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As a young male approaching his 20s with brown hair and stubble, I am appalled by this slanderous, hateful article. Maybe all characters should be blonde, incredibly ripped, half-dolphin, video game journalists! What then, Mr. Concelmo?!
*finds dignity*
..I digress a bit.
But yeah, my understanding of these character archetypes is pretty much the same as those of the past. Look at all of the ripped, white action heroes in 1980s that were often emulated a thousand times over. Look at the ever continuing use of the under-30, huge titted, slut bags that have graced every form of media since... the dawn of man.
From what I understand, the brown-haired fellow with stubble is simply what is in the public conscience whenever we think of the rugged, witty action hero in these times. It's just a case of the developers playing it safe to appeal to the largest audience possible.
Put a shmexxy man with brown hair and stubble on the cover and you have some appeal.
*finds dignity*
..I digress a bit.
But yeah, my understanding of these character archetypes is pretty much the same as those of the past. Look at all of the ripped, white action heroes in 1980s that were often emulated a thousand times over. Look at the ever continuing use of the under-30, huge titted, slut bags that have graced every form of media since... the dawn of man.
From what I understand, the brown-haired fellow with stubble is simply what is in the public conscience whenever we think of the rugged, witty action hero in these times. It's just a case of the developers playing it safe to appeal to the largest audience possible.
Put a shmexxy man with brown hair and stubble on the cover and you have some appeal.
@Dexter345 Yeah, and I totally wouldn't be surprised if the trend was as you projected. But you see my point - if you start saying "this is the way it is, this is how people think" and you don't come back to re-examine these assumptions and back them up with data, eventually you WILL drift away from knowing what is really going on.
For example, a friend of mine sent me a link to this paper, the basic hypothesis being that a lot of the "givens" we have about basic psychological norms are kind of badly skewed - because the survey samples for most psych departments in most schools where they conduct studies, consist primarily of white privileged college people, who when compared to the population of the world at large, actually are kind of off-normal and deviate widely from the average.
I digress. I think probably the most relevant question we can draw from Chad's article is, Can we have an action-adventure game without a stereotypical 'tough guy' in the lead role for once? But it was a good read nonetheless.
For example, a friend of mine sent me a link to this paper, the basic hypothesis being that a lot of the "givens" we have about basic psychological norms are kind of badly skewed - because the survey samples for most psych departments in most schools where they conduct studies, consist primarily of white privileged college people, who when compared to the population of the world at large, actually are kind of off-normal and deviate widely from the average.
I digress. I think probably the most relevant question we can draw from Chad's article is, Can we have an action-adventure game without a stereotypical 'tough guy' in the lead role for once? But it was a good read nonetheless.
"Your white, male, middle-aged character just got done shooting down an enemy with a powerful gun. He mutters a classic one-liner, which, combined with his brown hair and stubble, makes the audio clip sound extra-badass. As the defeated enemy drops their ammunition, your manly character grabs it and lunges forward into the third-person environment, continuing his epic, cutscene-filled journey."
That doesn't describe Alan Wake at all, idiot.
That doesn't describe Alan Wake at all, idiot.
Quite simple, because they're trying to tell an everyman story. Each of these are modelled that way cause they're average guys (well, most of them), but you'll then notice that they are each quite different characters.
Nathan Drake is an outgoing reluctant hero with commitment issues and a tendency to crack jokes to ease the tension.
Alan Wake is moping genius buckling under the pressure of his success.
Frank West has covered war (y'know)
John Marston is a man running from his past, regretful of what he's done but too cynical to think he can help people to redeem himself.
Ezio Auditore is a womaniser thrown headfirst into a global conspiracy.
Cole Mcgrath is either a utilitarian protector of his people or their darwinian overlord.
Alex Mercer is fucking insane.
See? You could hardly call these guys interchangable. Next, tell me the personality difference between, say, 10 mid 90's platformer character. Bit of sweet fuck all isn't there?
So, is it important that they look highly visibly different, or act highly visibly different? Cause I personally prefer my videogames had different characters, instead of just different character models.
Nathan Drake is an outgoing reluctant hero with commitment issues and a tendency to crack jokes to ease the tension.
Alan Wake is moping genius buckling under the pressure of his success.
Frank West has covered war (y'know)
John Marston is a man running from his past, regretful of what he's done but too cynical to think he can help people to redeem himself.
