Network now...FEATURE
Why are Black Game Characters Failing the Audience?
Darion White is a student of journalism and a gamer, living in Atlanta, Georgia. He is co-editor of PrimePlus.
February is Black History Month. As an African-American I want to take this opportunity to study some of the issue surrounding games and the portrayals of African characters or those with African heritage. I'd like to make comparisons between stereotypical, defective and one-dimensional characters like Barrett and Augustus Cole and more complex, but still problematic characters such as Carl 'CJ' Johnson. I'm also going to pick out some positive black characters in other entertainment media, as well as a precious few in games.
Also, I'll argue that more rounded African-American or African-diaspora characters are a commercial imperative for game-makers, as the audience for games becomes more racially diverse. And I'll explore how the marketing of games is changing, as personal modification of player-characters becomes more prevalent.
Black characters in video games aren’t difficult to find, but rare is the well-rounded and positive black protagonist. Black characters in games habitually range from stereotypical to non-existent. In contrast, black gamers consume a great deal of the medium and are a vastly growing and contributing demographic in the community. Why not create and implement characters that are actually relatable or who boast innovative societal behaviors?
Now, as a black gamer, I don’t want to single myself out in saying that creative black characters should entirely cater to representing me in whatever fashion. Nor do I exclusively desire to experience the personage of the black-American. What’s even more imperative is the element of portrayal, seen through the eyes and respective thought processes of all gamers.
This unfortunately, is most commonly based on worldwide mainstream media and/or simple unfamiliarity. It’s no secret that the game industry–in the Western hemisphere–is mostly populated by white males, be they designers, artists, programmers, etc. Fairly and honestly, those in creative positions will more than not, imagine and implement characters in their likeness. The same can be said in the Eastern world of development, though are more successful at in designing the white male character, and they do it often.
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Black History Month is a stupid idea to begin with, as is the gay parades. If you don't want people to stigmatize your chosen race, ethnicity or group, stop talking about race all day and interjecting it into every debate.
I'll leave Morgan Freeman (a fellow black man) to explain in a more erudite manner than I can why this is a bad and ignorant idea:
Morgan Freeman on Black History Month
Why are you only focusing on the negative aspects of the Barrett character in Final Fantasy VII? He was the leader of a rebel organization that opposed technology that was killing the planet. Barrett also adopted his best friends' daughter after his friend died. Throughout the story, he proves to be loyal and performs many selfless deeds. He sounds like a decent role-model to me, if you need that sort of thing.
Interestingly enough, Crackdown gave you a choice of a bunch of different playable characters, but the black guy was the one that featured prominently on the cover, and in trailers, and was the one most people I know chose to play as.
As far as Gordan Freeman goes though, the answer as to why he is white should be pretty obvious. Freeman is a representation of the nerds at Valve who created him. And why not? If I could make a game, I'd quite like to put myself in it.
Excellent read. I am going to co-op this and place it on my blog.....
Good observations, one thing to consider however, is when character design is irrelevant and voice acting is at the forefront. For instance, a character who may not be black or dark-skinned but who could be considered black, as in the main character from the GOD OF WAR.....
Thanks for the knowledge,
TaylrMayd
http://chroniccast.blogspot.com
The Only Blog Dedicated To The Hood
Not to derail the topic but have you ever seen an Italian well represented?
Voldo, Mario, Luigi, That guy from GTA:VC, Mobsters....
Where is the correct stereotype??? (30 something living at home with parents, does not make pizza and is definately not a plumber!)
I just wanted to say this is a great article and I hope I can express my thoughts without too many flames coming my way.
Until GTA San Andreas I never really understood what black gamers were going through. As soon as I started the game I couldn't relate with the character, the environment, or anything. I played the game for the freedom of the environment and overall I enjoyed the experience but I never felt so disconnected from a character. I can imagine that black gamers must feel this way with most games and I actually feel bad for all gamers when I play a game with stereotypical black characters now.
Having been in the military I could easily relate to Niko of GTA4 even through racial and cultural differences. Most of my friends in the Army were black so I can relate to Gears 2 Cole"train" and find him to be someone I would want with me in a battle or just to shoot some pool with back in the barracks, basically a trusted friend.
Another great black character was from the first Mercenaries game he's the only character I played as because he was a good soldier. I didn't care for the money hungry girl or the crazy other guy.
I may be mistaken but wasn't one of COD4's main characters, Johnson, black? It's just a great game I can see the character of Johnson being any race and color and I would still enjoy it and could connect with the character.
