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clyde

Representation of Minorities in your game when you aren't a minority

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So I've been thinking about this all day.

I'm working on character-designs and I would love to include a diverse cast. But I think there are some reasonable concerns. I drew a character with dark, brown skin and wild, green hair and then I thought "Is this exploitative?" 

The calls for representation of diversity typically focus on the efforts of large corporate media products. I often see three types of arguments made:

1. That tent-pole games, films, and marketing materials should be more inclusive by presenting a larger breath of people and cultural influence with which individual consumers may identify.

2. I also see a lot of concern about how the historically dispossessed are represented since the unchecked tendency is to perpetuate the negative stereotypes that white-supremacy and heternormativity benefit from. 

3. That explotation is often an attempt to fill the need to experience the other in a comfortable way and the comfortable way tends to exclude input and agency from the exotic groups depicted. This is doubly nefarious because not only does it repeat number 2, but it also lessens the opportunity of members of a dispossesed group to gain financially from representations of their cultural experience. 

 

How does this change when I just want to make a drawing and put it on Twitter or make a small, free game to put on itch.io? I'm not going to hire people to solve the problem and I can't expect free labor from others.

 

So I'm going to be real here: 

Yes I am priviledged because of my race, gender, sexuality, and the financial weath of the home in which I grew up. But I'm also cheap, and lazy. I have no interest in paying other people for their input even though I do value it. I understand that this makes me a hypocrite, I'm a hypocrite. The reality of myself (that I see) is that if I have to use the $40/month of disposable income I earn on input on a hobbyist game, then I'm just not going to make that game. So here I am in a situation where I'm unsure of how to be less of a heteronormative white-supremacist (because either way, I am promoting both by being unwilling to exploit my own priviledge by giving actual monetary value that I can earn easier to groups that cannot earn it as easily as me because of the current and historical racist power-structure from which I benefit financially).

 

I feel that I basically have four options and I need to prioritize them. That's what y'all are for (but of course further discussion is encouraged because I think this is an interesting issue that needs to be addressed).

 

Option 1:

Just attempt to make a diverse cast. I'll inevitably fuck up multiple times, but I think I can sustain an openess to criticism on these issues as they are pointed out. I might even make a few corrections even though I don't finish games.

 

Option 2:

Write from my experience and personal perspective without trying to including a fictional mixture of diversity. Not only do I live in a circumstance where I see 99% white people, pretty much all of my non-online interactions are exchanging money for goods and services or talking about the weather. People do not want to have deep conversations with me. People don't want to tell me that they don't want to have substantial conversations with me. I want to, but not if it requires that I have to go to church,  hang out at their house, or have them come to mine. I'm not that kind of guy. Not only do I not have substantial exposure to other ethnic groups and/or those of circumstances significantly different than my own (such as chronic pain), but I am extraordinarily aware of my inabilty to know what it is like to be in those ethnic groups and circumstances. I am very aware that my depictions of the experiences of those who are not me are just going to be my own and I'd love to be like "Hey do you want to play my game and see if I did a generic indigenous person right?" but that would make me even more of a douchebag if I don't pay in cash. 

 

Option 3:

Change. This will probably happen anyway, regardless of whether option 1 or option 2 is chosen. But still, I see myself making games forever and I have no plans to work paying jobs more than part-time. 

 

 

I am stuck between knowing that it is not my story to tell and seeing a need for for broader representation. Thoughts?

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If story tellers were limited to retelling their own life or else be labeled as 'exploitative' then we would have one boring set of fictions.

 

Write whatever character of whatever creed so long as it adds value to the overall theme and story.

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I'm mulling over a few things you've brought up so this isn't a full response, but:

 

12 Fundamentals Of Writing "The Other" is an article about writing, but can be applied to representation in a variety of different mediums. Worth reading the entire thing, but the most relevant point to this discussion regarding representation is:

 

You will jack it up. You’ll probably jack it up epically. I know I have. This doesn’t mean don’t do it. It means challenge yourself to do it better and better every time, to learn from your mistakes instead of letting them cower you into a defensive crouch. The net result is you become a better writer.

