Do you actually care what race/sex a main character is?

DoktorEvil said:
This thread and the thread showing the demographics of women overtaking men in gaming is interesting. If most men don't care about the characterization and more female players were to go from mobile to console gaming, we could very well have a gen with more female representation.
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I don't think Neogaf is a clear indicator of the overall gaming market, but you would have to get a Digital Anthropologist to figure that out for certain.



For thread;

In single player games I almost never care, unless it's something like Mass Effect or Dragon Age. In those games I like to create myself, or put in a part of myself. The fun of those of games for me is to immerse myself in that other world, and I get satisfaction out of seeing myself represented. Feel the same in MMORPGs with good character generators.



But for 95% of games that don't have that deep character creation/story manipulation aspect, I don't care. You're not going to get me to prefer Devil May Cry over Bayonetta because one has a chick and one has a dude. I am not immersed at all in either. Its just like watching a movie.

Art Design can annoy me though, and as such if I can I will annoy badly designed characters. If I play Mario Kart, I always go Yoshi because he is cute, his handling is really balanced, and I prefer him to many of the other male and female characters whom I find really off putting. Donkey, Mario, Luigi, Warrior.. all ugly SOBs. I'll go with the cutesies, Toad/Peach. I haven't played the newer ones so have no idea about Rosaline and Walugi and that jazz.
 
DoktorEvil said:
Two problems I have with these statements:

1) Being white, male, and bearded means you have no diverse background?
2) What's your definition of quality, then?
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It's pretty simple what he meant. This thread has shown most people don't care, meaning given the choice they would choose the default option, which would mean they're own race/gender. So, given that most gamers are white males, the default is white male
 
Sgt.Pepper said:
The thing is most games people are talking about are "big" console games that rarely, if ever, appear on mobile.

Plus f2p/casual stigma will make that really hard.
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Bioshock just made the decision to port to iOS. The mobile to console switch isn't that taxing. The overlap of markets is there. It's making the consoles welcoming to those gamers and a lot of the advertising this gen is indicative of the rise of female gaming.

That "stigma" is the average nerd bullshit mindset of " I"m unique because I like these certain things, anyone who didn't like it in first incantation is a filthy casual". Groups like the Frag Dolls helps to alleviate some of that stigma.

Vigilant Walrus said:
I don't think Neogaf is a clear indicator of the overall gaming market, but you would have to get a Digital Anthropologist to figure that out for certain.

For thread;

In single player games I almost never care, unless it's something like Mass Effect or Dragon Age. In those games I like to create myself, or put in a part of myself. The fun of those of games for me is to immerse myself in that other world, and I get satisfaction out of seeing myself represented. Feel the same in MMORPGs with good character generators.

But for 95% of games that don't have that deep character creation/story manipulation aspect, I don't care. You're not going to get me to prefer Devil May Cry over Bayonetta because one has a chick and one has a dude. I am not immersed at all in either. Its just like watching a movie.

Art Design can annoy me though, and as such if I can I will annoy badly designed characters. If I play Mario Kart, I always go Yoshi because he is cute, his handling is really balanced, and I prefer him to many of the other male and female characters whom I find really off putting. Donkey, Mario, Luigi, Warrior.. all ugly SOBs. I'll go with the cutesies, Toad/Peach. I haven't played the newer ones so have no idea about Rosaline and Walugi and that jazz.
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GAF runs wide as far as diversity, not to forget the lurkers that read the forums often.

BeatResetsTheWorld said:
It's pretty simple what he meant. This thread has shown most people don't care, meaning given the choice they would choose the default option, which would mean they're own race/gender. So, given that most gamers are white males, the default is white male
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Re-read what he said. He was referring to the developers being white male and bearded and that as long as it doesn't affect quality he's for diversity.

I don't agree that every "white male and bearded" dev exactly has the same experiences to draw from when making games. Hell, oftentimes they draw from other mediums.
 
