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[digoutyoursoul]

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.

Why does freshness have to be about the persons race? That's all I'm saying. Maybe Rockstar see it like you do and we do get a game along the lines of what the OP is referring to. Who knows?

I just wish they would announce it whatever it is ha ha.

 

[D i Z]

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.

Not sure what you are not understanding about my response to this:

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.

Now. If you're dead set on this "classic Western" trope that seems to need some kind of preservation, why would you have a Native American Cowboy... in the "classic" sense?
By classic, I assume you mean the good old cowboys and indians sense.
And why is that more plausible than an actual black cowboys that were numerous and valuable to the labor at the time?

 

[bishoptl]

I don't know, maybe I just really want a Django like RDR game made by Rockstar where you shoot up slave owners.

Fair enough

 

[bishoptl]

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.

Yeah, that's not a valid excuse. There were plenty of black Cowboys (and the character of the Lone Ranger is actually based on a black lawman known as Bass Reeves). The whole "they're not in the films/television" stuff doesn't fly anymore.

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.

In this, I agree with you. It would be awesome to have an indigenous person running roughshod over the West, and tell some stories that we haven't seen before with the same old same old.

 

[Data West]

The next Red Dead should be a samurai game

 

[bishoptl]

Exactly. Why not. I just think there are far more important issues in a video game. The character could be luminous orange for all I care, as long as it's interesting and well written.

oh okay then

 

[Fury451]

I wouldn't mind multiple main characters again, GTA V style.

Red Dead Revolver already did that.

 

[jwhit28]

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):

"In reality, the American West of the 1800s was traversed by an assortment of black, white, Mexican and Native American cattle hands. Contemporary records are rare but historians now estimate that up to one in four Texan cowboys was African American, while the number of Mexican cowboys was even greater."​

Nah. You're wrong on that one. Here's Malyse with the answer:

Thanks for the thorough answer. I think the native american idea sounds more entertaining.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

The next Red Dead should be a samurai game

Katsumoto (Saigo Takamori) comes to the west!

 

[aeolist]

This. I take whatever they'll serve me. Just give me more Red dead.

uncritical consumption of manufactured entertainment product is the highest good

 

[Gattsu25]

Thanks for the thorough answer. I think the native american idea sounds more entertaining.

Personally, I would like to have Native American, Black, and Chinese protagonists in the next game. There's so many rich and underrepresented stories to tell.

 

[hampig]

Not sure what you are not understanding about my response to this:



Now. If you're dead set on this "classic Western" trope that seems to need some kind of preservation, why would you have a Native American Cowboy... in the "classic" sense?
By classic, I assume you mean the good old cowboys and indians sense.
And why is that more plausible that an actual black cowboys that were numerous and valuable to the labor at the time?

Should I wait for you to edit more in or would you like to try and make your post sound more patronizing?

I get your point when you say it that way honestly. I never said it would be a Native American Cowboy though, just a Native American set in the time period of cowboys, which is why it does stay more true to the classic movies etc.

Honestly they can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. Rockstar has had Asian leads, black leads, white leads, and as far as I can tell they've done them justice. The only point I care about making is that if they chose to be a little more diverse with their characters, there are several races they could draw from.

In fact, including black, Indian, Mexican, and white people and actually showing some of the dynamics between the races at the time would be really interesting.

 

[D i Z]

Personally, I would like to have Native American, Black, and Chinese protagonists in the next game. There's so many rich and underrepresented stories to tell.

This. So much this!

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Or a native American? Not many games with Native Americans!

 

[Aeriscloud]

I think this is a fantastic idea.

I'd love to see it.

 

[Sidewinder]

That's a pretty neat idea OP, I'd definitely like to play that game!

 

[QuantumDerp]

What about the main character being a Chinese rail worker?

That would work also, but I am afraid the game would be on rail...

 

[bishoptl]

That would work also, but I am afraid the game would be on rail...

boooooo

 

[Data West]

I worry that a Doc Holiday type character would be too cool to put in the main character's hands.

but that's what I want

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Only cool with that if he is voiced and played by Val Kilmer.

 

[jwhit28]

Personally, I would like to have Native American, Black, and Chinese protagonists in the next game. There's so many rich and underrepresented stories to tell.

I don't know much about the Chinese railroad worker immigrants. Was there ever any actual rebellion? I think a game based around the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants would be much more entertaining centered around the Chinatown slums in NY. How those places are described in the book How the Other Half Lives seems like a perfect setting for a Rockstar game, even though those descriptions were full of hyperbole.

A game set around the Mexican border war with a story told in a similar way to GTAV between an apache native American, black cowboy/buffalo soldier, and a Mexican rebel could be entertaining and educational. Too bad you get an ending where none of the 3 actually win.

 

[Gattsu25]

I don't know much about the Chinese railroad worker immigrants. Was there ever any actual rebellion? I think a game based around the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants would be much more entertaining centered around the Chinatown slums in NY. How those places are described in the book How the Other Half Lives seems like a perfect setting for a Rockstar game, even though those descriptions were full of hyperbole.

