Attracting Minorities to Game Development
It appears the games industry is the latest industry to come under fire for a lack of racial diversity. Mario Armstrong, host of a NPR tech show, and two black colleagues have started the Urban Video Game Institute, described as "a virtual programming boot camp for minorities."
"It's been said that a bunch of nerdy white guys are creating these games," said Mario Armstrong, host of a weekly National Public Radio program on digital tech. "The problem with a bunch of white guys creating the games is that the story isn't being created with balance." ... To get a feel for the game-making process, Tomlin and other campers will learn the ins-and-outs of game design, including the lighting of a three-dimensional computer-generated landscape and using cutting-edge software to digitally map and texture the alien terrain of some fantasy planet.Three camps are being held in Baltimore, D.C., and Atlanta and demand is supposedly very high with 200 applicants vying for 20 spots in Atlanta.
-
MurrayTheSkull
replyImagine what kind of cultural background and stories minority game developers could bring to the table. It'd be nice to hear some fresh stories.
http://img122.echo.cx/img122/110/approved3wi.jpg-
Imagine a game based on all those sitcoms from UPN. You know...Moesha, Girlfriends, etc. Are you sure that you want to approve of that?
-
-
http://media.playstationpro2.com/images/grand_theft_auto5-4.jpg ?
http://media.playstationpro2.com/images/grand_theft_auto5-9.jpg ?
http://media.playstationpro2.com/images/grand_theft_auto5-10.jpg ?
http://gr.bolt.com/previews/screens/ps2/nba_street/nba_street2b.jpg ?
http://sportsmedia.ign.com/sports/image/ESPNNBA2005_Starbury03inline_1083715998.jpg ?
http://www.xbox.com/media/games/maddennfl2005/sim-maddennfl2005-001.jpg ?
http://us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/9/23319/def_jam_ffny_3.jpg ?
No seriously, the major topical appeals to black audiences (as judged by sales of games, though sadly they do indeed fit some stereotypes) - hiphop, major league sports games, and gansta lifestyle, are all well represented in video games and thus are readily available for consumption by them and anyone else who is interested in those areas.
My point to you is that this has nothing to do with a need to bring "culturally diverse" ideas to the table. It simply deals with employment of more black programmers. Thing is, there are relatively very few black programmers, so if there is demand for some sort of quota that game developers must all hire minorities, it would actually go way beyond "equality" and into "preferential" hiring that would potentially push more qualified people out of the hiring pool because of "diversity" requirements.
Btw, the use of "minority" is such a misnomer these days. The majority of programmers are asian or indian as it is, so the reality is that mainly black and hispanic programmers are potentially underrepresented, not all cultural minorities in the US.-
NBA games are not made to appeal to black audiences. The league is majority black and the game has to include the actual players to draw interest from fans. Same way the FIFA games try to be true to all the international soccer stars.
Hiphop is just the pop music of today. GTA:SA is not selling a gazillion copies because its black ppl that are buying the game. Hiphop is mainstream. Its like saying the other GTA games were made for italian Americans and anyone else interested. People are interested in the whole gangsta/mafia lifestyle that they see in movies. GTA games just feed of that. You will not move units if you ony target a small audience.
All I see here is some radio show host making a comment about nerdy white progammers as if the black ones won't be equally as nerdy. And 2 guys starting a program for minorities that might be interested. I don't see anyone pushing for diversity quotas or anything like that.
-
-
Maybe I should clarify...
I did not mean in the sense of today's culture. I meant in terms of the old stories from African-American, Asian, Hispanic, etc. culture that others may not have heard about. Much like how the English have the Robin Hood legend and King Arthur and other stories that I may not have heard of, there are stories along those lines that have been passed down through generations that contain moralistic messages and/or lots of culture-specific asskickery (whichever you prefer).
It's not about appealing to a specific ethnicity, mind you. It's about letting other cultures tell the stories they can tell for others to appreciate.-
whoops, i don't think 'moralistic' is a word, i think :(
-
Because most gamers would find those stories, just like most European historic tales, boring as eff to play a game about?? Why would any company waste the (increasingly expensive) dev time and money to make a game about something that isn't going to sell much when you could make another anti-terrorism tactical fps game or another MMORPG with the same AD&D-ish rules/spells/classes/weapons/etc, or another sports game?
There's no compelling business reason to do so!
This entire premise is an attempt to create an argument and a complaint out of nothing! The reality is *gasp* black guys enjoy playing many of the same games white guys do. HOLY CRAP BATMAN. So the entire idea is a farce.
Even if black programmers are hired (which is all the article seemed to really be focused on - affirmative action for black programmers... all eight of them) they're still going to be coding the types of games that sell well. Today that's FPS terror-related games, sports games, and fantasy MMORPGs.
If tomorrow that changes and the hot new thing is games related to African culture, great! Whatever the buying public wants, that is what you build. Pretty common sense economic principle there.
I like how there's so much complaining that "omg white males are the majority of the gaming population and that darned majority is dictating what type of games are made", as if that's somehow wrong or contrary to business practice. Aside from the fallacy of white males playing different games than anyone else, what do you suggest, building games that AREN'T going to sell? :P
Sure go make a whole rack of games - quality ones of course, otherwise no one will even care about them - with each game appealing to a different minority group out there (again going on the false principle that each of these "minority groups" somehow want entirely different games than any other group). See how long that takes to put a lot of the already struggling game development studios out of business.-
This guy is on a roll.
-
Everything past the first paragraph has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about appealing to a particular ethnic group.
Maybe I'm just in the minority (lolz) for unique creative choices in games.
-
There you go.
The "nerdy white guys" (lol @ lobbing stereotypes in a race discussion) making these games are simply making games that cater to what's hot in the market right now. That's how the market works, and most likely how it is going to continue to work until these companies stop turning a profit.
This has precious little to do with anything about racial identity and any sort of cultural implications, and more to do with rabble-rousing in order to get people's attention. How unfortunate.
It sure did get people to sit up and take notice though! So mission accomplished in that regard, I guess. :|
-
-
There's certainly no shortage of Asian myth/history inspired games, that's for sure.
-
Exactly. There should be more historical games based on different cultures around the world.
I used to play/watch a lot of the Carmen Sandiego stuff, so it's just a thing I've been interested in seeing.-
I'd love for a cool game based on some crazy African/Middle-eastern history to be made, but, I just don't see it happening any time soon.
-
Some of the ideas I was thinking of off the top of my head are pretty stupid (Sim-Apartheid, Congo Assault, Theme Pyramid).
-
-
Yeah, as I was typing my game idea post, I realized there are a ton of games out there (mainly RTS games) that involve other countries. I just wished they'd narrow the focus on the culture rather than the military/economic stuff.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
There's plenty of games based upon foreign cultures, almost always done tastefully and respectfully. Prince of Persia, Jade Empire, Grim Fandango, Redneck Rampage. Now they're not always 100% factually correct, but they're not Shadow Warrior either (which I don't have a problem with either... c'mon, how can you really hate a game that has the line "You want to wash Wang? or watch Wang wash wang?"
-
NOT ENOUGH, I SAY!!!
-
-
