Heh, the main thought anyone would get thinking of an African american teenaged guy would be street gangster. It's hard to think of them in a fantasy setting. I don't think many Japanese people encounter Black people often in their lives. Even the white programmers in America would feel a bit strange trying to portray a Black protagonist, they'll be afraid of someone getting offended.

I noticed that when Japanese people do try to portray Black people, mainly the girls, they look soooooo Japanese. They're just wearing less clothes, slightly larger and have dark skin. I guess the people who are producing the game would have to be totally used to Black people.

Anyhow, look up Squaresoft's Tom Sawyer. Look how they portrayed Jim. Lucky they were in Japan cause that company would recieve so much hate if it were released here.

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GTA:SA which not only has a black main character but the entire plot of the game centres around an african american "thug" culture (somthing which you probably wouldn't find in any other game using a white or non-white coloured protagonist..) shows that a gamer being able to identify with a games main character hold no direct correlation with the gamers appreciation for the game as a whole

I found the character in San Andreas very annoying and it was one of the main reasons I stopped playing, so I'd say it affected my 'appreciation of the game as a whole'.

I recall a game called "Sanity: Aikens Artifact" that was a turn-based-RPG-card-combat-what-not...

Anyway the main character was black and voiced by Ice-T.

Tony

OK

I am kinda pleased some of you get the idea I am trying question here and have responded with adequate answers. I can understand if most (if not all) Western RPG Game Devolpers are white and they create main characters that are non-black only ,because they would not know how to convey a main black charcter. Also I do get that there are some RPGs out there which does not even really pertain to a single race, because the race in the game is made up. I think the best answer said was "I think players care more whether or not thier character looks "cool" than do with which paticular race she/he is"

It could be a liability to create a minority main character. If the main character has flaws in any way you can look forward to a lot of hate mail, possibly protests. This is exasperated by the the lack of minorities in the game industry, which I'm sure would be fodder for any journalist trying to make a name for him/herself. As for the Japanese, I doubt they care how minorities are presented, since they amount to 99% of the population. (of Japan...oops)

My sincere hope is that one day these distinctions are irrelevant.

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Original post by Horatius83 It could be a liability to create a minority main character. If the main character has flaws in any way you can look forward to a lot of hate mail, possibly protests. This is exasperated by the the lack of minorities in the game industry, which I'm sure would be fodder for any journalist trying to make a name for him/herself. As for the Japanese, I doubt they care how minorities are presented, since they amount to 99% of the population. (of Japan...oops)

good point, im sure 2/3 of primary characters in most rpg's that if they were black someone call it racism, i think it was from the "grand list of console rpg cliches" that you have to be weird to be important (and apparently if you depict a minority character as weird it's racisit)

A better question: why do most anime characters appear to be whites with huge eyes?

Seconding the recommendation to look up Squaresoft's Tom Sawyer.

Has noone considered the source of these games? Consider who is making the games. Consider the majority of game developers are white, consider the possibility that developers and designers generally tend to stick with what they know. Why would a white game designer go out of his way to use a black main character? What chance does he have of creating a character that properly represents that role? The GTA:SA character was black IMO because it's a common stereotype that rappers, thugs, criminal gangsters are majority black. Right or wrong it doesn't really matter. Without trying to sound racist, I can't picture a group of hard core white gangsters as easily as I can the other way, even though they do exist. The first GTA's were more mafia style settings, so the white characters made more sense, but with their move to the gangster/thug theme IMO black characters complete with hardcore gangs made more sense. Seems pretty well known that black and hispanic gangs are much more prevalent than white ones. I got sick of hearing the thug speak as well, not because the main character was black. Had it not been for the over-use of the most annoying aspects of gangsters like the ebonics and stuff, I would have been totally happy with the game, the color of the main character makes no difference to me personally at all.

Just my 2c.

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Original post by abstractimmersion A better question: why do most anime characters appear to be whites with huge eyes?

Easy, How many black asians do you know, or even seen? The eyes are part of the style of the art.

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Original post by DrEvil Easy, How many black asians do you know, or even seen? The eyes are part of the style of the art.

Good point. I don't see a lot of white asians either, or white blacks or black whites.

I was being sarcastic, but I do find that odd about anime...If you look at traditional japanese art, the people depicted look more japanese.

Edit: I forgot about Yellowman the white black Dancehall star.

Tiger Woods, he's black and he's asian.