Why are there still so many white men in video games

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Krejlooc said:
It's obviously not impossible, but it's also obviously less likely. The proof is in the pudding.

It also sort of depends on what you what to convey. I'm not a black male, so I, for example, would never try to capture the struggle of black males in society in a product I'm producing, if only because I'm sure it'd come off as non-authentic. Simply put, I don't have the life experiences necessary to tell a black man's tale with any level of authority. It places a limit on the kind of character I can create, even if making a story about african american struggle would be interesting to me.
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Question about the bolded: Could you write a character whose profession is dramatically different from your own? Could you write an action hero despite (presumably) never having been in any gunfights, escaped an exploding building, or hijacked a helicopter?

What I'm getting at is that writing a character with a particular background doesn't necessarily demand that every conceivable detail be 100% authentic and authoritative. There are plenty of cases where the only real requirements are that the character be somewhat believable and not blatantly offensive. The nature of the story will dictate how in-depth various aspects of a character need to be.

Also, it's not like there aren't any options: If I was trying to write a gay character and ran into difficulty with something, I'd ask one of my gay friends. In the case of writing a female character, asking for advice from a woman is even easier.
 
Orayn said:
Question about the bolded: Could you write a character whose profession is dramatically different from your own? Could you write an action hero despite (presumably) never having been in any gunfights, escaped an exploding building, or hijacked a helicopter?

What I'm getting at is that writing a character with a particular background doesn't necessarily demand that every conceivable detail be 100% authentic and authoritative. There are plenty of cases where the only real requirements are that the character be somewhat believable and not blatantly offensive. The nature of the story will dictate how in-depth various aspects of a character need to be.

Also, it's not like there aren't any options: If I was trying to write a gay character and ran into difficulty with something, I'd ask one of my gay friends. In the case of writing a female character, asking for advice from a woman is even easier.
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I can write an action hero because there aren't actual action heroes around who will call me on my inaccuracies, though. I couldn't really write a realistic military drama. That's a personal fault, though, one I'll admit. Some definitively have wider range than I, of course.

Edit: and to clarify, I'm not saying I couldn't write a black character, or gay character, or whatever. Rather, I'm saying that o couldn't write about the experience of being a black or gay character. If my character were black or gay, them being black or gay wouldn't be a central characteristic in my narrative.
 
Krejlooc said:
I can write an action hero because there aren't actual action heroes around who will call me on my inaccuracies, though. I couldn't really write a realistic military drama. That's a personal fault, though, one I'll admit. Some definitively have wider range than I, of course.

Edit: and to clarify, I'm not saying I couldn't write a black character, or gay character, or whatever. Rather, I'm saying that o couldn't write about the experience of being a black or gay character. If my character were black or gay, them being black or gay wouldn't be a central characteristic in my narrative.
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Okay, sounds like we're on the same page for the most part. The point I was trying to make is that "Well white males are writing them, duh!" isn't a very good reason for lack of diversity, because merely including characters from other backgrounds making them one-dimensional stereotypes is not a lofty, unreasonable goal.
 
stargateheaven said:
...I remember Capcom changing Resident Evil 5, because people complained there were no white people zombies...
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RE 5 is an unquestionably racist piece of propaganda that falls in line with Capcom's past "attempts" to diversify characters in the games they develop. It was because of the body of work and the constant negative scrutiny that they've received over the years that RE 5 became like a PR powder keg.

The problem is this, it's fine for you to want to make a game with a white male protagonist, but the audience is growing and changing dramatically everyday. There will come a point, probably sooner than a lot of people think, where the general audience will not financially support an industry that believes that, as a whole, 99.99% of protagonists "Should Be" white males. When that day finally comes would you want to be on the stinky end of stick getting snide responses like "What goes around, comes around"? To me it makes more sense diversify immediately and break the monotony standard that's been set. HEY! Who knows you may even start seeing more interesting games offering experiences that are unique by comparison to what's being done now.
 
