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This project
http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Arkh-Project
There's a lot to hate, but I'll start with the obvious.
"The Arkh Project is a group of amazing people getting together in an attempt to raise funds and create a video game completely off the beaten path. People of Color are often tokenized in video games, leaving them to play one of very few roles. Queer people are consistently left in the dust in meaningless relationships, or relationships that are mocked. We're looking to turn that upside down. This game is for people who don't get to be fantasy and sci-fi heroes! This game is to help normalize the millions of other people who play video games!"
Oh my. How revolutionary. How absolutely groundbreaking. After all, there's never been a game that allowed you to play a black perso-
Oh, okay, but there's never been a game where you play an AFRICAN-AMERICAN -
Yeah, well, there's never been a game where you can play as a straight-up AFRICAN -
Alright, alright, I'll grant you that. But what about LGBTQ characters, huh? Where do you get to play as one of THEM?
Okay, okay. So a lot of games have GLBTQ people in them. But what about a game in which there's NOTHING BUT LGBTQ PEOPLE, huh? How about THAT?
Comments
>People of Color
I may be wrong,but don't black people normally find that expression stupid?
Also, I don't think GTA San Andreas shows the best portrait possible of African Americans
No. But then again, I've never played it. I mean, a Grand Theft Auto game? Please.
Wake me up when I can play a dwarf in them. Then I'll play them.
Don't be silly! Murderous criminals is a brilliant portrayal of them!
Yeah, picking games known for being racist as your "these games let you play black people".
Its no worse of a portrayal of black people than it is about conservatives.
But yeah, I don't really think anyone here can really give you an informed reply about race and video games.
That said, Saints Row 2 was a much better game than GTAIV.
How is EVE Online racist? That's my "this game lets you play black people" example. The others I included to stave off the argument that Africans or African-Americans specifically have never had a game about them. And if those ones do delve into stereotypes on occasion, then that's fine - it still satisfies the argument.
Skyrim and the others may have been a better example. Really, TES games let you play an imperialist katana-wielding black nationalist race that outfight orcs and Nazi elves on a regular basis. That's a pretty flattering portrayal of black people that doesn't fall into existing stereotypes.
The point.
Your head.
Did you only read the first sentence of my post?
Fun note, Redguard, the black race, used to get a bonus to pickpocketing.
But yeah, they need more of a selling point that "LOOK OUR GAME HAS BLACK PEOPLE AND GAYS UNLIKE THOSE MAINSTREAM SHITFESTS"
Yeah, but no one actually played Arena or Daggerfall.
Plus, everyone knows that those filthy catfucker Khajiit are the pickpocketing, Skooma-swilling ones.
^ That's why people think that it's a scam. They have no mechanics outlined, other than a nebulously defined "God Energy" bar. They have no proof of concept, and they're asking for $100,000. Plus, they're using a site that lets them keep the money even if they don't reach their goal or finish the project.
Khajit, being a desrt-dwelling race of tribals who are known for being scam-artists and skooma-addicts may end up being a bad parallel to the treatment of Africans. Mind you, their slavery by the Empire and Dark Elves are depicted as bad things and the Elder Scrolls doesn't really demonize any race as being inferior, as Red Guards are the primary focus of an entire game.
Just not in the way that you seem to be thinking.
Fun note, Redguard, the black race, used to get a bonus to pickpocketing.
Hrrrm, no?
lets see:
Arena: Redguards receive their (level / 3) as a bonus to hit and damage with any melee weapon (ie…excluding bows).
Daggerfall:
Battlespire: +10 Long Blade +10 Short Blade +10 Missile +5 Axe +5 Blunt Weapon +5 Critical Strike
Morrowind:
Oblivion:
I dunno. TES races are really just mixing pots and experiments. There aren't any 1:1 exact matches between TES race and any real-life ethnicity, even with the Nords/Norse.
Man. If only Commander Shepard could be black... Oh wait. He can.
Heck, Skyrim lets you play a bisexual black viking.
Ghilz: Yeah, I remembered that wrong, deal with it.
I was right about the lower intelligence, and Khajit are still Fantasy africans.
Right. And one of the first RPGs ever, Ultima, let you play a transsexual hobbit knight who rides around in an airspeeder shooting skeletons with a blaster rifle.
^ Lower Intelligence is a balancing issue that comes from D&D. Some playable races would be too powerful without some drawback, but at higher levels it quickly becomes negligible. Also, as I said before, TES races aren't based on real-world ethnicities. And if you think the Khajiit are based on Africans in any way other than living in a Sahara-type environment, you know nothing about TES. Read this.
Also, Dragon Age's portrayal of LGBT characters is... well, pretty damn awful.
^^You mean a Bobbit
Dragon Age's depiction of humans is awful in general, you can't just take one part of it out of the equation.
Ghilz, I know I already warned you in a PM, but I'm going to reiterate so that people here don't think I'm letting you off by not thumping you: telling someone they're "full of shit" over a video game is not okay.
^^ ...That's not really relevant. At all.
"Man. If only Commander Shepard could be black... Oh wait. He can."
That doesn't count as a black character though.
Its relevant because Dragon Age has awful, awful writers and singling out LGBT is being disingenuous for just how bad it is.
Assuming we're talking about DA2.
Sheppard is a character. As is Jacobs. And Anderson. Both Black. Both awesome and non-stereotype'd.
So what, in order to count as a black character you have to wear a dashiki, celebrate Kwanzaa and talk about the white man putting you down?
Why should a game set in a universe full of aliens and monster robots stop to have one guy "deal" with being black? It doesn't matter in the slightest. And really, in a post-contact civilization, race really WOULDN'T matter. White and black will gang up against green.
^ I dunno. Jacob was kind of lame. And not very useful. But Anderson is fucking awesome.
A game in which you can set your character to be black doesn't star a black character any more than a game you can mod so that your character looks like a giant squid stars a giant squid.
Anderson and Jacobs are pretty good examples, though.
Yes, but then, using it as an example of LGBT writing is not exactly a good idea, is it?
"So what, in order to count as a black character you have to wear a dashiki, celebrate Kwanzaa and talk about the white man putting you down?"
I mean that to count as a black character you should be, you know, something other than just a player insert.
Bioware in general are godawful at writing LGBT characters. And I was referring to both DA games.