Race In RPG Maker Games

[Levi]

@BigEd781

Here's my problem with forced diversity; it makes us think in terms of race. "Oh, I had better add a <insert non-Caucasian ethnicity here> person or I'll be tagged as racist". Isn't the whole point to stop thinking in terms of race?

Exactly!! That is exactly the point I was trying to make in my first post. Some people seem to think that games, like Companies, should have " racial quotas". And that's stupid. I mean... make a game with any races you want. My main focus, while playing a game, is not the NPCs skin colors. They could all be african, asian, hispanic etc and it wouldn't matter.

 

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

Well...they can't. Just like British people can't, French people can't, Germans, Swedesh, Americans, Japanes, Chinese, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Spartan and every other type of human that lives upon planet earth. I've not seen mention of a british person, or any of the others I've mentioned, in any game that's not set on earth. 3:

Ummm... it's quite logical, seeing as Africa and Mexico reside firmly upon Earth and nowhere else...

Here's my problem with forced diversity; it makes us think in terms of race. "Oh, I had better add a <insert non-Caucasian ethnicity here> person or I'll be tagged as racist". Isn't the whole point to stop thinking in terms of race? Any decision you make based purely upon race is, by definition, racist, regardless of whether that decision harms someone, is discriminatory, or inclusive. It still keeps people thinking in terms of skin color.

Also, a fair bit of warning; RKO, you like to start controversial topics and then take offense/get all riled up when someone disagrees with you. I see it happening here already and I'm not going to let it go on. Everyone, let's keep our tempers... erm, tempered, or this is getting closed. Keep it constructive.

Don't lie about my posts. I don't get offended when people disagree with me. I get offended when someone insults me or make a racist statement like the one I quoted.

In response to you and RyanA:

To say that a race has no business on another game's planet is saying that race has no business in a game. The planet is the game's setting. To say that certain races have no business in RPG games is racist.

Just like most video games RPG games take place in a fantasy world. In a fantasy world the developer can create it anyway he or she sees fit. The developer can add any race to the game regardless of the setting.

 

[Robin]

Don't lie about my posts. I don't get offended when people disagree with me. I get offended when someone insults me or make a racist statement like the one I quoted.

In response to you and RyanA:

To say that a race has no business on another game's planet is saying that race has no business in a game. The planet is the game's setting. To say that certain races have no business in RPG games is racist.

Just like most video games RPG games take place in a fantasy world. In a fantasy world the developer can create it anyway he or she sees fit. The developer can add any race to the game regardless of the setting.

"To say that a race has no business on another game's planet is saying that race has no business in a game," is completely illogical, as it isn't saying the second thing at all.

I don't think he lied about your post at all. Also, no, it's not racist. Do you not understand what RyanA and BigEd781 said?

Well...they can't. Just like British people can't, French people can't, Germans, Swedesh, Americans, Japanes, Chinese, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Spartan and every other type of human that lives upon planet earth. I've not seen mention of a british person, or any of the others I've mentioned, in any game that's not set on earth. 3:

Ummm... it's quite logical, seeing as Africa and Mexico reside firmly upon Earth and nowhere else...

Also, as I said before, fantasy RPGs tend to use fantasy races.

 

[Des]

I fail to see how that's racist. At all.

Anything that doesn't promote diversity for the sake of diversity is racist. If you don't force token minorities into your game just so you can say "i'm not racist", you're a racist.

It's pretty clear that our friend RKO here has been swayed by this kind of "political correctness" propaganda garbage. Let's just ignore it and move on.

 

[PK8]

Besides, if races aren't going to play up some level of importance whether it's to the plot of your game or to your game's universe then it shouldn't have any bearing on the game at all in my opinion. Now I'm not saying "races shouldn't exist (in games)," I'm just saying "races shouldn't be included if there's little to no information that is relevant to either your plot or your universe that the player can learn about," if that makes any sense.

 

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

Anything that doesn't promote diversity for the sake of diversity is racist. It's pretty clear that our friend RKO here has been swayed by this kind of "political correctness" propaganda garbage. Let's just ignore it and move on.

You don't know me. I have not been swayed by any political correctness garbage. The fact that I would like to see more races in games is not because of some propaganda. It's acknowledging the fact that other people exist.

