this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
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Why do minority characters have to justify their existence in a AAA game? Diversity is not political, it's a fact of life.
They don't have to justify their existence. But they are often just poorly done characters whose race, orientation or ethnicity is their entire personality.
I agree and a great example is Ellie and Riley in The Last of Us Left Behind. They are very well done characters in a very well done game. They have depth aside from their orientation, gender, race etc. When they explore that it feels natural, not just checking a box.
Very much agree. So much hollow writing for minority characters that make them feel tokenized instead of as real people. I suppose it must start somewhere, but when you see it done well it really points out weaker characters.
Ellie and Riley are wonderful, Bill too.
Key appears to be writers who write a character, who happens to be gay instead of a caricature to check the box as you said.
Loras in the game if thrones tv show is one of the worst examples of a butchering of a gay character. Dudes a young Jaime in the book vs the show where he's a bloodhound looking for dick.
Dorian in dragon age inquisition is a character I loved. His orientation is a part of his character and identity. Fits into his backstory with his father that meshes with lore of world to make a connection to real events.
"You tried to change me." Line is one of my favorite deliveries in games.
I honestly agree - these groups deserve to have well-written and compelling characters, instead of hollow shells that barely tick the diversity checkbox while being walking stereotypes. Invest in good writing and create interesting and iconic characters!
there are thousands of games who have a proganist that's just angry white man, military white man, or protective dad man. Do you get as annoyed by these games?
Yes.
So you've made posts complaining about them right? Asking for more games to be made focusing on coming out of the closet or whatever? About the struggles of a woman to get respect in a man's world?
Like maybe you're special but I've literally never met someone who complains about minority writing that's but anywhere near as much effort into complaining about angry white man games being poorly written and derivative.
I have complained about buggy games. I have complained about badly written games. I have never bought an AAA game at full price, because they are extremely expensive. And quite frankly, most of those games cater to a demographic I am no longer a part of, because I am getting too old to fit into.
It's about well written characters. You can do whatever you want and you don't have to justify it to have it exist, just do it well.
Not a AAA game but look at Stardew Valley. Their race, gender, orientation is not their characters, it's a part. They have likes and dislikes, skills and struggles, hobbies, friends etc. The are just little pixel sprites but they have depth that makes them feel way more human.
On the other hand, well animated, voice acted, high res Ubisoft characters feel hollow because they don't bother to go deeper than "dude with sword and diverse friends that mark your map"
I agree but it doesn't change the fact that they are very often poorly written or poorly represented in these games. It's not that diversity in games itself is bad it's the way it's done.
As an example, I really like how it was seamlessly integrated in games like the ones by NomNomNami. Obviously those are more cosy slice of life type games but I've seen other games that seamlessly integrate it well too. The trick is the characters need to be well written as real people who happen to be a minority, not simply characters who's whole purpose is that they are a minority.
inFamous Second Son did this well. Deslin, the main character is from the Akomish tribe and ... oh hell I just came in from rebuilding a retaining wall outside and that's all I got.
Deskin, Akomish, good game, well written character.
Or just make the player character macho idiot with the gun have his gaze linger on the male stripper as long as the female stripper in the cutscene on the gratuitous strip club level, in between cringe dialogue and doom-y gun shit? You really don't need much. The standard here is low.
You don't even need good. You don't even need writing! Only got one 16 bit sprite for each character class? Cool, differentiate similarly equipped classes with skin colors beards and tits. They literally don't even need names; you just get better DOT spells and debuffs with robes and tits, better AOE damage and teleports with robes and a beard.
This is not hard to do, and if youre fucking it up you're doing it on purpose. Anybody who doesn't believe me: hit me up; I'll write your shit in like twenty minutes.