Really, the insistence that a protagonist has to be playable is a non-starter with me. It's an arbitrary condition that arises from an uncritical cribbing of terminology from other genres, and it doesn't an iota change that a Clementine or an Alyx is central to the story being told.
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Black female (non-stereotypical) protagonists in videogames?
- Thread starter Vermillion
- Start date
Unchecked racist influences on thought processes that need to be Identified and dealt with.
Kitschkraft
Member
Heh, well, here's another :
Christa from The Walking Dead
Edit : I understand she is not controlled, just pointing out that it's another black woman in a zombie game.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
I'll never forgot when someone told me "you're the whitest black kid I've ever met".
That kind of stigma just doesn't exist with the "white" label.
If Fran had lighter skin and someone said she was white absolutely no one would jump on that claiming "SHE'S NOT WHITE!".
I think the best point brought up in this thread is regarding the freedom that characters with the "white" and "asian" labels have available to them, while characters with the "black" label are considerably more restricted and typically herded into more stereotypical features.
Ultimately I'd like to not have to think this is an issue at all but the world isn't ready for that yet.
That kind of stigma just doesn't exist with the "white" label.
If Fran had lighter skin and someone said she was white absolutely no one would jump on that claiming "SHE'S NOT WHITE!".
I think the best point brought up in this thread is regarding the freedom that characters with the "white" and "asian" labels have available to them, while characters with the "black" label are considerably more restricted and typically herded into more stereotypical features.
Ultimately I'd like to not have to think this is an issue at all but the world isn't ready for that yet.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
It's not really the claiming part that's the issue, but the strong drive to find reasons why someone can't be described as one particular: black, while people won't bat an eyelash when other descriptors are used.
There are strong negative stereotypes and attitudes towards visible black people while they just don't exist to the same extent towards other visible ethnicities.
You only have to look at things like the doll experiment, white washing and just the media in general to see it. I also recall a lot of hate towards one particular character in the Hunger Games movie because many people apparently glossed over the fact that they mentioned she is black in the book and in turn became angry and hateful when they saw that their assumption that she was white/caucasian was wrong.
At the end of the day I consider characters in games to be their own unique ethnicities unless the developers actually make a note of what the character is in the game.
However I won't ignore how real life attitudes towards ethnicities can affect characters in games and/or how people react to them.
staticneuron
Member
Considering some countries use the term race interchangeably with ethnicity that really isn't true.
It's one of the best games on the Vita. You won't be disappointed.
Indeed, indeed...
Angelus Errare
Banned
I've lived in Japan and the US have yet to see any Japanese or white person with natural blue/white/purple/orange/green/pink hair.
Deified Data
Banned
My Redguard character from Skyrim is the only one I can think of.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Hey guys....
http://www.brokenagegame.com/
Trailer - http://www.brokenagegame.com/trailer/
Refreshing depiction was refreshing! Thank you, based Double Fine. We can have nice things after all.
http://www.brokenagegame.com/
Trailer - http://www.brokenagegame.com/trailer/
Refreshing depiction was refreshing! Thank you, based Double Fine. We can have nice things after all.
falling12121
Banned
Lyn from Fire Emblem on the Gameboy Advance.
Killing Edge, Lancereaver, Killer Bow and Silver Sword. Look out
Killing Edge, Lancereaver, Killer Bow and Silver Sword. Look out
Yeah, I liked the look of that game. Not my thing overall, but it looks like it'd be fun for those interested.
weemadarthur
Member
Back when the thread was new, i didnt see a mention of Kya.
In the 15 minutes i played my copy, she didnt seem stereotypical. Someday i will finish playing it, and leave further impressions on some backlog thread somewhere.
In the 15 minutes i played my copy, she didnt seem stereotypical. Someday i will finish playing it, and leave further impressions on some backlog thread somewhere.
Foxy Fox 39
Banned
How do you think black women look
It's economics: most hardcore gamers are white dudes, the market in countries like say India or Brazil where whites are a minority are still too small for game developers to consider making big budget AAA games using characters with a local ethnic and cultural background.
Outright racism might be over but passive one is still going on and in the entertainment industry is well know producers rarely produce content with an all (or mostly) black cast.
Redtails was in development hell for decades because nobody wanted to finance a movie where all actors but the bad guy with no dialog were black. The film was good but it made no money because as it turns out the producers were right: nobody likes a film were all main characters are black and not just the background extras to a bunch of white guys.
Outright racism might be over but passive one is still going on and in the entertainment industry is well know producers rarely produce content with an all (or mostly) black cast.
Redtails was in development hell for decades because nobody wanted to finance a movie where all actors but the bad guy with no dialog were black. The film was good but it made no money because as it turns out the producers were right: nobody likes a film were all main characters are black and not just the background extras to a bunch of white guys.
BlackBuzzard
Banned
poopninjamvc3mk
I sucked six dicks to get this tag.
After not paying attention to this topic and going back and reading it, I can confirm that this topic is full of terrible/dumbass posts.
I have been saying this since the last thread.
What I see from checking mostly the pics in the first pages is more like "any character that isn't evidently "white" is therefore "black". I mean, there's like 5 pictures out of 50 that are "black" protagonists.
Dark Octave
Banned
I still can't believe that Capcom allowed this. I know there's no way in hell they would ever do this themselves under their own roof, but even the fact that they allowed another studio under them to do it is mind blowing.Nilin from RM
She is THE main character and not player two? I can't believe it. And did I see another black character in the game?? It's not even a fighting game or set in Africa (that I know of).
This is just madness.
Its a brave new world.
Jesus his eyes are absolutely haunting. Jealousy!