To reply to your other post.

Most games take place in pseudo-European medieval fantasy settings. There isn't always room for other races in such settings.

The setting in any video game does not determine which races can be there. We're not writing a non-fictional book. This is fiction. Any race and be on any planet or setting.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

What you said is very disgusting and racist.

See that right there. That is not cool. Accusing people of racism is a big deal, and I suggest you read what people actually WRITE.

An see, the thing she said, she's right. Its not the black skin, or the blue skin, or the pink skin, or the white skin that makes us identify with someone. Its their CULTURE.

If all you care about in identifying with a character is the color of their skin (which I'm not saying it is), THAT would be racist. You would be saying that no character can be like you unless they have skin like yours. I don't think that is at all what you mean, because surely a person's culture is much more important than how much melanin they happen to have.

 

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

See that right there. That is not cool. Accusing people of racism is a big deal, and I suggest you read what people actually WRITE.

An see, the thing she said, she's right. Its not the black skin, or the blue skin, or the pink skin, or the white skin that makes us identify with someone. Its their CULTURE.

If all you care about in identifying with a character is the color of their skin (which I'm not saying it is), THAT would be racist. You would be saying that no character can be like you unless they have skin like yours. I don't think that is at all what you mean, because surely a person's culture is much more important than how much melanin they happen to have.

As for games not using racial diversity: why should they? Most rpgs are not set in earth, they have no reason to have african americans or mexicans or whatever. If the ingame cultures and races are one and the same, how does that hamper the game? So long as the gameplay does not rely on those elements there is no fault there. (Also resource making for many different races is simply MORE WORK).

I read what she wrote. She clearly said other races have no reason or business in be in RPG games. If they're not in the setting then they're non-existed in the games. That is racist.

 

[Robin]

I read what she wrote. She clearly said other races have no reason or business in be in RPG games. If they're not in the setting then they're non-existed in the games. That is racist.

If you're going to say what people have apparently said, can you quote it?

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I read what she wrote. She clearly said other races have no reason or business in be in RPG games. If they're not in the setting then they're non-existed in the games. That is racist.

It would be weird to have african-americans or mexicans in a game not set in our world... considering that has to do with names of places on our world...

No where did she say that there couldn't be darkskinned people. She was bemoaning caring more about RACE than CULTURE. I'm sure she would be fine with an entire culture in an area that was distinct and interesting that also happened to have black skin.

 

[Levi]

I read what she wrote. She clearly said other races have no reason or business in be in RPG games. If they're not in the setting then they're non-existed in the games. That is racist.

That is clearly NOT what was said.

Is the only reason that you're on this forum to piss and moan about **** like this? My first impression of you, a few weeks back, was this: "Don't call me that!" "How dare you?!" "Stop it!" "Stop calling me that!"

And today... it's the same thing.

You start arguments ON PURPOSE, then make a fool of yourself.'

Let me guess what your reply will be...

Don't accuse me of that! It isn't on purpose! You're a bad, bad man. *rah rah rah - racist this, racist that*

You've done this in the past, and haven't learned. So clearly you're either

1) Doing it on purpose

or

2) Too empty headed to remember the last time you started a thread and pissed and moaned over nothing.

I'm not being mean, and I don't mean to offend you. This is the truth. You've started **** like this before, and continue to do so.

 

[Tsukihime]

You know what's worse than racial diversity?

When the devs accompany stereotypes with them for the sake of "lol racial diversity"

Come on, do people seriously think they're being discriminated against because there aren't enough black people in the game?

I doubt people are going to say "That's not fair why are there 3 white dude and only 1 black dude in my party! Do these racist devs think black folks can't save the world?"

Some people already can't get past the idea that "not all light-skinned people are white"

Throwing in some dark-skinned characters and relegating them to common NPC roles is only going to fuel the fire.

In any case, a lot of research is going to be needed to be done for proper implementation of race or culture. I think trying to come up with a decent story is already hard enough.

 

[RyanA]

It would be weird to have african-americans or mexicans in a game not set in our world... considering that has to do with names of places on our world...

No where did she say that there couldn't be darkskinned people. She was bemoaning caring more about RACE than CULTURE. I'm sure she would be fine with an entire culture in an area that was distinct and interesting that also happened to have black skin.