Ezio Auditore is a womaniser thrown headfirst into a global conspiracy.
Cole Mcgrath is either a utilitarian protector of his people or their darwinian overlord.
Alex Mercer is fucking insane.
See? You could hardly call these guys interchangable. Next, tell me the personality difference between, say, 10 mid 90's platformer character. Bit of sweet fuck all isn't there?
So, is it important that they look highly visibly different, or act highly visibly different? Cause I personally prefer my videogames had different characters, instead of just different character models.
Seeing as I am not a white gamer I really find it hard to put myself in the shoes of ANY video game character. I don't have to much of a problem with this but I mean the only characters that are the same race as me are stereotypical Indian fighting game characters.
Well, as a minority, I don't think I'd like to see a minority protagonist who has to deal with "racism" all the time. Sometimes the characters race becomes their story. Sure your minority protagonist has to deal with stereotypes and prejudice, but in a story, these issues can overtake all the other important plot bits. Instead of a story ABOUT a minority protagonist, you get a story about the racism that a minority protagonist experiences. I feel like a PROPER minority protagonist should be just like the white male lead protagonists. They do regular white male protagonist things, except they are not white males. They don't worry about being minorities, or the problems that come with it, they just ARE minorities. In that case, if the difference is purely aesthetic, then it really doesn't matter if the protagonist is just another white guy to me.
To summarize, if you've changed the story to fit your new minority protagonist, you've diluted the plot. You've used race as a cure-all to make something "interesting".
To summarize, if you've changed the story to fit your new minority protagonist, you've diluted the plot. You've used race as a cure-all to make something "interesting".
Chad, this article is spot on. To be honest, this is why I always call bullshit when people bitch and moan about all Japanese characters, particularly JRPGs, look the same, conveniently ignoring how so many characters in Western games look exactly the same. Different cultures, different cliches.
Oh you're definitely not overreacting. I'd say brown hair and stubble is just as bad as bald space marine. I think when it comes down to it, it's because the majority of gamers are unfortunately white dudes with brown hair and stubble. People like to identify with their heroes and for some odd reason, there's a very large percentage of people in the world who feel uncomfortable playing characters who aren't the same ethnicity as them, regardless of said character's beliefs, personality, dialogue, etc.
The default Shepard may be a bald guy with stubble, but you can make him into anyone you want. Mine is a ginger with a full beard. Then of course you can also make, I don't know, a black woman with blonde hair.
... This article is completely off the mark.
for it to be legit, you have to assume its anywhere near a new trend, but its really not. from the 16/32 bit traditon of blond muscled guys with camo trousers, to the 90s trend of women action heroes, and then to the platforming trend of having characters cute, this is no where near "a sign of trouble for the videogame industry."
in fact its the most progressive form of copycatism weve had for years. Video game characters are at their best, vessels for players to project onto, and yet for years, weve had unnatanible (god i cant spell) physiques, and pneumatic blondes to project onto.
this is the first video game generation to have real characters and characterisation. The only reason people get up in arms about nathan drake, is because every other part of his character is real, that they cant see why he doesnt feel remorse for killing hundreds of people.
No one cares about duke, or the guys from contra, because they arent even close to realistic.
also as a final note, i dont think they all go out to copy each other. i think the character fills the stories holes rather than anything else. Using uncharted again, if you described uncharted without mentioning anything but the gameplay, most peoples placeholder character would be similar to nathan drake.
you would have to plan the game from the start with a certain character in mind to end up with anything different.
for it to be legit, you have to assume its anywhere near a new trend, but its really not. from the 16/32 bit traditon of blond muscled guys with camo trousers, to the 90s trend of women action heroes, and then to the platforming trend of having characters cute, this is no where near "a sign of trouble for the videogame industry."
in fact its the most progressive form of copycatism weve had for years. Video game characters are at their best, vessels for players to project onto, and yet for years, weve had unnatanible (god i cant spell) physiques, and pneumatic blondes to project onto.
this is the first video game generation to have real characters and characterisation. The only reason people get up in arms about nathan drake, is because every other part of his character is real, that they cant see why he doesnt feel remorse for killing hundreds of people.