Orayn said:
Okay, sounds like we're on the same page for the most part. The point I was trying to make is that "Well white males are writing them, duh!" isn't a very good reason for lack of diversity, because merely including characters from other backgrounds making them one-dimensional stereotypes is not a lofty, unreasonable goal.
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I understand how these issues can be sensitive, so no worries about prodding for clarification. For the record I wasn't attempting to excuse the abundance of white male protagonists with reason, but rather I was trying to look logically as to why the issue exists in the first place.

I should clarify that I also am not white.
 
While I haven't read all of the pages, It feels like one thing is overlooked, women are just not as into violence as men. I don't believe it's as simple as changing a male protagonist to female one, and all of a sudden women will flock to that game. A fundamental change in game design is needed to draw in more women, but I also don't think it's up to us men to do/figure it out (we men are different from women after all), we need more women in the industry and they will have to do it.

And here is the next problem, when I think about it, none of the women I know, care about video games. Even my wife who has played a few games in the past, just think it's a waste of time and rather do something else. So this 50/50, male/female thing is just not going to work out ever, unless women actually start to care more about games in general. The sooner some people accept that the better.

For the record, I'am a white male, and I haven't ever cared about what kind character I've played as long as it fits the setting within the game. (Like WOW, both women and men fits just fine, as in most games. EDIT: But I don't think both sexes need to be present just because).
 
Bigmac1910 said:
While I haven't read all of the pages, It feels like one thing is overlooked, women are just not as into violence as men. I don't believe it's as simple as changing a male protagonist to female one, and all of a sudden women will flock to that game. A fundamental change in game design is needed to draw in more women, but I also don't think it's up to us men to do/figure it out (we men are different from women after all), we need more women in the industry and they will have to do it.

And here is the next problem, when I think about it, none of the women I know, care about video games. Even my wife who has played a few games in the past, just think it's a waste of time and rather do something else. So this 50/50, male/female thing is just not going to work out ever, unless women actually start to care more about games in general. The sooner some people accept that the better.

For the record, I'am a white male, and I haven't ever cared about what kind character I've played as long as it fits the setting within the game. (Like WOW, both women and men fits just fine, as in most games. EDIT: But I don't think both sexes need to be present just because).
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A lot of girls love console games. But your right, we don't like super violent games that much. In fact I think they are usually pretty lazy and repetitive. I like puzzle, adventure, strategy, character development and story in my games. I also enjoy horror and party games. For that reason, I enjoy a lot of games that aren't made for the "core" western audience. Also, killing a lot of stuff brings down the meaning and potency of death, which then brings down the story and characters for me.
 
Morrigan Targaryen said:
Speak for yourselves. I love many, many violent games. Though obviously not every game needs to be some ultra-violent dudebro shooter.
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You are quite unique then even amongst women, as my experience tells me the opposite most of the time. But hey, as long as you enjoy it, go for it. So as someone who plays violent games, do you need more female protagonists in games?
 
Bigmac1910 said:
For the record, I'am a white male, and I haven't ever cared about what kind character I've played as long as it fits the setting within the game....But I don't think both sexes need to be present just because
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when will people get this? you've had a lifetime of video games featuring white males, so you don't care when the occasional game features a female or minority character. not everyone has had that experience with gaming, having always been represented well in gsmes, so it's a lot more meaningful to them to diversify protagonists.
 
Orayn said:
Question about the bolded: Could you write a character whose profession is dramatically different from your own? Could you write an action hero despite (presumably) never having been in any gunfights, escaped an exploding building, or hijacked a helicopter?

What I'm getting at is that writing a character with a particular background doesn't necessarily demand that every conceivable detail be 100% authentic and authoritative...
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The problem with this thinking is that you're conflating two incompatible ideas. If you design a gun fight in a game and have never been in one chances are neither has most of you're audience, so you get a pass on lack of authenticity. However, if you write a female or minority character without knowing your subject or being "the subject" there will be various large portions of your audience that will have fewer "blind spots", be far more knowledgeable than you, pick out the lack of authenticity in your work immediately, rightly label you a hack and potentially label you a sexist and/or racist. That's just the difference between getting a gun wrong and getting a human being wrong.

