Comments on: Race in Games: The Unanswered Question

By: Florence

Florence — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:45:44 +0000

First of all, I want to think you because I always ask me the same question and as I see we are not the only one.

For the kid, have since 2010 a video game on Tiana, the principale charater of Princess and the frog from Disney and since 2008 I think have the character Kirikou and the Beast sauvages from the animation movie. But I want to be sure that I have it correclly. Did you put Jade from Beyound good and evil in the category of a black caracter? Interresting. Thanks!

By: Ryu

Ryu — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:17:17 +0000

It never, ever ends. Never.

WIth blacks, everything comes down to race.

Let’s give you what you want: all characters black, they talk black, black hair, black cities, we’ll even make the controllers all black.

What I don’t understand (maybe I do) is why if you love all things black, why not live where the blacks are: Africa. No honkies, no crackers there. Hey, you don’t even have to speak english!

By: sims796

sims796 — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:40:37 +0000

sam, shut up, please. You sound stupid. Not only have you shown to have no idea on the actual topic, but you come off as a massive hypocrite. The very fact that he made this article to promote discussion on a sensitive topic shows that he is doing something, rather than bitching and moaning like you are.

He is taking responsibility, just like many others have. Words like this has changed the world by propmoting ideas. It’s a helluvallot more than other whiners do, you whiny little pussy.

By: sam sniddons

sam sniddons — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:24:07 +0000

stop whining and write the code – is eveything you enjoy given to you or do you ever get tired of pissin and moanin and just create the life you want – you insuferable cryin infant – do it and take responsibility fr the world you inhabit instead of complaining about the world others have CREATED

By: dragonfire3333

dragonfire3333 — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:50:23 +0000

perosnaly i really don’t care what race or color a protagagists is as long as it has a good plot and good game play i don’ think that anyone will care. but for why there aren’t alot of black people in the games is probally becasue the game creaters design the characters after what kind of person they would lik eto be or it would be how they view other people and/ or there native peoples. at least that’s what i think.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:58:08 +0000

I think the reaseon you dont see alot of black main characters in games is because most people of the race think its un-cool to play most games besides sports or shooting games. They think the only people that play games like finalfantasy or fable are unatractive white nerds with no social life. And most developers beleave the same thing.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:58:53 +0000

Jason: from your last comment I’d like to leave an answer coming from a die-hard African American gamer. Yes, creating a character like the player gives the player a sense of immersion and yes, some people make completely different characters to explore new things. Sadly I’ve seen some blacks who feel better if their character is white so they put on this “mask” if you will, to feel accepted. This is also seen in society. It’s a pretty deep concept to grasp but ALL of this is really psychological. There is no logical answer because there are so many possible answers from so many different perspectives.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:16:00 +0000

What I personally think is that race is linked into practically every video game and is thought of as a problem when it comes to the conflicts of reality . For example, the game Gta San Andreas ties many prejudices towards ethnicities into humor and violence for pure entertainment. The main character is a black gangster from east los angelas with black gangsters, hookers, and drug dealers surrounding the streets he travels in. This is considered racist because there are not only black gangsters in america there are white, hispanic, and asian as well which all three of those races are vaguely intertwined with the main story line. What is being stressed in the video game world is generally racism and violence affecting the youth and culture of the world. Up coming video games like resident evil 5 and manhunt 2 are being looked at as politically incorrect because it will poison our youth. First of all resident evil 5 seems like a very entertaining game but is being bombarded by the press that a game where excuting black zombies will make children who play this game hate black people which is totally false in my opinion because there are many other games where you kill black people and should it matter that the person is black white asian or latino that is doing the sensless killing in the game. Beyond the point any violent video game you play you are never thinking about race or gender you are in your zone trying to complete your level, mission, or objective. I for one totally disagree with rascism but in a reality sense of course. A video game is a fantasy world where you make up the rules, yet you should have an awareness to racism but it shouldnt be condemed and taken off shelves of stores because its about a white army commando killing zombie black villagers in africa.

By: Bakerboi

Bakerboi — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:51:22 +0000

What you all are saying about japanese game makers not putting african people in games because there arent a whole lot in that country is just not true and evades the point.

They usually model the characters in their games are their native peoples or caucasian westerns, and if they do that then they certainly know african peoples are out there. As few as we are represented in their games they still have time to recieve our music and know about our culture. Seems quite strange, this excuse you use for them.

Yes, one does portray something that looks like them in art, but it never stops them from portraying monsters and using names and ideas from other cultures west of themselves now does it?

It has been seen that in some MMORPGS and Other consoles games that when there is a lack of a dark-people in a game an abnormal race is there in their place representing their features similairly.

Also, with Companies like Capcom who almost always has produced games with a multitude of races in them, that excuse just cannot be used as tempo.

Its just the effort and the ego that determines whether or not to open that door and bring in something different. And as it’s seen the dark people of the world just dont obtain that height of respect or recognition for say a company like, Square-enix, to not think twice about place an enthic character in a game that has a large part.

In FFXII, however they have two african characters in the game. One, from a race of both dark skinned and light skinned rabbit-folk, and the other a human man.
With this issue I’ve seen some fans of the game claim that she isn’t black.

The same has been claimed on a few other characters in anime series such as DBZ.

By: DaveDaGamer

DaveDaGamer — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:14:35 +0000

Thill said it “EXACTLY” Other cultures are not represented in videogames, because the creators are not of that culture. Many Asian games that are developed over there with Asian protagonists have been made Caucasian in the crossover because the publishers here are mostly Caucasian.

It’s like that in everything we do here in America. I’m in the New Media field along with video game content creation. We are usually the ONLY minority representation at events. There aren’t even minority journalists and game show hosts to bring a different view on why people play games. Look at all the game programming on TV. You have the stereotypical nerdy (or borderline nerd but accepted host and a “hot” babe)

That’s because there just isn’t a lot of minorities in the field. Take it however you want, thats the fact. Look at all the pictures of the development studios that they publish when they complete a game. You’d be hard pressed to find a minority in them. AND IT’S NOT BECAUSE They are racist, it’s from a lack of applicants.