No one cares about duke, or the guys from contra, because they arent even close to realistic.
also as a final note, i dont think they all go out to copy each other. i think the character fills the stories holes rather than anything else. Using uncharted again, if you described uncharted without mentioning anything but the gameplay, most peoples placeholder character would be similar to nathan drake.
you would have to plan the game from the start with a certain character in mind to end up with anything different.
1) It’s hardly a new trend. White males represent the overwhelming majority of game designers (for various socioeconomic and other reasons) and 2) humans are inclined to idealize themselves. That’s a good enough start to insure that 99% of characters will look like the people who designed them wish that they themselves looked. Then there are a host of rationalizations that militate against deviating from that baseline. The most widespread being that the majority of gamers are white, suburban males therefore a non-white avatar would offend the sensibilities of white males in the suburbs limiting the appeal and thus the potential revenue of any game which failed to deliver a white protagonist. Add to that the societal forces that tend to isolate ethnic groups from one another and you end up with designers who lack the interest, incentive or, as GOW’s Coltrane famously demonstrated, the ability to create authentic characters that stray from their own cultural frame of reference.
This is an interesting topic and a good point to bring up about the industry.
Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes and Garcian Smith from Killer7 were the two main male characters (both from Grasshopper Manufacture) that didn't fall into this generic blueprint of male video game character design.
Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes and Garcian Smith from Killer7 were the two main male characters (both from Grasshopper Manufacture) that didn't fall into this generic blueprint of male video game character design.
No.
Most people have brown hair, having stubble on a long rough journey makes sense.
The characters on the deeper level, ya know, their character, are not the same.
Silly article is silly.
Most people have brown hair, having stubble on a long rough journey makes sense.
The characters on the deeper level, ya know, their character, are not the same.
Silly article is silly.
they're simply copying my looks -_-
But, i guess, that kind of look is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of things these characters have to go through. I mean, my Shepard looks totally different but he has a stubble too. And he looks a bit like Keanu Reeves and---
THAT'S IT! THEY COPY KEANU!1111 -_-
But, i guess, that kind of look is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of things these characters have to go through. I mean, my Shepard looks totally different but he has a stubble too. And he looks a bit like Keanu Reeves and---
THAT'S IT! THEY COPY KEANU!1111 -_-
50% of people react bad to change anyway....when you add in a blond pretty boy people moan an old snake people moan, brown hair and stubble...its the same as everyone else...lets moan.
Im another brown hair with stubble btw :D
Im another brown hair with stubble btw :D
Probably because most game developers in charge of these projects are white. It's something they don't put much thought into, it's pretty much to them about coming up with gameplay and level design,then design the main character and find a suitable voice.
As a black person does this upset me a bit? Sure, but is it something horrible to where I'm pissed and won't play a good game? Of course not. I guess it's only going to change when someone (white or not) decides to change that notion in a mainstream game where, aside from a rowdy side-kick, it's still an exception.
As a black person does this upset me a bit? Sure, but is it something horrible to where I'm pissed and won't play a good game? Of course not. I guess it's only going to change when someone (white or not) decides to change that notion in a mainstream game where, aside from a rowdy side-kick, it's still an exception.
this IS a problem. Its not a question of demographics, maybe most men are like this, but thats no excuse.
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
A lot of game characters these days, save for the no-necks like Marcus Fenix and Chris Redfield, just look like average White dudes to me. In high school every White guy I knew looked like Drake or Shepherd. My guess is that a lot of the people that make these games are White guys with brown hair and stubble. Well, maybe not with stubble. That's probably there to make them look badass. I'm a Black guy with stubble and if I created a game character he'd probably look something like me.
this IS a problem. Its not a question of demographics, maybe most men are like this, but thats no excuse.
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
Mass Effect really shouldn't count. Yes, the default character can fall into this, but the fact that the game has a character creation system somewhat invalidates the argument.
Who could forget Gordon Freeman?
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091012133944/half-life/en/images/1/11/Gordon_alyx_hunters.jpg
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091012133944/half-life/en/images/1/11/Gordon_alyx_hunters.jpg
"I'm not shallow enough to see merely race, hair color, or anything else like that."
Ha ha -- thanks for clearing that up, dorky mcdork.
Ha ha -- thanks for clearing that up, dorky mcdork.
