GTD: Minority characters in adventure games

Started by GarageGothic, Fri 22/08/2003 15:40:23

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Lordhoban

Gay, straight, white, black, asian, hispanic, etc., what does it all mean, anyway? It's all bullshit postering. Labels people have to associate themselves or others as because they need to achieve some kind of meaning? I don't believe in 'races', and I don't believe in the whole gay or straight labels. People, of solid mind, can be whatever they want to be. Urges and feelings be damned. Be who and what you want to be, just so long as it doesn't destroy or disrupt in a negative way other people's lives. And if you disrupt a racist's life by making them look at themselves in their stupidity, then in those cases, that's actually a positive. Just so we're clear on meanings here.

There is only one race on this rock that is, as far as I know, the top of the food chain. Which is the human race. So, unless you want to be racist against your own people or maybe there are aliens out there we can be racist against, then the whole concept of racism is totally ridiculous.

We all have our differences, but does that mean I'm going to go pick on all goofy looking, smart people just because they're smart and 'ugly', as perceived by society? Let's be racist against nerds! Segregate, put them on an island, and let only the dumb, pretty folk continue this human race! As far as ugly goes, do I have to quote the age old 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' line? Oh, well, I am, anyway.

Look, I'm 'white', or caucasion, as I'm labelled to be, but I was a minority in the schools I chose to attend. Do I have some pent up rage against people who threw insulting words at me because I was the only white kid to go to that school? No. Did I see any difference in say, hispanic women as compared to white, or black? Uuumm, no. They are built the same. They have the same holes, same brain.... while their interests may differ, so does some white guy who grew up in a culture completely foreign to my own. Any person, given what's at their core, will develope along a similiar path with proper stimuli. It doesn't matter their skin color, it matters what's inside. 

I think, people think too much on what should be a nonissue. It is an issue, because too many people are ignorant about such things. Too many people allow themselves to be controlled and brainwashed by outside stimuli. Too many people are not individuals, as much as they want to or at least claim to want to be.  Now, that's not to say outside stimuli does not affect me to some extent, but it is up to me to work on me with how I am affected.

As far as adventure games go. Do what's natural in terms of story. If a certain character belongs in the story, then write them in. I often leave exact descriptions out of my screenplays unless a character really does need a certain look and feel. Like, for instance, my feature film. I first had an asian girl interested in the part, but she turned it down. I then went with someone hispanic, who pulled out. And ended up with someone white. As long as each of them were capable of playing the part, did it really matter which one of them got it? Not to me. On the other hand, I have a sci-fi script with a bounty hunterish character who is described as being brown faced. I was aiming at a certain look and feel to the character, which had nothing to do with any stereotypical views. 

That's what I believe in.



rharpe

I will not comment on stereotypes... people have way too diversified views. (I'll definitely piss someone off if I state my beliefs.)

As for game design: You shouldn't cater to anyone or anything other than what you believe, know, and love. (Unless you are contracted to do it in a certain way, of course. But then that could involve other messy issues that I refuse to touch upon.)

So if you are making a game for the pure love of game design... it should come from you! If you're white and feel the main character should be white...by all means make a white hero. If you're a black girl and you feel no one will like your game because the heroin is black... who cares, make her a black girl, this game reflects you!

I've noticed that people who have tried to cater to others usually fail in their design because they aren't happy with what they created. You need to have a load of passion behind your project to get to the finish line. If you're trying to please everyone along the way, your stanima to complete the game will fall short.

Many people, including myself, have never made a game because our expectations of design are too high. We need to just come up with something we are happy with and work with it till we get ourselves a blockbuster...in our own eyes. :) (And if others love it, GREAT!)

Ok, I better wrap this up... don't feel obligated to use minority characters. It's your game....
the end!  ;D
"Hail to the king, baby!"

Alla

Hi..Plz,can anyone help me ? i found NET WITH PLEE,but if i go to N,than to W,there is no any Krup there ! i can see only Spider and head.its not Krup.Any hint plz...thanks a alot.. ??? ??? ???

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

QuoteOk, I better wrap this up... don't feel obligated to use minority characters. It's your game....

First of all, I have an intense dislike for the term 'minority' as applied to races.  It's just another means of segregation and preventing people from saying 'wow, we're all basically the same so get over it'.  Second, I agree that you should use whatever race(s) you wish in your game without regards to public expectation.  When I made Mind's Eye it was essentially a Halloween game with references to my favorite horror films, and Childs (the black mean dude in my game) happens to be a character from John Carpenter's The Thing.  There wasn't any real significance other than I thought his character needed to be a prick (Childs was a major prick in the movie) and he fit this part well. 

Just go with whatever type of story and characters you want, regardless of the backlash you feel you will receive.  This is particularly true for a game made for yourself, but when you are making it for others to enjoy you will need to consider the content and whether it will be offensive to  your target audience.

larino87

I don't think that the issue was lack of African American adventure developers. I think that it was the fact that early games, even some newer adventure games carry stereotypes of other ethnic groups. And it's not only African Americans, but also Latinos, Asians. You name it.
Now I'm your queen... bow down to my queenly queenliness
                  --Libby Folfax

Tuomas

Stereotypes are not bad in my point of view since we're making free games just for fun, in fact most stories/jokes/puzzles can be directly connected to stereotypes. However there are different, good and bad ways of approaching this subject. Take my coming game for example, how could I exclude say black people when it's situated in the Republic of Congo. But then, they're not a minority anymore. And I have stupid people, lame people, evil people, and yeah, some white people. But who could I make it offensive to? You just have to keep it in reason, and I think every sain person can do that.

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