Minorities in Games

[Mister Jack]

How do you feel minority groups are treated via their portrayal in contemporary games? How is it compared to earlier, older games? What are current games doing well? What could use improvement? Are there any "racist" games on the market right now? Which characters are good? Which ones are...not so good? Discuss it all here.

 

Please note that this does not include how women are portrayed, unless the woman in question is also a minority. Gender roles is a discussion for a whole other thread.

[mintycrys]

In the world of Left 4 Dead, the only people that have jobs are black people.

 

Also, RE5 is racist.

[brida]

I've never seen a good depiction of a minority in a game.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I can't recall any racist games but there's certainly racial prejudices and stereotypes all over. You mean the black guy in gears of war 2 makes sports references all the time? Awesome! Most of the time though, it seems the entire game has shitty characters to begin with, so it's no surprise that minorities are done poorly when the rest of the game is shite as well.

[brida]

He makes sport references all the time because he used to be a a sports star. Though, as you said, the game in general doesn't have great characters.

[Bouchart]

I've never seen a good depiction of a minority in a game.

 

Not even Superfly Johnson?

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

He makes sport references all the time because he used to be a a sports star. Though, as you said, the game in general doesn't have great characters.

 

Yes. The black guy used to be a sports star. You do realize that changes nothing about my point right and if anything just strengthens what I mentioned about stereotypes.

[brida]

He makes sport references all the time because he used to be a a sports star. Though, as you said, the game in general doesn't have great characters.

 

Yes. The black guy used to be a sports star. You do realize that changes nothing about my point right and if anything just strengthens what I mentioned about stereotypes.

If it strengthens your point then I don't see why you have an issue with me mentioning it.

I just made the statement in case someone didn't know, since that is the reason why he makes the references. Doesn't mean it is or isn't racist, I didn't really make a statement either way in that regard.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

You should have made your intentions clear with your post in the first place, then. Anyways, enough of this off-topicness. Let's move on.

[StrifeROKs]

Well he is somewhat based on the voice actor, who use to be a football player and actually talks just like Cole.

 

And you're saying this guy is a negative stereotype. Who's racist now? For shame

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I think any stereotype or prejudice is negative.

[Cyber Rat]

There's no real point in depicting minorities properly from a developer/publisher standpoint because the typical American consumer doesn't really care about that (and the US is usually the main market).

 

I remember when it was revealed that the main character of GTA4 being Serbian (well, technically, it wasn't confirmed that he was exactly Serbian, but most hints went in that direction) and reading Internet comments of people who were disgusted that someone from such a horrible/savage country is the main character of a high-budget game. I'm positive no one around here would say that and mean it, but we're well... the minority of gaming. Most consumers think it's normal to have Afro-american characters as the comic relief (first example that comes to mind is Silent Hill: Homecoming).

[brida]

Minorities are set up to becoming a majority within our lifetime in the US (within the next decade, even), clearly these companies are not thinking ahead here. I mean, if we're approaching this from bottom line.

[Mister Jack]

I don't know that I would say Cole is a racist character, just not a very deep one. Gears is a very macho game, and Cole is just as macho as all the other characters. He's not really unintelligent or unlikeable, unless you don't like loud, boisterous types in general. Gears 3 is going to have another black character who is supposedly more subdued and down to earth than Cole, so it will be interesting to see that.

[Mr. GOH!]

I think the depiction of Michael Jordan in NBA 2k11 was pretty positive.

[D-K]

Lost Planet 2 has fun "Mexicans", they're the comic relief.

[Mister Jack]

There was comedy in that game?

[D-K]

tongue-in-cheek racial stereotyping is considered humour, yes. I found it amusing, anyway.

[Mister Jack]

See, I thought I was playing a tragedy.

[B.Linus]

Hahahaha, let's all look for chances to be offended!!

[CorgiShinobi]

Mister Jack, do you watch Extra Credits? It's on Escapist and it's a continuation of the series from Daniel Floyd on YouTube. Something tells me you would really be into the topics, and etc.

 

Anyway, I think the problem with minorities in games now a days is that those responsible for crafting the characters and narrative almost feel like they have to solidify that, yes, this person is a minority. Look at all the minority things he does such as talking in this manner, and doing this stuff. I dunno, maybe one can't help to just leave a character there alone with his/her differences. Except, I think that would make them more approachable, such as when confronting someone in real life who has differences from your own.

 

I also think there's this idea that a minority has to be "similar" for the character to be likable. You know, "if we can mimic the audience, we don't need to worry!" That's when you have, uh oh, stereotypes!

[Mister Jack]

Can't say I'm familiar with it. Maybe I'll check it out sometime.

[CorgiShinobi]

It's really great. It's hardly bias as it provides some well-needed perspective in gaming topics. Sometimes it gets the "Glory to Games" feel, but that's hardly a real downside. The latest one was kinda a stretch, where Missile Command supposedly tells a gripping narrative through its game mechanics.

 

They've covered some issues of diversity in gaming, and recently there was an episode on sexual diversity. There will be more as, in the first episode on diversity, there are many attributes of diversity.

[deanb]

I would point out there are stereotypes for a reason. So it's not always a good idea to go "Hey black guys like sports, let's make sure we don't mention sports with this character" cos as pointed out with Cole it's entirely relevant. Of course you do want to stay away from having Cole mid-game start discussing how much he wants some fried chicken. Racist stereotypes are worth steering away from.

I think you'd probably have just as many complaints if you .... 'normalised' all your characters. Then folks would most likely complain you're whitewashing.

Stereotypes also allow you to quickly flesh out a character.

Of course since games can have many hours to play around with compared to films they shouldn't have to. But since most games are still written by Frank the Intern during his dinner break the writing is still pretty shitty regardless of how long they have to properly develop characters.

 

Anyway as for examples:

Mass Effect 2 was pretty shitty considering the rest of the crew. Token black dude I can't even remember the name of. It's like they just slapped him in just so they ticked off some checkbox.

GTA4: Niko n Roman. From Eastern Europe. Bit stupid. Niko doesn't know how the big city works. Is somewhat naive and easy to manipulate because of this.

Sazh: Dude carries a FF chicken around with him. Maybe not the best choice. However his character does get fleshed out quite well and he's one of the better characters in that game. You get quite sympathetic with his plight.

 

Also I second the recommendation of Extra Credits

[Mister Jack]

I notice that for the most part this thread has been about black people, which is fine, but do any more hispanic characters come to mind? How about jewish or gay characters? Asians? Of course, I mean asians in western games when I say that.