube=wcIfRtEvNus>

Even Grand Theft Auto has a character creator, that isn't a new thing nor exclusive to eastern games. I asked for specific examples where this "diversity" is forced on the player like so many people are hollering for in western games. Can you name even three eastern games, made in the last year, where the main character is black. Not a character "option", the main character, the protagonist you're primarily playing as, is a black man.

If anything, I'd say you just proved your own bias against the west. You want us to bend over and cater to your needs but when it comes to eastern games it's just "Nah, they're perfectly diverse! I can... wear different clothing colors! ...Maybe... uh... er... maybe change my skin color too. They haven't said."

Hell, breaking that "one year" rule, the only black character I can even recall in a recent eastern game is the token black teammate in Final Fantasy XIII who was...

Spoiler

...

"clearly" an embodiment of enlightened views on people of color.

Secondly. No. No linking 15 minute videos and saying "There's my answer". I want you to specifically list games where being gay is outright depicted as bad. Where gay characters are considered horrible and you have to escape from LGBT situations because it's a terrible thing.

Oh! By the way, lets look on those precious eastern games and see how they depict homosexual charac--

<youtube=787L15r8mNY>

No. As much as a supposed "problem" this lack of diversity in western games are, eastern games are worse. WE are more diverse than they are. This semi-weaboo idea of "Man, the east is GREAT! Even their games are more tolerant and diverse than the west!" Is just bull crap.

So please. List every eastern game you know of in the past year where you play primarily as a black person or someone who can't be described as white or asian looking (catboys or other "semi-human" races that happen to be white don't count). Now, since that'll most likely be impossible after that list every eastern game you can think of where there is at least ONE black or dark skinned member of your party.

After that, please do what I mentioned above and list at least three games where gay people are negatively depicted for being gay and you must escape or "survive" LGBT experiences.

Again, why's it gotta be limited to JRPGs? You won't answer anything on that, so why should I bend over backwards to please your demands on a list? I don't keep track of every last game that comes out, but I do try, and I do keep up with the mainstream games which helps keep me ticked at the industry.

Character customization, and gender select is pretty wide spread in eastern games, and I'd take that over not having it at all, and being forced to play as a straight white guy almost all the time.

I can't even think of a within the year western game where you primarily play as a black man with no option, nevermind an eastern one.
GTA doesn't even hold up to the rest of the terms in the paragraph. Online is character creation, thus playing as a black man is an option. Offline you can't beat the story mode only playing as Lamar, and even then, he's an option.

Hey, you're not even telling me why it has to be limited to JRPGs, so why do I gotta go through the effort of making a list?

I'm not dumb enough to believe any section of the industry has diversity perfect. I know it, in general, has a long way to go.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Again, why's it gotta be limited to JRPGs? You won't answer anything on that, so why should I bend over backwards to please your demands on a list? I don't keep track of every last game that comes out, but I do try, and I do keep up with the mainstream games which helps keep me ticked at the industry.

Character customization, and gender select is pretty wide spread in eastern games, and I'd take that over not having it at all, and being forced to play as a straight white guy almost all the time.

I can't even think of a within the year western game where you primarily play as a black man with no option, nevermind an eastern one.
GTA doesn't even hold up to the rest of the terms in the paragraph. Online is character creation, thus playing as a black man is an option. Offline you can't beat the story mode only playing as Lamar, and even then, he's an option.

Hey, you're not even telling me why it has to be limited to JRPGs, so why do I gotta go through the effort of making a list?

I'm not dumb enough to believe any section of the industry has diversity perfect. I know it, in general, has a long way to go.

Ah, you're afraid of answering the question in earnest aren't you? You're repeating the "WHY JRPG?!" Line as though it were of some importance.

You'll notice I didn't ask you to list JRPGs. I said list any eastern game. That's even in my post that you just quoted. The JRPG bit was an accident because that's pretty much the only "eastern" games I play with any seriousness.

As for not being forced to play as a black guy in GTA, you'd be dead wrong there. In fact, hilariously so since you can't even remember the black character's name. Lamar is the friend of Franklin the black character that yes, you are forced to play. You MUST play as Franklin in the intro and you MUST complete Franklin's missions to progress the story. Sure you can choose to play as one of the other protagonists when you're just running around and causing chaos, but like it or not you HAVE to play as a black character in GTA 5.

