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[Lime]

There are a dearth of people in this thread literally saying this "ruined the game for them." That isn't saying you want something, it is decrying the entire game because it doesn't have this feature. They should have advertised it better, but don't pretend like the responses in this thread are reasonable, your own included.

Some people prioritize character diversity and reflecting the world (or even themselves) as it actually is. Of course it is their prerogative to refuse to buy a product if such a thing is important to them. I don't see how that is unreasonable at all.

 

[Kahjah]

It's clear that Shareef Jackson is discussing why the diverse MP characters aren't available in the campaign mode vs just the two white characters, but the OP "seems" to have interpreted this/or at least has directed the discussion towards the create a character not being diverse enough, which has caused the topic to diverge into two different discussions.

Regardless, while you're right that money and development time was likely the cause for why you can only play as the two characters in SP, it is worth discussing why the developer felt it wasn't worth the effort to get more characters into the SP as opposed to MP and/or why the developer thought those two characters were acceptable enough for the SP campaign and not the others.

Spot on!!

 

[Slayven]

Why do devs hate offering other race options?


Oh well whatever, I've gotten used to it at this point.

What devs hate doing this? The only example I can think of is that some character creators make it difficult to get a realistic black skin color (usually Japanese games, which makes sense).

Most games with character creators have black options?

Personally I chalk it up it always being an after thought and people making games don't have that much experience interacting with people of varying races.

 

[Crossing Eden]

You don't need to change anything about the animation, while certain more intensive changes would probably be better received, I can imagine the majority of people would be perfectly happy with a simple skin tone change which really isn't all that difficult to implement even on Mo cap, in comparison to well nothing.

Yes but that would require more dev time and more time dedicated to animating and fixing them to get results on par with other characters in the game. None of these hypotheticals are things that are free or easy to do. A skin tone change isn't difficult but then you run into accusations of blackface since they'd all be the same face still.

Playing the split-screen CO-OP for some missions, with the two played characters being male and female, it did seem like individual facial performance for the two.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a logistical thing. It's not like they had an array of diverse white faces to choose from, just minor variations of the same base face. So it's more of an under-representation of everyone but those two faces.

The question then is why they didn't question having a more ethnically diverse two characters as the default. You could still have a more diverse restricted choice.

It didn't even seem like minor variations, it seems that all the face models are exactly the same except for textures and hair. They did go in and do full motion capture for both actors. Which is actually quite rare, rare enough where i'm trying to think of the last time a game did full performance capture for both genders.

Given my experience with the game so far, there's not much screen time of the main character speaking. Mostly when you're in first person or other times where the player character's mouth is not seen do you hear them talk

They still did motion capture sessions for the player. Despite rarely cutting to 3rd person, the actors had to do full performance capture and voice recording for around 1 hr and a half.

 

[Lime]

It's clear that Shareef Jackson is discussing why the diverse MP characters aren't available in the campaign mode vs just the two white characters, but the OP "seems" to have interpreted this/or at least has directed the discussion towards the create a character not being diverse enough, which has caused the topic to diverge into two different discussions.

Regardless, while you're right that money and development time was likely the cause for why you can only play as the two characters in SP, it is worth discussing why the developer felt it wasn't worth the effort to get more characters into the SP as opposed to MP and/or why the developer thought those two characters were acceptable enough for the SP campaign and not the others.

Really good point. I'll include this in the OP

 

[Venom Fox]

Right never make complaints about things you don't like in a video game ever gotcha.

What makes it a problem though? Just the fact that you want it in and the Devs didn't give it to you? That's not a problem.

Because it was a feature they went on about before release. You don't complain that Nathan drake isn't another race because no one gave off the impression that you could customize him. I think folks simply mistook the level of custimization that would be afforded to them. Personally, I would have never noticed if there wasn't a customize character screen with 9 faces, some slightly more tan than the others.

Ah ok, so people thought they were getting racial customisation features and the Dev didn't offer it?

No you can complain. Just never on issues of representation and diversity. Stick to framerates, ludonarrative dissonance, and combat systems.

Like I said, I have no problems with wanting more diversity in games, far from it, but I do have problems with people calling out developers for. It offering something which they do not have to.

You don't get mad at people wanting things, but do get mad when they say they want it.

i love posts with hypotheticals like this, as if what they'll propose is so crazy to them, and crossing some kind of line.

i'm down for male prostitutes. hell, Trevor was pansexual.

