Racism in the Gaming Industry

?

I'm lost here Tricky, feel like i've stepped into something by accident :/

There's the post that I quoted again.

All I was saying is ignorant seems like the wrong label to use for people like that. The kind of people he describes never chose to ignore anything.

Wasn't talking about none of them racists.

 

I think this is my fault for using the wrong word... sorry! I was trying to think of a word and then "ignorant" just came to my mind. apologies!

 

oh, I used ignorant to describe what racists are earlier so I thought you were referring to that. CheekyChi used it in kinda a strange way so I see the confusing now. To be ignorant doesn't require purposefully ignoring information, it's just the act of not knowing something. Ignorant isn't really a word you could use to replace racist like I think Cheeky was trying to do. His paragraph is kinda confusing.

Like I'm ignorant of some of Lei Fei's stance switching moves. I haven't learned the strings and then choose to not remember them, I just never committed it to memory and learned it in the 1st place.

 

Video games... Hollywood.. Same damn thing.

 

No no no! I didn't use it to describe being racists. What I was trying to say is that the people lacked the knowledge therefore they were ignorant so corresponding to:

But Feck pointed out that the word may have been too strong for describing this. I agree but I don't know what that word is....

 

Racist overtones will exist in everything we do and say because the basic source of it exists in every human being so what. Games are just as racist as TV is and radio etc that is the way it is. The media will do whatever it can to keep you entertained one way or another and enough of us overall will look the other way because many of the images we see and hear are appealing even though they can be consider racist clearly.

I am not saying it is wrong or right because when it is all said and done it is up to us the viewer or player of the game to support it or not. If it is that much of a problem don't support the game etc. We can try to point out specific examples but if we just target them then others will take their place automatically when they are taken care of. The issue lies with the people in general not just the games or movies. Once you understand that we can all move on and make the right decision in this area to help people get over the natural ignorance we have of each other even at the lowest level. That is where it all comes from if it can't be displayed in games then it will be displayed in magazines and TV. It all starts with all of us as a race overall and the way we treat the people may not always like or respect.

That is just my point of view anyway good night everyone

 

If you're talking about me, what I said was the largest and third largest gaming markets in the world, the United States and Europe, featured a primarily White demographic. I didn't say that mostly Whites play games. It's just that Whites are the majority race within two of the largest markets. It's why the second biggest gaming market, Japan, makes a lot of games featuring White protagonists. It's not racism. It's marketing strategy.

That being said, I wouldn't mind more diversity in games myself. But developers will usually seek profits above anything else.

 

Absolutely. Music as well. The most successful guy in the rap industry today is Eminem. An industry formally dominated by blacks. Who do you think buys his music more? White or Black people? He even points it out himself in his songs that he wouldn't be as successful as he is if he wasn't white.

 

I can agree with that. Maybe racist was too strong a word. Let's just say the industry is not diverse enough. It would be nice to see the black guy as the main character and not just the side kick more often.

 

Secondly... Its not mostly Racist.... Its the formula.

Action must have a female co star thats mainly White or of mixed heritage.

Blade 1 was probably that last movie to feat a black female costar with a Powerful african Name.. But when it did great at box office.. 2 was bog down with a fomula to break even on its bigger budgetbudget..When 2 did fantastic.. 3 was then hollywooded the shit out endingthat series.they Diversified, Tried and true Fomulated,When Skimpy on action,Added a Love plot, MAde Blade the Black guy look out of place and foolish. they also made him seem outdated making the film a milksop. You don't use Donnie Yen as a choreographer for the fight sequences then use bum Ass Chuck Jeffries. Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynold can't perform like West cause he is a high ranked martial arts practicioner. They looked stupid.

Games that follow that fomula to ensure it break even..
re4
re5
re6
gears of war 3
bioshock infinite
etc.. There are plenty others.

 

We are touching on a very nuanced concept of institutionalized racism that permeates the entertainment industry. It's a very hard thing to change all at once because it's something we each have inside of us. I'm glad we're having the conversation though as it's the only way to bring about change. To talk about it.

 

I'm always angry. I find it calming. ^_^

 

Its even in cartoons. Remember that mid 80's cartoon GI joe? The only black character on there named Roadbloack use to turn all his sentences into rhymes. I thought it was annoying and my friend said he was offended by it. I think cartoons with african american main characters have moved along since then though. I liked John Stewart on the Justice League cartoon in 2001. Also Mace Windu on the Clone Wars cartoon is a stand up guy.

 

Jazz in Transformers... voiced by Scatman Crouthers. although he was a Robot he had a southern Black Man accent and was played by a Black man.
Wordsworth was one also Who spoke in rhyme From Heathcliff but he was All white colored lmao!!
Jammerz in Botsmaster was a Black colored robot who spoke in rhyme with a black accent.

 

You know what's even worse is when they have white characters being voiced by black guys. Kratos and Vamp from Metal Gear Solid are perfect examples.

 

Kratos actually looks like a black guy. His nose is a black nose if I've ever seen one. I know his cannon is that he's greek though. I don't know who Vamp is so I can't comment on him.

 

Vamp was a white guy? Damn... i thought he was mixed.

 

There is no essential difference between that and "Well, the reason is because whites play video games more than any other race." If the two largest markets have Whites as a majority race, then who is going to be playing videogames the most?

The point that is being made is that neither data point is enough to justify the lack of diversity, at least in my book.

 

That didn't bother me at all. When I found out Vamp was Phil Lamarr the MADtv fanboy inside me went off. It was like two things I love smashing together.

 

Aliens vs Predator from 2004 had a black woman as the lead character. She wasn't a "red bone" either,lol. Its funny that you mentioned Blade 1,because the main character in Aliens vs. Predator played Blade's mother inBlade1.


And lol at you SDS for the Donnie Yen and Chuck Jeffries comment. I feel you though...thats like going from caviar to spam.