So there, I explained the JRPG bit. So now there's no "hiding". List. Right now.

You're making the claim that Eastern games are more diverse, so I'm going to call you on it. The east is more Xenophobic than the west, like it or not, as for character customization being "widely used" in eastern games, that is also a lie for the most part. Excluding MMOs the majority of the time you are stuck with one static, unchanging character with maybe one or two unlockable outfits. Such as in Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, any of the resident evil games, phoenix wright, Super Smash Bros, and so on.

Oh and on that point of unlockable outfits...

Spoiler

...clearly treats people of color with respect. Clearly.

But that's besides the point. I asked you for a list and you're expected to provide it. No getting hung up on semantics now.

I haven't played GTA 5's story mode in a while, but ya got me on that one. You have the option to play as the white guys. You wanted -no- options, so there ya are.

Okay, lets get to your question. Since you're interested in word of letter,

Can you name even three eastern games, made in the last year, where the main character is black. Not a character "option", the main character, the protagonist you're primarily playing as, is a black man.

Honestly, I can't name a single game listed in the past year where you have to play as a black guy start to finish. Then again I can't think of any western games, either. As far back as I can remember, neither has had a great track record, but the west wins out since I can at least name Prototype 2, and GTA San Andreas.
Again, GTA V does not count in my book. I hold it up to the same standards as I'd put playing as a woman, LGBT, etc. You play as Franklin part of the time, and you have no choice but to play as other people. Honestly, part of the time is not good enough for me. Better than nothing, but enough to keep me ticked.

Hell, I can barely think games that let you play anything other than a straight white guy released within the year with no choice in the matter! Hell, primarily as, even.
A few games as women as I'm primarily about playing as them, but still.

If you feel the western gaming industry depicts black people better, that's your call. I don't know what standards you look for.

How is it a lie? As far as I've experienced, eastern games have a larger amount of character creation options than the west, and are less keen on saying "It's too hard! We aren't doing it even though it was planned for from the start!"

From experience with previous games, and I have a lot, Koei lets you change your character's clothes all the time when character creation is involved, and gives a wide selection of character creation options, and the clothes often have no bearing on character properties meaning you can wear what ever.

Tomodachi life lets you change clothes, and hair color almost whenever you want provided you buy the clothes first, and have hair color spray.

Might be cheating, but since WWE (Something I'd imagine is largely american) games are made by Yukes (a Japanese company) but the character customization there is off the scale compared to most games. Sims seems to be just barely catching up on appearances.

Saints Row 2, 3, and 4 is a good rival character creation system. Volition's a fav company of mine. They're western, and not keen on BS excuses on wimping out on diversity.

Way of the Samurai, a series not released this year, lets you customize your character's appearance in between story plays, and change clothes whenever. They've had sort of a reoccurring character in having a black Samurai (Wots 1 had him as an enthusiast of the samurai way, 2 I hadn't played, 3 had the character as a woman but with similar style as WotS1, 4 had him as a guy that ran out on a check, and little development. Didn't sit well with me, but at least he got a unique sword.) in several periods of time in Japan that history fanatical people would probably complain bitterly that a foreigner wouldn't belong. That said, you could make your character look like the running character via unlocks.

Pokemon X, and Y lets you character design, and lets you change clothes.

Hang on, static as in once you make the character you're set? Or you can't change any features of the character, just their clothes?

Oh come -on- I even admit that RE5 could've handled things better. Talking about that, you're going well beyond your 1 year rule. Not only that, Sheva's barely the option. You can't play as her in single player until you beat the game (I hate that in games). You can only be her in multiplayer if you're player 2 unless you've beaten the game. Even then someone has to be Chris. He got a sweet gating gun, and it was hillarious watching Wesker "dodge" the gating gun fire, but meh.
Sheva arguably got one of the best weapons in the game, though. Seen her other costumes? They all aren't that bad. I'm not defending the depiction, though.

You're awful keen on wandering off topic, breaking and bending your own rules, and so forth.