Oh the horror. People making comments, that they'd like greater diversity in games. It may actually lead to greater diversity in games, we simply cannot allow that to happen!!!

Well each is a valid complaint. People wanting representation of themselves in their entertainment mediums isn't really an issue. You're saying if doesn't bother you when people want more diversity, but the boldes statement makes it seem otherwise, like "how dare they keep pushing?". I'm a fan of your posts typically, so I'm pretty sure I merely mistook your statement in the wrong way.

You don't care if people want more diversity, but when people tackle the issue directly, you get mad over it?

What the hell...

Wow, you lot are taking this the wrong way so I'll rephrase what I said to make it easier to understand. My original posts also had a lot to do with the fact people were saying its "ruined their enjoyment" and "they sold the game when they couldn't change their race"

We have, in the past two years seen developers make huge steps to improve the representation and diversity of gender, LBGT people as well as different races.
This was done mostly in part by people directly asking the Devs themselves and holding speeches etc.

These types of bullshit topics won't get you anywhere though, using evidence such as "all the authoritarian type figures in the game are white" and "while there are other races featured in the game, there authority doesn't match the white peoples". Are quite frankly sad and pathetic.

Excuse me but I thought the story of Black Ops 3 was about this group of random people coming together against Augmentation haters? So they would have equal power and rights within the group wouldn't they?

It's not about me getting mad over people tackling issues, why is such a thing an issue? It isn't an issue unless people make it one and in my eyes it isn't an issue. I'm sorry if people don't agree but if a Dev didn't feature a certain race or gender etc it's because they simply didn't want to.


Edit:+

ugh when will those minorities stop being so pushy :/



lmaooo

First, no need to get mad, regardless. You can if you want, maybe you were exaggerating, but it's all cool.

Second, it's a simple case of gamers wanting to be represented, or, at least, not made to feel excluded. It's people responding to being given the choice of being a plethora of slightly different looking white guys, where the question becomes 'What purpose does that choice serve if it isn't to aid representation?'.

I literally just posted in that quote you quoted that I'm not mad or angry.
Fair point. Did you read the thread on Detroit?

..... I'll bite, I'm since I'm guessing this hasn't actually occurred to you yet, but that's the same with every problem, every single one.

Problem is directly linked to perception it's in the eye of the beholder.

Your right and it did occur to me, read some of my other posts.

The developer doesn't HAVE to do shit. Why do we call them out on anything at all?

I'm sorry, your posts really just read like someone who prefers those who feel underrepresented to just suffer in silence.

Yeah, like I said, the development team doesn't HAVE to do anything. And lmao how do my

I know I did. I read interviews like the one below:



I was hyped when I read we could customize our characters and read a few different interviews and such. Statements like this may not have been intentionally misleading, I don't think there is a conspiracy here, but it just gave off the impression that we'd be making our own characters.

Ah right, fair enough. The Devs probably should have just clarified what they meant instead of getting people's hopes up.

You're acting like people are coming out of the woodwork and are trying to take away your video games.

Lmao carry on, I could do with a few laughs. How am I acting like that at all? Like seriously? I mean come on, people moan about everything to the point where stuff like this has become major issues.

 

[Obrek]

Blops III's campaign options are cosmetic character options, but were paraded around as custom character options. That's the problem people have here, and when so many people hop into this thread to show their asses with "i'm not [X] and i don't have a problem with it so you guys shouldn't either," "moral crusade outrage brigade SJW censorship," "i'm white and immersion is relative, get over it," ad nauseam it's pretty easy to see why people have issues with its execution.

You're absolutely right that the advertising was misleading and I haven't seen a single person disagree that they did market it as a customizable character. I certainly agree with that.

But then you respond like this

What amazes me the most about the current gaming / online landscape with these topics is that people are objectively read enough to come to cogent conclusions, only to totally fucking dismiss them because "subjective reactions are weak ones" and they don't have the ability to commit to something that would "compromise" their - I hate to use this term, but whatever - privilege in doing so. Like, I've seen several posts in the last year that more or less lay out "maybe the reason i don't have a problem with this is because i'm part of a problem and as a white dude i never really thought about it and in reality we should be a lot more open and understanding of the plight minorities have to go through...


nahhhhhhhhh, that can't be it."

and say that the issue is because white people don't want to give up their CoD MC priviledges. Statements like "white people who say it doesn't bother them just don't know" and "minorities who don't take issue with this are just making fools of themselves" have nothing to do with why people take issue with this and are stupid things to say.

