Is this racist?

[Doctanian]

Is it racist to wish that the season 2 protagonist will be another minority?

I mean, with Lee, the game broke so many unfortunate traditions in gaming. And with the Walking Dead in general. After that travesty that was T-Dog's character, I was glad to have Lee. But now that he's gone, I fear TellTale will go the typical cut and paste brown-haired white male route.

I know it shouldn't matter, but on a certain level, it does. Especially when it comes to video games and the representation of diversity. I mean, majority of video game protagonists look like this:



We have enough Nathan Drakes. Your thoughts?

[8Bit_System]

You don't sound racist to me, you do sound narrowminded though.

[dubesor]

I don't care about the ethnicity of the protagonist. Might be black, white, asian - who cares? I don't. For me the most important part would be that the new protagonist will again have such an excellent voiceactor.

[Bananapatcher]

I'd like to see maybe a blonde hair blue, and blue eyes protagonist kind of like ben

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by 8Bit_System

You don't sound racist to me, you do sound narrowminded though.

I disagree on the narrowminded bit, friend. It's just that, as a minority, I've played as Nathan Drakes and Chris Redfields for YEARS with no problem. But the rare time I have a protagonist I can relate to on a ethnic basis, he dies at the end. Fucked up.

[dubesor]

Originally Posted by Doctanian

But the rare time I have a protagonist I can relate to on a ethnic basis, he dies at the end. Fucked up.

Errr... so in order to relate to a character he has to be the same race of you? I am white and could totally relate to Lee. Jees your fucked up tbh.

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by dubesor

Errr... so in order to relate to a character he has to be the same race of you? I am white and could totally relate to Lee. Jees your fucked up tbh.

Dude, you're missing the point.

[JByrne]

No, I think that's a reasonable attitude. There's a real surfeit of white, male 20-30 something male protagonist in games, because that's the demographic most developers aim for.

The principle behind concepts like 'affirmative action' is to be a correcting course against those tendencies. To help give an equal voice to people in situations where the decks are otherwise unfairly stacked against them. Race is an issue, and pretending that it doesn't exist or that one is 'colour blind' only helps to make one more blind to when it harms those with smaller or more uneven representation.

Especially when you yourself are privy to the privileges of being white, or being male, or being within a certain age range.

[dubesor]

so you are telling me, by your logic, if Telltale decided 1 year ago to make Lee a white guy the game would have sold better and the players would have liked the more game more due to "ethnic-based relation"? Because I highly doubt the main targetmarket of TWD game are african-americans... to me asking for a specific ethnicity just seems silly.

[8Bit_System]

Originally Posted by Doctanian

I disagree on the narrowminded bit, friend. It's just that, as a minority, I've played as Nathan Drakes and Chris Redfields for YEARS with no problem. But the rare time I have a protagonist I can relate to on a ethnic basis, he dies at the end. Fucked up.

Well, that's how it goes. I'm from Germany... show me the last time a German dude was allowed to be the hero - apart from Xcom: Enemy Unknown.

I never had the ethnic problem, though, but not because I'm white anyways and the characters could fit. I had a black character on Oblivion and Mass Effect and loved them!

I'd say over 90% of the community could relate to Lee and believe me, he died for all of us.

[JByrne]

Originally Posted by dubesor

so you are telling me, by your logic, if Telltale decided 1 year ago to make Lee a white guy the game would have sold better and the players would have liked the more game more due to "ethnic-based relation"? Because I highly doubt the main targetmarket of TWD game are african-americans... to me asking for a specific ethnicity just seems silly.

I'm saying that most businesses tend to market things around what they believe is the largest demographic for their product.

That's why so many 'mainstream' films have white male leads.

That's why so many big-budget adaptations change the ethnicity of the lead characters.

It reinforces the idea of whiteness as 'default' and anything else as being a deviation from the norm.

And no, I don't believe their target audience are black Americans, and that's what makes their choice of lead virtuous.

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by dubesor

so you are telling me, by your logic, if Telltale decided 1 year ago to make Lee a white guy the game would have sold better and the players would have liked the more game more due to "ethnic-based relation"? Because I highly doubt the main targetmarket of TWD game are african-americans... to me asking for a specific ethnicity just seems silly.

I wouldn't know. I'm not white. What I do know is, my family and several of my friends are of African Americans were pleased with Lee and Clementine (who's partly black too). It made the fact that the writers of the TV show screwed over T-Dog that less painful. And it gave me hope of a multicultural gaming world.

I'm assuming you're white. So you wouldn't know. If you're an avid gamer, moviegoer, or even TV watcher, you see people who look like your and represent your culture all the time. So the race or gender of a character wouldn't be as big of a deal to you.

It's like a woman complaining of no females in professional sports. To a man, it's not a big deal because the industry is dominated by males, so they can't relate.

Now, put yourself in my shoes and see how little people who represent your cultural and ethic backgrounds are there. That would be a tiny bit depressing.

For every Lee, there's twenty Nathan Drakes. I think my argument is reasonable.

[DreadMagus]

I don't see what race has to do with it.

Personally, three of my favorite survival horror (and I consider this game survival horror) main characters are black - and I'm not.

A good character is a good character, doesn't matter what they look like.

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by 8Bit_System

Well, that's how it goes. I'm from Germany... show me the last time a German dude was allowed to be the hero - apart from Xcom: Enemy Unknown.

I never had the ethnic problem, though, but not because I'm white anyways and the characters could fit. I had a black character on Oblivion and Mass Effect and loved them!

I'd say over 90% of the community could relate to Lee and believe me, he died for all of us.

Well, Germans are common in games... only they're the bad guys most of the time.

I feel you, and I'm not saying everyone couldn't relate. I'm really happy people loved Lee. I'm just saying the implications of a colored character is more far reaching and positive than you might think, mate.

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

I don't see what race has to do with it.

Personally, three of my favorite survival horror (and I consider this game survival horror) main characters are black - and I'm not.

A good character is a good character, doesn't matter what they look like.

It's a black thing, lol.

It's more complicated than you're making it, bruh. I'll take a good character of any race any day, but good characters representing different cultural aspects and races is good for everyone. The All-American, fair-skin, brown-haired, blue-eyed badass is awesome, but there's more colors in the rainbow (skin color) and different smells in the kitchen (cultures).

[DreadMagus]

Well, if that's your stance, I agree.

I like diversity rather than the same-ol' same-ol'.

[anonymau5]

I think it would be cool to see less white adult males as the main protagonist in Video Games, but I really don't care that much. If it's a good character it doesn't matter the race.

[kongdong]

non issue for me. never even thought about it before reading this nonsense. i liked lee from the start because he seemed like a cool guy. not because hes black. i liked rick in the show also because of his character. not because hes white. i didn't like t-dog. not because he's black but because i found his character boring. i think it's not racist to make a character white or black but to think you prefer one race over another, thats the racist thought. again, before i read this it didnt even come to my mind to question the races in the game.

[MaKTaiL]

I would love to play with a female character on Season 2.

[MsLox]

Race should have nothing to do with your opinion of the character. Whether you are disappointed that a character is white or black or whatever, that's still racist.