Forspoken Has a Black Protagonist But No Black Writers

[42 Monks]

Every now and then it's good reasons.

But, first time a game reveals a black character it's like we are bracing ourselves for racist backlash.

There was a thread, just now, that trying to point out some racist comment section and nobody on thecoli checking for Kotaku forreal.

It's like we're looking for a reason to be upset by the portrayal or the reaction to the character.

i think a lot of people in here are arguing past what the actual topic is tbh

there are more than enough directions you could go from this to reach a greater discussion and im all about that, but at the same time just raising the question of "where are the black writers/developers to match the input in creating a black lead who's background is plainly black" shouldn't twist people up, create space for absolving criticism, initiate calls for cancellation, etc

for all we know the actress herself had direct input or something.... either way all the talk here is generated by the conflict of not understanding where the issue is, wherever it may be, instead of another comment sections ain't shyt thread where everyone will agree that comment sections ain't shyt.

 

[Easy-E]

"where are the black writers/developers to match the input in creating a black lead who's background is plainly black" shouldn't twist people up

I may get called names, but, I'm tired of the direction the discussions around "identity" has gone.

Yes, a white boy can write a good black male/female character. We ain't that exotic. The issue is skill and the work put in.

I do not want black creators limited to only writing black characters and only writing black characters a certain. The video game industry is 99% white people. If you wanted more black characters, that's gonna be white folk in charge. That's why my first post says we can't have it both ways.

In the end, I don't see the big deal if you want more "representation." Because realistically, this is how you get it. Not gatekeeping when you don't hold the power.

 

[Captain Crunch]

I'm likely getting the game on Cdkeys
I'm damn sure ain't paying full price for this

 

[Zero]

If ol girl turns out to be a caricature of any sort, I'm keeping the file on this thread and cases will be put on all you bytches

 

[42 Monks]

I may get called names, but, I'm tired of the direction the discussions around "identity" has gone.

Yes, a white boy can write a good black male/female character. We ain't that exotic. The issue is skill and the work put in.

I do not want black creators limited to only writing black characters and only writing black characters a certain. The video game industry is 99% white people. If you wanted more black characters, that's gonna be white folk in charge. That's why my first post says we can't have it both ways.

In the end, I don't see the big deal if you want more "representation." Because realistically, this is how you get it. Not gatekeeping when you don't hold the power.

this is exactly what i mean by arguing past the issue you know i don't disagree with any of your greater points but at the same time we got people in here acting like japan/SE has no grasp or understanding of this type of thing knowing damn well they'd raise hell if it was their own getting swerved, that developers are so hard to find that projects like this get dropped wholesale, and that black people must support it all costs else we'll never get cover again - and all of that is plainly off the wall for a variety of reasons.

and the responses around all that? if people ain't gonna talk about it here then where i'd rather see back and forth over this than the thousandth console stan thread over games neither party can play on a difficulty above journalist mode

 

[PS5 Pro]

So look, the real c00ns create fake confusion when called out. A black character lead is great, and an all white team bringing it is ok too but let’s establish first off that this industry historically has excluded us from the majority of games including character creators which rarely have acceptable black features like hair styles or even color tone.

This is deliberately done, they’ll have every other shade, all these exotic hairstyles with physics but they’ll still not include us in the majority of titles.

We also need to acknowledge how corporations capitalize on trends and the exploitation of black people is what’s hot in the streets, acting like they care is the trend. Can we all agree on that before moving forward or nah?

So with us being in the dark, the info that has been uncovered so far is enough to know what it really is and if you can’t see it? You wear skinny jeans and you’re clueless to the world you live in

If she was white, would they have went with a “hip hoppy” angle. We are commenting on it because this isn’t news, this is text book cac 101 shytt. Buy it, don’t buy it, maybe it’s success will lead to a trend right? MLK said he won’t be with you at the mountaintop. I doubt either of us will be around for that unless we all come together. And since ufos are real, maybe we’ll think differently one day because of that

Are you gonna complain that it has Japanese developers too and no black developers? Or that the company financing and publishing it are not black? Where does it end?

You sound like a Republican defending confederate statues

so like tons of other shyt

cats need to stop with the fake outrage.

same shyt was said about tons of other black characters in games forever. Go down the line

Barrett, Cole

this does sound comical though, but none of yall should be surprised

Barrett they added some sambo approved c00nery
Cole train baby reminds me of rampage Jackson, only Sony stans say that for console war purposes. You also say the most racist are on Xbox live but the truth is they on PlayStation. Also, Xbox created the online group chat party system so that killed lobbies with randoms

You Guy’s begged for that feature which you finally got years later. Now lobbies don’t even exist in most games, let’s get back on topic tho…

Unfortunate but you had someone calling a black woman a c00n for accepting a writing job at naughty dog in another thread.

This is why we need more black game devs and more black writers in gaming, period. It’s pretty disappointing that the second game in years to feature a black lead character has white people writing for it, but thats really the gaming industry.

You don’t recall us on Xbox telling you how they put black faces in high places before it was fashionable? How you like deathloop?