Yes, exactly! :3

Edit - Also, not to be mean, but I've also seen a few of your topics where you've behaved like this too, it's not cool...man ;3

 

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

If you're going to say what people have apparently said, can you quote it?

I quoted what she said and put it in bold.

It would be weird to have african-americans or mexicans in a game not set in our world... considering that has to do with names of places on our world...

No where did she say that there couldn't be darkskinned people. She was bemoaning caring more about RACE than CULTURE. I'm sure she would be fine with an entire culture in an area that was distinct and interesting that also happened to have black skin.

It would also be weird to only see white people in another world. She did not say this. To say that any race cannot in a setting is illogical. Like I said before this is fiction. We're not recreating the real Earth in most games. As developers we can create any a world with white people in Africa, blacks in England, Mexians in Japan, etc.

 

[PK8]

I read what she wrote. She clearly said other races have no reason or business in be in RPG games. If they're not in the setting then they're non-existed in the games. That is racist.

If you want to make a point, try talking about the content of Indrah's post instead of playing the race card. Pardon my Français, but you're kind of fricking up what could be a nice discussion for me to watch right here.

I still fail to see what about Indrah's post made it racist.

Is it this?

As for games not using racial diversity: why should they? Most rpgs are not set in earth, they have no reason to have african americans or mexicans or whatever. If the ingame cultures and races are one and the same, how does that hamper the game? So long as the gameplay does not rely on those elements there is no fault there. (Also resource making for many different races is simply MORE WORK).

Because that makes sense.

Edit: How does it make sense? Here's a quote from BigEd from not too long ago.

Ummm... it's quite logical, seeing as Africa and Mexico reside firmly upon Earth and nowhere else...

 

[Touchfuzzy]

okay. i'll take a warning for this one:

go away fraklin you are dumb and nobody likes you

Despain, don't be an *******.

Aaaaaand warned

 

[mlogan]

rac·ist

/ˈreɪsɪst/ Show Spelled[rey-sist]

noun

1.

a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.

Not using 10 different skin tones in your games doesn't mean that you think a race (let's be blunt here, white people) is superior to other races.

As has been pointed out, before ACE, there weren't a lot of diverse skin tone options. Race was addressed by having different races such as elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, etc.

One thing I think you're missing is you keeping mentioning African Americans and Mexicans on other planets, but the whole point is that Mexico and Africa would not exist on other planets period. Perhaps if your reworded yourself and use skin tones v. specific regional peoples, others here could take your arguments a little more seriously.

How many projects have really been completed with ACE? Do you really feel it's enough to fairly say that people are not utilizing the generator to create a more diverse environment?

I know personally, my one project was not diverse, but it was limited to one tiny town. My next project will have much more diversity because the setting is a festival where people come from all around the world. Racial diversity in that case not only makes sense, but is necessary. Another project I have on the backburner centers around darker skinned people that live in the desert. Again, because that makes sense to the region and setting.

The way you're coming across, it sounds like you're saying that every single game should have a rainbow of skin colors or the maker is a racist, when that's just flat out not true. Race, whether denoted by a color of skin or long pointy ears, should be included in the game because it makes sense with the story, not because you're forcing it.

 

[Levi]

We're not recreating the real Earth in most games.

Exactly.

As developers we can create any a world with white people in Africa, blacks in England, Mexians in Japan, etc.

That would be the single most ******ed game ever.

 

[Nathanial]

Wait, really? Somebody gave their opinion, and you completely BLATANTLY turned their post around, and tried to call them a racist? What you said is ridiculous, and disgusting.

You seem to be really good at stirring up crap like this, Franklin. If this post keeps going in this direction, I see a thread lock on the horizon.

 

[Shiro]

I use races based on there necessity to the story, I seriously dont give a flying Frick if my game is racially diverse or doesn't even include a single character of another race. Also there are other races then just then Africans and what not. Wanna know the races im going to use? Harpy, Lamia, Sphinx. All sentient beings that work WELL IN A FANTASY GAMES SETTING. Seriously, it all matters on the game. Who cares if its racially diverse or not. I dont want poblo the fricking dancing mexican in my party that does nothing for the game just to have a fricking mexican.