 

[RichiRamjag]

What makes it a problem though? Just the fact that you want it in and the Devs didn't give it to you? That's not a problem.

Ah ok, so people thought they were getting racial customisation features and the Dev didn't offer it?


Like I said, I have no problems with wanting more diversity in games, far from it, but I do have problems with people calling out developers for. It offering something which they do not have to.










Wow, you lot are taking this the wrong way so I'll rephrase what I said to make it easier to understand. My original posts also had a lot to do with the fact people were saying its "ruined their enjoyment" and "they sold the game when they couldn't change their race"

We have, in the past two years seen developers make huge steps to improve the representation and diversity of gender, LBGT people as well as different races.
This was done mostly in part by people directly asking the Devs themselves and holding speeches etc.

These types of bullshit topics won't get you anywhere though, using evidence such as "all the authoritarian type figures in the game are white" and "while there are other races featured in the game, there authority doesn't match the white peoples". Are quite frankly sad and pathetic.

Excuse me but I thought the story of Black Ops 3 was about this group of random people coming together against Augmentation haters? So they would have equal power and rights within the group wouldn't they?

It's not about me getting mad over people tackling issues, why is such a thing an issue? It isn't an issue unless people make it one and in my eyes it isn't an issue. I'm sorry if people don't agree but if a Dev didn't feature a certain race or gender etc it's because they simply didn't want to.


Edit:+




I literally just posted in that quote you quoted that I'm not mad or angry.
Fair point. Did you read the thread on Detroit?

Your right and it did occur to me, read some of my other posts.

Yeah, like I said, the development team doesn't HAVE to do anything. And lmao how do my

Ah right, fair enough. The Devs probably should have just clarified what they meant instead of getting people's hopes up.
Lmao carry on, I could do with a few laughs. How am I acting like that at all? Like seriously? I mean come on, people moan about everything to the point where stuff like this has become major issues.

No worries, if you read my other posts, I wasn't trying to immediately judge you as you're one of the folks around here who always keep it respectful and chill no matter what the topic.

 

[shiftplusone]

See my post above. The character was said to be an "avatar," rather than a self-contained "character," despite resembling the latter - albeit with a handful of customization options. If Sgt. Calladudebro II was an explicitly-defined character and said to be such, there'd be nowhere near as many complaints - the problem is that they were advertised to be an actual product of a character creator, of which there is none.

I get that, then.

I never saw there being an actual character creator mentioned (only customization), but I understand anyone who thought they'd be making a character instead of choosing some negligible options for a premade character. I too thought there'd be way more choices than what is presented.

Developers talking shit about how big the features are, then reality setting in and it being less happens all the time. He seems to have misspoke obviously. I dont get how this is problematic regarding racial diversity and has some as upset as they are, though.

 

[Principate]

Yes but that would require more dev time and more time dedicated to animation. None of these hypotheticals are free.

About as much dev time, as including an extra piece of clothing as customisation, probably less. We're hardly talking about significant costs here. The price of such an admission is essentially negligible in a game as big and profitable as this. It's a design choice.

 

[Sai-kun]

"developers know best"

edit: lmao -v

in what world have people ever been just accepting of what a developer has given them? criticism and feedback are the drivers of change in any industry, but especially in video games. people want to play with their friends online? sweet, halo 2 has online multiplayer. people hate a certain map? cool, it gets pulled from matchmaking. people hate armor abilities? okay, easy. people want BR starts? okay...that's never gonna change, but my point stands.

edit 2: oops bye, gurl

 

[Venom Fox]

I'm out. People literally are taking this to the point where having white skin is becoming some sort of taboo. This is the shit I was talking about, this is why people should just accept what the Dev has given them.

White people don't want to give up their COD privileges?. What the fuck did I just read?

Edit: Since when are Women a minority?

 

[Ikuu]

You're absolutely right that the advertising was misleading and I haven't seen a single person disagree that they did market it as a customizable character. I certainly agree with that..

What advertising said this? I had a quick look and couldn't find anything that would suggest that. I mean on the site they talk about customization and just mention loadout and outfit.