I think character creation is the key to making games more accessible to everyone, but I look forward to a day when there is a great game with a black lead character that makes me care about his situation and care about his motivation/desires the way that Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, and Laurence Fishburne have done in some of my favorite movies.
You'll notice I said "he" a lot. Can you imagine how disconnected female gamers must feel? But I guess that's another topic for another time.
Great article.
Well if you are going to take Japanese games as a mirror to racial stereotypes then I wonder why the Japanese think of Caucasians as effeminate, moping, self absorbed...ahem
Slum Dog Millionare anyone? Why is that a film that portrays a race of people who have had hardly any screen time other than in local productions as actually being normal people suddenly the toast of Hollywood?
Why in GTA4 was the main character non conformal to what a main character should be? (charismatic, handsome, american) Polish people I have talked to snigger a bit but actually love the guy.
Stereotypes are being broken but for the races with much media coverage then we have a long way to go to dispell the myths perpatrated by ourselves (the media industry, lookng for a quick buck)
Can anyone name an Indian character from a game? Except for Apoo from the Simpsons games of course.
Dhalsim from Street Fighter 2.
I really think the whole issue of race equality is a non-issue. If there's any perceived racism inherent in media, it's probably intentional on the part of the writers, or because they conform to lazy archetypes.
It's easy to make a black character fit the mould of a Mr-T, Barrett from Final Fantasy 7-archetype, just like it's easy to make the wise man an old hermit with a pair of glasses.
It's all in the archetypes. African-Americans need to look towards themselves, and not look at videogame/movie archetypes for validation. This is one of those 'Holy Grails' that is almost as redundant and pointless as the 'are videogames art?' Holy Grail.
To quote Tyler Durden from Fight Club: 'You are not your khakis. You are not your condo.' Similarly, you are not your 'videogame/movie archetype'.
The argument of Will Smith being Robert Nevile has one nasty hook. Sure, Smith can play the Hollywood whitewash version of I Am Legend, but what if he played the real Robert Nevile from the book? The borderline crazy person staking people by day? The insane self-tough scientist who might have an explanation for the apocalypse but maybe it is all his insanity? The Robert Nevile in the book has a nasty quality. He is a very racist person, a fact he does not want to admit. Could Will Smith really play such a person in a movie?
One good example in my opinion is Afro Samurai. Though the series bathes in black culture references, the whole story is not impacted by the skin color of the lead character. If Oktoberfest was cool, the producers could easily retool the whole gig into Bavarian Samurai. The cultural references are just superficial, interchangeable. At its core Afro Samurai is a story that would work with any protagonist of any color. Which makes Afro a human being first, instead of a gimmick. The same cannot be said for 99% of supporting characters, they are always gimmicky and ignorant, not just the Black guy, but also the computer geek, the hot chick and the best pal.
I also like Gus from Psych, it's never an issue him being black that makes him so much more sympathetic than, let's say, the Cole Train. Cole is a joke, Gus is really funny. One character would work in any color, one would not. That's my line for slightly racist characters. Everybody can keep his accent and heritage, even white culture has enough of those, but the difference is whether we laugh with somebody or at somebody.
i refuse the comments about fran, i never once considered her to be a black female, and never assumed her to be a sex addict , which to me should represent the female race not just black women as your insinuating, do white women only get to be evil seductresses?? thats just not fair. but anyhow jus cus her skin was darker i never assumed it was a stereotype i just thought she was a bunny girl, wud u prefer her to be a white bunny girl? or would u like to go have a go at all the tanned characters in FFXI. the other thing that bugs me is the ff13 guy, he has a pet chocobo, if i had an afro id use it as a nest too cus theres no way im putting it in a cage, or my pocket and suffocating the poor thing, do you want animal cruelty on your backs?
Hey everyone, thanks for the intelligent discussion/debate. I wanted to address a few things though.
1.) I'm aware that there exists stereotypes for all ethnicities, nationalities, and races. It's a discussion that extends further than those of African heritage. I even touched on that concept in the article :).
I happen to be African-American and this is black history month (in America) so I deemed it appropriate to discuss black characters in games. Also, stereotypical perspectives for blacks is still very prevalent throughout the world. Much more so than most.
2.) To let everyone understand, I'm in no way upset or mad. I really hope this article doesn't come off with that connotation :/. Even though this is a serious editorial at heart, I littered it with humor throughout. I consider myself to have a great and flexible sense of it :).
