I know this may be a touchy subject to have but I have noticied this for awhile now, and it is video games are racist. Now I will say I am not African American, but it is something I have noticied. Now yes there are african americans in games, but I am talking about a African American hero in a game, not just a side kick or game that you have multiple characters and one is African American. I do know of a few, like the one with Samuel Jackson as the Samurai or CJ from GTA but really there is a few in a world of white main characters, now yeah we have went far with adding female leads but now we need to add some other races. Now yeah I am not saying I am not going to play games from now on, but I think that game companies need to take a look into this. I don't want them to go throw a character together just to be political correct, but why haven't we seen some more characters of different races.
For I would like to see some more effort into adding some better character thought into games and provide a difference. Also I have a feeling that because of this it really does cut people from playing games because they don't have a lot of characters that relate to them. The main character usually shoudl relate to the player and so they feel a connection, and games have been really forgetting other races.
Now this is just some thoughts, you may agree or disagree with me on this. But for some of us wanting to get into making video games, or writers, maybe if we think about this we can now make a change for the better. I am not wanting to say we need every type of character out there, but it wouldn't be bad to add some variety to the hero characters and provide characters to all gamers to relate to.
It wouldn't hurt at all. Since I'm not so good at writing I'll leave that to you, lol.
I personally do not see racism in games. Just because the main characters skin color is different doesn't mean I can't relate. Most of the games these days are based on certain events and myths and take place in certain areas of the world that dictate the color of skin for accuracy. Alot of games have the create a character option as well.
I wouldn't say racism is a problem in games, I would just say that a unique variety of settings and stories are hard to come by that would host a minority as a main character. Racist is a harsh term and I don't think it is the proper one for this.
Is it African American, or is it black?
I think it's black. Sorry, just wanted to note-- not everyone comes from Africa (or America).
Maybe Black-American because there are also black people from Australia, South America, Latin America and such. Either way I would say that games are not as 'diverse' when it comes to the protagonist. I mean its not like they are burning crosses or wearing white robes and hoods<<< NOW THATS RACIST!!!
I wouldn't call it racism because in many games there are many minority supporting characters. It'd be better to explain it as "not every demographic that plays games is being represented".
I'm all for playing as a different color protagonist. I also don't think it would hurt to have black characters who don't perpetuate stereotypes. You mentioned CJ from GTA, but it'd also be nice to have a character in a non-gang setting.
I think a major roadblock in this kind of progress, though, is that many games are made in Europe or in Japan where other races are definitely present but they don't make up as huge a number as they do in America. It's not an excuse, but it's something to consider, I think.
Well a lot of games now give you the chocie to customize what your guy or girl looks like or just not make them a big deal at all like alomost all shooters and others when you barley see yourself.
Darth_Spartan: You don't have to be from a minority race to talk about race. Thanks.
The minority gamer is white so there should be less white heros. Simple but hard. I'm still trying to figure out why Dante is Americanized and not Japanese. Don't forget the Native Americans...they always are forgotten.
You are either American, or not, there is not "African-American" or "European-American" or "Asian-American". If I am white, then blacks are blacks. When people do crap like that, they only reinforce the perpetual victim mentality and it poisons this country. We are all Americans (if you are in America, that is) and I see no reason to make such a scene over it.
On topic: I really don't see racism in games. I also don't see reason to force developers to change their games to make complainers happy. When you say "OH EM GEE THERE ARE NO AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEROEZ!!" I find it really hard to be sympathetic to your cause, developers make those games, and personally, I don't really care what color the protagonist is, the fact that they are white is obsolete now. How are we supposed to be a color-blind society if you make such a big deal over being black?
that's why I feel you should be able to select race and gender when you play games not all but the ones where it can be done like pokemon you can select gender but not race.
I've got to give it to you for pointing this out. I knew that there were mostly white main characters, but i never really thought about it. Its mostly because they fit the main character the best, whether its fable II or call of duty, a white protagonist probably fits the position of the main character the best.
I agree with what wes said. A lot of games have much more custamization in games. But just because the lead character isn't african american doesn't make it racist.
Dude games arent racist at all, man its just that there a particular formula in a game.Now there are a few games that star an african american as the main character in the game,thats because they fit that character or the theme of it. Now if your trying to say that games are racist based on "theres not enough ethnic characters in it" would be bais.The only reason there arent enough its not that time yet and dude seriouly it doesnt really matter if your character is white or black its the story that tells it.Im fillipino and i havent seen any pinoy protagonist yet but that doesnt matter to me. As long the game doent project any type of stereo type or any offensive language to any ethnicty there no problme at all.
I think that games arent racist at all like Luckgoerge said its the theme of it but playin as any race dosent bother me at all, but all in all I wouldnt mind playing as diffrent race every now and a again
Well I didn't say that they were racist, but I was just trying to say that we have seen changes into the lead character to have female characters but haven't seen a change in the lead character race. I think that games designers should have a look into that and bring more changes in the lead character of there race, I don't think they are racist. I think if you created a Black character as the lead, in could open games to more people than they are right now. I know that there is a lot of games that you create your character now, but games like MGS, Splinter Cell, Uncharted, and others have a majority of white lead characters, why not make a change into it and see if you could open games to more people.
they're not meaning to be racist. if there's one thing that isn't english i learned from my 6th grade teacher, we're "naturally segragated."
i say the problem with racism in games is the same as the real world, there isn't one. usually racism doesn't get brought up it'll after the deed is done.
Turok. morbidbystander, never say always!
I don't think that games are racist, but I do believe that they play a little too much on stereotypes, making a black character only to have him say dumb stereotypical slang and have him be a gangster all the time is even worse.