No but ever since my daughter was born I usually pick the female characters in RPGs for some reason. I think subconsciously I'd like my daughter to have a great adventure and evolve into someone great
 
No I don't care.

It has no bearing what so ever.

I actually like playing as women/girls, the reason being they are far nicer to look at from the back.
 
Mesoian said:
We're in a very interesting time now. We can do so much with this medium, and while I don't think games that don't spend time on telling you everything about the main character need to go away, I think it's time that games start making us care about the urgency of characters a lot more.

Megaman X4 basically took a very simple premise and turned it into a very (sometimes overly) dramatic scenario, and there's nothing wrong with that. Knowing why X and Zero have to defeat 8 robot masters and eventually fight sigma for the fate of the world is a good thing.
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Thanks for the thoughtful response! I feel more informed on the topic of marketing in relation to character type as well. Having seen that live-action Skyrim commercial before, I never thought about it the way you described, but your post-comments mirrored exactly what I felt when watching it then and now. I was already engaged from the situation without relying on who/what the main character was. It puts an honest weight on the setting and situation perhaps even more than the characteristics of the resolution (Dovahkiin).
 
If I have a choice, I usually create a character that is in line with my own race and gender. However, if the main character of a game by default is not, I don't care.
 
"I don't care" and "I prefer" are mutually exclusive. If you prefer something, you care about it at least a little bit.
Why are so many people here so afraid to admit they care about the race and gender of the character they play? Especially since most of the people here who specified a preference seems to prefer protagonist that stray from the white/male formula.
You can admit that you'd rather play female or black characters. In fact, admitting it might actually help further the campaign to diversify the gaming industry, by showing there is demand. This "color blind" mentality is actually not a solution in my opinion.
 
I do, in the sense that there are few games that I can think of that honestly explore the perspectives of all these different cultures and backgrounds. Games are more likely to invent new fantastical places, creatures, and races rather than explore the incredible diversity we already have in the real world. While this of course has lead to the creation of some wildly imaginative and magical games, it's kind of crazy that there are very few games where culture is an important factor in the narrative and characters.
 
Not that race and sex are trivial, but in a well-written story, race and sex are secondary to the story itself, which should be universal. We can see something like this in TLOU. Joel and Ellie are a white man and white teenaged girl, but the universal story being told is one of familial love, which is reflected in Henry and Sam, the black brothers we meet. I can imagine a similar game being made about their relationship, although to be honest, I can't imagine that game being as successful. Both have the same artistic merit, but commercial tastes dictate that one will be made, and one will be side characters in the other's game. This is unfortunate.

I'm an Asian male and I don't care about the race or sex of the characters I play. In story-driven games, I resonate with aspects of characters regardless of their race or sex. In action-oriented games, I truly do not care, since all of the characters are one-dimensional caricatures anyway.

Now what to do about the unfortunate situation where a minority-centered version of the Last of Us would not be made? This is much more difficult, and requires concerted cultural change, the type which most often accompanies generational shifts, similar to the way gay rights have been accepted in mainstream society in the past decade. I don't think proclaiming that games and gamers are racist will help the situation, since that focuses entirely on the symptoms without addressing or even acknowledging the causes, which are inherently complex and multi-facted and don't translate well to outraged blog posts, but if doing so opens up intelligent discourse, then it is an overall gain.

The fact remains that people identify more easily with characters who are similar to them. This is a natural human tendency. It takes more emotional effort to try to understand someone from a different background, especially if one hasn't been exposed to people from many cultures and races, so as to already understand that just because someone looks and acts differently doesn't mean that they don't feel the same things. Of course, this is partly why great characters leave a lot unsaid, so people can fill them in with their own experiences and beliefs in order to identify more easily with them, but you can't really make race/sex-neutral characters without jumping through a lot of hoops.

In conclusion, great writing wins everything, but sometimes when you're playing games, you just want to blow shit up.
 