What, you got something against white guys with facial hair? I take offense to that, as a brown haired white guy with facial hair.
i believe this is a really deep and valid discussion about narrative and archetypes beyond videogames, into the realm of Earth's cultural background.
Actually, it's a way of keeping players from being distracted by what the player looks like.
When you play a game for over a dozen hours, anything noticeable about a player character is that much more distracting, and thus makes the player notice that much less about things that the developer actually wants them to be looking at. Therefore, developers will try to come up with a protagonist that the player will quickly accept and no longer pay attention to. Notice that absolutely every game listed above is in third person. In contrast, games in first person will more frequently feature an odd looking protagonist. this is simply because the protagonist is only shown with a relatively high infrequency.
Though it should also be noted that first person shooters seem to have sixty percent of the world's population fingerless gloves.
When you play a game for over a dozen hours, anything noticeable about a player character is that much more distracting, and thus makes the player notice that much less about things that the developer actually wants them to be looking at. Therefore, developers will try to come up with a protagonist that the player will quickly accept and no longer pay attention to. Notice that absolutely every game listed above is in third person. In contrast, games in first person will more frequently feature an odd looking protagonist. this is simply because the protagonist is only shown with a relatively high infrequency.
Though it should also be noted that first person shooters seem to have sixty percent of the world's population fingerless gloves.
this IS a problem. Its not a question of demographics, maybe most men are like this, but thats no excuse.
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
I'm worried that characters for what we forever bitch to be an art are completley created based out of marketing statistics.
i want more risky designs, like the ones from psychonauts, or the characters john k does, something that doesnt come out of a premade model on xsi.
I think the really bad part about this is how little we actually complain about this. Halo and COD are great examples of how generic we're beggining to like our games. We as consumers shape what the developers (the big corporate ones) create, and if we keep buying brown hair stubble developers 60 dollars a pop, with 15 minute, 15 dollar addons...
i guess we're the ones doing it wrong.
(sorry for the rusty english! argentinian dtoider here)
Maybe a lot of game creators are the just the stereotypical white male. When imagining a blank character (e.g. in a book) people automatically attribute them their own features. I wouldn't be surprised if creators just don't care enough to think up a story with a drastically different character (e.g. why do more work to think of an Indian story when it's easier to put oneself in the shoes of a cowboy?) I'm not saying these people aren't imaginative enough to have a good story--but it's just a better groove for white game creators to think of white stories.
That being said, Japanese games often don't have Japanese protagonists--but Japan has had tons of western influence for a while and increasingly needs a western market.
Maybe I'm wrong. Marketing, surely, also has plenty to do with it.
That being said, Japanese games often don't have Japanese protagonists--but Japan has had tons of western influence for a while and increasingly needs a western market.
Maybe I'm wrong. Marketing, surely, also has plenty to do with it.
if you took the majority of the fans from all of these games, and applied some kind of gaussian average to them, what would they look like ? some kind of slightly-tanned, dark haired, stubbly, male, roughly 25-35 years old. the reason all of these games have the same character is because they're trying to make him a benign avatar, someone you can embody and ignore during the game.
once we get to holodeck technology, and don't require a digital avatar on screen, Im pretty sure all the dark haired, stubbly, 30 year old men will go away.
once we get to holodeck technology, and don't require a digital avatar on screen, Im pretty sure all the dark haired, stubbly, 30 year old men will go away.
I think Indigo Dingo nailed everything wanted to say. There's a reason that look is popular, because it gives that relatable everyman kind of appearance, something the majority can hold onto when they become this character in the game. Could you imagine Uncharted 2 if Nathan Drake looked like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7? Would Chris Redfield be improved if he was a black guy with a huge afro(that is a funny image, I think). You said, "Gears of War would have starred a grizzled old Indonesian woman with a prosthetic leg and a glass eye (received after a childhood Komodo Dragon attack, of course)". Interesting? Yes. Better? I don't think so(especially because it would be go against the entire "tough macho badass soldier" story)
And the character personality/story is what really matters, not just the look. Nathan Drake and Commander Shepard are two of gaming's greatest characters, because of what they do, not necessarily because their incredibly original and bizarre character designs(although you CAN change Shepard however you want). Almost none of the characters you mentioned are interchangble. Just because they are visually generic means they ARE generic.