Moreover, the difference between exceptional reality/heightened reality games and mediocre reality/heightened games most times is research and real world consultation about things that an author wouldn't have personal experience with himself/herself. How thorough the research is and well crafted the consultation finds its way into the story/interactivity determines the quality of the resulting game.
 
jon bones said:
when will people get this? you've had a lifetime of video games featuring white males, so you don't care when the occasional game features a female or minority character. not everyone has had that experience with gaming, having always been represented well in gsmes, so it's a lot more meaningful to them to diversify protagonists.
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To be honest, most people have enough self distance to not really care about what skin color their characters have, and understand that it's only a piece of entertainment. Not something that has to be PC to be able to enjoy. Seriously, you think that I identify with Marcus Phoenix, Gordon Freeman, or Master Chief(presumably white)(love those games) just because they are white? Give me a break, I have nothing in common with them apart from their skin color, they are just characters within a story. If you can't look past the skin color, dare I say that you are looking at it in a really shallow way.

For the record, one of my all time favorite games is GTA San Andreas, and the only GTA I've ever finished.
 
The only people who notice this crap are the racists and the sexists. If you want a game with all characters of different races, genders, religions etc... GO MAKE IT! Nobody that's not a racist complains about White Male Leads in films. Sorry if this comes off as preachy. When did video games and society become bitch about everything, but do nothing to change it except shed light on the negative. Apologies
 
Bigmac1910 said:
To be honest, most people have enough self distance to not really care about what skin color their characters have, and understand that it's only a piece of entertainment. Not something that has to be PC to be able to enjoy. Seriously, you think that I identify with Marcus Phoenix, Gordon Freeman, or Master Chief(presumably white)(love those games) just because they are white? Give me a break, I have nothing in common with them apart from their skin colors, they are just characters within a story. If you can't look past the skin color, dare I say that you are looking at it in a really shallow way.

For the record, one of my all time favorite games is GTA San Andreas, and the only GTA I've ever finished.
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"most people have enough self distance to not really care about what skin color their characters have"

source? clearly if this is a regular discussion on GAF, you must be wrong.

picking gordon freeman and master chief must be you being purposefully obtuse, too, as those characters are supposed to be silent, invisible canvases that you paint yourself onto.

this isn't about the you versus "political correctness" lol, it's about inclusiveness in a medium that is enjoyed by a lot of different people. the fact that you think that people can only enjoy something if it's "PC" is laughable.

and I know you didn't mean it but "one of my all time favorite games is GTA San Andreas" sounds like the gaming version of "one of my best friends is black"
 
I don't know the answer to this thread, but it kind of makes me wonder why a Japanese companies mascot is an Italian? . Maybe because race doesn't matter? . At least it doesn't to me. As I always say, if you want change you have to make it, get people more involved in the industry that would make that change.
 
devilsadvocat said:
I don't know the answer to this thread, but it kind of makes me wonder why a Japanese companies mascot is an Italian? . Maybe because race doesn't matter? . At least it doesn't to me. As I always say, if you want change you have to make it, get people more involved in the industry that would make that change.
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The creation of Mario has been well documented. Long story short - it's a series of coincidental circumstances. They didn't set out to design an Italian mascot.
 
Most probably because those are the people developing those games.

I would love to see more diversity personally. More people of color and more women.
 
Bigmac1910 said:
To be honest, most people have enough self distance to not really care about what skin color their characters have, and understand that it's only a piece of entertainment. Not something that has to be PC to be able to enjoy. Seriously, you think that I identify with Marcus Phoenix, Gordon Freeman, or Master Chief(presumably white)(love those games) just because they are white? Give me a break, I have nothing in common with them apart from their skin color, they are just characters within a story. If you can't look past the skin color, dare I say that you are looking at it in a really shallow way.