 

[mangochutney]

How is this debate still going?

It's pretty straight forward... Don't call it "Create Operative" if its not a character "creator"

If a game has a set character, and ppl start dissing the developer I cant get behind that.

But if a game says "you can create a character, just as long as she's/he's white, and looks like this" I can see why ppl would be mad.

I think even then it is wrong. Because there are multiple shades of white on offer.

Also if you're going down the line of it being a set character, a designer will agonise over every detail, because the small details will define the character and play to common prejudices and those details should be informed by the character's back story.

The moment you start saying well the character could have a full head of hair, he could be bald, he might have a scar on his face, maybe he doesn't, maybe he's a pale pasty guy, maybe he's been in the sun too much you lose that, and you may as well be saying the character could just be anyone.

In which case... offer the full spectrum of person. I don't think it is something you can be half-arsed about.

And I don't even care who I'm playing as, but if you offer me some choice - best offer me total choice.

 

[User 73706]

But then you respond like this



and say that the issue is because white people don't want to give up their CoD MC priviledges. Statements like "white people who say it doesn't bother them just don't know" and "minorities who don't take issue with this are just making fools of themselves" have nothing to do with why people take issue with this and are stupid things to say.

That original post came before my response regarding the game's advertising, and was a general commentary on the gaming landscape - not this particular situation, albeit relevant.

And uh, yeah, awareness on both developer and community fronts in addition to representation are just as much of a problem as implementation of said diversity: while yeah, the current gaming landscape and its employed demography could remain the same and we could just educate a predominantly hetereonormative bunch of devs on being tolerant and inclusive, the process would go by immeasurably more quickly and obviously if we just, y'know, actually brought some more diversity into the industry.

 

[jmizzal]

Yeah, when I saw the character select screen for the campaign I did a bit of a double-take. The only reason I can come up with is that they got VAs that "sound white" and they didn't want to have to record more lines so that the characters "sound black/Hispanic/Asian/etc".

Really does seem like one step forward two steps back like article says.

2K guy has a black voice but lets you be all races, heck 2k16 you have a black family and you can be other races

I dont see any reason why they couldnt just let you change the skin tone

 

[RichiRamjag]

I'm out. People literally are taking this to the point where having white skin is becoming some sort of taboo. This is the shit I was talking about, this is why people should just accept what the Dev has given them.

White people don't want to give up their COD privileges?. What the fuck did I just read?

Don't let that deter you mate.

Its the extremes in these discussions that ruin them. Immediately saying that we all want to force other races/sexualities into everything doesn't bolster decent discussion. On the flip-side, going on about white privilege and immediately condemning someone who disagrees based on race isn't cool. We need to all be a bit more open minded here.

A lot of folks here seem really open-minded to reasonable discussion. If we could keep extreme statements from constantly shitting up threads, this would have been a much better topic.

2K guy has a black voice but lets you be all races, heck 2k16 you have a black family and you can be other races

I dont see any reason why they couldnt just let you change the skin tone

In all fairness, 2K should have adjusted your families skin tone as well for the story mode. Wasn't a fan of that. It is one of the few games that allow me to make a black character that looks like myself though thankfully.

 

[User 73706]

White people don't want to give up their COD privileges?. What the fuck did I just read?

A hastily-paraphrased version of an anecdotal observation that preemptively went out of its way to express the hesitance of its terminology, specifically because of dumb ass, knee-jerk responses like this.

Edit: Since when are Women a minority?

Since patriarchy?

 

[DrZeus]

It seems dumb to even include this weird pseudo customization in an fps campaign anyway.

 

[Crossing Eden]

About as much dev time, as including an extra piece of clothing as customisation, probably less. We're hardly talking about significant costs here. The price of such an admission is essentially negligible in a game as big and profitable as this. It's a design choice.

Not necessarily. (The people making outfits aren't exactly the same guys animating). Actually this was a feature planned for black ops II but they didn't have enough time to do both genders with full VO and mocap data so they dropped it. But then there's the tradeoff, more race options or less outfit. Remember we're talking about the same amount of time for development, not an extended production calendar.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

You'd then get people saying the voice doesn't match.

Why? Is there a black person voice? Do they have to talk like Snoop? I don't get it. It'll work, and it'll work just fine.