Yes, I don't feel comfortable playing as a woman in games. I will play non human races in MMO's (I love the horde races in WoW) or fantasy/sci-fi games, but when there are only human races to choose from I will always pick the one closest to me in real life.
 
Given the choice I create a character that's a straight white guy, because that's what I am, but I still play games that don't give me a choice. I think most games should have character creators, especially when stock protagonists are boring (looking at you, Watch Dogs.)
 
I don't give a single fuck about what skin color nor gender nor even animal species is the main character.

Of course I have my preferences in art style, some appeal to me more, but for all I care the character could be exactly the same.
 
Not really but I'm getting tired of playing a 30s something white man in so many games

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Nope. Unless the gender of the character is integral to the gameplay/experience by design. I will also give my characters the stupidest name possible given the chance.
 
I'm not a white dude, and I'm all for equality, but a straight white dude protagonist won't stop me from playing a game. I just wish that there was more representation for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ crowd.

So I guess I do care, to some extent.
 
If we're talking customization, yes. Otherwise no.

I like making brown dudes or brown women as characters, if possible. If customization is allowed, and I can't do that, and the setting doesn't prohibit it for some reason, I notice that.
 
No, I grew up playing Mario/Sonic/etc, so when playing as humans I guess I don't really think much about them. When given the option to make my own avatar I do tend to veer towards myself, but otherwise, i'll play Tomb Raider/Bayo/Beyond Good and Evil or, San Andreas, or anything without even thinking about it.
 
I always appreciate the opportunity. Depends per game though. Some games work better with plain "neutral" characters that could be anyone. Souls games, Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc, are all better for it while other games like Papo and Yo, TLOU, and GTAIV are characters with fitting backgrounds for their story.
 
dude said:
"I don't care" and "I prefer" are mutually exclusive. If you prefer something, you care about it at least a little bit.
Why are so many people here so afraid to admit they care about the race and gender of the character they play? Especially since most of the people here who specified a preference seems to prefer protagonist that stray from the white/male formula.
You can admit that you'd rather play female or black characters. In fact, admitting it might actually help further the campaign to diversify the gaming industry, by showing there is demand. This "color blind" mentality is actually not a solution in my opinion.
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I think there's a big difference between caring when you create a character and caring when you're playing a character the developer created. It matters when I'm making my own story in a game and I definitely have a preference there. When I'm just along for the ride and viewing the developer's story it's like a movie and doesn't matter at all.
 
I don't particularly care if I play as a different gender, race, species, or even an inanimate object. It's fine so long as the character is likeable. That said, it's kind of annoying when you have a realistic game with a character creator and your skin colour isn't available. Can't think of any names of the top of my head, but I've definitely played a few that are designed for white people, black people, and that's it.
 
I might be part of the problem, but I strongly prefer a male protagonist. I did thoroughly enjoy The Last of Us, including the sequence with Ellie as the lead, but overall, a game where the lead character was a female for a majority of the game would be a hard sell for me.

I think however that this is only true for me in the case of a game that is story-driven and character development. I don't mind playing a female in a beat-em-up or other action game. In Dragon's Crown, for example, I played the Sorceress and the Amazon. Overall though I prefer a male protagonist with some of the supporting cast being female.
 
SeanTSC said:
I think there's a big difference between caring when you create a character and caring when you're playing a character the developer created. It matters when I'm making my own story in a game and I definitely have a preference there. When I'm just along for the ride and viewing the developer's story it's like a movie and doesn't matter at all.
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Even so, I think we'll all agree that there's an over-saturation of white males in their 30's, if we want more diversity in stories and for developers to create more varied character, than we should care, and we should care openly so that developers know that we're sick of playing the same dude over and over again.
 
I personally would like to play as a black guy more often but no not really.

