There are some black, asian and other minority characters in games, but typically, most game characters are white. They're also usually male. How come? The answer may seem obvious, but there's more to it, as explained by USC assistant professor Dmitri Williams at DICE 2010.
It's the fault of game developers. But why?
"You make games that look like you," said Williams.
The majority of game developers are, in fact, white and male. One way to help encourage diversity in the output of video games is to place more diversity in the development staff.
"The kind of characters featured in games are reflective of who is making them," he continued.
Prey was actually brought up several times during the panel, being one of the few examples in the entire history of video games that featured a Native American as a main character.
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rainmanmorris
im tired of this racist bs! when a black protagonist does have a game its labeled "ghetto" and it gets a bad score. then ign was hating on san andreas how did gta iv get a 10 and not the much better gta which got a 9.9? huh see americans are subconsciously racist. and this article proves it
seiresj
It's the same as it is in movies here in the US. When it comes to protagonists, the basic default is white. The only reason that is because it's what has always been and ---well, not always will be. The coming decades will see them come into the minority but as long as a game or movie must do well, it has to star what producers think resonates with the majority of their audience and THAT is white males.
odereko
Barret from FF7 was black. Two main characters (forgot their names) from Shadow Hearts: From The New World were native american.
DigitalGibs
It's hard to pin it on just making games that look like you, but I can see where he's coming from.
Me being "not white", I've often admired the people who cos-play but never felt inclined to be a video character for costumed holidays like Halloween. The biggest reason is that minorities are often depicted as generic stereotypes.
Hispanic = Latin Kings gang member, or illegal alien
Black = drug dealer, or common thug, or comic relief
Asian = smart secondary character, likely a scientist in a research lab
White = potential hero material, or helpless female victim
There are countless examples of this in almost every game.
Dreadlocks88
I am still not understanding how would the personality of the character have to change just because of his race? if the writer or developer has a personality in mind why would he be afraid it would offend if he made the person Black or Chinese unless he automatically felt the need to change their speech to hip hop slang or broken English. Again this is a institutionalized problem if they cannot get past this. Dante, Drake, Bayonetta, Starkiller just for examples could have been any race and not offensive at all. I love those characters beside starkiller right now but their background could have easily been anything, we're not talking characters in a specific region and place of history like Kratos. I thought RE5 was actually a good example and I liked Sheva(she never got in my way and saved my life a few), yea I know people tried to complain about "racism" in there but let's tell the truth most of these weren't Blacks or Africans they were magazines and news trying to get more readers
sloth3395
i think the real reason is because of what happened with RE5 everyone called it racist because you are a white guy killing black people.
Doug Otto
Let's look at Falout 3. you were given the choice of making your character any race or sex. most of the characters ive seen are white and male. so i guess the consumers are agreeing
Jacksoneatzcooky
would YOU want to play a game where you shoot women in minorities!?
Scrapnoid
I am lucky enough to work for a Fortune 100 company that celebrates and encourages diversity. In that environment I am very welcome to be me and have first-hand witnessed both the benefits of diverse teammates as well as the wonder/learning one gains from having that diversity around you. We're not just talking race, we're talking: Ethnic background, sex, sexual orientation, religion, cultural background, socioeconomic status, education level, physical ability, and communication (language/style).
In video games there is a trend, which I love, that is allowing you to express yourself. Even though Morgan Webb hates avatars *wink* it is indicative of this trend. My point is that from gamers' perspectives there are 2 needs to be filled:
1) Acknowledge "me" and let me be and express "me"
2) Show or let me experience something new and unique
My opinion is that gamers (the aggregate) will buy more games and enjoy them more when both of these are met. You've artificially widened your customer base if nothing else. To do so, diversity in the staff of game developers is needed. Alternatively at a minimum, rigorous diversity training for staff and challenges from game industry leadership to support diversity "inclusion" is an effort where we all win with better and more personal games. I wonder what the G4 staff thinks.
I am a white male and in most games it is very comforting and relate-able when I'm surrounded by white males. It is also awesome when I am me as a white male, but surrounded by fleshed out diverse characters and locations. It is a shame that my friends who are not "white males" don't get to experience that as much (some of their immersion is lost when they don't see themselves in their characters). I empathize! Mass Effect 2 is a good example. What a great game and I want to "be" Shepherd and can for the most part...until it comes times for romances because I am actually a gay white male. There's my moment where I am a little disappointed because I can't be me. Anyway, I would love to see a constant forward-moving trend of both more diversity-customizable options for main characters and more diverse NPCs and locations, it's just a win-win situation. As a side note it does require diversity TRAINING/CONSULTING/RESEARCH and "inclusion" efforts. In other words, just skinning an NPC as another race/background will feel wrong if the dialogue and character profile don't reflect their background. It truly is easier when the staff itself includes all these backgrounds. That is a whole other challenge...
drangel_jam
It's actually true. I've noticed that myself a long time ago, and it even caused me to grow a biased (for lack of a better word) look at some characters regarding to their developers because I would feel like some features came from their real life devs.
But, this is not all true because if developers would challenge themselves to tell new types of stories, with new locations, background, perspectives, etc... we would naturally see more variety in the main cast. For instance, games that go the extra mile to convey a believable setting and perspective, naturally develop great protagonists/characters that reflect the theme and setting of the game: GTA series, Resident Evil series, [stops and thinks for a minute,] Men of Valor, Prey, etc...
What I really would like to see, is more games allowing you to pick you character as you please like the recent WRPGs from Bethesda, Bioware, etc...
I also would like to see more black protagonists for the sake of being black, it doesn't necessarily needs to be in African, or an American gangsta.