A game set around the Mexican border war with a story told in a similar way to GTAV between an apache native American, black cowboy/buffalo soldier, and a Mexican rebel could be entertaining and educational. Too bad you get an ending where none of the 3 actually win.

That does sound fantastic and the ending seems in line with what to expect from Rockstar anyway. Pyrrhic victories for all characters? Sounds great.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

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.

Hell on Wheels S5 features the Chinese worker force heavily into the plot, it's pretty cool.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Rockstar employees reading this thread like "fuck! Back to the drawing board, boys!!"

I really hope we get something like the suggestions in here and not a John Marston early days prequel.

This coming from a huge John Marston fanboy.

 

[D i Z]

Should I wait for you to edit more in or would you like to try and make your post sound more patronizing?

I get your point when you say it that way honestly. I never said it would be a Native American Cowboy though, just a Native American set in the time period of cowboys, which is why it does stay more true to the classic movies etc.

Honestly they can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. Rockstar has had Asian leads, black leads, white leads, and as far as I can tell they've done them justice. The only point I care about making is that if they chose to be a little more diverse with their characters, there are several races they could draw from.

In fact, including black, Indian, Mexican, and white people and actually showing some of the dynamics between the races at the time would be really interesting.

Nah. I'll just come back and edit this one instead for a larger patronizing effect. j/k

I'm of the opinion that the sooner these people of erased history are added back into the narrative, the sooner people will check their knee jerk reactions when their Hollywood world views are threatened with revision. The vanishing peoples were real! They were just everyone that wasn't white. Maybe the next RD game should address that directly. The crime of cultural annihilation and appropriation by having everyone "play their role" in historical fiction is literally the only understanding that some people have today. And we wonder why we can't relate to each other in the States.
So I apologize if I came of as patronizing. I just have quite a bit to say about the subject.

 

[Ash735]

and not a John Marston early days prequel.

This coming from a huge John Marston fanboy.

You're not getting a John Marston prequel anyway, stop believing in made up articles on gaming "News" websites, majority of "news" regarding the next Red Dead game is just made up bs for clickbait as they know ANY kind of article mentioning "Red Dead Redemption 2" is going to get hits and continue to spread ignorance.

 

[dancingphlower]

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.

I don't want to get too off-topic but this is something that I think people should keep in mind in all forms of media, not just video games.

 

[DC1]

Just an idea that I wish for the game, something more interesting than another mid aged white guy looking for his white family story in the wild west part 2.
The premise could be behind a slave in that setting and time trying to earn his freedom. It could provide much more interesting content, and tackle complicated issues that the country faced and still is. I think it will come at a perfect time as more and more mediums are discussing the topics of slavery and racism.

I don't know, maybe I just really want a Django like RDR game made by Rockstar where you shoot up slave owners.

Red Dead Retaliation?

I'm very down for this. Multiple characters is a must for every R* game going forward.

I'm actually two beers from being drunk and stand firmly behind my slightly refreshing statement.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

You're not getting a John Marston prequel anyway, stop believing in made up articles on gaming "News" websites, majority of "news" regarding the next Red Dead game is just made up bs for clickbait as they know ANY kind of article mentioning "Red Dead Redemption 2" is going to get hits and continue to spread ignorance.

Thanks for the heads up but I just honestly assumed thats the direction they would go on my own.

Do you know something?

 

[Soleil rouge]

A third of all Cowboys were Black, yet in RDR, most Black characters were just ranch hands. It was also insulting the way the game depicted Mexican cowboys. Crudely drawn, old, ugly and incompetent who needed a White gunslinger to save them from themselves. Taking a page out of American Westerns instead of Spaghetti. In fact, despite popular belief, the only thing RDR borrowed from Spaghetti Westerns was the style of music. Otherwise it was as straightforward John Ford tale.

What RDR badly needed was better characters, writing and mission variety, IMO. Almost every person John met was terribly annoying and for no good reason. The missions were boring and repetitive for the most part.

 

[SolarMystic]

If there is character switching, it would be nice to play from the perspective of a slave. Would also like one of the characters to be a woman too.

Edit: Even if it only has one main character, I'm all for playing as either of the above.

 

[jwhit28]

A third of all Cowboys were Black, yet in RDR, most Black characters were just ranch hands. It was also insulting the way the game depicted Mexican cowboys. Crudely drawn, old, ugly and incompetent who needed a White gunslinger to save them from themselves. Taking a page out of American Westerns instead of Spaghetti. In fact, despite popular belief, the only thing RDR borrowed from Spaghetti Westerns was the style of music. Otherwise it was as straightforward John Ford tale.

What RDR badly needed was better characters, writing and mission variety, IMO. Almost every person John met was terribly annoying and for no good reason. The missions were boring and repetitive for the most part.

That's how I felt as I was playing the game too. R* may have tried a more serious tone but the characters were the same over the top stereotypes that we get in GTA.