3.) I couldn't get to ALL characters though lol. I hope I did discuss a wide spectrum of characters - good and bad. And for the record, Tekken has great characters. This article is more concentrated on the black protagonist rather than random NPC.
4.) I completely agree that the climate of design and perception is evolving, that's a good thing. But it isn't perfect yet.
Yes, yes, yes.
You are so right about stereotypes. I'm a Russian by origin and we all know how they look in films and games.
It's all about stereotypes and necessity. Some time ago American Film industry have noticed that there was a really big Latino American community in the states. It was necessary for them to exploit this opportunity and bring those people to the movie theaters. To do this you need some one who can represent this community. Antonio Banderas was exactly the right person for the job. It was necessary for those people to be able associate themselves with some one so they could go, watch, be proud and go again.
A couple of years ago there was a really good Russian actor who became quite popular under American producers. He played some good roles as a bad guy and was even invited to play one of the major roles in the hight profile movie. Don't remember the name of this movie but at the end they were living mother earth in the space shuttle (7 of them I think) because it became not suitable for life or something. At the very end of this movie they all had their final farewell speeches with close ups on their faces. All of them where left untouched except the Russian one, he was cut out completely. The Russians can't save the day and can't be good, never. It just don't fits in the western state of mind. For this actor it was a really big kick in the back (I can understand). Afterwords he rejected every single offer from Hollywood. I'm not angry, it's just how it works. :)
With best regards,
Jevgeni.
Pastuh, totally agree! Otlichno skazal, bratukha! :)
Russian females are generally portrayed not so negatively, primarily because Westerners seem to have a fetish for them. Russian males, on the other hand, are mostly depicted as dirty and vile drunks with greasy hair and ugly facial features.
Since Russians are white, punching them is "safe" and helps to maintain racial harmony in the US :) The author of this article is asking for too much of a good thing IMO. Frankly, I can't remember when was the last time I played a game with a black villain or at least some black character portrayed in an unflattering light.
These days Russians and Arabs seem to be the most convenient source of cannon fodder for film-makers and game designers.
I think the title and little synopsis for the article makes it sound 'angry', when it's actually not.
On the chicken lovin' afro nice guy of FF13, if you're serious or not, I'm not sure if Asians are aware of that stereotype. Japanese LOVE chicken, they eat the knee joints on skewers. KFC is everywhere. Chinese LOVE fried chicken, the Colonel's face is as abundant as Mao's in the People's Republic. I grew up eating a bucket of KFC every week.
When told it was a black thing one day in high school, I was thoroughly confused. Who doesn't love fried chicken? I would also challenge that Asians love fried chicken more than blacks do. Same with watermelons.
And... I dunno, I just want to share with you. The first time I saw white/black interracial violence was Street Fighter 2's intro, when that blond guy slugs the black dude right in the face.
Then I noticed in SF2Turbo, they made the dark guy lighter skinned, then they added some brown people in the audience behind.
Even in the 90's Capcom was aware of this sort of thing, I wonder who brought it to attention.
As an African-American in Japan, I just wanted to second that the Japanese love KFC (they eat it on Xmas!) and watermelon. That is all.
Thanks for the reply. 90% of Americans and those familiar with our culture knows that chicken is a black stereotype. Even though I myself love it lol!
Concerning the title and synopsis: it honestly doesn't perpetuate anger in any sense. Though I can understand the interpretation. Many times, professional journalism promotes titles that peak interest at a glance (and sometimes controversy). But when you read the article you'll come to understand that isn't the sole agenda. Just to let you know, the original title on my site is "Black Protagonists in Gaming". General and objective, but also boring lol.
This just reminded me of highschool. My friends and I---a collection of irish, italian, korean, etc....the list goes on... we had what we called "thursday nightt chicken and comedy" ...simple really...KFC + random comedy movie. We did this almost ever single week of senior year. So, just to throw some support up for it.... Who doesn't like fried chicken?
You put together a well written article (which bodes well for someone studying journalism!). It's cool to see you commenting as well.
Brian
www.brianwoods.com
>>and one-dimensional characters like Barrett and Augustus Cole
Is being a single father, community leader and business owner a one dimensional character?
as for Capcom, you left out Dudley
he's one goddamn dapper gentleman boxer of a gentleman who just wants to get his pa's car back from the last boss.