For the record, one of my all time favorite games is GTA San Andreas, and the only GTA I've ever finished.
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Then I suppose nothing would change for you if every game starred a black Asian lesbian for the next 30 years.
 
Wolfisaurus said:
The only people who notice this crap are the racists and the sexists. If you want a game with all characters of different races, genders, religions etc... GO MAKE IT! Nobody that's not a racist complains about White Male Leads in films. Sorry if this comes off as preachy. When did video games and society become bitch about everything, but do nothing to change it except shed light on the negative. Apologies
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Are you really accusing people who think games could stand to be a little more diverse of being racist and sexist?
 
Same reason Hollywood blockbusters star white males (or Will Smith). "Products" being made on such a scale tend to pander to the lowest common denominator. People tend to prefer characters that are "like them" on the screen. Especially so in games, I would think, where people tend to speak in terms of "I did this, I did that". So we get a lot of white, male characters with empty personalities so the majority white, male audience can more easily project themselves onto those characters without the painstaking task of imagining what it might be like to be a different race or gender.
 
Knox said:
Same reason Hollywood blockbusters star white males (or Will Smith). "Products" being made on such a scale tend to pander to the lowest common denominator. People tend to prefer characters that are "like them" on the screen. Especially so in games, I would think, where people tend to speak in terms of "I did this, I did that". So we get a lot of white, male characters with empty personalities so the majority white, male audience can more easily project themselves onto those characters without the painstaking task of imagining what it might be like to be a different race or gender.
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You really think the White Male audience is that daft and shallow?
 
It's because "white male" is the default status.

If you ask people to describe themselves in 10 words, non-white people will put their race as number 1. White women will put their gender at number 1. White men will very likely not mention their race or gender in any of the 10 words... not intentionally avoiding it, but because they quite literally didn't think to say it. If you are the default, the entire topic can be invisible.

Obviously this is a bad state of affairs, but it does explain the lack of diversity. White men dominate in media roles because picking a white man for a part doesn't feel like making a choice at all. You didn't choose a white men specifically, you just avoided the issue entirely and used the default. A blank slate. To change that, it would be necessary to make people realize that "white and male" is, in fact, a choice about race and gender. The hard part is that white men will not be happy to discover that they have a race and gender.
 
not psycho said:
The hard part is that white men will not be happy to discover that they have a race and gender.
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You'll run into the fact that there isn't such a thing as white culture, especially on an international level. And that the definition of white varies from person to person, and has changed over the generations. White used to just mean WASP, with Irish, Jews, Southern Europeans, Slavs etc al all thought of as non-white.

The fact that a protagonist in a film or game is white doesn't mean I automatically identify with their race/ethnicity. An Anglo Saxon English dude, an Italian American (Tommy Vercetti) or a Slavic (Nico Bellic) is as alien to me as Carl "CJ" Johnson. Doesn't matter we share the same skin tone.

I understand the reasons for having representation of minorities in media. The evidence that shows the harm it does to them not being represented is clear. But for me personally, I don't identify with game protagonists due to them sharing the same gender or skin tone. As often, they're they only thing in common I share with game characters. They might as well be robots or aliens for how much alike to me they are.
 
Orthogonal said:
You really think the White Male audience is that daft and shallow?
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I think the lowest common denominator of any audience is that daft and shallow. Media companies try to cast the widest net possible. The number of "daft and shallow" people far outweighs the number of people that will refuse to play a game because the main character is a white guy.
 
Orthogonal said:
You really think the White Male audience is that daft and shallow?
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The mainstream entertainment industry, including the video games industry, certainly seem to think so.

SPE said:
You'll run into the fact that there isn't such a thing as white culture, especially on an international level. And that the definition of white varies from person to person, and has changed over the generations. White used to just mean WASP, with Irish, Jews, Southern Europeans, Slavs etc al all thought of as non-white.
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Read this.