Have a Nice Day
Member
Awesome character from an awesome RPG/series.
She's Native American.
Awesome character from an awesome RPG/series.
LOfreakinL
Y'all are (mostly) completely clueless
The_Endgamer
Member
This babe + the other African peeps in Resi5.
Stereotype generally means a negative connotation to some sort of archetype so i'm not too sure of many others.|
Is Kameo on that list too? Being Native American-ish.
It's a shame. Minorities are used to seeing whites in the spotlight, so we will watch shit because it's of inherent interest to us, regardless of cast. A majority of whites won't even bother to check something out if whites aren't in the spotlight. This world is really brainwashed. Lol the only non-white entertainment whites overwhelmingly support is pro sports.
Pretty much all of this. I see so many examples of whites being totally oblivious to their predominance.
Lmao it crossed my mind that if Breaking Bad had found a comparably talented black cast, that shit would have been cancelled halfway through the first season... but America will fight you tooth and nail in proclaiming that there isn't a race problem.
Make us proud in Season 2 Clementine!
Make us proud in Season 2 Clementine!
akilshohen
Member
If anything, she looks more like an actual black woman in DOA5. I think the worse part is her voice. LOL
Albeit half a year's spanned since you posted this, I want to give you a round of applause.
....What?
gutter_trash
Banned
yeah, the Vanessa white wash from VF4 to VF5
Nappuccino
Member
Its a brave new world.
Jesus, those eyes look like they've had some photoshop attention (airbrush more than anything).
And I know a black guy who has these eyes. Girls go crazy for him, lucky jerk lol.
Awesome character from an awesome RPG/series.
You have got to be kidding me...
RockmanWhore
Member
I have only read the first few pages, but I'm really disturbed by the way that black girls have to be represented with caucasian traits. Why aren't there more "african" typed girls like Rochelle?
That's like saying to black girls : "to look good, you need to look like a white girl", the more it goes, the more I find girls like Rihanna or Nilin from Remember Me disgusting. At least Aveline Grandpre from Assassin's Creed genuilly look like a metis.
And lol at that counter exemple with the black kid/girl with blue eyes, how much people like that exists in the world? How is that supposed to be representative of anything.
Also why are some people so offended by the concept of races anyway? What's wrong with that? Why is it fine that there are races in every species in the world, but somehow it's wrong when it comes to the human races.
That's like saying to black girls : "to look good, you need to look like a white girl", the more it goes, the more I find girls like Rihanna or Nilin from Remember Me disgusting. At least Aveline Grandpre from Assassin's Creed genuilly look like a metis.
And lol at that counter exemple with the black kid/girl with blue eyes, how much people like that exists in the world? How is that supposed to be representative of anything.
Also why are some people so offended by the concept of races anyway? What's wrong with that? Why is it fine that there are races in every species in the world, but somehow it's wrong when it comes to the human races.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
Yeah, apparently.
I didnt mind the darker skin tone. It would be interesting to see how it looks with the newer faces (which are light years better than the old ones).
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Ash Faruk protagonist of Front Mission 2 is from Bangladesh(called Alordesh in the games, apparently the country gets a name change in the future)
The country got the name change due to a flood or something wiping out a good portion of the country so it was combined with another.
Something like that anyways.
Rochelle is the best representation of the average, everyday black female. I'm actually really surprised at how professional Valve handled her Character.
Not to mention her quotes are really clever.
"I wonder if Coach is his first name or last name?"
She's also a Depeche Mode fan which means SHES FUCKING BETTER THAN EVERYONE SUCK ON IT.
Not to mention her quotes are really clever.
"I wonder if Coach is his first name or last name?"
She's also a Depeche Mode fan which means SHES FUCKING BETTER THAN EVERYONE SUCK ON IT.
Awesome character from an awesome RPG/series.
Yikes.
Awesome character from an awesome RPG/series.
This is probably the worst representation of Native Americans I've ever seen.
cobragt4001
Banned
If you're born in America, you're a native American. The correct term is indigenous American. The Indigenous Americans did not look like Billy Bob Thorton with a wig on lol, a lot of Indigenous Americans looked, as you would call it, black.
Because it is a useless concept that has fallen out of use in most scientific discourse since its proposed distinctions are never accurate. Honest question - what do you think "race" even means?
If you want to use it as a taxonomical classification, a classification of "race" is used when there is no sufficient difference between the members of a species. Taxonomy doesnt really use a concept of race for classifying organisms.
So let's look at the human classification. Race was first used to refer to speakers of a common language (and then for national affiliation). Clearly that's not useful in any real way. Then it was adopted for related physical characteristics which gave rise to the wonderfully specific groupings like Caucasian (which includes such similar peoples as all Europeans, North Africans, Arabians, "the 'stans," Indians, Nepalesians, Iranians, Sri Lankans etc...). In fact, the first use of this classification separated humans into only two categories: the Caucasians and the Mongolians. Apparently, the only distinction between the two was by how physically appealing they were to the person making the classification (see Cristoph Meiners). Maybe, we want to use it as a genetic classification then except there is no genetic basis for races as the gross morphological features traditionally defined as race are determined by non-significant and superficial genetic alleles with no demonstrated link to intelligence, athletic ability, talent or what-have-you. Race has been socially and legally constructed without any scientific evidence to create meaningless social distinctions based on non-existent generalized genetic meaning.
Maybe that is why some people object to its use.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Bumped for Based Valve.
http://www.dota2.com/wraithnight/#LegionCommander
So good. Thank you, Gaben.
http://www.dota2.com/wraithnight/#LegionCommander
So good. Thank you, Gaben.