 

[hampig]

Nah. I'll just come back and edit this one instead for a larger patronizing effect. j/k

I'm of the opinion that the sooner these people of erased history are added back into the narrative, the sooner people will check their knee jerk reactions when their Hollywood world views are threatened with revision. The vanishing peoples were real! They were just everyone that wasn't white. Maybe the next RD game should address that directly. The crime of cultural annihilation and appropriation by having everyone "play their role" in historical fiction is literally the only understanding that some people have today. And we wonder why we can't relate to each other in the States.
So I apologize if I came of as patronizing. I just have quite a bit to say about the subject.

No, I appreciate what you're saying, especially this post I can agree with. I've lived with people who would be considered extreme cases of this, and I know it's affected me to some degree just like it has most who grew up in the last 50 years in the U.S. I think it's an important point to make, and I'm glad you brought it up in response to what I said.

It's hard to keep emotions from boiling over into discussions like this, but it is a lot easier to actually listen to people who aren't coming at you offensively.

 

[RedStep]

It would and it'd be the largest shit storm ever. LOL

Why? The old Republicans stirring things up on the nightly news are not the same ones buying popular games or watching popular movies. Hence GTA: San Andreas and Django Unchained being huge hits despite this perception that everybody's a racist.

I think something like that would go over just fine.

 

[Soleil rouge]

That's how I felt as I was playing the game too. R* may have tried a more serious tone but the characters were the same over the top stereotypes that we get in GTA.

One of the main reasons I wanted to play the game was because Rockstar supposedly took a more serious approach, but the writing and dialog was typical Rockstar from top to bottom. It was GTA 1900, which is understandable but definitely not what I expected from reading reviews at the time.

 

[VlaudTheImpaler]

Since we are on the topic of exotic and unrepresented races, what about a Canuck?

It would definitely fix the problem of dialogue/story being the same old same old,

"Red Dead Redemption"

"Red Redemption"

 

[CrimsonSquall]

He should be a white slave based in another country. White slaves don't get much representation. Slaves in American history are just so overdone.

Lol

 

[Ushay]

I could definitely get behind this, even better.. a half cast protagonist in a racially uncultured wild west setting. Could be great storytelling. Whatever they do, I'm positive Rockstar will deliver.

 

[Fjordson]

One of the main reasons I wanted to play the game was because Rockstar supposedly took a more serious approach, but the writing and dialog was typical Rockstar from top to bottom. It was GTA 1900, which is understandable but definitely not what I expected from reading reviews at the time.

I mean it's not straight serious the whole time, but it's unquestionably more grounded than GTA (especially when you look at it in a post-GTA V world) and was filled with great writing and memorable characters.

Since we are on the topic of exotic and unrepresented races, what about a Canuck?

It would definitely fix the problem of dialogue/story being the same old same old,

"Red Dead Redemption"

"Red Redemption"

Lmao.

 

[tilomite!]

There's several good ideas in this thread, I think multiple protagonists like GTA V would give em a chance to explore more stories. I would love to have a slave be a main character.

 

[wtd2009]

Would rather a story centered on a Native American tribe.

Oh man i would absolutely love this concept.

 

[RedStep]

Buffalo Soldier?

They already had him in Red Dead Revolver, just need to bring him back and put him in the spotlight!

 

[Soleil rouge]

I mean it's not straight serious the whole time, but it's unquestionably more grounded than GTA (especially when you look at it in a post-GTA V world) and was filled with great writing and memorable characters.


Lmao.

We'll have to agree to disagree on its great writing.

The only aspect of it that was more grounded was the NPC chatter, I thought, wasn't as ridiculous as in GTA. I mean, there was a gay guy who had sex with corpses, cannibals, random lynchings, cartoony violence and crude stereotypes galore. A bit more grounded but not by much, lol.

 

[Fjordson]

We'll have to agree to disagree on its great writing.

The only aspect of it that was more grounded was the NPC chatter, I thought, wasn't as ridiculous as in GTA. I mean, there was a gay guy who had sex with corpses, cannibals, random lynchings, cartoony violence and crude stereotypes galore. A bit more grounded but not by much, lol.

Didn't really pick up on any of that, save for maybe Seth.

 

[Falchion]

That would be a pretty cool hook for the game.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Sounds like a cool idea to me.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Since we are on the topic of exotic and unrepresented races, what about a Canuck?

It would definitely fix the problem of dialogue/story being the same old same old,

"Red Dead Redemption"

"Red Redemption"

Lmao. Its true. All the badass outlaws in Canada were Americans over here terrorizing people.

 

[Balb]

I'm hoping Rockstar does something to shake things up with the protagonist. One of the major things I like about Rockstar is that they have the balls to do things other publishers would never do.

 

[dragonelite]

Liked the GTA 5 model with 3 characters, we can have a black and Mexican character with some white guy tagging along.
One of them could also be female would be a first for rock star i believe a female main character

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Make it a Blazing Saddles game