If anything, you can rarely play as a middle eastern or an Indian in games. Now that's discrimination.

 

[Principate]

A hastily-paraphrased version of an anecdotal observation that preemptively went out of its way to express the hesitance of its terminology, specifically because of dumb ass, knee-jerk responses like this.



Since patriarchy?

Women aren't really a minority, unless there's some stats out there showing there are more men in such an such than women (globally they may well be due to places like china but it'll still be damn close). They are a discriminated group, but that status isn't limited to population size.

 

[jmizzal]

I honestly didnt even know they were the same character until this thread, I was looking for a darker option when I was on that part.

Thats how different the faces look, like somebody said it should have been customize your guy he should have kept the same skin tone, maybe you can cut his hair and add pant on is face.

The whole it set character argument is complete and utter bullshit because there's a female version of the "set character" so it's not a set character not remotely and pretending like it is won't change that. The funny thing is in terms of modelling etc it would have been more difficult to add in that female character option than to add in different races, for which is literally just a aesthetic variation of the same model. So the fact they missed it is a glaring omission.

This
And COD games make a ton of money so getting that done is not an issue, the game was 3 years out from the last game from the devs

 

[Crossing Eden]

Why? Is there a black person voice? Do they have to talk like Snoop? I don't get it. It'll work, and it'll work just fine.

If anything, you can rarely play as a middle eastern or an Indian in games. Now that's discrimination.

I agree that the "voice doesn't match" excuse is incredibly misguided.

 

[Principate]

Not necessarily. (The people making outfits aren't exactly the same guys animating). Actually this was a feature planned for black ops II but they didn't have enough time to do both genders with full VO and mocap data so they dropped it. But then there's the tradeoff, more race options or less outfit. Remember we're talking about the same amount of time for development, not an extended production calendar.

That's for gender for which their are far more physiology differences, and voice, if you going for motion cap. You can literally use the same motion cap animations and voice for a minority, different skin tone, is really the major difference here.

 

[OléGunner]

Nothing wrong with a few skin shaders added for some variety.

Poor form by Treyarch imo.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Because he's one of the good ones obviously.
Minorities are allowed to play videogames but they sure as hell can't complain or they're just part of the outrage culture that shackle society in the PC dystopia.

This has been stolen.

Just letting you know ahead of time.

 

[Johndoey]

Nothing wrong with a few skin shaders added for some variety.

Poor form by Treyarch imo.

Skin shaders would've been worse imo. Black people aren't white people with darker skin.

 

[Crossing Eden]

That's for gender for which their are far more physiology differences, and voice, if you going for motion cap. You can literally use the same motion cap animations and voice for a minority, different skin tone, is really the major difference here.

Yes you can but like I said, they'd have less time for cleaning up or have a worse result, (i'm talking about different facial structures not different physique since all options have the same physique). I feel like they wouldn't wanna half ass it or get into the uncanny valley.

Skin shaders would've been worse imo. Black people aren't white people with darker skin.

Exactly, I'd much rather they take the time to go all the way with it instead if they had the time to do so.

 

[D i Z]

Or more like missing the whole point.

Still, it's nice to see how everyone thinks that such customization options can be implemented in a few days for little to no money and manpower involved in the process.

Let me get this straight, some of my favorite games of all time include minority of female characters which I do not have any issues with. In addition, being an Eastern European myself, it would be very easy to play the "underrepresented" or "incorrectly depicted" card when talking about videogame characters. Because, first of all, it's a bloody videogame and second, there are things called "artistic vision" and "design choices", which are commonly ruined by trying to appease everyone.

I'm curious. Can you give us a handful of examples of this in action. In regards to racial depictions specifically, just to stay on topic?

 

[OléGunner]

Skin shaders would've been worse imo. Black people aren't white people with darker skin.

Are you referring to a potential white voice actor being depicted through a black skin shader?

 

[JDSN]

Nothing wrong with a few skin shaders added for some variety.

Poor form by Treyarch imo.

Cant you see what will happen? First if they include shaders then they gotta include the "ese" with the mexican skin, then they gotta include the asian voice, then they gotta add the animation for the gigantic black people dick, then they gotta add the subplot of the Muslim skin being discriminated by the local cops, then the production ends up costing too much, thenActivision goes belly up and then the CEO has to sell his body to survive.

