Racial divide in video games.

First off, this topic is not for the intent of starting a race war on GS nor to ruffle any feathers.

Year after year, there are games that come out, maybe 10 blockbusters/AAA, and about 20 - 30 other games that range from terrible to great. With the majority of these blockbusters one thing stands out to me. There's a lack of racial diversity in our games; the protagonists are usually of a European background. As more and more games are developed in the West, one could expect to see a plethora of races playing the part of the hero but that's not the case.

Someone is sure to say Shaz from FFXIII is a good representation, or Sheva from RE5. I beg to differ as Shaz was just a comic reliefwhile Sheva was placed in the game to cool race relations. For those that would disagree to those descriptions, well I won't argue with you, but those two character's are not the main protagonists; they are mere sidekicks. If you have other examples please provide them.

Where's the Hispanic, Black, Taiwanese, etc... representation?

Because a lot of people in the west are white, and for some it is a lot easier to relate to someone with the same ethnicity. This is hardly exclusive to video games however, movies arent much better in this regard. Take the latest prince of persia movie as an example that generated a bit of controversy for featuring a white prince as opposed to a middle eastern one.

In some ways I am glad we have mostly white protagonists, who knows what kind of annoying stereotypes we would have to put up with in some games otherwise.

As more and more games are developed in the West, one could expect to see a plethora of races playing the part of the hero

lowkey254

Why would this be expected at all?

The games developed all from one region tend to be ethnocentric to that region's races? Why would there be any different expectations?

A copious amount of Military games such as 'Halo Reach', 'Gears of War' and 'Black Ops' strive on diversity in their characters but they are never the protagonist. In 'Halo Reach' the character 'Noble Six' is faceless without gender or race so it doesn't come into the same terms to a great extent because they are in essence a hollow shell.

This isn't the first time that people have expressed their discontent on this affair. A lot of profound, evocative stories in video games tend to feature a Caucasian male; it's rare to see a protagonist of African or Hispanic dissent when weighted up against the typical Caucasian figures. The lack of representation for diverse protagonists is questionable but when you look at the general consensus of contemporary video gamers they tend to be Caucasian males and those in the industry in the West are also the same. The only way to correct such an issue is for a number of minorities in the West to become more involved in the Gaming Industry in order to provide a greater influence on the market.

The majority of gamers in the West are white male adolescents, so making characters they can identify with and look up to at the same time will appeal more to them. It's very logical from a marketing perspective, and, when it comes to European-made games, very logical from a social perspective as well. Even though globalisation and immigration have changed the composition of the European populace somewhat, the vast, vast majority of the inhabitants of Europe are white, so when European developers reflect that in their games, that's mere logic at work.

Not to mention that I never believed in racial diversity for the sake of it anyway. In this case, it'd supply video games with a political undercurrent I personally would not want to see in a video game. In other words: normally, I don't think about the race of the characters in a game. but if they were to fill every game with a standard amount of black people, Asians and Hispanics, I'd be constantly reminded of the political idea behind it.

Bottom line: it would only cause irritation.

[QUOTE="lowkey254"] As more and more games are developed in the West, one could expect to see a plethora of races playing the part of the hero

Why would this be expected at all?

The games developed all from one region tend to be ethnocentric to that region's races? Why would there be any different expectations?

Would it really make that much difference if say Marcus in Gears of War was black instead of Cole? Or if Mario was African American instead of Italian? Most game characters are grossly out of proportion and nothing like real people. And also a ton of game these days have villains as lead characters, so putting minorities in those roles would cause a ****storm in the media.

It's what people are used to now, after years of gaming. You can't just change it, people might not get the game if the guy with the super powers is mexican or any other race. There are games that have other than hispanic people I'm sure. Like Afro Samurai. :P Imagine replacing Keanu Reeves with Will Smith in The Matrix. Naaw, I couldn't imagine it. Most players are white anyway, so it would probably be more appealing. (Since the audience is mostly hispanic)

RSE had a diverse cast of characters in Rainbow Six/Rogue Spear and the main character was of a Hispanic background and featured team members from all over the world that you could play and this included playing as a female team member. They did something similar with Ghost Recon. Ubi and RSE has moved away from this model and now both games are hero character based that are white.

yes, ask yourself, why are the majority of television shows on Galvavision and Univision latino and not white? Or why are the majority of Bollywood films have Indians and no whites.

Same thing, the USA has majority of whites, so enterntainment like video games will have white main characters.

Although...u gotta consider

1) Ninja Gaiden main guy--> Hayabusa

2) Call of Juarez --> Billy (half white i think)

3) For fighting games like SF or MK, the flagship fighter is not white

4) Heavenly Sword --> Nariko has red hair but is asian, her dad and her clan are asian no?

