Gears criticised for stereotyping Comments by Ellie Gibson

Tell me this is a joke...

I actually couldn't agree more. Too many stereotypes in games *in general* though.

Hmmm, does this guy need to plug something...talk about bashing something for the sake of it...slow news day? ;)

attempting to think of any non-stereotyped black character in a video game.

but can't

edit:

oh! Eli from HL2!

Yeah! Bring it on sucka! This my kind of shit!

Anyone who playes on Xbox Live and hears the Americans knows that this is a reality, not just a stereotype. Anyone offended by it is a complete moron.

Reading the full article makes a whole lot more sense now, doesn't seem like such a sensationalist set of viewpoints. Put those points into a short article like this one and it reads quite differently.

conspiracy theory... here we go again.

(assumes this isn't a joke...)

What the hell is he talking about? A black guy with a gun for an arm is a stereotype? Planet Terror has a girl with a gun instead of a leg, should we be worried about women complaining about that being a stereotype?

No, because generally most people are far more normal than that, and the nutters who complain should be ignored rather than pandered.

Clearly he didn't see all of the stereotypical white meatheads in GoW. Or howabout the white nerd, Gordon Freeman.

I must admit it does always seem to be the typical white American hero in most games but personally I never see it as an issue as race never enters my mind playing games, until some twat screams about racism, like the RE5 trailer (and I'm mixed race).

As for Cole Train being stereotypical? I never gave a second thought about his colour or the way he acted, just another tough marine type bloke stereotype, plus the whole bloody game is a stereotype you twat!

I'm interested though any black guys here who see it as an issue in gaming?

He's entitled to his opinion I guess. I can just imagine what his whining sounds like. Bet he sounds really pissy. One of those people you meet and immediately want to punch the crap out of. No?

This coming from a guy who makes games that evolves around a stereotypical female? Okay...

Right, so I clicked the link to read about how bad stereotypes are, and down the left hand side is a huge advert with some Girl in it advertising 'Hooters Girls'... some sort of job involving:

The Hooters Girl uniform consists of: White Hooters tank top, orange shorts, suntan hose, white socks, solid white shoes, brown Hooters pouch, name-tag and of course...a smile! The Hooters Girl uniform can not be changed or altered in any way. As well, the Hooters Girl uniform can not be sold to the public for any reason.

Frankly, about as stereotypical a view of the airbrushed female as is possible.

Presumably that is ok?

Talk about double standards.

Man, that shits all whack.

Man, that shits all whack.

rofl :D

Blame all the stupid rappers on TV. Case closed.

Seems odd to have a guy working on Tomb Raider talking about stereotypes :/

Whats wrong with NWA?

But "Fiddy" Cent: Bulletproof (was that the game's name?) is OK because he is a REAL urban meathead in REAL life?

you guyz might not like to admit it, but hes right.. when it comes to games the racial thing still shows ..when last was an asian or black or whatever the hero of a game?.. its always a white dude.. then a black charcter gets tagged along like Cole Train.. im Black, but i dont really care bout this tho as long as i can show that im black in a game like GTAIV online where you get to create your own character onlline so all this dont bother me

fucking pc twat.

Gears of War was one giant macho stereotype. I think singling out the black macho stereotype is a bit of a stretch.

a lot of artists embrace the whole black stereotype thing, so it's no surprise to find them in games either. the stereotypes that is, not the artists. i guess 50 cent could be regarded as both...

"I can't leave without my buddy Superfly!"

The heroes in games are 99 percent white/male/organic life form!

Sure there are odd exception and looking forward to playing Eastern European in GTAIV, the good way of handing responsibility for choice of hero is to put the power of custom avatar into the hand of player. Though that would not work for FMV unless in game engine cut scenes.

Like quantumsheep said its not certain type that is being targeted, the games in general are full of sterotypes, everyone shares responsibility at what we reinforce in games.

Mirror's Edge is going to have an asian lady as the protagonist - I guess they double-win!

i kind of agree with him
they should add variety to the roles given to the black characters

This guy is actually singling the black characters out even more. 99% of characters in video games are stereotypes no matter what colour their skin. And usually, the stereotype is almost deliberate to conform with a 'macho appeal', certainly in Gears of War.

They all take Michael Bay type movies as their inspiration. Look at the opening sequence to Transformers with the army guys in the helicopter. The whole scene is rife with racial stereotype. But it's a macho-Bay movie. It's low-brow entertainment - as are the games that he seems to be offended by.

Instead of complaining about shallow entertainment getting it 'wrong' in his eyes, he should be looking at the more thought-provoking games that get it 'right'.

