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If Marcus Fenix was Black?
Date posted
February 7, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Categories Filed Under
Editorials, Featured, Systems
Comments
14 responses
February 7, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Categories Filed Under
Editorials, Featured, Systems
Comments
14 responses
With the United States new president, and it being Black history month, I figured it was the right time to ask this question. Is it the right time for developers to start using more African American leading characters in games?
Now don’t get me wrong because there are games out there with African American characters in them out there, and heck 50 Cent has blood on the sand dropping later this month. But I would like to bring your attention back to when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was approaching release. Many people had said that they would boycott the game because of the ethnicity and culture that the lead character CJ represented.
Now race is a real touchy subject, but I have to stress that most the biggest games out there have a strong white male (sometimes female) as the lead character, and as black gamers we really couldn’t give a damn. However the whole San Andreas boycotting issue raised an issue that I feel needs to be put out there even after all this time. So if a really amazing masterpiece of a game came out tomorrow, but with a Black leading character, would this effect the retail performance of the game?
What if the lead character of the hit Xbox 360 game Gears Of War was a black guy? Would the series still have done so well? Here at The Koalition we have touched on racism in gaming a couple times already, acknowledging how racial slurs are often encountered over Xbox Live and Playstation Network (not just to black people mind you).
So with racism being a clear issue in the world of gaming, does this prevent any technical masterpiece of a game becoming a classic, simply because of the lead character being black? I mentioned 50 Cent Blood On The Sand already, but 50 Cent is one of the biggest black musicians out there today thus it is nothing for him to come out with a video game based on himself. But if 50 Cent never decided upon bringing out a video game, would swordfish studios ever have created a game like this with a black character?
I honestly think the answer is no, as the only reason they are making the game now is because 50 Cent is such a popular brand and can sell himself. And to be completely honest, even the previous 50 Cent video game Bulletproof was publicly slaughtered and it wasn’t even that bad. Other games like the Def Jam series of games are aimed at people who enjoy the Hip Hop music and lifestyle, but why cant we see a lead black character in a game that has nothing to do with Hip Hop? Even a game like saints row, if it didn’t offer the feature of customizing your characters appearance and they instead just gave you a black character, I believe the game would not be as popular outside of the specific target audience.
I have raised many questions in this article, and that is because I would like the readers to comment and form their own answers and opinions to the issues I have raised here. No doubt I will get a lot of negative criticism on this piece, but it is a subject that I am interested in hearing people discuss.
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N4G.COM SUCKS!!! Phuck Steven Colbert @ n4g.com
Good article. The problem is less whether black characters appear as heros but more whether we include a natural multi-cultural society in games. It’s not wrong if most games feature white heros (as most customers are caucasian) but if videogames with black main characters can only be sold as rappers/gangsters etc. – that’s a problem. Reducing stereotypes should be goal of game developers.
Personally, I think that the colour of the protagonist’s skin really doesn’t matter that much in todays society of gamers. If it’s a good game, people will buy it regardless, ur thinking too much about ethnicity bud. Crackdown had a black main character and that did pretty good. The color of the protagonist’s skin depends on whoever makes the story of the game. I would rather them make a natural story with some natural characters rather then a publisher feeling as if they need more black people in their games so they just paint all their faces black and call it a day.
If Marcus Fenix was black, then the game would have been the exact same, and the game would have done the exact same. Nuff said. The last thing I think about when I’m playing video games is what color the main character is.
BTW there are plenty of other games with black main characters like:
Killer 7
Marc Ecko Getting Up
True Crime NYC
I doubt any of these games were affected by the fact that there was a black main character.
What the? you repeated yourself, mentioning 50 cent games and San Andreas more than twice.:/
Anyway, we do have black characters/heros.
Take the Unreal franchise, Unreal 2’s hero was a black guy. Unreal Tournamaent-Thunderclash leader is a black man Malcom (badass man). Unreal Championship 2 is an egyptian Anubis (badass name, and bad ass god!).
“Motherfuc…” is a good swear word:P
It’s good that there are black heros, and we do need more of them.
San Andreas, anyone? Main black character, sold tons.
The BIGGER problem might not be the GAMES, but the STUDIOS and PUBLISHERS. I would bet my life that several great black characters have hit the “cutting room floor” due to the close minded idea that black characters can’t sell to a white audience. It is not surprising. We must remember that video games are still in their infancy. Just like movies, music, and television before them it will take a while before the realization that our world is MORE than just black and white sinks in. Albeit, frustrating for black gamers it is also par for the course of the overall black experience.
i would def like to see more main black characters. But those games honestly probably wouldn’t sell that much. mainly cuz the game media doesn’t show enuff color or urban opinion. just today i was on n4g reading a whole bunch of racist shit. its like people dont kno gaming is widespread amongst diff cultures and races. its our job to let them know. cant rely on g4 or other big game media anymore. i wrote an article on this a while ago.
http://www.thekoalition.com/black-people-dont-play-video-games/
@ Xino – yeah i repeated but i was supposed to, because the second time i touched on those issues i showed how its relevant to the point im making.
thanks for understanding what im sayin here though ppl…i was sure this would get nothing but negative responses.
good post.
I would like to see more main black characters in games that are not stereotypical of the black man. Only time you see an abundance of black people is on NBA games and Football games. (NBA live,2K, Madden.)
Stranger:
I agree with you 100% on that bro.
What a lame site
what a lame comment
you still took the time to check us out though so thanks
good article, some interesting comments too.
I think that gaming should feature more black heroes instead of token stereotypical black characters… what about a black female for a lead character? (lol had to throw that in) its good for gaming to have natural characters and a natural story but its also a form of escapism and hereos of all ethnicities is what people should get used to seeing
I would have to agree with most everyone here. We do need more ethnic groups in games. Its just most of the time they are shown it is stereotypical and not just normal. i think there can be a black lead character that isnt a gangster. i know plenty of people act this way but not everyone does and its not right showing mostly black people being destructive. Besides all this i pesonally would not have cared if anyone was black in games if the game is fun gamers will play it no matter who the lead is as long as he or she is likeabel.