Is that what you want, Olegunner? You want to see Kotick selling his ass? Because that is what happens when you give in to the PC menace, as my favorite documentary "South Park" tactfully explained recently. If you want to know more go to /v/, but then again, it seems we are already there.

 

[Principate]

Skin shaders would've been worse imo. Black people aren't white people with darker skin.

Eh doesn't that even matter that much, there's 7 billion people on this planet with at least a "black" people "Asian" etc, there is no definitive black Asian's etc people, a greater skin capability in itself is better than none at all.

 

[User 73706]

I'm curious. Can you give us a handful of examples of this in action. In regards to racial depictions specifically, just to stay on topic?

I can tell you from personal experience that Halo 4's multiplayer plot was one of the most racist games I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

 

[Guess Who]

Is that what you want, Olegunner? You want to see Kotick selling his ass?

I dunno about Olegunner but I kinda want that.

 

[Principate]

Yes you can but like I said, they'd have less time for cleaning up or have a worse result, (i'm talking about different facial structures not different physique since all options have the same physique). I feel like they wouldn't wanna half ass it or get into the uncanny valley.

We're talking about a game with a massive budget and 3 years development time, and faces don't even look that great, the vast majority of it's playerbase won't even care such a decrease in quality (which I don't even believe would happen here).

 

[Johndoey]

Are you referring to a potential white voice actor being depicted through a black skin shader?

No I mean facial structure and such.

 

[Boombloxer]

Yeah exactly. If I went in thinking I was playing was playing a certain guy, then this would be non-issue for me. I just thought I was going to be able to better customize the character and have some real options. What I got was 9 similar faces, one or two slightly tan.

I chuckled, because when I went through it, I was like "cool, time to make...oh. Well, then."

I basically forgot about it, because they could've used the mp models and chose not to. Whatever.

 

[OléGunner]

Cant you see what will happen? First if they include shaders then they gotta include the "ese" with the mexican skin, then they gotta include the asian voice, then they gotta add the animation for the gigantic black people dick, then they gotta add the subplot of the muslim skin being discriminated by the local cops, then the production ends up costing too much, thenActivision goes belly up and then the CEO has to sell his body to survive?

Is that what you want, Olegunner? You want to see Kotick selling his ass? Because that is what happens when you give in to the PC menace, as my favorite documentary "South Park" tactfully explained recently. If you want to know more go to /v/, but then again, it seems we are already there.

Lmao your post killed me man!

Kotick will be fine too, he's got that Candy Crush money now

No I mean facial structure and such.

Huh?

Okay that's weird but I'm sure the talented folks at Treyarch could figure out a way to give us skin options beyond generic white dude and have facial structures work out fine.

 

[beefyreef]

Hey everyone, this is Shareef Jackson, creator of the video that the OP linked to. Feel free to check out my other videos at gaminglooksgood.com, or @gaminglooksgood on Twitter. The video speaks for itself so I'm not gonna reiterate each and every part, but I don't want to address two points (believe or not, I read all of the comments ).

1) We need to hold media companies accountable, whether it's games, books, tv, etc. Media is a powerful force and can influence society. We consume this media and have that right to give constructive criticism. The world is diverse, and thus the gamer space is diverse. Having games where the heroes don't reflect that diversity is a huge disservice to the industry, and makes it look out of touch. This doesn't mean that I hate every game with a white character (can't believe I even have to say that, but I do based on some comments), but it does mean that I'm disappointed that I rarely see myself in the big AAA releases.

2) Activision has mega bucks, and Call of Duty makes mega bucks. There is absolutely no reason that they could not afford to provide more options for diverse characters, whether something as simple as skin shaders or complex as additional mocap. The issue is that most of this requires FORESIGHT. They would have to actually THINK about this early on and allocate the resources needed. If you try to shoehorn this stuff in the middle of the process, I can see it getting dropped from the table whether devs want it in or not (I've heard some involved devs that it was brought up at some point, but didn't make it).

 

[Principate]

No I mean facial structure and such.

Not every black person has the same facial structure, let alone mixed race etc.

 

[Messofanego]

Never saw Shareef Jackson get this much coverage before, he does great videos. Loved his one on Battlefield Hardline which I wasn't expecting him to be positive about.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Hey everyone, this is Shareef Jackson, creator of the video that the OP linked to. Feel free to check out my other videos at gaminglooksgood.com, or @gaminglooksgood on Twitter. The video speaks for itself so I'm not gonna reiterate each and every part, but I don't want to address two points (believe or not, I read all of the comments ).

