Minority Report: Breaking Away From the White Video Game Protagonist

As games get better and the creative minds behind them continue to stretch the limits of storytelling and characterization, developers are still held back by their own experience, and it’s because of that reason that we rarely — if at all — see strong Black, Latino, or Asian protagonists. It’s certainly a problem that needs a good fixing. But then, you’re immediately met with the other issue: where do you even begin?

[Grlpants]

Great article. I totally agree. I don't understand why we can just make... People. Make a complex character that doesn't need to be defined by the color of their skin or their sex. Just make compelling characters.

[chaos_mechanica]

You know what made me laugh but totally applies to this? I was watching Archer last night, and remembered that Ray has been called the only hillbilly gay white conservative republican christian secret agent ever.

The level of nuances there are insane. A gay man from a part of the south that stereotypically doesn't favor homosexuality, who believes in a political party and believes in a semi-fundamentalist approach to christianity, both of which would deem his lifestyle as "morally evil". And yet, that's who he is.

Even if it's for laugh, that's interesting just for the the many facets it reveals about him, even if its only been touched on majorly in one episode and sparingly/in passing over the course of the series.

I want more of that, whether humorous or not.

[JoelT]

Sometimes just making "people" apparently isn't enough to get the green light in terms of funding and it's unfortunate.