Check for these games…

Season
As dusk falls
Dust born

And then the gunk stars a black chick as well

There’s a game recently released that stars a black kid but he’s gay as fukk and climbs castles to rescue the prince

That’s the type of shyt they’ll use us for in a heartbeat…

I bought Kena

You also bought stock in Nike after Kaepernick was signed for his silence. Yeah, that sort of happened, at least verbally

You guys are expecting way too much from a Japanese company. They just randomly picked big names that were available to write it obviously. Lets see how it is before we cancel it.

I think we expect too little

 

[MeachTheMonster]

I may get called names, but, I'm tired of the direction the discussions around "identity" has gone.

Yes, a white boy can write a good black male/female character. We ain't that exotic. The issue is skill and the work put in.

I do not want black creators limited to only writing black characters and only writing black characters a certain. The video game industry is 99% white people. If you wanted more black characters, that's gonna be white folk in charge. That's why my first post says we can't have it both ways.

In the end, I don't see the big deal if you want more "representation." Because realistically, this is how you get it. Not gatekeeping when you don't hold the power.

But no one ever said black writers should only write black people and white people for white characters. Did you read the article?

What was said is that white writers wrote this character and they did a bad job. Turning her into a caricature of who they think a “black” person is based on tired stereotypes.

The solution would be obviously to consult some black people or hire some black writers.

Other games that are gonna explore a culture take great care to research and consult said culture and have had great results with white writers, writing about other cultures. With black people they just throw some stereotypes in there and call it a day.

 

[old pig]

The cherry on top of my newfound dread was motion capture and voice over director Tom Keegan describing Balinska’s mannerisms during her motion capture performance as having a “very hip-hoppy kind of walk.”

man wtf.

 

[jwinfield]

She’s going to walk like

 

[Rekkapryde]

So look, the real c00ns create fake confusion when called out. A black character lead is great, and an all white team bringing it is ok too but let’s establish first off that this industry historically has excluded us from the majority of games including character creators which rarely have acceptable black features like hair styles or even color tone.

This is deliberately done, they’ll have every other shade, all these exotic hairstyles with physics but they’ll still not include us in the majority of titles.

We also need to acknowledge how corporations capitalize on trends and the exploitation of black people is what’s hot in the streets, acting like they care is the trend. Can we all agree on that before moving forward or nah?

So with us being in the dark, the info that has been uncovered so far is enough to know what it really is and if you can’t see it? You wear skinny jeans and you’re clueless to the world you live in

If she was white, would they have went with a “hip hoppy” angle. We are commenting on it because this isn’t news, this is text book cac 101 shytt. Buy it, don’t buy it, maybe it’s success will lead to a trend right? MLK said he won’t be with you at the mountaintop. I doubt either of us will be around for that unless we all come together. And since ufos are real, maybe we’ll think differently one day because of that

You sound like a Republican defending confederate statues

Barrett they added some sambo approved c00nery
Cole train baby reminds me of rampage Jackson, only Sony stans say that for console war purposes. You also say the most racist are on Xbox live but the truth is they on PlayStation. Also, Xbox created the online group chat party system so that killed lobbies with randoms

You Guy’s begged for that feature which you finally got years later. Now lobbies don’t even exist in most games, let’s get back on topic tho…

You don’t recall us on Xbox telling you how they put black faces in high places before it was fashionable? How you like deathloop?

Check for these games…

Season
As dusk falls
Dust born

And then the gunk stars a black chick as well

There’s a game recently released that stars a black kid but he’s gay as fukk and climbs castles to rescue the prince

That’s the type of shyt they’ll use us for in a heartbeat…

You also bought stock in Nike after Kaepernick was signed for his silence. Yeah, that sort of happened, at least verbally

I think we expect too little

shyt yo dumb ass up. Nobody reading this shyt

 

[Responsible Allen Iverson]

You can't have it both ways.

I don't mind anymore than I mind black creators making a game that didn't have a majority black cast.

I hate how sensitve are to black character

We are not fragile people

Have what both ways?

 

[Killer Instinct]

Low-key, Miles had the same issue. No afro-latino teenager from Brooklyn talks like that.

 

[Zero]

Low-key, Miles had the same issue. No afro-latino teenager from Brooklyn talks like that.

Boy ain't have no kind of bass in his voice

 

[Captain Crunch]

Another thing, if the writers wanted to do a story on a presumably ADOS woman from NY; who is mad at what white supremacy did to her and subsequently what WS historically did to her ppl in America, you can have a much more powerful story by casting an ADOS woman to play Frey.

The lady who plays Frey is British I believe(she's certainly not American), so the actress won't be able to effectively portray what the writers are going for, because the actress can't tap into her real life experiences her ppl had w/ WS in America since she ain't ADOS.

 

[Kaydigi]

I mean it could have a white main character and no black writers. They have to start somewhere.

Nah let me stop playing , you can’t make a 79 million dollar game and not get a black writer on the staff .

When Killer Instinct was made , iron galaxy specifically went and talked to various tribe leaders to make sure the character Chief Thunder was written correctly and not offensive.

Who did square consult? They probably watched some episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and was like “we got it”.