 

You can also learn from the mistakes of others. Read criticisms of Far Cry 4, for instance, which has a poc protagonist but still engages in exploitative, colonialist fantasy.

 

Regarding the money thing: I'm of the mind that I don't mind doing something for free as long as everyone's doing it for free. I've made some music for game jam games and am satisfied with the experience and a credit on the thing. Obviously that's not everyone.

 

I'll have more to add when I've thought about this a bit more.

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Good questions!  I'll have to check out Whistlebottom's link.

 

Re-reading the rest of this: I am dumb and everything I'm blocking out might not be useful.  Or maybe it is.  It's late.

 

Gone Home is probably a good example of a dude writing about behavior outside of his own experience.  It was interesting to read some of the responses and links over in that thread because the events of that game both matched people's real experiences with young same-sex relationships and didn't match at all.  One commentor (or reviewer?  Either in the thread or linked to somewhere else?) hated Gone Home.  He mentioned being homosexual and having loving parents and a supportive environment growing up, making a conflict that revolved around sexual orientation completely unrelatable for him and he resented the game for speaking "for" him.

 

Steve might have whiffed with that guy, but there are plenty of other commentors who could identify with one or several of the characters in that game.  It really comes down to person by person acceptance.

 

And it's personal on your end, too.  In November I was on the train with two 30-ish Mayan comic book fans who were excitedly talking about Spider-Man in Spanish.  Later that day I saw a Spider-Man backpack on a 10-ish-year-old child who seemed to be just as excited.  Peter Parker's just a kid trying to make his way in New York City.  So were they!  Lee/Kirby/etc. put a lot of themselves into their creations and didn't specifically have any of these fans in mind when creating Spider-Man, but the character still speaks to them and belongs to them just as much as anybody else.

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I also have thought about this a lot and come to no clear conclusion.

I make a conscious effort to try averaging out the gender numbers of my characters. But that is different in that I interact with so many women in every day life and most of my closest friends happen to be women. It's a topic I have delved deep into with them and with others. I have plenty more to learn but I do feel like I have a strong enough foundation to write women and make a good effort for progressive characterisation.

That's not how I feel with groups like non-white minorities. I have friends who aren't white, obviously. But never a close friend where I could have the same kind of deep dive conversations I can easily have with my close female friends.

This is entirely on me, and it's up to me to find ways to fix this when I'm writing characters and I'm including real diversity. It's a bit hampering to feel like I shouldn't be trying this unless I've done the research (especially as I'm doing short week by week projects right now) but after reading that link and article it does feel like making an honest effort and taking note when I fail ought to be my approach, given that I'm doing that in other ways already.

In terms of practical suggestions, collaboration on a free project could be a good way to work with someone of a minority and learn their view without being exploitative. Also reading what minorities themselves have created would be a useful resource.

I wonder if there's anywhere that collects works of underrepresented voices? It'd be a great resource.

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Well I can't say I can speak with any personal experience, but I could relay a few points I've heard.  When I first got into game development the guy who ended up mentoring me was black, and never missed an opportunity to really get me to think about race in the realm of video games.  The first point he made was that race shouldn't be something you make your game about, but rather is a critical element of it.  For example if two characters are different, why are they different and what is the end result of that?  If you make say 3-4 races in your game and give them measurable, distinct qualities such as stat bonuses then it would seem your game sees race as a resource.  This isn't necessarily bad, that is determined by how you have the player interact with the racial elements of your games and what choices players must make in that regard.  Secondly one of his pet peeves was that games loved to talk about race, but never had what he called a real discussion about race.  That is to say that every character was just kind of race neutral, or if one character had a particular racial stigma but that never guided their behaviors.  Take for example Mass Effect, where your companion Ashley has some dialogue talking about how she is prejudiced against aliens, but that topic never seems to come up again.  I wish I could remember more of what he said at the moment, I will post more if I can, but I think the most important point was this.  Don't be afraid to say or do something racist in your game, because it is the only way to learn.  That isn't to say don't change it, but be willing to make the mistake.  If you want to portray racism, then portray racism as it exists in the world.  Sure it can be overt, but most of it is subtle or compartmentalized.  Basically the end result, by his estimation at least, is that you shouldn't look to solve the problem or cast it in a particular light.  Don't look to have the most perfect representation of race, just don't present it as one note.  In his words: "Present race as you understand it, not as you think it should be understood."