You're right about Barrett. The intro was worded incorrectly I apologize. But in the body of the editorial I never mentioned the fact that he's one-dimensional, because he isn't. Thanks.
Ah, it's my fault, I read it too quickly. Thanks for replying!
I can understand the author's point, but when it comes to stereotypes, he needs to realize that most races are stereotyped and I suggest the author develop a thicker skin and/or a sense of humor.
As an Italian-American, should I be offended that most Italians in video games or movies are portrayed as mobsters, wiseguys or somehow linked to organized crime?
Should Irish-Americans be offended by the Bruce Willis, drunk-Irish-cop-hero role that he assumed in at least 6 movies by my count (probably more)?
Should white males be offended that white fathers are portrayed in film and on TV as bumbling, inept, poor role models? It is one of Holywood's favorite stereotypes. It shows up in the most unexpected places, like Tom Cruise's version of War of the Worlds.
Yeah probably, but me personally, I'd rather just enjoy playing games like GTA !V, than worrying about what people might think of the Italian mob.
I remember feeling quite proud of Barret. His very existence seemed breakthrough. And now, we may see him as a stereotypical hothead, but I was impressed by him being the leader of the eco-terrorist group and being a loving father to his daughter.
And the Metal gear Solid series has had other black characters: there was the DARPA guy in the first MSG and some bomb defuser in the MGS2.
Still, I agree there is need for greater diversity overall. And as long as the people making games isn't as diverse as the world they are making games about, then it will take courage to write about characters that are "nontraditional".
I'm slightly disappointed the author didn't mention Eddie Gordo from Tekken. I remember being mesermized by his fighting style the first time I saw the cabinet in an arcade. Fighting games are never much for story, but in giving an amazing visual dynamic to Eddie, they raised his profile significantly.
Also, let's not forget that the game the kicked a new genre into high gear, Everquest, featured an entire race of blacks. (I guess that's discounted by them being mostly pasty white in EQ2, though.)
It doesn't help stereotypes in gaming when the information people have about minorities has a propensity to be negative, either. We know that there are many more successful black families in the world than videos of Hurricane Katrina coverage from New Orleans would suggest. And those news stories were global, so the whole planet got to see and hear about what conditions were like at the Superdome. Contrast that with a culture that prides itself on formality and the citizens believe in their hearts nothing like that could *ever* happen there and you get a perfect storm of reentrenchment for stereotypes.
Ultimately, it only takes one moment to create a poor stereotype and generations to undo the damage that is done.
Brian
www.brianwoods.com
Good article but couldn't the same be said for Hispanic or Latinos who make up a slightly larger percentage of the American population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_...
The only games I can think of having either as lead characters are Just Cause and Total Overdose. It seem that until games are made by non-whites this will continue to happen, Vin Diesel can't make all the games. In fact how many non-white, non-asian games designers/producers can you name?
Small aside, I loved the realistic diversity of Assassins Creeds population.
Please get your information straight Aversim. As of the present non-Hispanic whites are the majority in America, this is not expected to change until 2042.
Left 4 Dead, man. :)
It has smart black guy, not a baseball player, not a gangster, not a soldier. Just usual office guy, who happened to survive zombie apocalypse.
So while I can agree on problem with portaying black people in game as badasses, it is changing. Slowly.
There's always that Drebin bloke from Metal Gear. Another intelligent black man that doesn't act like he's an extra from Boyz in the Hood.
But I agree with you the lazy stereotyping is getting a bit old...
I personally think that gaming has come a long way in regards to ethnicity. I love how most "create-a-character" options allow for me to make a toon of nearly any ethnicity. I'm playing Fallout 3 at the moment and it's cool that since I made a character w/ a dark complexion the game actually made my father of a similar complexion. Little things like that make me feel gaming has progress in that area.
As far as the Cole Train, you have to ask yourself: Did Epic really design that game with character development in mind? Of course not. At the end of the day, they're all a bunch of juiced up soldiers killing just about anything that moves. Although I won't lie...everytime I look at FF13 screenshots I just cringe.
In the end, as long as my characters lips aren't as large as a damned sarlacc while holding a piece of watermelon in one hand and fried chicken in the other, we straight.
Oddly this article completely misses one of the most interesting games in relation to portrayal of Africans, Far Cry2. It nicely discusses colonialism, race and the place of non nationals in conflicts. It has many multi-dimensional portrayals of black characters, and plenty of stereotypes of various ethnicities. But strangely, Far Cry 2s excellent character portrayal has been completely overlooked in most things...
