More Racial Diversity in Role Playing Games

[Beethoven4567]

Do any of you guys here want to see more racial diversity in RPGs, particularly those made by Japanese companies? Most RPGs that are developed by Japanese game developers hardly have any black skinned characters in the game and no black main characters( hero ) have been featured in them so far. Below are the list of RPGs that the main charcter or hero isn't black:

1. FFVII: Cloud ain't black
2. FFVIII: Same
3. FFIX: Same
4. FFX: " "
5. Star Ocean 2
6. Star Ocean 3
7. Xenosaga
8. Xenosaga 2
9. Xenogears
10. Lunar:SSSC
11. Lunar:EBC
12. Grandia
13. Grandia 2
14. Grandia 3
15. Suikoden 1
16. Suikoden 2
17. Suikoden 4
and many more...................

(A) Do you think that Japanese gamers are discriminating against black gamers by portraying RPGs where there are little, if any, black characters?

(B) Would you like to see a black man being the main charcter like in Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas?

(C) Why do you think Japanese game makers ignore blacks in their RPGs?

Anyway, sorry for my ranting, but i just couldn't stand it if there is no racial diversity in RPGs. I mean, come on, if you are a God, would you create a world where there are only one species? That ain't cool and fun! So, i'm no saying this because i am a racist but because most game characters in Japanese RPGs look Caucasian and Japanese! I'm not saying that they should be politically correct but they must accept the diversity of 6 billion humans in our world if they want to promote their games to an even wider market. So, what's not cool about black characters? Most game caracters in Japanese RPGs have white skin! Boy, the Japanese sure love Caucasians :roll: . A black charcter that looks like Wesley Snipes can kick major ass just like Grandia 2's Ryudo and FFVII's Cloud can! If i am a Japnese game maker employee, i would suggest that the RPGs that our company develops has blacks in it.

Please end this unjust discrimination against black people and stop portraying blacks negatively in games compared to Caucasian and Japanese- looking charcters.
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"In war there is no substitute for victory"

[John Layfield]

(A) Do you think that Japanese gamers are discriminating against black gamers by portrating RPGs where there are little, if any, black characters?

No, I don't. There is no active, or indeed inactive, attempt to discriminate against black people in video games.

(B) Would you like to see a black man being the main charcter like in Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas?

I don't care, it's only skin colour. Positive discrimination is still discrimination. Making black main characters just for the sake of being able to trumpet 'diversity' is an example of this. I would refuse to buy a game that included characters of ethnic minorities just so they could proclaim that they're not racist. Don't be racist, that's great, I'm not, but don't sprinkle a pile of stereotypes and use it to claim you're 'diverse'.

(C) Why do you think Japanese game makers ignore blacks in their RPGs?

Because the black percentage of the Japanese population is so low that it doesn't factor into mainstream Japanese societys thinking.

It doesn't matter to me, I don't what colour any person in any game is, an absence of a race from a game is not an example of racism nor is it an example of anything else.

Whether a characters polygons are black or white should make no difference to his character. If it does, then that's another example of discrimination and stereotyping, be it positive or negative, I don't tolerate either.

It's only skin colour after all, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pretend that it matters for the sake of political correctness. Anyone who is over sensitive about these issues needs to step back and see if they aren't the ones with a problem regarding race.
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One day, I shall come back. Yes, we shall all come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.

[Ranadiel]

[St. Ajora]

I've seen this same arguement applied to television series. Honestly, I don't frigging care. When I have to sit down and think about the political correctness of a game, there's not much point to playing it. Why worry about such a thing? Is race really that big of an issue that we have to complain about what races don't get represented? How come there are no hispanic looking characters, or Indian girls, or natives? They deserve a right to be in rpg's as well, if blacks do. So I think the whole idea is just silly.

[kuwaizair]

[Himuro]

...Hardly any Black people live in Japan in the first place. What do you expect? I'm black and I don't really care.

[Cedric]

For more discussion on the subject regarding Suikoden I suggest reading SARS' editorial.

Racial Diversity in Suikoden

Regarding the Japanese Game makers supposedly leaving out black characters, I offer you this portion of that same editorial.

