JemyM
Okay, now roll sanity.
- Joined
- October 26, 2006
- Messages
- 6,027
Why does anyone care again?
Eh, because 20% females might be the result of poor marketing?
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2006
- Messages
- 6,027
Why does anyone care again?
My comment;
The only female protagonist with blonde hair and blue eyes that I can remember are Samus Aran and Giana in Giana Sisters to Commodore 64.
I could also name Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and The Avatar from Ultima (even if some of the game offered personalisation the blue eyes blonde male became the canon version in the end)
I actually continued the Final Fantasy series myself and realised that it's one series in which blondes are very common for some reason.
That aside, yes indeed game industry is so chauvinistic and lost in super old fashioned stereotypes, always female with biniki chainmail. That is so childish and nerdy! A gentleman should value a woman as strong and honored equal not as as show—girl puppet!
1. Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
2. Avatar (Ultima)
3. Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem Forever)
4. Samus Aran (Metroid)
5. Giana (Giana Sisters)
Need 5 more. Only main characters are accepted.
As one who used to be blond (alas age changed that) and is blue eyed I understand and agree. There is a strong anti-nordic resentment in the game and entertainment industry, down to Comics heroes and movie heroes.
We have advanced in many arenas, but our diversity is definitely weak, both within studios and in our game characters.
I’m not calling for video game affirmative action, per se, but too much of the same thing leads to an insular medium. And why is it that so many of our protagonists look the same? Why should the protagonist be Caucasian and not African? Or Indian? Who will it alienate?
Williams found, further, that while the in-game representations didn’t match the U.S. population, it did match the ethnic makeup of the IGDA. So, it seems, we make characters that look like us, not like our players […] .
White people are the "safest" group to include in entertainment media. You can make them heroes, you can vilify them, and nobody will bat an eye. Make your protagonist black, and you’re likely to get some backlash about the portrayal, no matter how hard you try. That’s nothing compared to the can of worms you open if you make a nonwhite character a main villain. The backlash may not be severe, but I think developers are still wary of it.
In one of his interview, Cliff Bleszinski was asked about that and he answered that it was due to the technical limitations of current technologies. It's easier to make bald space marines […] .
This whole discussion just reinforces one point. Where are the female protagonists? Women make up roughly 50% of the population (varies slightly from country to country ).
One commentator points out to a similar article called "The Devolution of Character Designs" : http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1177659p1.html