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Write your characters, and when you're finished, take a few dice RPG style and use them to decide gender and race.

 

 I too once read something in this very lines, I mean, think of your character first and them the other elements. I just wish I could remember where, because there was more about it...

 

Anyway, there is this tumblr which might help you - http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/

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If story tellers were limited to retelling their own life or else be labeled as 'exploitative' then we would have one boring set of fictions.

 

Write whatever character of whatever creed so long as it adds value to the overall theme and story.

 

I don't know if having a cavalier attitude like this is the best thing. I think that if you're writing characters which represent a minority group which is 'other' to you, then you have an obligation to put in the time to research and understand that group. This way you can be sure that you're allowing the characters to be real people and not using the stereotypes associated with their particular group as a plot device.

 

Write your characters, and when you're finished, take a few dice RPG style and use them to decide gender and race.

 

If you do, then you're creating a vision of reality where race has no bearing on human interaction. Denying that there are problems can be just as offensive as being part of the problem.

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If you do, then you're creating a vision of reality where race has no bearing on human interaction. Denying that there are problems can be just as offensive as being part of the problem.

 

There are a million games out there where it literally doesn't matter in the slightest what race or gender or sexuality the character is, because those games don't represent reality. They're just some dude jumping through a fantastical world with wacky creatures or whatever. And yet, they're still almost always white dudes (when they're human). In those cases, I see no reason not to do exactly what was suggested. Not every game has to represent reality, just like not every game has to star a white dude.

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There are a million games out there where it literally doesn't matter in the slightest what race or gender or sexuality the character is, because those games don't represent reality. They're just some dude jumping through a fantastical world with wacky creatures or whatever. And yet, they're still almost always white dudes (when they're human). In those cases, I see no reason not to do exactly what was suggested. Not every game has to represent reality, just like not every game has to star a white dude.

 

That's a good point. I was thinking about games that do seek to represent reality and which feature human social interaction. I should have specified that.

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That's a fair point but mainly applies if your protagonist barely or never interacts with other humans. If you're going to have interactions that are in any way meaningful or important then race does come in.

Uncharted is not a story game but if Drake was black then it plays out differently.

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That's a fair point but mainly applies if your protagonist barely or never interacts with other humans. If you're going to have interactions that are in any way meaningful or important then race does come in.

That's also not true. Mass Effect. Nobody gives a shit about race (well, human race, anyway) in that game. I don't RECALL anyone giving a shit about gender, but I'm less hesitant to say nobody gives a shit about gender, because I know it happens for like the krogans, they're all male, you never see any female turians (until ME3, I'm told, though I have yet to play that) or salarians, and the asari... well we all know about the asari. Point is there are colored people in that game and nobody cares and you're interacting with them. In the second game, one of your companions is a black dude, and I don't remember it ever even coming up. He was just black and that was it. Hell you can make a black Shepherd.

 

I suppose you could argue that, like, the alien race interactions replace what would be the human race interactions. Fine, whatever. Then I'd point to something like Freedom Force, a game about superheroes where you fight Nazis in the second game, and there are black superheroes and even though you're fighting Nazis, no one mentions that the superhero is black and... the game is definitely not brought down because of that. Oh but they're superheroes so that doesn't count either right.

 

You get my point? Human interaction existing is not the barrier that prevents you from arbitrarily assigning race and gender. It's very specifically when you use that human interaction to make a point. A black lady and a white dude are completely interchangeable in most settings, until you build that setting into one where race or gender matter. Like, for example, Firewatch! That's a white dude, but presumably for a reason (as Sean has mentioned on the 'cast), and it also has historical significance. Some might argue that since it's just a dude in the woods, it shouldn't matter. But because it's a very specific point in time, in our history, it does matter.