And the character personality/story is what really matters, not just the look. Nathan Drake and Commander Shepard are two of gaming's greatest characters, because of what they do, not necessarily because their incredibly original and bizarre character designs(although you CAN change Shepard however you want). Almost none of the characters you mentioned are interchangble. Just because they are visually generic means they ARE generic.
Also, your punchline is way too vague. What do you mean, "games are interchangeable?" Your words would have been better spent on what exactly you mean by that phrase than showing us examples, as most of us are already familiar with the games in question. But to skim over the reason why you deemed this article important, why you deemed these traits "a troubling sign" in the first place is to ignore the reason why you wrote the post in the first place. All I got out of this post was, "Many protagonists look the same. This could mean trouble." But you never really say why.
Alan Wake, Nathan Drake, and Chris Redfield look stunningly similar, but are so far apart from each others as a character, that I have trouble NOT looking past their physical features.
I have Uncharteds 1 and 2, as well as Alan Wake. I played them all and enjoyed them very thoroughly, which is why I guess I don't have a problem with all of their striking similarities.
I have Uncharteds 1 and 2, as well as Alan Wake. I played them all and enjoyed them very thoroughly, which is why I guess I don't have a problem with all of their striking similarities.
More diversity in race would be nice but gameplay comes first. I do want the new True Crime game though. It looks sweet as it seems to play like a Hong Kong action film. Not to mention the main character is Asian! Thats a nice breath of fresh air.
Counting every individual game within a given franchise as a separate game starring a guy with brown hair and stubble isn't really fair. And Gears of War 3 isn't even out yet.
Great article! I guess for me the issue is that for some of these games their is no need for these characters to look the way they do. That is why games like mass effect have so many options. For Shepard to do what he does and to have the back ground that he does he doesn't need to be a white guy. I mean people are concerned about placing minorities in roles because they feel the need to bring up some racist or sexist struggle in order to be sensitive. But Shepard’s in space…All humans are a minority anyway! So being black or white or Asian or female doesn’t matter. Dead rising is from Capcom …so yeah the whole Japanese people with their spiky blonde haired protagonists is bull. But still random dude trapped in the mall with zombies. He could look like anything. But Capcom was probably trying to appeal to the “standard” us gamer. Fracture is set in the future….Once again like with Shepard there is no “reason” story wise why he couldn’t look like anything. With Uncharted even with it being set in a “modern day” setting there is still no reason story wise why he couldn’t look like whatever. I mean if they made his a minority and tried to derail the story by bringing up random racism that would be stupid. Nowadays even though there is still racism it is not as prevalent. It would not stop him from being able to do his job. He probably would not even bring up something like that. If he wasn’t a man the only issue would be sexing him rather her up…Because for some reason women who normally work in a dangerous environment would not know how to dress practically. But that is another rant. But he doesn’t even have to be a minority or a different sex. What if he was a ginger? I mean really what if the dude had red hair? Are people so shallow that they would turn off the game if he didn’t immediately look like the “everyman but I’m also a badass”? That is in some ways what Chad is asking. And as far as Prince of Persia and Just Cause are concerned both men could be darker…While their looks are appropriate to their heritage. It is also common for people of their races to have light to medium brown skin. Why “whitewash” Is it so odd for him to have a bit of a tan. I mean would it really turn people off if a guy who is a Persian prince and is traveling India getting magical sand has a tan?
Also, it can be argued that John Marston's appeatance as a white dude with brown hair and stubble is effective as it strikes a starker contrast with the various individuals he encounters along his journey than if Marston was a woman or native or whathaveyou. But I haven't played Red Dead Redemption, so I guess I don't have a say in the matter.
Well, indeed they are all starting to look alike. Is it a Western Developer thing though? Because if you look at games from Capcom, Konami, etc... moest of their main characters, while predominantly Caucasian, have striking visual features. Dante from DMC is all about that distinguished silver/white hair and trenchcoat. Raiden was bishounen, and now he's cybered-up. Ok, so looking at the list of characters cited in the article, a good number of those came from Japanese developers as well. But maybe it's not so much the brown-hair with stubble stereotype that's prominent now that calls out to me as much as the fact that my examples have some distinguishing, defining aesthetic element that elevates them from the rest of their protagonist cohorts. Maybe that's what developers should focus on. I don't mind brown-haired with stubble, so long as there is also something visually distinctive as well.
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