"Fantasy Games Can Have Dragons, Magic, But No People of Color"

[Lannister]

Black Girl Gamers Interview: Founder Expresses The Need For New Diverse Stories And Characters

"The normalized association of fantasy, you think of European medieval settings whenever you think of any kind of IP: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter…Even The Witcher, they're all based in European settings.

Within those fantasy settings, it seems that they can have dragons, but have no people of color. They can have magic, but they will negate the very real, very historical existence of Black and Brown people in Europe in those same medieval or middle-aged times. One of the biggest repercussions, I think, is the negating of Black inventors and founders within the space, like Jerry Lawson, and the whole narrative that a lot of White gamers used to say, “Gaming is White culture. You're appropriating our culture.” It's a common rebuttal online when people are asking to fight for diversity, wholly ignoring that a whole Black American man created the game cartridge, which obviously we know led to a plethora of different versions of hardware that we use for gaming today, so that the repercussions are social, economical, educational in all of these different ways."

"I don't need a strong Black female character, to be honest. We have a lot of strong Black women; this whole trope of being strong as a Black woman is in itself a whole discussion.


I see diverse, underrepresented characters in games like Apex, who have kind of covered a lot of bases. There are also games like Overwatch, which I had initially had a problem with – and they seem to be picking up their slack now – but still as a game that has a majority of White characters, I still don't understand how you can call yourself a diverse game and have a majority of White characters. But a lot of them that do it right are games where you pick from a roster..."

On racebending:

"I would flip the whole premise of a number of games, especially the ones that go into countries and get their relics. I would flip that on their head – that's always been a dream of mine in general. But to be honest, no. I'm not averse to having White characters. I'm just annoyed at how prevalent they are.

I wouldn't want to change an existing character that I can think of at the moment. One of my favorite games, The Witcher 3, is predominantly based on a Polish novel. I have seen no need for me to change that main character. What I want is more stories that are authentic to Black, Brown, and Non-White people of color to be reflected in. I don't want to necessarily have to "racebend" an existing character for me. That's not the epitome of representation. It works in some ways and other ways. I want some original content."

Apologize if this was posted already, but this is a pretty good interview I agree with her take on racebending.

 

[num123]

At the end of the day, the only way to get consistent representation of your group is to have that members of that group create the content. Most games are made by white and east asian people, so you are going to only see them or as main characters.

 

[Fanservice]

There’s levels to “diversity”. An original game like Overwatch can still be considered diverse. Diversity isn’t necessarily limited to race/color.

How many games let you choose between buff brolic ass women, fat women, fat men, gay men, gay women, desi women, asian women, Asian men, black men, black women, hispanic women, old people, robots and even animals as playable characters?

By definition, it seems pretty diverse.

 

[MajesticLion]

Because it's not your fantasy.

 

[SCJoe]

The final fantasy dude told black people to hold that and half the forum here said , now watch who is on here meatriding 16 when it comes out.

 

[MischievousMonkey]

Trying to make art cater to your own sensibilities is lame. If it's not for you, don't consume it.

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

The final fantasy dude told black people to hold that and half the forum here said , now watch who is on here meatriding 16 when it comes out.

And half of the YouTube reviews of Forspoken complained about it being woke.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

There’s levels to “diversity”. An original game like Overwatch can still be considered diverse. Diversity isn’t necessarily limited to race/color.

How many games let you choose between buff brolic ass women, fat women, fat men, gay men, gay women, desi women, asian women, Asian men, black men, black women, hispanic women, old people, robots and even animals as playable characters?

By definition, it seems pretty diverse.

Blizzard literally used a diversity generation tool to come up with these characters

Activision Blizzard's New Diversity Game Tool Comes Across Terribly [Update]

The Diversity Space Tool, developed with MIT, has been used for CoD and Overwatch 2

kotaku.com

 

[Neuromancer]

Support black game devs.

Also a lot of these people want to be apart of someone else's story instead of the star of their own.

 

[jeh]

I've said in tSc and I said it in the film room... I'll never understand how y'all let some inbred shyt posting lames in Europe talk down on what you like.
Plus who cares, That's all they got is fantasy, mythical, dragons, wizards, castle, medieval crap. If it wasn't for James Bond they'll be irrelevant a long time ago.

 

[Neuromancer]

I've said in tSc and I said it in the film room... I'll never understand how y'all let some inbred shyt posting lames in Europe talk down on what you like.
Plus who cares, That's all they got is fantasy, mythical, dragons, wizards, castle, medieval crap. If it wasn't for James Bond they'll be irrelevant a long time ago.

What you mean let? Are you implying we can go to their houses and stop them?

 

[Batsute]

Support GOOD black game devs.

Fixed

 

[jeh]

What you mean let? Are you implying we can go to their houses and stop them?

No I'm implying what I said in my post. Don't let me influence you or persuade you from replying/reacting.

 

[ORDER_66]

We gotta we MUST create our own because these cacs and asians at the end of the day make games for white folks... and they know it...

 

[Ahadi]

Can’t rely on other groups to tell your stories