Because of easily impressionable children that will laugh at it and repeat it? Like they do every other time a racial slur is used?
Seems rather counter productive.
RDR 3 main character should be a slave
- Thread starter Cake Boss
- Start date
Seems rather counter productive.
Except it doesn't count for much in Mass Effect. There are differences if you played a female Shepard, sure, but do you think the story would play out even more differently if you were Krogan, for instance? This is what people would like to see.
I am all in favor of having a new minority protagonist. Maybe take it a step further and let you recruit a gang/posse of whatever interesting characters you run across in the game and swap between them during shootouts, but focus the narrative on one person.
Gabriel_Logan
Member
Why are children playing an M rated game?
Lol can't tell if this is a joke or not.
So? I can play as a black guy on Mass Effect 2. Am I suppose to be content with that, and shouldn't ask for more diversity in my games? Yeah I am sure Shepeards story was written with a black guy in mind too.
TheSecondSpitter
Member
Inb4 Norse Mythology, Feudal Japan, Victorian London, Cyberpunk
What part of the west are you talking about? Because black people were all over the place as were Mexican, Chinese. Particularly in the industrialized towns that needs manual labor. Some were gunslingers just like their white counterparts. Many were war vets and their families that migrated west. And all gunslingers were hunted by the law in some form or another. There are quite a few famous Black cowboys, all you need do is look and you'll find them. Also, settlements in the west were nowhere close to all being white based. There were many communities and towns that had fewer whites than other minorities combined. Your understanding of what the west was could use a newer, truer perspective.
SprachBrooks
Member
Django was the least interesting character in Django Unchained didn't help that Jamie Foxx played him either.
But, I'd be down for this considering Rockstar's reputation.
But, I'd be down for this considering Rockstar's reputation.
How does the gender or race of protagonist take away from the "more important issues"?
And don't you think that using characters with more diversity in gender, race, background, age etc. open up new possibilities and angles for the story telling and so making it feel fresh and new, hence better?
Dreams-Visions
Member
Buffalo Soldier?
Yes, I would play this.
digoutyoursoul
Member
Look at Lee in Telltale The Walking Dead series 1. A brilliant character, well written and well acted by (sorry I don't know his game). It never once ocurred to me during my playthrough, what a great example of a "black leading playable character in a game" I just thought he was a great character.
Why don't we have more espanic or Asian leading characters? It's up to the devs I suppose.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Playing as a minority = having a political message? But I guess playing a white dude is totally apolitical.
Reminds me of this:
Man Just Wants To Play Violent Military Shooter About Global Conflict Without Critics Bringing Politics Into It
John Kowalski
Banned
Because diversity is more important than those things? The tyranny of good art only benefits the status quo, and the status quo is bad.
BluePigGanon
Member
I hope not, because they're probably laughing at people getting their heads blown off, too.
I don't know, why are children calling people the f bomb in call of duty matches and have dirtier mouths than me?
Because their parents not only don't care that their kids are playing, they are never home to discipline their kids, they let video games raise them.
I think a Native American would make more sense considering they're cowboy games. I really hope they don't force it to be topical just for the hell of it.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Are they going to strip the f-word out of the game as well
These theoretical GTA-playing kids without responsible parents are who you want to cater to with an M-rated game. Think about that for a moment. That's a very poor reason to avoid touchy subject matter in a period-piece game.
Oop. Plus, IIRC, most white folk prefers to be called cattlemen and cowboy was a pejorative term. But, regardless, you shouldn't speak when you don't know. Silence and fools and all that.
It was written in mind for relationships with the opposite sex, that's it, what would be different with a "black Shepherd in mind" in a universe that has multiple species. The oppressed race was the krogans.
The story really didn't alter much
digoutyoursoul
Member
Well to me, people are people, I couldn't give a fuck what people's race or gender is in a game. That's my point. I think quality writing and ideas makes for better potentially better story telling and a feeling of freshness
The Cretan
Member
The next Red Dead could be set in the Gilded Age with two protagonists, one cowboy and one native American, so they can show both sides of the indian wars, european immigrants (that means more diverisity), socialist and anarchist ideas, mines and railroads.
It's kind of funny that people seem to think that all of the black people just evaporated or went on a generations long vacation off continent during this time period for some reason. John (Marion Robert Morrison) Wayne and Hollywood white washing got people all confused.
Spring-Loaded
Member
We've been born into a world where race, gender, and religion has been made to matter. Telling stories that reflect those differences will demand better quality writing and ideas.
digoutyoursoul
Member
You can play as a black person in the mass effect series. You used that as one example of a few where you said you were tired of playing as white but you don't have to in those games.
"Yeah I am sure Shepeards story was written with a black guy in mind too"
The fuck does that even mean?
Huh.
That's not the games fault, it's on the parents. No need to strip down the game because the parents can't be bothered to raise their kids.
LookAtMeGo
Member
I guess you haven't played Sleeping Dogs
Its great that Lee was a great character. Just because you didnt see him as "a great black character" and just "a great character" doesnt mean others didnt. That kind of came off as an "I dont see color" kind of statement.