Dyer-White.jpg


White people are not literally or symbolically white; nor are they uniquely virtuous and pure. Racial imagery and racial representation are central to the organisation of the contemporary world but, while there are many studies of images of black and Asian people, whiteness is an invisible racial position. At the level of racial representation, whites are not of a certain race. They are just the human race, a 'colour' against which other ethnicities are always examined.

In White, Richard Dyer looks beyond the apparent unremarkability of whiteness and argues for the importance of analysing images of white people. Dyer traces the representation of whiteness by whites in Western visual culture, focusing on the mass media of photography, advertising, fine art, cinema and television.

Dyer examines the representation of whiteness and the white body in the contexts of Christianity, 'race' and colonialism. In a series of absorbing case studies, he discusses the representations of whiteness in muscle-man action cinema, from Italian 'peplum' movies to the Tarzan and Rambo series; shows the construction of whiteness in photography and cinema in the lighting of white and black faces, and analyses the representation of white women in end-of-empire fictions such as The Jewel in the Crown, and traces the disturbing association of whiteness with death, in vampire narratives and dystopian films such as Blade Runner and the Aliens trilogy.
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Bigmac1910 said:
You are quite unique then even amongst women, as my experience tells me the opposite most of the time.
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your experience is anecdotal. as is mine, because of the handful of women i know who play games, none of them shy away from hyper-violence. they, like anyone, find it appropriate and gratuitous, depending on the context.

if anything, most women seem to "dislike" violent games because of the high cross-over between violent games and mechanically shallow or intellectually boring games. my wife hates watching Dark Souls for instance, because there's nothing engaging in it for her, but finds titles like Broforce, Earth Defense Force, and even Mortal Kombat, entertaining to watch and/or play.
 
John Rabbit said:
if anything, most women seem to "dislike" violent games because of the high cross-over between violent games and mechanically shallow or intellectually boring games. my wife hates watching Dark Souls for instance, because there's nothing engaging in it for her, but finds titles like Broforce, Earth Defense Force, and even Mortal Kombat, entertaining to watch and/or play.
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Well funnily enough I couldn't care less for those games (and I hate MK) but Dark Souls is like my favourite game. So yeah, like you said... anecdotes!
 
Because a lot of white men play video games. I mean, I don't think it's good at all, and I really believe that gaming should have a lot more diversity. I just don't understand how people can't see why companies do this. From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense. It's more a problem with society and general, and the norms of what people are raised to enjoy and what they have access to. Game developers could and should take a stand against this by having less white male protagonists in games, though.
 
GamerJM said:
Because a lot of white men play video games.
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^this is really a too simplified sort of response which often just backfires because people usually dismiss it for being a simpletons response but i guess more accurately the best reason for this is because of flawed macro level analysis.

a main character is 1 of out of 1. basically a binary choice. this means when selecting any main role whether a game or movie you sort of end up in a situation where you make a binary choice to cast someone who is white or not because you're appealing to your target demographic.

even if your target demographic is 70% white, 20% black, 5% asian, 5% etc. how do you represent this relative split for your main character? problem is people look at 100 games and expect it to be 70 games with white protagonists, 20 black, 5 asian etc. But these games are individually developed in their own respective bubbles, no one is coordinating "okay i got the asian protagonist so you guys should try to fill the other roles."

now if you have a game with an ensemble cast its much easier to have some racial diversity because you're not making a single decision and naturally make a diverse cast just due to more interesting cast of characters.
 
I am not complaining. Not like this is new, white characters have dominated most visual media like movies, tv shows, and comics it seems like since... since they begun.
 
jon bones said:
"most people have enough self distance to not really care about what skin color their characters have"

source? clearly if this is a regular discussion on GAF, you must be wrong.

picking gordon freeman and master chief must be you being purposefully obtuse, too, as those characters are supposed to be silent, invisible canvases that you paint yourself onto.

this isn't about the you versus "political correctness" lol, it's about inclusiveness in a medium that is enjoyed by a lot of different people. the fact that you think that people can only enjoy something if it's "PC" is laughable.

and I know you didn't mean it but "one of my all time favorite games is GTA San Andreas" sounds like the gaming version of "one of my best friends is black"
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GAF is only a small portion of the gaming population so no, I don't have to be wrong.