Edit: Actually I have a little more to say about this. I recently played Starhawk and it was nice to finally play as a black main character (Last one I can think of is Franklin in GTA V and the story isn't really about him) but the guy in the game is so bland I don't even remember his name. Really wish we got to know a little more about him, so yeah if we get a game with a black protagonist would like their to be a little more about him other then "HE'S BLACK! DIVERSITY!"
 
i appreciate the choice, but honestly i'm pretty ambivalent about it. the narrative/story is more the reason I'm drawn to a game, and unless the story being told is incongruous with the main character (i.e. FarCry 3) then I rarely think about it.

however, being given a choice on the race/gender of the protagonist but then having an exceedingly small number of options is annoying.
 
Orayn said:
It's not the only thing I care about, but a game that doesn't feature a standard angry white guy protagonist is more likely to capture my attention because 1.) that alone makes it stand out by virtue of doing something different, 2.) it suggests that the developers aren't using focus group thinking and making only "safe" decisions from a design and marketing standpoint.

So yeah, the identity of the protagonist doesn't singularly determine my overall opinion on a game, but it does help pique my interest.
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This.
 
Hell yes I care. At this point of my life, the gameplay has to be stellar, for me to swallow playing as the uninteresting, zero depth white male hero.
 
I'm a dude. I don't care which gender or race the main character is as long as they are written well. When I get to make my own character, 9/10 times i'll pick a female character because I really do get tired of playing male characters all the time.
 
While I do think representation should be increased...

I do not care what gender/race the main character is. So long as it's good.
 
Ideally, there will be something else about a character's design that grabs my interest other than his/her race or gender.
 
dude said:
Even so, I think we'll all agree that there's an over-saturation of white males in their 30's, if we want more diversity in stories and for developers to create more varied character, than we should care, and we should care openly so that developers know that we're sick of playing the same dude over and over again.
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I don't agree with that at all. At least not for the games that *I* am buying.

I just picked up Diablo 3 (various characters), Metro Redux (Russian), Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (Japanese), inFAMOUS First Light (Woman), and Tales of Xillia 2 (white jrpg male). And for lots of the upcoming games I'm buying this year there's custom characters, women, an Indian/Tibetan male, The Toad, etc.

That's not the same dude over and over for me, personally. There's games out there and lots of games coming if you want them where you aren't just some nondescript white-American-ish guy. Support those games and stop buying the "nondescript white-American-ish guy" over and over (which there's not many of in the coming months at all).
 
Sort of, in as much that playing as a character that doesn't fit the game would be terrible.

If it fits the story/environment then I'm happy to play as whoever the developers feel suits it best.
 
I care about the character. Don't really mind the gender, just make sure the character isn't written or acted poorly. That's all that matters. If it's a game where story doesn't matter, then just make them look cool.
 
If so many people don't care about race/gender/sexuality etc., how come so many people push against cries for better and more representation of people who aren't White, heterosexual men?
 
Lime said:
If so many people don't care about race/gender/sexuality etc., how come so many people push against cries for better and more representation of people who aren't White, heterosexual men?
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The same reason people who complain about games are usually heard. They're louder.

I don't care at all. I just want a good game if I play a man, woman, zombie or cow it doesn't matter as long as the game is good.
 
Don't care that much. I much rather have that the writers focus on a story that's good where the characters fit the world instead of making a character and forcible inserting that into the story.

If a games offers me a choice I almost always choose a non-human character. I don't play games to play myself, I play games to experience different things.
 
No. I'll play as whoever, whatever, and it doesn't have to be something I can relate to, that makes me feel like I'm the main character and the game is about me. If given a choice, I tend to just make/pick what I think looks or feels cool, and sometimes that's going to end up as a female or someone of a different ethnicity than myself, for whatever mood I'm in and whatever I feel can fit... sometimes not.

I can understand the desire for more choices and diversity, though... but I also want games that are uncompromising personal truths and not just playgrounds for player expression, especially as games become more and more of a medium for developer ideas, whether perceived to be typical or atypical. If I can be a yellow circle, I can be anything.
 
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