Raven's Manveer Heir urges industry to address ethnic misrepresentation

Salem and Rios arent mexican? you know "army of 2 " main characters....

anyway when will we learn that all races are equally inferior to robots? Bender B. Rodriguez said that, HA!

Ah well, I think the perfect ( at least perfect MALE) character out there is Kratos. Why ? Because underneath all that ashwhite skin, he is black(ish). Well he is probably Mediterranean.
(Spoiler alert, for those living under a rock the past 6 years)
Actually, Kratos is pretty confusing in terms of race. He has probably got a black woman as a mother, since Zeus is a white dude. But since Zeus is a god that can turn into pretty much into anything he wants, he could easily turn into a black dude.

Look, it's very simple, yet complicated at the same time.

If you look at the pics for dev teams, historically up to now, they are literally 98% white.

whether that's by racism in the hiring, disproportionate opportunities, or so forth is up in the air. The fact is it's very hard to get people to look beyond their own race- if that race is white anyways. I beleive it's not the dev's fault, because they truly don't know any better. At the same time it IS their fault because for all intents and purposes, their thinking is that "white is right".

Whites just have an extremely hard time thinking beyond their own perspectives, and it is often justified- because you cant write about something you dont know. The problem comes in when whites are always the heroes or main characters because they are SAFE to the consumer- that will always be dangerous ground. It systematically puts all kind of opportunities for diversity in the trash. I focused on whites because they make up the devs and workers in the industry by far. As well, it sends the message that only white heroes are appropriate. Taking a gander at hollywood, and damn near every major industry, it's all the same deal- whites rule, and everyone else heads up the rear. Gamers, like music lovers, don't think about these things, because they are too busy enjoying the actual craft. Just like Rap music broke down cultural barriers, so did Contra and Double Dragon in their respective ways. Hence the responses of "dont care. Play the games, dont think."

A friend of my bro told us about his experiences being a writer for tv specials, and he worked on a project at espn for a sports special- and he was the only black guy out of 14 or so white writers. He described everyone centering around him about giving authenticity to the show because, well, he was black. That in and of itself makes sense, but the problem was, he was the only black guy. Whites dont care because they have jobs, and no ones going to give up their jobs for the sake of diversity- so the problem continues. Just push in a brother to come in fill in the authenticity gaps.

The question is, it REALLY THAT HARD for these thousands of white writers/devs to think beyond their own race? It sure is hell is ridiculous that they don't seem to have the ability to.

I hate Griggs for that stupid rap music at the end of the game.

One thing some people are missing (like the person who referenced Duke Nukem as an example) is it's all about BALANCE! Of course there are some stereotypes in all media...I think we except that as a society will except some stereotypes as fun or silly, but when you don't have balance, stereotypes become the only thing people know.

So if you were going to use an example of Duke Nukem, you realize that for every white character like that, there is a doctor, detective, military leader, president etc. etc.

When you don't have balance you end up with only the stereotypes (for example, black characters as the shoot first, loud mouth, headstrong athlete). The lack of balance (in all media) is the real problem.

...Dominic Santiago from Gears of War.

Prey. GTA: San Andreas. That dude from The House of the Dead: Overkill. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. B.D. Joe in Crazy Taxi. True Crime: Streets of L.A. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (and the other one). Unreal Tournament characters. Supporting characters from Gears of War, Second Sight, and dozens of other games.

Let's be honest, the game industry, like most of the other is full of people with a bunch of stereotypes. Latinos are just members of gangs and drug clans, blacks are big, thieves and their only ability is be able to sing, and only white people can be the savior of the world. I mean, they take the same face white face to do the character for "Uncharted", "Shadow Complex", "Splinter Cell", etc. That is why the game industry is so conservative in this field, I don't care what they say about it.
It is sad because we are living in 2010 and it looks like a lot of prejudices are not gone...and if we talk about black or latin female characters, oh man/woman, I feel like we are in the slavery era. Just plain sad

Last time i heard this argument was before San Andreas Came out... then when it did come out the black community complained that it was racist because the guy in the game did bad things.. you just cant win either way

Has anyone yet mentioned Resident Evil 5, where one of the two main characters is a competent black woman?

