Video Game Rant

[maybee]

How to make a mainstream video game lead in some easy steps :



Make him male
Make him bald or very little hair at all, who needs some creative hairstyles ? That's for sissy men !!! Rough beard is optional.
Make him straight/ het.
Make him white/ American.
Make him look masculine and tough. No sissy looking folk in our X- Box !!!!!!!


One you have followed these 5 easy steps, you should have the brand new lead for your video game.

https://gomakemeasandwich.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/bingo-agent47.jpg

[Psychotic]

Wait wait wait, could I be a video game character?

1. Check
2. Check
3. Check
4. I mean I'm half of those things
5. oh :(

Also there aren't really that many bald dudes in games, we need more representation! They usually have brown hair.

https://cdn.gamerant.com/wp-content/uploads/Video-Game-Protagonists-Brown-Haired-White-Guys.jpg.optimal.jpg

Like so!

[Jinx]

Most of them have stubble/scruffy faces as well.

[Jinx]

Cloud Strife
75380

[Fox]

For Cloud you can also cross off "They killed my family" and as of E3 2015 "Gritty Reboot".

[Jinx]

For Cloud you can also cross off "They killed my family" and as of E3 2015 "Gritty Reboot".

Oh that's RIGHT. His mom. I forgot about that. And yeah, I was saving the Gritty Reboot one for a later date. :>

[maybee]

Cloud Strife
75380

Does Cloud count as "white " he's Japanese ? ;/

Also he was part of a mission that involved blowing up a reactor near a slum, so would killing spree count ?

[Fynn]

How can he be Japanese when there isn’t a Japan in his world? Though to be fair, how races and ethnicities are interpreted is not the same everywhere in the world as it is in the Anglosphere, so I still wouldn’t classify as white if only because he’s not a result of the same cultural mindset as western white protagonists.

[Psychotic]

How can he be Japanese when there isn’t a Japan in his world? Wutai? :D

[Jinx]

How can he be Japanese when there isn’t a Japan in his world? Though to be fair, how races and ethnicities are interpreted is not the same everywhere in the world as it is in the Anglosphere, so I still wouldn’t classify as white if only because he’s not a result of the same cultural mindset as western white protagonists.


There IS a Korea though...

He has white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. I'm calling him white.

[Loony BoB]

You need to replace "bald/crew cut" with "spikey hair" for games of Japanese origin. So that's another check up on the Cloud Strife Bingo Board :p

[Sephex]

I think it's hilarious when people get all up in arms about this thinking their is some malicious reason for this when it is just about making money.

Guys, that's all game companies care about anymore. Money. If they thought game staring a cat would sell like crazy we would see a bunch of games starring a cat with a gritty backstory or whatever.

[Fynn]

Doesn’t change the fact that gaming is a medium, an element of culture, that not only reflects the culture it’s a product of, but also reinforces certain cultural ideas. They may be no conscious malicious reason behind it, but that doesn’t mean gaming exists within a void. For better or worse, it has impact, and having all mainstream protagonists be while, thirty-ish, scruffy, and straight may be targeting a demographic - but it also sends a message about how inclusive the medium is. So considering 50% of gamers are women and the remaining 50% doesn’t all fit into that very narrow definition, people are rightfully pissed that this gets so much attention compared to others.

[Psychotic]

So considering 50% of gamers are women and the remaining 50% doesn’t all fit into that very narrow definition, people are rightfully pissed that this gets so much attention compared to others.The 50% number isn't really a great statistical piece of work and isn't accurate to reality unfortunately. Here's a better breakdown: https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/

You'll note that in the breakdown by genre, shooter and action games in general have very low female audience rates, and that's relevant because that's where the majority of the characters I posted come from. The genres higher up the scale do tend to have better representation.

You can make a chicken and egg argument as to whether it's a lack of female heroes that drive away female interest or the opposite, that game devs are responding to trends in their audience if you like. I think it's probably a bit of both.

You might also find this breakdown of Steam demographics interesting too: https://galyonk.in/some-things-you-should-know-about-steam-5eaffcf33218

[Fynn]

Broad strokes, Psy. The point stands that mainstream gaming protagonists are very homogenous and enough people find it annoying that this is the case

[Psychotic]

I don't disagree that more variation would be good, but if you'd like it to change we should at least have an honest conversation about why things are the way they are. I mean, you say enough people find it annoying but enough people to do what? Not to harm the bottom line or else game developers would stop doing it!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

So considering 50% of gamers are women and the remaining 50% doesn’t all fit into that very narrow definition, people are rightfully pissed that this gets so much attention compared to others.The 50% number isn't really a great statistical piece of work and isn't accurate to reality unfortunately. Here's a better breakdown: https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/

You'll note that in the breakdown by genre, shooter and action games in general have very low female audience rates, and that's relevant because that's where the majority of the characters I posted come from. The genres higher up the scale do tend to have better representation.

You can make a chicken and egg argument as to whether it's a lack of female heroes that drive away female interest or the opposite, that game devs are responding to trends in their audience if you like. I think it's probably a bit of both.

You might also find this breakdown of Steam demographics interesting too: https://galyonk.in/some-things-you-should-know-about-steam-5eaffcf33218

I'd be interested to see the player demographics of Overwatch. In every other respect it's just another solid arena shooter, but they certainly tried to provide a variety of player characters with a variety of aesthetics/temperaments/etc.

EDIT: I wonder why they didn't include fighters.

[Example]

Cloud Strife
75380

I don't remember Cloud ever having big biceps.

[maybee]

There IS a Korea though...


https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/3299192185998282232/BA73917FBD4401B377E8653B7FD96F4CEB004F20/

[WarZidane]

Looking at non-sequels from the last couple of years, this seems like an outdated complaint.

While direct sequels such as God of War and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus still fit this (since, y'know, people respond so well to replacing a main character halfway through a series) a lot of games in 2017 and 2018 don't. For starters, there's a plethora of games where you pick your character's gender (MH World, Prey, Destiny 2, among others).

Then there's the games where the main character's not even male (Horizon, Gravity Rush 2, Nier: Automata, Hellblade, among others).

And finally there's plenty of games these days where the male main character isn't white or Buff McBeefcake (AC: Origins, for which I'll count Bayek as the MC even though technically you're playing the lady who's playing him, Breath of the Wild, in which Link is so androgynous people initially thought he might be Zelda or a female Link, No No Kuni 2, where your MC is a tiny catboy, and others)

tldr: old complaint, industry's already been moving away from this stereotype

[maybee]

Looking at non-sequels from the last couple of years, this seems like an outdated complaint.

While direct sequels such as God of War and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus still fit this (since, y'know, people respond so well to replacing a main character halfway through a series) a lot of games in 2017 and 2018 don't. For starters, there's a plethora of games where you pick your character's gender (MH World, Prey, Destiny 2, among others).

Then there's the games where the main character's not even male (Horizon, Gravity Rush 2, Nier: Automata, Hellblade, among others).

And finally there's plenty of games these days where the male main character isn't white or Buff McBeefcake (AC: Origins, for which I'll count Bayek as the MC even though technically you're playing the lady who's playing him, Breath of the Wild, in which Link is so androgynous people initially thought he might be Zelda or a female Link, No No Kuni 2, where your MC is a tiny catboy, and others)

tldr: old complaint, industry's already been moving away from this stereotype

I hope you're right !

[Quindiana Jones]

lol what a bunch of wetties

[Dr. Acula]

Guys I should write my thesis about this