 

[PhantomEcho]

It's so great to be the majority. I'm straight, and white, and male, and my life is definitely all sunshine and rainbows and wonderfulness. Nothing ever goes wrong for me, you know? Everyone just blindly agrees with everything I say, and my point of view is generally accepted as being 'the right one'. Hell, I see people who look JUST LIKE ME everywhere I go!

Oh, you know what, actually that's a lie. You see... when I look at all those smiling white faces in ads and billboards and on TV, I get to remember that half my family is Irish. Those smiling white faces would have gladly watched my grandmother and her starving children die in a gutter. See, we Irish folks weren't even worth ENSLAVING. The other major European immigrants were happy to send the folks from Asia to go dig holes and build railroads. They were HAPPY to work the black folks to death. They were more than willing to let women and children be put to work if it meant getting a slightly higher profit at the end of the day. But the Irish? The Irish got to starve and die. The Irish weren't even worth the FOOD it would have taken to make them into indentured servants and slaves. Oh, but that's all in the past, right? Sure... sure... as long as I pretend not to notice the jokes about me being the 'Only sober Irishman' and 'Oh, why don't you have like... an army of kids, then?' I thank god every day I don't have to endure any 'ginger' jokes, or I'd be in prison for multiple homicide by now. That's not even mentioning my father's side of the family, which ranges from Native American to Belgian, French, and even a little Mongolian.

But hey, I look mostly white enough, and I'm straight, and I'm a guy. So I get to listen to folks tell me how WRONG I am because, imagine that, I disagree with the idea that popular culture has made it BAD to be 'the majority'. Anyone who is, is instantly discredited from the conversation. Anyone who disagrees just 'doesn't understand'. Anyone who DARES to point out the sheer fucking hypocrisy of DEMANDING the world change and accept you as you are, whilst pointing fingers at ANY singular group of individuals and lumping them all together under some label like 'Prime Rib' gets shut down because they simply 'never had to experience or think about a world in which they're not welcome.' I'm reminded every day, despite being a 'straight white male' that I'm not welcome amongst other straight white males. I don't enjoy sports, so I don't fit in with the athletic crowd. I don't think of women as interchangeable sex-toys, so I don't get to be one of the 'macho, manly-man' guys. I don't 'get' how anyone could pick Skyrim over their girlfriend, so I'm not a 'Real Gamer'. I'm not quite nerdy enough to be in with the nerds, I'm too lazy to fit in with the 'intellectuals', hell... even my politics is too 'middle-of-the-ground' to get me included anywhere politically for debate. In terms of social acceptance, I'm a fucking pariah, but according to the internet I'm supposed to be enjoying all this 'straight white male' privilege everyone's talking about.

Newsflash. It doesn't exist, and if you believe otherwise you're a delusional half-wit. Privilege isn't a real thing. It's a thing made up by bitter, angry people who've never had enough power or authority to really influence the 'majority' group. If the roles had been reversed all throughout history, the same groups of people decrying me and anyone who looks vaguely like me for being racists, or homophobes, or whatever else we're all supposed to be as 'white dudes' wouldn't stop and think about the lack of 'straight white characters' for a split second. Why, because that's just the way HUMANS work. It's not a race thing. It's not a WHITE PEOPLE thing. It's a MAJORITY RULES thing which is as ingrained in our human instincts as our sex drives and our lust for violence.

People who evoke the term privilege aren't interested in equality... they're interested in perpetuating inequality by polarizing the discussion. They're not inviting discussion or debate... they've already made their minds up that it's "Us versus Them" and they're not going to convinced to see reason. Everyone is the enemy, and it doesn't matter what their individual story might be.

I am not a Straight White Male. I am an individual member of MANY different groups, both ethnically and socially. I am an advocate for equality for all, and a firm-believer that only when all people in my country are treated with respect and dignity will we have even the SLIGHTEST grounds to call ourselves the 'Land of the Free'. I'm not well-liked. I'm not happy. My life isn't wonderful. I don't enjoy any PRIVILEGE of being represented, because as an INDIVIDUAL it is IMPOSSIBLE to accurately represent me in any media. I do not DEMAND representation. I don't even WANT representation. What I want is QUALITY media, without all the pandering and bullshit. I want people to feel free to ENJOY whatever the fuck they want to, without having to endure the 'Wrath of the Internet' because 'X character isn't a black guy' or 'X female character is too sexualized' or any number of the infinite complaints our new Internet Censorship Committee deems to be.

