… mainly because it is based on Chinese history, or well, the novelization of Chinese history 
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Hmmm, that would have made Wolfenstein interesting to play as non-white character. It would explain the guards freaking out every time they saw you. I wonder how many other games would also benefit plot wise from such a change.
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Game developers do use that as an excuse for not bothering. Oddly they don’t use that for any other aspect of game development, where it’s even more true. No one ever says, “We knew that we’d get death threats [yes, seriously] no matter what game mechanics we used, so we just said ‘fuck it’ and didn’t bother.” or “We knew we’d be criticized for the art no matter what aesthetic choices we made, so we just used stick figures.” Because everyone would recognize that those were just totally bullshit cop-outs…
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Remember Gamergate? The kid’s a Gamergater. Ignore and ignore. 
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Color me shocked! (And by “shocked” I mean not-at-all shocked.)
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The only good thing that came out of that whole mess was a specific name to attach to the trolls who come out in vehement defense of the status quo in video game production. Every. Single. Time.
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But that’s my point. IF there was more diversity I’d agree, but because there isn’t, then your argument isn’t addressing real world concerns.
It’s not that your argument isn’t well made, it is. Its just that it is a hypothetical one.
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We want more diversity in games. But is the best way to make games more diverse to (a) pressure white game devs to create more black characters, and in many cases make a stereotyped mess of it? Or would it be better (b) to promote more diversity among the profession, and then let the diversity in the games come through that way, with non-white characters in games being the result of how non-white game devs see themselves, rather than how white people see black people?
You seem to think that we need to call out any game that doesn’t have a diverse cast. That’s taking route (a). I think route (b) would work a lot better, and avoid some of the obvious pitfalls associated with route (a), not least the problems of trying to govern creative pursuits by hard and fast rules.
The advantage of route (b) is that you end up with more diversity in the games themselves, but you also end up with more diversity in the industry, which is good in itself, and which does’t necessarily happen if we take route (a).
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Given that a lot of devs are white, yes.
But if white people put women and black people in games then we won’t need to promote diversity among the profession right?
Sorry, that’s a false dichotomy. Besides, its already under way.
I don’t follow you. We need to promote diversity in the profession whatever happens. If it’s already underway, then good.
I agree that (a) and (b) are a false dichotomy as presented, but as I said, I think there are problems with (a) that don’t arise with respect to (b).
'nuff said.
Most of the people in the US identify as white (yes, the US, where the games come from :P), whether hispanic-white or non-hispanic white. So yeah… I’m terribly sorry… that your wants are unrealistic for the population. In Asia the protagonists are primarily Asian. It’s what you get when the majority of the people in a profession and more importantly the market are a particular race. Hate to neener at this, but it’s an unrealistic expectation as White Males still spend more money than the rest, and design the most of the games, if not outright own the companies that develop the games.
BJ was half jewish, if that counts.
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Which is where I’m asking you to follow.
I’m glad we agree 
I disagree with this, not because you’re wrong but because I believe they’re good problems to have.
How do I represent people who are “different” from me?
I’m of the opinion that if we tried to solve those problems we’d find out that we’re not really that different at all.
I did reread them for 12 years or so, and when I did that was one of the things that struck me. I generally am pretty tolerant (or oblivious, as the case may be) to things like this, but the Southrons were enough for me to actually stop reading for a bit, just to let the distastefulness to sink in. Same for when I reread the Hobbit (after 20 years), and realized that there was no women in it. I knew this academically, but rereading it was like being slapped by it.
Not that I let that get in the way of enjoying the books, they are the brilliant work of a flawed author, and flawed times (aren’t they all). But now days, I can only imagine the reaction, Harry Potter without Hermione, or any other strong female, where Voldemort is a very racist stereotype… I doubt it would have done as well. (Cue “Harry Potter and the Birth of a Nation Part 1, coming 2022 to a theater near you!”)
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See! This. When we discuss shortcomings and limitations of culture, it doesn’t mean “don’t read them” or “ban them” or whatever. It means, “well, there is something problematic and here is why”… I wish more people could enjoy something and understand that we can talk critical about it. whenever this stuff pops up, we get a hailstorm of people whining about how we’re trying to ban something or other, but it’s not at all true. It’s just called basic self-awareness.
So, thanks for saying that. It’s kind of sad that you need to do so, but thanks for doing so.
Um… that would be…interesting, for sure!
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And then you went and ruined it with more text. If only you’d stopped there 
Ah, so that’s where Teh Gamez come from! Seems odd, though, that the rest of the world isn’t interested in producing that kind of digital product.
Well gosh. I FUCKING HATE to neener at this (sweetfuckall are you an adult? “neener”? Really? “Neener”? Maybe that’s cisgendered white male speak for the verb, “to lick the sweaty left testicle of a mongoose”?), but I wonder why even large trucks feature a seat that can be moved back and forth, because, you know, ONLY MEN BUY TRUCKS AND WHY WOULD THEY LET WOMEN INSIDE THEIR TRUCK BLLLALAAHAAHAHAAAHAHAAAAAAAA
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<3 for the last paragraph. It made me giggle. A lot.
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As a white male I played the heck out of San Andreas and loved it. Except when it got to be too much like work.
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Since I’ve never played a white character in any of the recent Fallout games (well, except for that one who looked like an albino Ganondorf), I wholly support this endeavor. Not only is video game writing almost exclusively bad, but we also get to enjoy twenty flavors of “grizzled white space marine” instead of actual character design.
Yeah, except that a lot of people actually don’t read them, and take pride in not having read them. Concerned individuals have been trying to censor or outright ban Huck Finn in public school English classes for years. I honestly wish everyone would approach controversial material with a modicum of maturity, but it’s way easier to form a unilateral opinion about a work of fiction than it is to critically engage with it
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