5) Tenchu series

6) Yakuza

7) Lost Odyessy --> Kaim, i dont know what he is, and the little kids

8) 50 cent Blood in the Sand!!! cmon!

9) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - main guy looks like a wayans brother, the skinny one

10) GTA chinatown wars protaganist , duh

11) next True Crime game

12) Army of Two series -- isnt one of the guys name Rios

13) Ninja Blade - main guy

It's what people are used to now, after years of gaming. You can't just change it, people might not get the game if the guy with the super powers is mexican or any other race. There are games that have other than hispanic people I'm sure. Like Afro Samurai. :P Imagine replacing Keanu Reeves with Will Smith in The Matrix. Naaw, I couldn't imagine it. Most players are white anyway, so it would probably be more appealing. (Since the audience is mostly hispanic)

LustForSoul

Because most people in the US are White or White / Hispanic / European descent, and most of the developers are also white. They are making a product to cater to their target audience, which are mostly made up of White people. I'm not White, and I don't see this as bias of any sort because it's reflecting the reality of the market and what it demands.

Also, most games now days feature pivotal side-characters that are not White, and often have a very close and positive relation to the main character.I think that's a good way to put some balance into the ethnic make up of most games.

I completely understand your point lowkey254 and I agree more diversity in all types of media would be great.

Video game characters are pretty cool but at the end of the day they are fake.

I would look towards the sports genre and find real life ethnic figures which beats the hell out of fake ones

Mass Effect.

First off, this topic is not for the intent of starting a race war on GS nor to ruffle any feathers.

Year after year, there are games that come out, maybe 10 blockbusters/AAA, and about 20 - 30 other games that range from terrible to great. With the majority of these blockbusters one thing stands out to me. There's a lack of racial diversity in our games; the protagonists are usually of a European background. As more and more games are developed in the West, one could expect to see a plethora of races playing the part of the hero but that's not the case.

Someone is sure to say Shaz from FFXIII is a good representation, or Sheva from RE5. I beg to differ as Shaz was just a comic reliefwhile Sheva was placed in the game to cool race relations. For those that would disagree to those descriptions, well I won't argue with you, but those two character's are not the main protagonists; they are mere sidekicks. If you have other examples please provide them.

Where's the Hispanic, Black, Taiwanese, etc... representation?

lowkey254

I'm black and I don't blame developers for not putting blacks in videogames. RE5 was a shameless (disappointing IMHO) ripoff of RE4 and the fact some people accused it of being racist was pathetic. San Andreas (whose script was written with a lot of help from the guy who wrote the hilarious Friday) attracted similar criticism even though Rockstar (more used to controversy) ignored it.

If one can make any game under the sun starring whites and no one cries out about the race being misrepresented (as if the objects of commercial art should be not to entertain, but to make every race look its best) why would any sane developer bother making a game with a black protagonist? All it can cause is negative publicity though its worth noting that the vast majority of the whining doesn't come from gamers (both RE5 and San Andreas sold extremely well), but from organizations whose mission in life is to run around accusing others of being racist.

I'm black and I don't blame developers for not putting blacks in videogames. RE5 was a shameless (disappointing IMHO) ripoff of RE4 and the fact some people accused it of being racist was pathetic. San Andreas (whose script was written with a lot of help from the guy who wrote the hilarious Friday) attracted similar criticism even though Rockstar (more used to controversy) ignored it.

If one can make any game under the sun starring whites and no one cries out about the race being misrepresented (as if the objects of commercial art should be not to entertain, but to make every race look its best) why would any sane developer bother making a game with a black protagonist? All it can cause is negative publicity though its worth noting that the vast majority of the whining doesn't come from gamers (both RE5 and San Andreas sold extremely well), but from organizations whose mission in life is to run around accusing others of being racist.

CarnageHeart

I could accuse every single FPS taking place in WW2 pacific as racist too, cus you are against japs as white american. And nobody ever blamed movies like Black Hawk Down or Tears of the Sun for being a racist!Not to mention fighting nazis in WW2 would be labeled as "germanofobic" or something. But if you take the war game to other extreme, you get like Far Cry 2, i mean there are irish, albanians, blacks and asians all running a war in africa. Why would people like that come together from all over the world? Why would someone living in europe or asia bother going into a poor country in africa to risk hes life for justa pennies? I think its because developers were afraid to be called racists, so they made a whole world to go to africa and die there lol. I personally don't care what skin color my enemies or friends are, i just care how they perform and on whos side they are on!

It could be they did not think of races while making the game.