My girlfriend loves to dress slutty, talk dirty, and be wildly inappropriate in public. By all accounts, if she were REPRESENTED by a game character, the internet would call her a TERRIBLE one. They would try to tell her that people like her simply DON'T EXIST. She would get to hear how her character was just a worthless piece of meat intended to appeal to the 'male gaze'. Double-points for anyone who calls her 'white trash'... since she's mostly Irish, like me. You know... that white group I just got finished explaining got to endure attempted EXTERMINATION up above? Yeah.

So tell me again how White Privilege precludes me from understanding the problem. The problem isn't race. The problem isn't gender. The problem isn't even discrimination. The problem is that people don't know what the fuck discrimination IS, and they're more than happy to COMMIT it while they rage on and on about how their own PERSONAL group gets discriminated against.

Go ahead.

"May the hair on your ass always grow thicker than the hair on your head."
~An Irish Curse.

 

[nondescript]

An interesting piece. I think there's a delicate balance to be held that we don't let the character's race/gender/sexual orientation be the defining measure of a character.

What I've noticed, and this is only my half-formed idiotic opinion, is that all the traits that make a good character: motivation, backstory, reactions, etc. are gender-neutral.

I've been arguing this over several posts and forums. It's amazing that while yes, race, age, and gender affect your choices, as do orientation, background, and any creed you may follow, when you lie them out and look at them, no one facet of a person or character is more important than the other. We have accounts of people relating how they pretended in public to be poor, or rich, or black, or a woman, and how they were treated and how they felt and reacted to such treatment.

It's like saying whether your a man or a woman matters. It matters because you can't use both the ladies and men's room, but not much beyond that. The same goes for color, ethnicity, sexual preferences, or who you pray to (if you pray to anyone at all.)

And comparing one facet of what you are or anyone else and saying its more important than another part is as stupid as deciding you have two hands you're proud of, so you get rid of the arms because they demand too much attention.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

I practically never play as a real human if i can help it, the only game where i have played as my own race and had the option to do differently was..... i cant even think of anything
I made my Morrowind character a black dude with curly hair knowing well that it would turn out to be the best game experience i have had

Brb playing as a tiny female sith in TOR

 

[itsmeyouidiot]

I'm just gonna say this, if you're "offended" by the idea that playing as someone not like you can increase empathy for others who are not like you, then no offense, but you're kind of an asshole.

 

[DocMcCray]

This article does not apply to me even though I am a straight white male. Whenever I can choose my character, I never chose a white male.

In Mass Effect series, I made a FemShep with slightly tanned skin and red hair.
In Final Fantasy XI, I chose a mithra (female cat) with a slight tan and red hair.
In the Saints Row series, I made a...tanned female...with red hair...
Skyrim was female wood elf.......with red hair......

Ya know, maybe I should play a straight white male as a change of pace.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I don't care what character I play as. I just want a good game.


That being said, nobody has a "right" to be represented by art. What the hell is that notion of entitlement. Art is supposed to represent the ideas of the artists. Sure, it'd be awesome if we had less shooting and sports games in favor of more walking dead or okami games. Still, that doesn't mean the devs somehow did a wrong act. They made the games they wanted to make to their best ideals. If you want lore diversity you MUST include more diverse artists /developers and allow them to create. You can't force (or judge into submission) people who simply don't resonate with stories about gay issues or racism or what have you.


Some of my favorite games are games about fantastical elements, when you present a text adventure about depression, it feels like a slightly different category or topic. I want stuff like Ashura's Wrath, I wanna punch a planet in the face with my games, not dwell in mundane issues which real life provided enough of. I wanna stab someone so hard that my sword goes into the earth all the way through and comes out on the other side. I wana kick god in the nuts. In those grand schemes, the color or psychology of the protagonist are flatly irrelevant! Ashura is pretty "tan" and of an unidentifiable god-race...which impacts how awesome it is for him to destroy a planet size giant with his pea-size body exactly not at all.