 

Meanwhile, The Dig is about a few space explorers getting stranded on an alien planet, and that kind of thing is so far in the future (ala Mass Effect, but sans the alien-racisms!) that they all could've been black women and the only reason it'd matter is because of our society making it matter. Within the context of the game, you can create whatever environment you choose. One where it matters, or one where it doesn't. This is one where it obviously doesn't matter and it's still two white dudes and one white lady (IIRC, it's been a while). That game's super old, but the pattern exists in basically most games that still come out today.

 

This is really rambly because I just woke up but hey whatever! Also none of this means I don't understand where you're coming from. I do, and it's completely true in many cases. I just think in the vast majority of cases, it really doesn't matter.

 

Also could you explain in what ways Uncharted would be different if Drake was black? I haven't played it, and have no plans to, so I'll admit I'm completely ignorant on the subject, but I have watched someone play through a good deal of Uncharted 2, and... I'm not sure it would've mattered?

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I actually exchanged emails with Steve Gaynor about this a little after Gone Home came out. I just re read them and his advice is to not take it lightly, do lots of research.

 

I was writing a small adventure game around that time and one of the characters was queer. I am not queer so I talked to a lot of my friends who are and learned a lot.                                                                   

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This thread has provided me with useful opinions and great resources with which I may move forward.

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I've asked myself this SO much while working on my game. It has quite a bit of commentary on race that sort of organically grew from planning the history of the world. A lot of the people groups are based on combinations of real world cultures.

 

One area in particular borrows heavily from Rastafarianism/Ethiopian history, liberation theology, and scandinavian mythology. The group's religion was formed as a response to economic oppression they experienced at the hands of another prevalent group in the gameworld. It served as a catalyst for a small revolt which resulted in them forming their own self-governing community. Things are getting better, but their past was definitely pretty bad.

It is a fictional culture, but there was no way I could've made them caucasian. It just wouldn't feel right in any regard. I'm trying to portray this with gravity since it's cobbled together from things people have really experienced and deeply believe, but I do sometimes feel like I shouldn't have included the area at all. It's an immense responsibility, and while I don't feel entirely qualified in terms of life experience, I think it's a good thing to at least attempt.

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If you do, then you're creating a vision of reality where race has no bearing on human interaction.

Possibly. It is, however, a neat solution to the problem as posed in the first post. ;)

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I don't know if having a cavalier attitude like this is the best thing. I think that if you're writing characters which represent a minority group which is 'other' to you, then you have an obligation to put in the time to research and understand that group. This way you can be sure that you're allowing the characters to be real people and not using the stereotypes associated with their particular group as a plot device.

 

I just didn't think "research your topic" was worth even mentioning because of how obvious it should be.  I agree it's pretty much mandatory for every topic that isn't ultra familiar to the author.

 

 

I've asked myself this SO much while working on my game. It has quite a bit of commentary on race that sort of organically grew from planning the history of the world. A lot of the people groups are based on combinations of real world cultures.

 

One area in particular borrows heavily from Rastafarianism/Ethiopian history, liberation theology, and scandinavian mythology. The group's religion was formed as a response to economic oppression they experienced at the hands of another prevalent group in the gameworld. It served as a catalyst for a small revolt which resulted in them forming their own self-governing community. Things are getting better, but their past was definitely pretty bad.

It is a fictional culture, but there was no way I could've made them caucasian. It just wouldn't feel right in any regard. I'm trying to portray this with gravity since it's cobbled together from things people have really experienced and deeply believe, but I do sometimes feel like I shouldn't have included the area at all. It's an immense responsibility, and while I don't feel entirely qualified in terms of life experience, I think it's a good thing to at least attempt.

 

I hope you don't mind me asking few questions here...

 

What technological era is this in (post-industrial, feudal, ancient, etc.)

What geography is like in that region

Main sources of food

 

Post industrial you have lot of room to shoe-horn in whatever you want, but anything before that you can do some really cool stuff based on the 2nd and 3rd question if you want to get technical with this stuff.  Food source can be a great way to build the culture around (for example, rice has requires high labor and steady water source but feeds well, so civilization that grows rice would likely live in temperate environment with dense population with proportionately high peasants population, which then has its own implications).