And finally, to challenge the article's thesis, I wonder why many Japanese games have characters that don't really look Asian, not naturally, nor by a long shot. J-developers often make characters who look more like a) their ideal of beauty, b) Asian big eyes with caucasian features or western tendencies.
And I think I know why, because it's their idea of trying to appeal to the western markets.
At the end of the day, more American developers will start making more non caucasian heroes because of the maturity of the social commentary, which allows for fresher incites, and maybe when some markets in Africa start buying games in record numbers (Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, etc...) the industry as a whole will make a small shift and make games that reflect a bit more their societies, and/or themselves will start developing high budget games with characters that look like their people and have their struggles.
poketfulashelz
Who cares? Are you saying that video games are so good that the only issue lef to deal with is what color the character's pixelated faces are? The majority of games that are reviewed here have a 3-4 / 5 star rating yet instead of improving games to make them better we're dealing with racism. Everyone should just get over themselves, stop trying to be a bunch of "do-gooders" and play the games.
XXXSpartan118XXX
Theres black people in everygame. Fallout 3 had black people. San Andreas YOU WERE BLACK. Saonts Row 1 and 2 you could be black, Halo 3 seargent Johnson was black and there were black marines, heck the aliens in Halo were played by black people, The Ballad Of Gay Tony you were hispanic and so on.
jrippin
I'm Puerto Rican and my family is a mix of light and dark skin. I'm light skinned so I make my characters with light skin. Those with dark skin make their characters dark skin. My cousin is married to a Chinese guy and he makes characters that look more like him. So in a way I can see what he's talking about but on the other hand, I can see why some people may think that some developers should be more creative. Even if just for the hell of it just add some diversity.
BigPoppaChunk
is their something i am doing wrong when i try to reply.i click reply i am signed in ,i type my comment hit post and nothing am i doing it wrong or is it just broke.
deadite101
to vichussmith and spicypooptastic *tried to post this as a reply, but couldnt get it to post)
I dont think its really a matter of "lack of creativity", but more of a fear of misrepresenting a race. I am a writer (just for hobby, no claim to ANY fame), and everytime I try to include an African American, er...black person (see, right there, what is even PC anymore?) I feel they come off as "stereotypical". They never feel real. It is not intentional, but without actually being black, how can you fairly portray their thoughts and manurisms? I am sure it is the same for large developers, who take PUBLIC critisms and be called racist if they mess up a minority character. Living by the rez, and also reading some reviews, people felt Prey misrepresented Native Americans. I saw flaws, but they TRIED to give a fair depiction...From a white brain. We arent different because of skin, but we dont share the same life ecperiences or culture (all the time). So naturally, things will be incongruent with reality. As for the guy above mentioning Mass Effect's plethora of white characters, you are actually mistaken. With the exception of a VERY small few, white is a minority in the ME universe. Now most people didnt read them, so the mistake is understandable, but in the novels, it speaks about how by this time in earth's future, all races are blended. This means, MOST humans are SUPPOSED to look like a mix of MOST races; being some shade of tan. No whites, no blacks, JUST mixes. One of the main characters the novel mentions is a blonde white girl, who the aliens are all fascinated by, since they have never seen on. She may even be a recessive genetic mutation. It was is not hard to imagine that kind of future, as I am a pretty good blend myself, that is also why in the games, humans seem to share a universal culture. So ME, is actually very fair in portraying any and all races; there isnt any defined raves or cultures left on earth by that time, just a large melting pot.
GorgeousGamerGirl
This is all just stupid. I mean its just how games are. Who really cares about what color VG characters are?? Its about the game play and the story! Thats all that mnatters. But it makes sense to have them all white, or white looking. Some of the games have a certain story line to follow. Liek AC 1&2, they couldnt have done with any other type of person. It wouldnt make sense in the story. Sure its fun to make your character look like you, but if you feel that way, then play Sims or something. The game isnt about you, its about the character. Im a female and im hispanic. I couldnt care less what the characters look like. This is such a petty argument. I mean its not like this affects anything important. We have a black man as president and thats a big step that def had nothing to do with gaming or VG characters. Its a GAME! so just enjoy it and stop complaining about something so ridiculous.
duvaldragon
we need more black people in video games it's not just white people that rule the world anymore and not all black people have a bad rep how bout making the main character of the next final fantasy black or street fighter i'm sick of all this whiteness that's why i like western rpg video games need to stop being so one sided when it comes to race it's not always 'up to da white man to save the day" black people can do it "YES WE CAN!!!!! LOL!!!!
thegreatODEN
i'm black and i don't care if i play as white guy or black,what i'm i supposed to do when i play as a black character jump out of my bed a say yes there's a black in my game we finally made it,please give me a fricken break just play the damn game
BigPoppaChunk
their are plenty of games with diverse colors and races.def jam ,madden, nba ,mlb, gta4, res evil5, scarface, gun, prey, turok, fallout3,wwe, ufc, gears of war, 50 cent, civ4,yakuza, countless jrpg's.come on racism and byast thinking is taught not pre dispossed to your dna.a baby isn't born byast it's made that way through backwoods thinking and fear.i am a caucasian with 4 children of different ages and none of them are aware of a color barrier to them your either a friend or a stranger.no matter of the color.it's time to grow up this is our world not our mistake laden for-fathers.this is about playing good games who brought race in to it.
thegreatODEN
i'm black and i don't care if i play as white guy or black,what i'm i supposed to do when i play as a black character jump out of my bed a say yes there's a black in my game we finally made it,please give me a fricken break just play the damn game
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