While I'm all in favor of having better characters for Blacks in video games, I'd like to point out that Blacks themselves often portray other races negatively. Anyone remember when Outcast performed on TV dressed up as stereotypical Native Americans? Or how about how Spike Lee portrays Koreans in the few movies where he even has an Asian character? And last time I watched BET, I didn't see many, if at all, Asians, Arabs, Native Americans, Jews, etc.
On the point about BET I think it's important to note that it has been owned by Viacom for a while. So it's some what incorrect to take its original content as a 100% reflection of black America's thoughts on the world, black Americans are only the demographic BET is mainly marketed towards (and really it perpetuates more negative black stereotypes than anything else).
Again, BET is just one example. Blacks in entertainment in general aren't very inclusive of other minorities, and, when they are, they tend to portray other minorities negatively or have them around as token background characters as well.
Have you ever watched the Boondocks? It would be a shame to suggetst that BET is somehow the spokesman for the black community, when other influential cultural icons disagree.
One also shouldn't be surprised when a heavily opressed minority looks at other minorities and majorities in a dim, racial light. The racial divide is simply that much more obvious than it is for the dominant cliques of society, and so they have good reason to focus on it more. It becomes a definitive part of their role in society, wherea caucasions (for example) have the luxury of not ever considering their race since it holds them back little in mainstream life. To summarize: the opressed are far more aware of their opression than the oppressors.
There is a course a difference between racial introspection and simple racism. In the comedic world, for example, I would say Dave Chapelle or the classic Richard Pryor are doing racial humor and commentary, whereas Carlos Mencia is simply being racist.
In any case, similar to how Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame feels, the caucasion dark haired buzz-cutt marine archetype really needs to bite the dust, and so does his stereotypical minority sidekick. It's time for some ingenuity and humanity.
I've seen a good number of episodes of Boondocks, but not all of them. I understand that BET isn't the spokesman for the Black community. The point is that rarely, if ever, do I see Blacks being inclusive of other races in their movies, shows, etc. I'm not saying that every movie or TV show by or about Blacks has to include every other minority (The Wire is a good show even though the cast is mostly Black), but it's hard for me to sympathize with articles like this one when Blacks seem to be engaged in the same kind of stuff the author is talking about in their own movies and TV shows.
Non-Black minorities, when they appear at all, in Black shows and movies are also usually background, invisible characters or heavily stereotyped.
I also don't draw any distinctions between "heavily oppressed" minorities and other minorities. To me, all minorities are equal.
That said, I'm always welcoming of innovative and better character development for people of all races, not just Blacks or Whites.
Storytelling and character development has never been a strong point in gaming. Sure there are some exceptions like the Grand Theft Auto series, but for the most part, the story of games are the least popular of games.
I hope it changes, because I personally enjoy a great single player experience more than multiplayer.
I think it is difficult to avoid the idea that gaming while emerging from the shadow of Hollywood, is heavily influenced by it. The phrase 'token black guy' comes from film, not games. In fact Hollywood is guilty of a multitude of racial stereotyping sins. Go beyond non americans as main characters i.e James Bond or any Will Smith movie, then don't bet against the following; if you are british, you are evil. If you are german you are unbelievably evil. If you are italian you are in the mob. If you are french or canadian you are the butt of jokes. If you are japanese you are either a ninja, samurai or worker who 'thinks' he can outsmart the easy going white american male. If you are russian, again evil. Reside anywhere south of Dallas, right down to the south pole and you are in a drug cartel. If you live in the middle east you and everyone you know is a stinking terrorist. I hope that as gaming breaks free from Hollywood in terms of financial success, it abandons the need to copy its more odious racial practices.
I laughed so much when I read this, because it's just so true. I can't imagine it's much fun being a middle-eastern actor and going for an endless stream of 'terrorist' roles!
Also don't forget the totally re-write of history to suit the plot, particularly if said rewrite makes America look better.
Nice topic, yea I didn't like age of conan protrying blacks as evil. I really dislike stero types, there is meny types of people out there in the world. There are other races too, you see alot them in games.
The largest reason, I think, for the lack of decent black characters is the same reason for a lot gaming's problems.
Most aren't interested in expanding gaming. They feel it's easier to target the same small group of teenage/college aged males which will typically be the group least receptive to characters that don't look like they want to think they look like (the muscle bound white space marine).