1) We need to hold media companies accountable, whether it's games, books, tv, etc. Media is a powerful force and can influence society. We consume this media and have that right to give constructive criticism. The world is diverse, and thus the gamer space is diverse. Having games where the heroes don't reflect that diversity is a huge disservice to the industry, and makes it look out of touch. This doesn't mean that I hate every game with a white character (can't believe I even have to say that, but I do based on some comments), but it does mean that I'm disappointed that I rarely see myself in the big AAA releases.

2) Activision has mega bucks, and Call of Duty makes mega bucks. There is absolutely no reason that they could not afford to provide more options for diverse characters, whether something as simple as skin shaders or complex as additional mocap. The issue is that most of this requires FORESIGHT. They would have to actually THINK about this early on and allocate the resources needed. If you try to shoehorn this stuff in the middle of the process, I can see it getting dropped from the table whether devs want it in or not (I've heard some involved devs that it was brought up at some point, but didn't make it).

Thanks for making the video, and your points are the truth. There's no way to dispute anything you said here.

 

[Katori]

I noticed this immediately. I always try to play characters in games that don't look like me. Really pales in comparison to other modern games, such as FO4's amazing character creator...

Hey everyone, this is Shareef Jackson, creator of the video that the OP linked to. [snip]

Thanks for coming on here, Shareef. This video seems like it's starting a very necessary conversation.

 

[Johndoey]

Not every black person has the same facial structure, let alone mixed race etc.

Exactly but that's my point I would've liked if you could determine your characters race, but I honestly feel just making the white dude black and calling it a day is legitimately worse.

 

[Crossing Eden]

We're talking about a game with a massive budget and 3 years development time, and faces don't even look that great, the vast majority of it's playerbase won't even care such a decrease in quality (which I don't even believe would happen here).

And we see exactly where that massive budget and one extra year of dev time went towards. I would say that the faces look pretty amazing actually. And mocapping both genders paid off(story notwithstanding) Way less uncanny valley than Kevin Spacey.

 

[User 73706]

This doesn't mean that I hate every game with a white character (can't believe I even have to say that, but I do based on some comments)

Yeah, the outrage brigade here is ridiculous sometimes.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Hey everyone, this is Shareef Jackson, creator of the video that the OP linked to. Feel free to check out my other videos at gaminglooksgood.com, or @gaminglooksgood on Twitter. The video speaks for itself so I'm not gonna reiterate each and every part, but I don't want to address two points (believe or not, I read all of the comments ).

1) We need to hold media companies accountable, whether it's games, books, tv, etc. Media is a powerful force and can influence society. We consume this media and have that right to give constructive criticism. The world is diverse, and thus the gamer space is diverse. Having games where the heroes don't reflect that diversity is a huge disservice to the industry, and makes it look out of touch. This doesn't mean that I hate every game with a white character (can't believe I even have to say that, but I do based on some comments), but it does mean that I'm disappointed that I rarely see myself in the big AAA releases.

2) Activision has mega bucks, and Call of Duty makes mega bucks. There is absolutely no reason that they could not afford to provide more options for diverse characters, whether something as simple as skin shaders or complex as additional mocap. The issue is that most of this requires FORESIGHT. They would have to actually THINK about this early on and allocate the resources needed. If you try to shoehorn this stuff in the middle of the process, I can see it getting dropped from the table whether devs want it in or not (I've heard some involved devs that it was brought up at some point, but didn't make it).

I'm with you and I agree, but in recent time I've come to learn not to waste my energy on that. I can't really expect an industry full of white men and Japanese men to put a lot of people of color in their games, I can only work on making that change myself by becoming the best game developer I can and setting a trend where others will follow and be inspired to do the same.

 

[Asriel]

Hmm yeah. Should Activision have hired 2 more actors to play the black main characters? Or can a white person play a black person through mo-cap? Would that be virtual blackface??

This might have been the dumbest post I have read on Neogaf to date.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Eh, seems like a reach.

Pretty obvious it was meant to be one character they were going for but they let you change little things on your character. It's not true character customization.

Yea I do agree. This is variations on 2 people, not a bunch of choices.