Racial Diversity in Games.. Do we need more?

Firstly, I'm not here to to raise the "race card..." or maybe I am, but not in a very condescending way.

I'm fairly neutral with my stance. Some of my favorite games (FF7, Half-Life 2, Mass Effect, KOTOR, GRAW2, etc.) have somehow featured a minority at least to the smallest extent. I think we're in decent standing in terms of diversity, but maybe we can have a few games where the protagonist isn't a Caucasion male? The Walking Dead was one of the few games to do this recently and it pulled it off well IMO, paving way for some interesting dialogue and tension.

Concerning games with a "baked in" story (no customization), there's San Andreas, Mirror's Edge, Crysis 2, and many others I've missed, but generally, I rarely get to play as a Black, Hispanic, Asian or any other non-Caucasion race. No big deal to me- a game's a game. I don't believe this task should be done forcefully, as story-telling is an artform, but it would just be nice to put a different ethnic spin on things sometimes.

Many games offer the customization of your own character for race and sex. Few even go as far as to personalize the voice acting to suit your character (namely, Saints Row 3). There's no doubt that steps have been taken to personalize the experience among a diverse clientele.

What's everyone's take on racial diversity of games?

I think the bigger issue behind this is that we need to see a greater diversity of roles for protagonists. Or going even further back we need a greater diversity of games that can create a situation where there can be greater diversity of protagonists; a FPS where you play from the US-side automatically type-casts the protagonist into a recognisable trope. Change the situation, and the character changes, change the character and racial diversity should happen on its own.Articuno76

@thphaca who said there's no asian in videogames...Onimusha, streetfighter, tekken and mostly japanese dev gameshippiesanta

Nonetheless, you have a good point. Asians do play an important roll in that genre, but Asian protagonists shouldn't be limited to just fighting games. That's one of the points I'm trying to get across.

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Jackc8

Is most of the population white...?

type race diversity extra credits in google and watch the videos.dakan45

The video you mentioned [here] is a pretty interesting take on the whole thing. The speaker doesn't take a definitive stand on the topic, but the one statement that stuck out to me is the fact that attempting to create a minority character can actually enforce stereotypes if done the wrong way. It's certainly true. I can't really address in a timely mannor the other million things he mentioned that held good ground. :)

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Jackc8

[QUOTE="Jackc8"]

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Ilovegames1992

Is most of the population white...?

Not the best source, I know, but I try.

[QUOTE="Jackc8"] That's a respectable opinion, I suppose, but what population are we talking about? America? California? The City of Buena Park? The City of Irvine? They have distincly different demographics. It makes a huge difference. [QUOTE="Ilovegames1992"]

[QUOTE="Jackc8"]

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

thphaca

Is most of the population white...?

Not the best source, I know, but I try.

But on a global scale..?

I don't think so.

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Jackc8

The Walking Dead was one of the few games to do this recently and it pulled it off well IMO, paving way for some interesting dialogue and tension.

[QUOTE="thphaca"]

[QUOTE="Jackc8"]

Is most of the population white...?

Ilovegames1992

Not the best source, I know, but I try.

But on a global scale..?

I don't think so.

[QUOTE="Jackc8"]

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Legolas_Katarn

The Walking Dead was one of the few games to do this recently and it pulled it off well IMO, paving way for some interesting dialogue and tension.

I think we need more diversity in general instead of the usual Nathan Drake style guy with short brown hair and stubble thats in practically everything.

Chris Williams stole the words out of my mouth.

I think we need more diversity in general instead of the usual Nathan Drake style guy with short brown hair and stubble thats in practically everything.

TJORLY

Yeah, I started playing Spec Ops today and I can testify to that popular "Nathan Drake" look.

I wouldn't want to play as a muslim, hindu etc. for religious background if that's what you're asking, that area in a game doesn't interest me, especially religions different to my own.

Gaming needs all kinds of diversity, not just Racial.

It would make games more relatable to over half the people who play them and dont happen to be brown haired white males.

I have a perfect example of a very diverse cast of main characters. Gears of War, you have all type of different backrounds represented, even some that normally get nothing (samoa). Epic did a great job of creating characters that had interesting backrounds, banding together to kill some grubs. Gears of War just bleeds awesome as a series.

I wouldn't want to play as a muslim, hindu etc. for religious background if that's what you're asking, that area in a game doesn't interest me, especially religions different to my own.

Venom_Raptor

The vast majority of humans in games are definately white. Even in Japanese games the characters tend to look white or a mixture of white and asian.

Well, let's leave the devs to do whatever they want with their games. It's very difficult to discuss things like race, religion, or nationality without someone getting insulted in some way. Ahhh...what can we do? : )

The vast majority of humans in games are definately white. Even in Japanese games the characters tend to look white or a mixture of white and asian.

-Unreal-

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.

Jackc8

[QUOTE="-Unreal-"]

The vast majority of humans in games are definately white. Even in Japanese games the characters tend to look white or a mixture of white and asian.

markop2003

Firstly, I'm not here to to raise the "race card..." or maybe I am, but not in a very condescending way.

I'm fairly neutral with my stance. Some of my favorite games (FF7, Half-Life 2, Mass Effect, KOTOR, GRAW2, etc.) have somehow featured a minority at least to the smallest extent. I think we're in decent standing in terms of diversity, but maybe we can have a few games where the protagonist isn't a Caucasion male? The Walking Dead was one of the few games to do this recently and it pulled it off well IMO, paving way for some interesting dialogue and tension.