All OP did was make a suggestion for the next RDR games setting.
He never said they need to make the character black and improving nothing else in the game is important, just his race. You seem to have taken it that way.
digoutyoursoul
Member
What? Freshness in terms of the stories themselves. Some fresh ideas regardless of race or gender.
OK then, having a black or native or Mexican character shouldn't already suggest that the game won't have quality writing or ideas in its story. The point is that playing a minority in that setting would only enrich the story and gameplay. Not the opposite.
Maybe I was a special kid then, but seeing movies like Time to kill and Mississippi Burning just made me understand the struggles of many people different from me. And seeing what happens in those has always felt wrong and unfair. If anything, seeing racism potrayed without any sugar coating made me understand the severity of the situation. But yeah really young kids shouldn't be playing RDR or even watch those movies that I did. And Red Dead Redemption already had racism towards jewish. Did you find that problematic aswell?
Pathfinder
Member
Red Dead Redemption is 2. We just use "RDR3" because we don't know what its going to be called yet.
The fuck does your mass effect comparison even mean the first place?
I think you are lost my friend.
digoutyoursoul
Member
I guess you haven't played Sleeping Dogs
Its great that Lee was a great character. Just because you didnt see him as "a great black character" and just "a great character" doesnt mean others didnt. That kind of came off as an "I dont see color" kind of statement.
All OP did was make a suggestion for the next RDR games setting.
He never said they need to make the character black and improving nothing else in the game is important, just his race. You seem to have taken it that way.
What is a "I don't see colour" statement? I don't care for it if that's what you mean, white, black, whatever colour. That's just me.
I was under the impression Django Unchained was a movie with a black character which the poster was talking about.
Except that you have a problem with freshness, something being well written with new ideas when it's about a minority character presenting an experience that you probably know little about, and would most likely have the potential to meet all of your stated criteria. Yet you object. Odd.
forgeforsaken
Member
Thinking about Deadwood and movies like The Good, The Bad, The Weird I'd kind of like to see a Chinese protagonist. Chinese immigrants were a large part of the workforce on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
I know GBW is a Korean film but it takes place in Manchuria.
I know GBW is a Korean film but it takes place in Manchuria.
The plight of the black man would be central to a game starring a slave or former slave trying to make it in the American old West. There's a hell of a lot to work with there as far as themes and ideas relating to black people and their history in America. Totally different from something like Mass Effect. The main character's race never really factored into the story.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
No, we don't get enough classic western games as it is. I don't care what color the main character is, but I want a cowboy game.
digoutyoursoul
Member
Mass Effect was an example in that pic you used of playing as a white character in games over 20 years when the choice is there in those games to play as a non white character. I was just correcting it. That's it mate.
"I think you are lost my friend"
Nah, I'm ok thanks
VlaudTheImpaler
tl;dr
I would like this very much. Or something akin to dances with wolves. Hnnng.
digoutyoursoul
Member
I have a problem with freshness ? No I don't think I do. But if that's your opinion fine.
LookAtMeGo
Member
Its all good man. OP was just making a suggestion for spicing up the franchise, pointed out that the majority of games has been middle aged white men and he thought the change of setting would be a welcome change and shake things up a bit. Much like Django did. Then you came in like "whats wrong with white protagonists?" like this thread was some kind of attack on white characters.
So make fucked up content full well knowing kids under the age the game is meant for will be playing?
Sounds like a totally seperate thread to me.
Today's parents are god damn horrible.
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
I felt like RDR gameplay was solid and it has certain parts that were solid... the story presentation wasn't bad either, but the story itself was really run of the mill and boring. IDC who the main character is as long as they make the story better.
You mean political messages that you don't like...because y'all must hate Rockstar games as they are the most heavy handed political games I can think of.
The concept that almost all cowboys were white doesn't seem to hold up to history (the word boy used in the name should have been a hint):
Nah. You're wrong on that one. Here's Malyse with the answer:
Gabriel_Logan
Member
I kinda agree with this, we so rarely get Western games I kinda would like them to skew traditional. I.e stoic male cowboy. I also thought Marston was kinda boring. He had a good backstory but he was sort of flat. I'd like something pulpier
Apparently you do if it's not more of the same crusty old white male protag laziness we get a zillion different ways from Sunday when it comes to ANY depiction of the wild west.
digoutyoursoul
Member
I understand, I actually should of worded that question a lot better. My bad.
What? Is Red Dead not riffing on classic westerns? I know black people existed, but they weren't prevalent in the material that this series draws from. What's actually kind of funny is that people say they want diversity but ignore so many races. If something has a diverse cast of characters, that doesn't immediately mean black and white. A black lead would be fine, but it just seems like a good opportunity for Natives to shine outside of the typical cannon fodder roles they usually get.
We have a ratings system for a reason. A separate body decides what audience the game is appropriate for and if someone says fuck that and offers it to kids anyway, that's not the fault of the designers, the publishers, the ESRB, or in some cases, the retailer.