 

Since you are working with fiction of course you would probably want to come up with fictional foods but the basic logics follow... where does it grow, how is it grown, how well does it feed answers some of the most basic elements of the society and can result in very sound fictional society.

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I generally feel that it's better to include minorities for the sake of it, because that's a change I generally want to see in the medium, and I'll fight for what little influence I can have in it. I guess I feel like if you make your "minority" character a "normal" character, that's a contribution to dismantling the idea of race, and that's a good thing. I disagree with the idea that if you make a minority character that your game has to say something about it, as long as you're not making something that lies about history or the real world, you're still going to make a positive change.

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I hope you don't mind me asking few questions here...

 

What technological era is this in (post-industrial, feudal, ancient, etc.)

What geography is like in that region

Main sources of food

 

Post industrial you have lot of room to shoe-horn in whatever you want, but anything before that you can do some really cool stuff based on the 2nd and 3rd question if you want to get technical with this stuff.  Food source can be a great way to build the culture around (for example, rice has requires high labor and steady water source but feeds well, so civilization that grows rice would likely live in temperate environment with dense population with proportionately high peasants population, which then has its own implications).

 

Since you are working with fiction of course you would probably want to come up with fictional foods but the basic logics follow... where does it grow, how is it grown, how well does it feed answers some of the most basic elements of the society and can result in very sound fictional society.

I don't mind at all! This is my favorite part of development and it's fun to yap about.

They're on a peninsula, so they do a ton of fishing and grow their own fruit/vegetables. A lot of their history is going to have to be deduced through environmental clues since it's an adventure game with no text. I'm packing in as much as I can fit because I suuuuper dig the whole iceberg effect with game lore.

 

This place is the least traditionally ~American~ area in the game. The gameworld is an alternate earth version of the USA, and the tech is similar to what was prevalent in 1990-1993. If you take the small town supernatural mystery thing Twin Peaks had going and combine it with Earthbound's weirdness, I think that sums the vibe up pretty nicely.

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Wow so information age stuff... ok.  Also supernatural and weirdness going so I presume you don't want to go too strict with social logic in terms of cultural relationship with industry and agriculture.

 

So you said game 'world' is alternate USA... like the entire known world?  Or is there just alternate USA existing in this world full of other stuff?

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Wow so information age stuff... ok.  Also supernatural and weirdness going so I presume you don't want to go too strict with social logic in terms of cultural relationship with industry and agriculture.

 

So you said game 'world' is alternate USA... like the entire known world?  Or is there just alternate USA existing in this world full of other stuff?

I don't particularly need to get strict with the logical cultural stuff, I just think it's neat as part of worldbuilding. I loved how Fallout: New Vegas provided believable food/water sources for each area, like the NCR sharecropper farms, brahmin pens, etc.

'World' was just in reference to explorable in-game area, sorry about the poor phrasing there. The latter option is correct. It can be assumed that the world in this game shares earth's pre-1990 history and culture, but there are no specific references to real existing countries or cities or anything. It's also geographically different.

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I've spent a bit of time thinking about this in the last week, and I wonder if the representations of minorities or the disaffected sometimes rings hollow in games because the world is never really hostile to the player.  Sure some games may bump up the challenge, or be geared around dying a lot in its mechanics, but that is usually about as far as it goes.  Most games make references to certain people being discriminated against, but this is rarely transferred to or experienced by the player.  One game I remember doing this rather well was the Witcher 2, where in the first major zone you enter racial tensions between humans and non humans reach a fever pitch.  The human denizens of the town, spurred by their racist leader, begin openly attacking and killing non humans.  In other areas of the game you sometimes walk by someone on the street and they would start screaming or expressing disgust at your very presence (in this world your character is a human mutant, and not considered to truly be human).  Thinking back on it, I think that game was able to present racism in a way that didn't rely on cartoonish representations of those ideas.

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