I could accuse every single FPS taking place in WW2 pacific as racist too, cus you are against japs as white american. And nobody ever blamed movies like Black Hawk Down or Tears of the Sun for being a racist!Not to mention fighting nazis in WW2 would be labeled as "germanofobic" or something. But if you take the war game to other extreme, you get like Far Cry 2, i mean there are irish, albanians, blacks and asians all running a war in africa. Why would people like that come together from all over the world? Why would someone living in europe or asia bother going into a poor country in africa to risk hes life for justa pennies? I think its because developers were afraid to be called racists, so they made a whole world to go to africa and die there lol. I personally don't care what skin color my enemies or friends are, i just care how they perform and on whos side they are on!BattleforAzerot

I think most of the Europeans in Far Cry 2 were mercenaries that are just paid to take care of business there. It's something that happens a lot in reality as well, as a lot of arms dealers in African conflict zones are actually Western. However, I do think you have a point when you say that Ubisoft was afraid of being called racist, because the enemies you encounter in the game are a mix of black and white people, which is kind of weird since most of them are supposed to be indigenous people of an African country. It's also worth noting that most of the playable characters are from nations that have a certain tolerance/like factor in the West. Irish, Albanian, American. It's rare to find protagonists in Western games that are Russian or Serbian, for example, because in the current video game cliché they are usually the bad guys, which I think might actually reflect fear for those people in real life.

But yeah, Ubisoft is clearly aware of the risks of being accused of racism when they develop their video games, and has some odd self-censorship policy as a result. I also remember, for instance, how whenever you start up Assassin's Creed, you see a message saying that the development team has a multicultural background.

I think most of the Europeans in Far Cry 2 were mercenaries that are just paid to take care of business there. It's something that happens a lot in reality as well, as a lot of arms dealers in African conflict zones are actually Western. However, I do think you have a point when you say that Ubisoft was afraid of being called racist, because the enemies you encounter in the game are a mix of black and white people, which is kind of weird since most of them are supposed to be indigenous people of an African country. It's also worth noting that most of the playable characters are from nations that have a certain tolerance/like factor in the West. Irish, Albanian, American. It's rare to find protagonists in Western games that are Russian or Serbian, for example, because in the current video game cliché they are usually the bad guys, which I think might actually reflect fear for those people in real life.

But yeah, Ubisoft is clearly aware of the risks of being accused of racism when they develop their video games, and has some odd self-censorship policy as a result. I also remember, for instance, how whenever you start up Assassin's Creed, you see a message saying that the development team has a multicultural background.

DraugenCP

Actually main character of Grand Theft Auto 4 is probably serbian. But as of Far Cry 2, shoulnt most people including leading characters and playable characters be a black? And why should mercenarie from like ireland go into the africa, to fight in a poor mans war? I woulnt go to some random x country as cheap mercenary at least. But then again, the whole game is a mess, it doesn't even look like a country, but rather a huge military barracks. There are almost no civilians in the game anyway!

Borderlands and KZ2 both represent more than one ethnic group. Wish this would happen more often.

More games are alos allowing you to design your own characters including ethnicity (Saints Row 2, Fallout 3 ect)

I think this is hopefully the future of game design. (Lets face it RDR really needed a character design option after beating the game)

Ever since I realized this fact it has irked me in every game I play. Uncharted is an all-caucasian cast, all the main characters in Infamous are white, and looking at the screen both my B-Spec driver and all the spectators are white too. Of all the things I can think of, Left 4 Dead seems to do the best at portraying racial and sexual deversity, and even they are stereotypes.

I don't really care. I play video games to have fun. Who cares if all the characters in a game are of European descent? If the games are produced in the West, it's not surprising if most of the characters are Westerners (Whites).

They're just trying to appeal to the biggest userbase.

Actually main character of Grand Theft Auto 4 is probably serbian. But as of Far Cry 2, shoulnt most people including leading characters and playable characters be a black? And why should mercenarie from like ireland go into the africa, to fight in a poor mans war? I woulnt go to some random x country as cheap mercenary at least. But then again, the whole game is a mess, it doesn't even look like a country, but rather a huge military barracks. There are almost no civilians in the game anyway!BattleforAzerot

Well, his nationality is a bit ambiguous (as he actually speaks Bosnian) but nationality is ambiguous in the Balkan regions in the first place. Still, it says enough that one of the only Eastern-European main characters in a Western game stars in a title like GTA.

Why would a mercenary go to Africa? To earn money. The whole idea of a mercenary is that he earns money by doing dirty work. It doesn't matter where or what it is, as long as he gets paid. Though it even makes sense from an ideological perspective: the Irishman in Far Cry 2 is a former IRA member (another video game cliché: all Irishmen drink, swear and have affiliations with the IRA), and the IRA has marxist ideals, just like one of the factions in the game.

But yeah, it probably isn't worth overthinking as Far Cry 2 was not a particularly clever designed game in the first place. Still, I did not think the presence of Western/non-African characters in that game, at least when it came to the main characters, wasn't too odd.