Concerning games with a "baked in" story (no customization), there's San Andreas, Mirror's Edge, Crysis 2, and many others I've missed, but generally, I rarely get to play as a Black, Hispanic, Asian or any other non-Caucasion race. No big deal to me- a game's a game. I don't believe this task should be done forcefully, as story-telling is an artform, but it would just be nice to put a different ethnic spin on things sometimes.

Many games offer the customization of your own character for race and sex. Few even go as far as to personalize the voice acting to suit your character (namely, Saints Row 3). There's no doubt that steps have been taken to personalize the experience among a diverse clientele.

What's everyone's take on racial diversity of games?

thphaca

The vast majority of humans in games are definately white. Even in Japanese games the characters tend to look white or a mixture of white and asian.

-Unreal-

And the black guy always has an afro

It would be interesting to see a survey on the racial demographics of gamers. Has there been some studies?

No. Minorities are MINORITIES and shouldn't be represented as if they're 50% or 75% of the population in games or anything else. That's just pure political correctness and shoving an agenda down people's throats.Jackc8

Yeah, because everything has to be polictically charged. Right. Sure.

Keep telling yourself that.

Mortal Kombat.

Quite ethincally diverse.

In fact, the main hero is an "ethnicity" whilst the bumbling, comic relief sidekick per se is a white man.

This kinda stuff exists in many games in my opinion.

I'll be honest when i'm playing a game where i can customise my character i make him white, but thats nothing to do with race, i just like to make him look like me, gives me a bigger sense of immersion.

But any game that has a black protagonist or playable characters, i have no issue playing with them. I dont even realise it, i think its looking for racial issues where there are none.

Thats my perspective.

type race diversity extra credits in google and watch the videos.dakan45

I know, but I try.

thphaca

I don't have anything against playing as a black guy or whatever, but if characters of ethnic minority groups or otherwise underrepresented categories are put into a game just for the sake of tokenism, I'll pass. It also has to fit in a game. I remember people calling for female NPCs in the Stalker games, which would have made very little sense if you ask me.

[QUOTE="thphaca"]

I know, but I try.

skrat_01

I limited my scope to the US because, as I stated before, it's the easiest region to naturally convey diversity. America, as far as I know, is the most diverse country on the planet. Trying to introduce other countries into the equation makes the arguement magnitudes much more of a headache because we have to account for both races and nationalities.. Stick to one country and it's all one nationality with many races.

It's not about the ethnicity of most gamers, or even of the whole planet. That's irrelevant. It's about what would be most suitable for the universe WITHIN the game. If a Chinese game developer were creating a game based in modern-day Los Angeles, California, it would be wise that they incorporated mostly African-Americans and Hispanics near the urban areas, with an increasingly Caucasian population as you get further into the north into more wealthy areas of say.. Beverly Hills or Marina Del Rey, with other races sprinkled about approapriately as well, If they're aiming for demographic accuracy, that is. If we were to set the clock back to 1920's Los Angeles, it would be predominantly Caucasion all around.

Obviously there's a German, French, Australian and [insert numerous other races] versions of the above paragraph, but aside from some slight differences in ancestral descent, is their much racial diversity in those countries to begin with? Not that I know of (but I'll gladly let you prove me wrong), therefore it's a silly claim to suggest that we add those countries to the arguement and say that they, too, should incorporate diversity within their games.

I'm not ignorant to the fact that there are game developers in other countries, but aren't most game devs based (or at least founded) in US soil? I can't back this up with factual sources, to be honest, but most of the time I read about a developer, their office is based in some city in the US.

I agree that we should have equal gender representation, but that's a different topic. Both topics have similar attributes, sure, but they have many more historical, traditional and social variables that would warrant a new thread for that topic.

I don't have anything against playing as a black guy or whatever, but if characters of ethnic minority groups or otherwise underrepresented categories are put into a game just for the sake of tokenism, I'll pass. It also has to fit in a game. I remember people calling for female NPCs in the Stalker games, which would have made very little sense if you ask me.

DraugenCP

Nonetheless, I think diversification will natural occur as devs run out of ideas. Take Just Cause for example. An epic Hispanic fellow in South America. I can't account for the whole game, but the idea was somewhat fresh compared to stale American military shooters fighting in middle-eastern turf.

[QUOTE="Venom_Raptor"]

I wouldn't want to play as a muslim, hindu etc. for religious background if that's what you're asking, that area in a game doesn't interest me, especially religions different to my own.

Yusuke420

It could use more diversity, but right now gaming devs are mostly white americans and europeans or japanese so it makes sense most characters will look white or asian. Diversity will be more commonplace in games when diversity becomes more commonplace on the development and publishing side. I do wish there were more games with options to change race and sex though. If the character doesnt talk or anything, why not allow me to make the character look the way I want?

Are causcasians really the majority of Earth population? Gamers come in all colors and nationalities and racial diversity in games would be nice but it's not a big deal to me.

San Andreas for example, was cool and even though I didn't care for the way blacks were depicted in the game, it didn't stop me from enjoying it. Plus more games now are emphasizing character customization where you can easily darken the skin tone or change facial features to your liking.

It shouldn't matter so much as to what skin color the main protagonist on the box art is as long as the game itself is executed properly.If games are going to emphasize more racial diversity, they need to depict these characters as normal people like most of their real life counterparts or the same way caucasian characters are depicted and not whatever stereotype they think other races fit in.It's the stereotypes that tend to rub certain people the wrong way.