Obtuse? No, I chose those games cause I like them, you are trying to make it into something it's not.

From my perspective it is PC to force diversity just for the heck of it. A game directors vision is what it is, some people are just trying to force the issue that a game needs to have this race and that gender to be acceptable. So obviously that's PC unless it's already part of the original vision.

No, I didn't mean my GTA example as that, just tried to show that I can play a game with different protagonists and still be one of my favorites. Sleeping Dogs, Tomb Raider, oh no, one is not my color the other one is not my gender, how ever will I survive lol.

zeldablue said:
Then I suppose nothing would change for you if every game starred a black Asian lesbian for the next 30 years.
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As long as it suits the story I wouldn't mind, but it would be a bit boring to play through a similar story every time for the next 30 years lol. Unless she gets a pretty big personality change every time, like only occasionally being a lesbian etc. lol.


SPE said:
You'll run into the fact that there isn't such a thing as white culture, especially on an international level. And that the definition of white varies from person to person, and has changed over the generations. White used to just mean WASP, with Irish, Jews, Southern Europeans, Slavs etc al all thought of as non-white.

The fact that a protagonist in a film or game is white doesn't mean I automatically identify with their race/ethnicity. An Anglo Saxon English dude, an Italian American (Tommy Vercetti) or a Slavic (Nico Bellic) is as alien to me as Carl "CJ" Johnson. Doesn't matter we share the same skin tone.

I understand the reasons for having representation of minorities in media. The evidence that shows the harm it does to them not being represented is clear. But for me personally, I don't identify with game protagonists due to them sharing the same gender or skin tone. As often, they're they only thing in common I share with game characters. They might as well be robots or aliens for how much alike to me they are.
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Very well said. You explained it in a way I couldn't. Some people just don't understand this. They are too focused on on the color of the skin without actually understanding the fundamental differences in culture and attitudes that exists between white people as well, and not just between colored and whites.

John Rabbit said:
your experience is anecdotal. as is mine, because of the handful of women i know who play games, none of them shy away from hyper-violence. they, like anyone, find it appropriate and gratuitous, depending on the context.

if anything, most women seem to "dislike" violent games because of the high cross-over between violent games and mechanically shallow or intellectually boring games. my wife hates watching Dark Souls for instance, because there's nothing engaging in it for her, but finds titles like Broforce, Earth Defense Force, and even Mortal Kombat, entertaining to watch and/or play.
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If my experience was anecdotal, a lot more women would be in the gaming industry making games, but that's just not the case.
 
Bigmac1910 said:
From my perspective it is PC to force diversity just for the heck of it. A game directors vision is what it is, some people are just trying to force the issue that a game needs to have this race and that gender to be acceptable. So obviously that's PC unless it's already part of the original vision.
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Yet a "game director's vision" in big AAA games with 200+ person development teams are comprised of not only a whole bunch of individuals making the game, but also decisions by the publisher (e.g. "we will only fund your project if X/Y/Z is included"), marketing influences, focus group data, alleged consumer demand for specific features, perceived reviewer preferences to get a good Metacritic score, and on and on and on. Moreover, when voicing your opinion on a game's mechanics or genre or something along those lines, you similarly "infringe" upon the vision of a game director".

This argument about the creative infalibility of a non-existing "game director" has been debunked over and over and over again. It's getting ridiculous.

If my experience was anecdotal, a lot more women would be in the gaming industry making games, but that's just not the case.
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That's a gross over-simplification of why women are shunned and excluded from video games culture, from the moment they are born to when they are exposed to marketing and societal norms regarding "who plays video games" to choosing a STEM education that is mostly male-dominated to entering a hostile video games industry. There are so many factors at play on why some women do or do not choose to play video games or even create them.
 