Eli Vance, anyone? He's hardly a stereotype. And then, neither is Gordon Freeman. He's a ginger speccy scientist super hero, ffs.

Markus was a real prime example of a in depth character?!. Give me a break. The whole game reeks of stereotype. I mean the only woman on board stays in the fucking chopper.

"Anyone who playes on Xbox Live and hears the Americans knows that this is a reality, not just a stereotype. Anyone offended by it is a complete moron."

QFT

I saw the headline and assumed this would be an article on the portrayal of big gay bears in fps's. Virtually every FPS character is a big gay bear (apart from Gordon 'God bless his rapist glasses and beard' Freeman).

WHOOOO!

I too don't even think about race in games. Stereotypes are all around on TV, movies etc. It's not just games.

I've read some of the comments on the full article (EGs extract makes it look a little more sensationalist than it is), and it's starting a full on discussion, which is actually a good thing. The only problem with pointing out the lack of black characters and trying to bring about initiatives to recruit more is going to cause more arguments, as witnessed in the comments on there.

I'm for equality, we need some education first and to stop promoting the stereotypes in other forms of media, not just game.

Do we really need deep characters in a game where the object is to blow the fuck out of aliens?

Quit yo' jibber-jabba fool!

Right, there is absolutely no reason why Marcus Phoenix could not have been a black, female, lesbian, disabled, muslim pensioner who is also HIV positive.

He's got a good point, just because games have rubbish storylines doesn't mean that they should keep rubbish offensive stereotypes. It's true that games tend to be sexist, but there's a bit more awareness with the issue of sexism in games (perhaps because it's even more blatant).

Well he has to be a tit if he takes Gears of war seriously.

Idiot.

I quite liked the Cole Train character in Gears, he made me laugh.

As for stereotypes he should have complained to MTV about MTV and it's rap stars before targeting games.

Funny, I never really saw Barratt in FFVII as black. As for Gears of War, all the characters are huge stereotypes. I think his examples are poor.

Perhaps i'm being a bit dim but i always thought Barret was just a homage to Mr T.

I see the whiteys are out in force on EG today

The guy is using a crap example, as others have pointed out, every character in gears is a stereotype and Cole Train was no different, it's not like he came rollin out in a pimped out ride bouncin up and down on hydraulics while eating KFC so I don't see the problem. I do think it would be nice to have a bit more variety in character though tbh. It does get a bit dull always having to be the guy from Uncharted in every single action game ever made...

What would a non-stereotypical black person look like?

Dyne from FFVII had a gun on his arm, and he wasn't black. Argument fails!

Casual racism is what you do when you're hanging around in your trendy minimalistic flat with your hot-looking model girlfriends, ridiculous fake grins plastered across your faces.

Or did i just misunderstand that Wii advertising campaign?

Shut the fuck up you whining prick

Hmmm sterotypes in videogames?

You must be talking about Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Women, Japanese Women in particular, and all Fantasy Races ever created.

Other than that, no there is noooooooo stereotyping whatsoever. Wait... ...oh.. ...ok... ...I feel somewhat depressed of Whites being always portrayed as hunky, street-wise, world-saving members of a master race. *checks mirror*, *curses fate*, *asks himself what all this stereotyping says about the creators of these games*

Immediately after he goes on the massive rant about Cole Train, he says this: 'In “Halo 3” there’s the black Sarge. He’s fine, he’s the military archetype, but that’s great. That’s what the game is about. Here’s a bunch of military stereotypes in the future.'

Which shows how ineptly crafted his argument is. Marcus and the rest are quite clearly military stereotypes too, the only difference being that the guys at Epic obviously watched more Predator than Aliens when they were young.

He applies the same double standards to GTA. GTA3 is fine, apparently, because people don't play it and think all Italian Americans are gangsters but those same people can't make that distinction with black people and gangsta culture.

Another main point - and I just skimmed to the most interesting parts - was that "Valve could have made Gordon Freeman black." His point being - why not? It makes no difference to the fiction.

That seems to be making an issue out of, well, nothing. If it makes no difference - what's the point?

Finally - and most importantly, I think - he works mainly on Tomb Raider. Fucking Tomb Raider. And in an interview about stereotyping Lara's name doesn't even come up.

EDIT: However, I do agree with him about Cole Train being not only a stereotype but - in terms of the setting - an anachronistic one. He was still immensely more entertaining than all the other characters, though.

What would a non-stereotypical black person look like?

Umm Trevor McDonald from ITN news?

An owl.