Look, a few black protagonists are not the end of gaming as some racists are predicting

So the awesome Jim Sterling wrote this piece on how folks on Steam are showing their entire racist ass over the news that Watch Dog 2’s protagonist is a black dude. Read it, the comments he puts in there aren’t too slur-ful but still unpleasant. Also, heavy use of SJW as perjorative and the rampant mis-use of ‘cuck’ as an insult.

Here’s the thing though, having Marcus as the lead isn’t the end of gaming as some racists would make you believe. Sure, we have more black leads in one year than ever before, starting with Lincoln Clay in Mafia III.

Lincoln Clay, image courtesy 2K

The trailers, and seeing a black dude in a game series like Mafia made me perk up and take notice. I had ignored the other games in the series cause *yawn* more scruffy white dudes killing people. The fact that a whole lot of other people are excited for this game because he’s the protag? Shows the power of representation.

Now we have Watch Dogs 2 by UbisoftUS, which is set in San Francisco, unlike the first game, which found a home in “Chicago”. Here’s the reveal trailer:

Watch Dogs 2 cinematic trailer, Ubisoft US — Age Verification required

Set in the birthplace of the tech revolution, the San Francisco Bay Area, Watch_Dogs 2 explores a new reality where an interconnected city and network of personal devices are used to control and manipulate citizens on a unprecedented scale. Step into the shoes of a brilliant hacker, Marcus Holloway, and hack everything on your way to shutting down the establishment behind this massive corruption.

There there’s Battlefield 1 by EA DICE, which seems to have a black lead as well and is set during World War I.

Battelfield 1 wallpaper from EA Dice site

Ok so that’s three whole black men as leads in games in 2016, THREE. Tauriq Moosa pointed this out in a few tweets this morning:

tweet used with permission of Tauriq Moosa

So let’s look at this for a minute. We’ve got a bunch of games coming out with a female lead, and yes they got the same kind of OMG SJW CABAL is ruining our vidya gamez outcry from the pits of gaming hell. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has Faith, and the soon to be released Dishonored 2 with Emily as the lead. Also, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate gives you the option of Evie Frye, a female assassin (finally!).

So that’s what five, six games without the scruffy, brown haired, blue/brown eyed white dude protagonist out of how many games released/to be released in 2016? Yet, people want to run out and cry about OMG gaming is ruined, PC police are taking over my video games, weh, weh, weh.

This may come as a shock to those crying on the Steam forums and elsewhere about OMG WHY A BLACK DUDE LEAD? that for you seems to be a lot. For those of you always represented by the games first lead, Aiden Pierce (or maybe it’s Pearce) who was such an unlikeable asshole I returned the game and got Diablo III. I am not someone who easily gives games up, or finds them entirely irredeemable. That asshole was too much for me to endure.

Aiden Pierce, protag of the first WD game

Marcus Holloway, protag of the Watch Dogs sequel

Note that they look similar and while Marcus has been revealed to be black, he’s that same ambiguously brown shade that non-white characters are often given in video games. Here’s the thing though, some people who brushed off the first Watch Dogs game are now excited because there’s a black lead. People on my twitter timeline were super excited for it, especially once his backstory was revealed.

Yeah see, I’m not excited though because of how unlikeable Aiden was, so I’m taking a wait and see stance.

Back to my point, that when you are everywhere in games, media, movies and other people finally get a tiny sliver of recognition that they too exist, some people go utterly around the bend and act like they are losing everything they hold dear. It’s why I call this idea that POC, LGBTQIA and other marginalized people getting a bit of representation and the reaction to it as Gamer Manifest Destiny.

They act like gaming is a kingdom that they and they alone hold the keys to, and woe unto anyone else who believes they too deserve a seat at the table. Spoiler, gaming is for everyone, not just the white hate bro’s who think they are the only one’s who matter in who gets to be seen in games. What’s really sad is the very, very vocal and toxic minority has been dominating the conversation for too long and getting way too much attention.

Finally gaming is getting it, that more than white hate bros are the ones buying games, consuming this media. That more people are forced to be someone they are not in games that demand money and time, only to be told we don’t matter enough to be in the games or if we are there? We don’t get to survive long enough to see the plot through.

tweet used with permission of Tauriq Moosa

So many folks act like these crumbs of representation equals not just the whole damn pie but taking over the industry. If we were taking over? The landscape would be a lot more colorful I tell you what.

So spare me the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the SJW bogeyman who is ruining your games and forcing agendas. Everyone who’s not a white dude has dealt with it for thirty years, now it’s your turn to see what it feels like except you have the option to turn off the game, put away that digital brown skin and go back to your privilege, I and others don’t.