[Ninjar]

[Njord]

Do you think that Japanese gamers are discriminating against black gamers by portraying RPGs where there are little, if any, black characters?

Why do you really think that?

I come from an Arabian country, I'm not white, and I don't feel sad or angry if there is no RPG featuring an Arabian look alike hero (although that would be nice).

It doesn't matter for me because the hero's physical features aren't the main thing that makes me play a game, what characterize that hero is what matters at the end, the hero's feelings, role, and things that makes him/her/it what he/she/it is the one that counts.

But that doesn't either mean the general look of a character isn't important.


Would you like to see a black man being the main charcter like in Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas?

I find it weird for you in this situation to mention a game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that portrait a black man as a gangster when you at the end of your post said to stop portraying blacks negatively in games.

By the way, black persons weren't the only gangster type of people; there were also white and other ethnicity of bad character in it.

The only reason in my opinion we were able to see a black character in that game because the image of a black man is a one of a bad gangster type, I'm not saying all black people are gangsters and bad or look like gangesters or bad guys (or any other type of people for that matter), I'm just saying is that it is how the majority of black people are presented in our real world.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind playing as a black person in the role of the main hero only if it fits the story.


Why do you think Japanese game makers ignore blacks in their RPGs?

Maybe because the image of a black man hero doesn't fit their stories.
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[Urn]

This is a topic that really does not need to be discussed in the realm of fantasy. There are no 'black' main hereos in these games because the producers have no "black' writers. It is no big deal and it's not discrimination. If there is to be a hero of color, then there should be more people of color who seek to be producers in the gaming industry.

Personally, me being a African American male, I don't worry abotu such trivial things as a 'colored' main hero due to the fact that must producers make characters that would represent an ideal. We do see such characters like Barret from Final Fantasy 7 that portray a crude, foul-mouthed, colored guy and we also have Helmer from Xenosaga series that portrays an educated color guy. Most companies tend to avoid putting colored characters in the game due to questions like this.

If they put more colored characters in a game I can see people saying that they don't represent the actual personality or characteristics of that particular ethnicity once again being called on cultural stereotypes. I prefer race and issues like this to be left out of the gaming industry.

Colored characters are just not represented in games because people of color don't make videogames. It's as simple as that. And when we do, we make games that further promote negative stereotypes because ironically that's what people want to see. So, I say let's leave race out of it.

Also, people of different skin colors can be of a different race depending on their particular ethnicity. Elves, dwarves, giants and other such things are different species. They are called races in videogames due to the fact that there is no other distinguishing features between the human characters in most videogames (they all look pretty much the same). Elves are a species, not a race.

I think that we experience enough various cultures and traditions in Suikoden as well as other games. We do not need to bring color into the mix. I prefer to at least have one outlet in all of the world that isn't touched by color bias and stereotypes...this is fantasy so let's not bring real life problems into it. Let's at least keep videogames pure.
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~ Humbly walk the path of death

KOOLUK SUPPORTS TINTO MINERS

[Vextor]

Being Japanese, I severely doubt the Japanese people intentionally exclude blacks from title roles in games. I explained my reasons in the article I wrote that Ced quoted above, but anothe reason is because any exposure to black people would be mostly stereotypical at best. Japanese people are exposed to black people mainly in movies, tv, or music--the media. The media tends to portray blacks in a stereotypical fashion--which would mean most Japanese people wound end up thinking black people are all "gangstas" or something. However, the general exposure to black people is too rare even to this day.

The most famous black guy in Japan right now is probably Bob Sapp, who you can see in many TV ads and entertainment programms, and he is widely popular. Because Japan never had the history of enslaving blacks, there is really no basis for any "discrimination."

I think the most widespread discrimination that exists in Japan is against Koreans and Chinese people, which has existed for centuries. That's probably a closer analogy to the type of tension that exists between ethnic groups in the USA.

[Horned Loa]

Well I'd really say it all but it seems just about everyone has already worded it in such a way that there really is not much more to add. John Leyfield pretty much said the most of it but the one that made me think about this a little more was St.Ajora's comment:

[Aurelien]

[Arcana]

[John Layfield]