Lime said:
Yet a "game director's vision" in big AAA games with 200+ person development teams are comprised of not only a whole bunch of individuals making the game, but also decisions by the publisher (e.g. "we will only fund your project if X/Y/Z is included"), marketing influences, focus group data, alleged consumer demand for specific features, perceived reviewer preferences to get a good Metacritic score, and on and on and on. Moreover, when voicing your opinion on a game's mechanics or genre or something along those lines, you similarly "infringe" upon the vision of a game director".

This argument about the creative infalibility of a non-existing "game director" has been debunked over and over and over again. It's getting ridiculous.


That's a gross over-simplification of why women are shunned and excluded from video games culture, from the moment they are born to when they are exposed to marketing and societal norms regarding "who plays video games" to choosing a STEM education that is mostly male-dominated to entering a hostile video games industry. There are so many factors at play on why some women do or do not choose to play video games or even create them.
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You are right to a certain extent with AAA publishers, some directors have more power than others though. But if you look at all the new indie developers, somehow I haven't seen a lot more diversity in protagonists, they mostly seem to be white as well. Diversity in games yes, protagonists, not so much as far as I can tell.

Yes it's oversimplified, but so is the view that women and men can be equal on equal terms, and it's only society that causes the downsides, life just doesn't work that way. There are certain fundamental differences between men and women and I don't think we can change our basic instincts. Like women give birth and protect their kids even from the husband if necessary, generally it's the husbands job to protect her and his kids. Today it's not as dangerous/important anymore, but you still don't want to let your wife walk down a dark alley on her own in the middle of the night.

The biggest difference is that we men usually rebel and play our games, even if our family dislike it. While for women, usually their family is more important, and they are willing to sacrifice gaming or something else to keep the peace.

EDIT: Moved text that I accidently wrote inside the quote.
 
i still don't get how someone can view diversity as a bad thing. it's incredible.


Wolfisaurus said:
The only people who notice this crap are the racists and the sexists. If you want a game with all characters of different races, genders, religions etc... GO MAKE IT! Nobody that's not a racist complains about White Male Leads in films. Sorry if this comes off as preachy. When did video games and society become bitch about everything, but do nothing to change it except shed light on the negative. Apologies
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it doesn't come off as preachy, it comes off as ignorant and racist

DanteSparda504 said:
People are way too caught up over the race and gender of characters.
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"i don't get why people even care, i mean sometimes i play as a character who isn't a white male like me and it doesn't bother me!"

Bigmac1910 said:
The biggest difference is that we men usually rebel and play our games, even if our family dislike it. While for women, usually their family is more important, and they are willing to sacrifice gaming or something else to keep the peace.
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wat
 
rokkerkory said:
Put a girl as the villain or antagonist

and I hope no one complains
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Metal Gear Solid 3 did this and I don't remember complaints. All the random guards were men, though. There's also Uncharted 3, but the same all-male enemy problem is in.

The only game I've seen do many random female enemies (that isn't a fantasy game) is Saints Row 3. I don't even remember what SR3's red gang male enemies look like but I do remember the women.
 
I don't understand this argument, on its two way street.

I don't understand the whole "because sales" justification. I don't see why, say, a black female videogame character would make me completely unable to relate to her, detract me from inmersion or prevent me from buying a game. I don't see why such a game would sell less and I dont understand the logic of how I am goingto "subconsciously" enjoy less playing Telltale's The walking Dead over the much more yawn-inducing latest Call of Duty.

And conversely, I don't see why a male white character is unrelatable or would make other people feel discriminated by default, either, as if women or people from other ethnicities would feel intrinsecally repulsed by him, too.

All this debate lies on the asisine assumption that your entertainement's enjoyment depends heavily on how many characters looks like yourself and how you everyone (whites and minorities alike) are somehow empathically challenged and thus, quotas are needed so noone feels hurt and we all can relate to our fictional heroes. It is ridiculous, and a midly insulting assumption, as it underestimates everyone's capacity for empathy towards "the other".
 
They should just remove people from all games and just make them animals.
 
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