And one of the side stories lets you play as a black man who is so competent that he became the first helicopter pilot in the series to not get shot down? That takes a lot of skill right there.

Not a surprise to hear most people commenting thinking that it's not a problem.
It's a BIG problem & a problem that goes way beyond videogames. It's in much of American entertainment.

Yes, there is still a problem with attitudes towards certain ethnicities in this country. There's still the mindset that if a Black face is on the cover that it might not sell as much. It's rare that you'll see a Black star headline a movie without a White star accompanying the Black one. Even rarer to see the Black one get top billing. I'm not talking about movies targeted towards Black audiences but the so-called mainstream films. Representation of different ethnicities is seen as a liability except for certain exceptions.

It hasn't been that long since legal discrimination was outlawed. The laws can change overnight but people's hearts take time. In ads for products you are more likely to see a blonde White person being featured over any other type.

In videogames outside of sports titles which are just representations of the real-life leagues, how many Black faces do you see in the hero role on the cover? How many Black protagonists are there? In Create-a-Character modes on say wrestling games, which skin color is the default? Look at most RPGs & see all the Eurasians. Even Street Fighter had no fighters from the Motherland! Personal Trainer: Cooking & Cooking Mama didn't even consider soul food in their selections. The option wasn't even there to BE Black in Cooking Mama or Endless Ocean!

I'm a Nintendo fan but it sort of irks me how invisible we seem to be in terms of mascots. Every major female is blonde-haired & blue-eyed. Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, & even Samus Aran (and she used to be different at one time). How many Blacks have you seen in the land of Hyrule? I'm sure there are some who think Donkey Kong stands in for us but that would be an insult. In Animal Crossing, I have to tan to get some melanin representation. A White online friend heard me explain this & she said well you can always use your Mii. It didn't even occur to her that the problem was I couldn't be allowed to exist without putting on a costume.

I'm not sure if the Japanese make games this way because of pragmatic reasons (more White people in America so make games appeal to them by looking like them for max sales) or because they really think Black people are inferior & don't deserve representation. Or maybe that it's just a blind spot, an oversight.

With Barack Obama as President & Michelle Obama as First Lady I truly hope more developers address this reality & rectify it. Not by making every single character Black, Hispanic or whatever but just being mindful about who's playing these games & supporting this industry with their dollars. White people aren't the only people that exist you know! By putting different people in different roles you may just get some new ideas for the industry. A new scenery, a new change of pace. New settings, new subject matter.

But I don't hold hope that the establishment is going to change. It's going to take Black people starting companies & representing themselves much like they did in TV, movies, music, sports, magazines, etc. in the past. You can't expect those who don't live your experience to represent your experience.
John Lucas

My 2 Cents is thus:
Games are more successful the more interaction the player has! Game critics like to say GTA was awesome because of the story, but if you ask any normal human who plays it, it's fun because you can steal a car and shoot guns while ramping into the air. Also, you can do those things online with friends! Hence WoW is so successful. Not because of it's AMAZING STORY, but because it's fun and customizable and social.
The game industry needs to get off it's high horse and realize video games aren't movies 2.0. Movies develop characters and stories, but video games excel at creating virtual worlds where the consumer gets to create the character and shape the story.
Just freakin let the player design their character in your game, and everyone will automatically like your game slightly more, and you'll never be racist.

I am all on for more diverse main protagonists.

What is also strange is, that even in science fiction games you rarely see any characters who are not anglo-saxon, meaning US/UK/AUS. I include the black/hispanic/asian people who are more or less absorbed in this culture. Occasionally you have an asian or russian guy. Propably as a villian.

But were are the Indians, Africans, Arabs, "real" South-Americans or even Europeans?

The absence of a more diverse set of Europeans is most confusing, since we are a big game market, many development studios are here and we are also a lot of people (over 2x USA). Its true we Germans have a decreasing population, but I hope we are not extinct in like 100 years. Would it be so bad for a US gamer to control a european protagonist?