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[Han Shot First]

I figure as long as it isn't the Man with the Shaved Head and Stubble like Sheploo was in the advertising, I'm good. 

 

Assuming the protagonist is military again (likely, considering the N7 concept art), the default version of the male protagonist should have a short military-style haircut.

 

Long hair was a common request for male Shep after ME1 and ME2 released, but I think the devs got it right in not including any in the CC options. That's of course assuming that it wasn't just technical issues being the deciding factor. Long hair wouldn't have made sense for that character.

 

Now if the concept art for ME: Next wasn't of the protagonist, and we end up playing as a hardened mercenary or a pirate or something along those lines...than bring on the long hair options in CC. 

[Absafraginlootly]

Another option.

 

marketing like this:

 

 

Thank you for sharing, this is awesome and just the sought of thing I had in mind.

 

As for the cover, I'd favour it not having a protagonist on it at all since the nicest looking covers imo don't. But if they do insist on having a protag on the cover I'd favour heavy armour ambiguous helmeted etc.

[N7Jamaican]

It would be ballsy if BioWare's protagonist was a non-white male or female.  If they could add same-sex relationships, I could see them doing the same.

[TheJester000]

Just put them both on the cover, problem solved.

[Grieving Natashina]

It would be ballsy if BioWare's protagonist was a non-white male or female.  If they could add same-sex relationships, I could see them doing the same.

I've been supportive of this for years.

 

@Han Good point about the hair.  

 

I was mostly referring to the majority of men in this picture.  I think this has gotten stale:

 

[Altair_ShepardN7]

Hispanics come in different races? Could be Black, White, Native, mixed, Indian or Chinese as well, yes? So to answer, how about a racially Indian or Chinese person of Hispanic ethnicity? That good, yes? If not a Black Hispanic or Mestizo are also underrepresented, but are a growing demographic.

 

IMO i'd say a default hero that is Asian, Black or Mestizo are all great ideas.

We can stay aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall day and night arguing which will be the look, gender, race and sexual orientation of the protagonist with which they will promote the game and will put in the cover of the game....

 

Which is why I say - don't show the protagonist, instead put other characters in the trailers like the villain or your squad mates. If they show your character, it should be in heavy armor with his race or gender being a mystery. They said in the last N7 Day that Shepard was already legendary by the first game, but that the new Mass Effect was going to be about YOU and your journey to becoming legendary. It is about your character, not theirs. You will decide who is that character, its race, gender, sexual orientation, political alignment, how it will look and his/hers favorite food and color. 

Examples: 

Spoiler

Destiny: We have no idea who they are, nor their gender or race. They are your characters.


Metro: Artyom as another example - he's a straight, white male (he's Russian) but his face is always a mystery, it's up to you to decide how he looks.

 

Fallout NV: Who is he/she? It is your character. 

I really love the idea of having the main character be a mystery until you play the game. I don't see why it can't be done, I don't consider it to be generic or bad.

[pdusen]

I wish the whole world would be racially/sexually/socioeconomically equal so that everyone would just shut up.

[Iakus]

It would be ballsy if BioWare's protagonist was a non-white male or female.  If they could add same-sex relationships, I could see them doing the same.

You just described Jade Empire 

[Iakus]

I've been supportive of this for years.

 

@Han Good point about the hair.  

 

I was mostly referring to the majority of men in this picture.  I think this has gotten stale:

 

I only recognize Shepard and Mike Thorton.

 

Either I play the wrong games, or the right ones 

[DuskWanderer]

#1 "The fact that you only care about seeing "people of color""

 

Not a fact, I never said that! As stated previously, I want a blonde, fair skinned,  and blue eyed female protagonist default, because they are lacking. Not a person of color is that.

 

#2 "proves it's not worth listening to"

 

Proves nothing!

 

#3 "Not once do you even consider "interesting characters", "unique backstories", or anything similar. Just what they look like. "

 

They can be both. But they should not be excluded because they don't have some magnificent backstory. It makes sense for future human populations to have a higher people of color (Chinese and Indian) populations in the future given current projections. That is a fact!

1.) Never saw that. Don't really care, either. Do you have a problem with white men? 

 

2.) Proves plenty. The fact that you care more about the race proves that it is what guides you. Basing things on race is itself the problem. 

 

3.) They can be both. They do not need to be. More importantly, why does it matter what race they are? Interesting stories and complex characters are ALL that matter. The fact that you never mention it when talking about characters tells me race is all you want and care about. I could have the same bland boring character, fill in the face with MS Paint, and you'd be satisfied. 

 

The marketing demographics for games are overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly white, given that they are sold in the US, Canada, and Europe. Those are the biggest market, and yes, the demographic is overwhelmingly white. What this seems to boil down to is you saying "life's not fair!" I'll take the parent role and say "No, it's not." Again: Deal with it.  

[Majestic Jazz]

 

[Grieving Natashina]

I understand the criticism in a very generalized sense, but the above is still not a fair assessment. It shows how shallow and superficial people are for equating all of this. 

 

Nico from GTA is a very specific character.. a Russian immigrant criminal with Broken English set loose in a big American city. Solid Snake has been around since the NES days, and I think the cover was somewhat of a ripoff of Michael Bein (sp?) from Terminator. At the time though, gaming had plenty of different protagonists. Mario and Pac Man and Ikari Warriors and Kid Icarus and Samus. If anything, Snake was unique for the time... and still is actually. MGS is very absurd... in a purposeful way.

 

Nathan Drake is more of a male Lara Croft.

 

Alan Wake is a paperback novelist...in over his head in a horror story, like his books.

 

They're different characters.

<sigh>  I'm not sure if you're deliberately missing my point or not.  I was talking about the advertising for a RPG that has a main character to customize.  I'm not saying that aren't all different characters.  Most of them have personal qualities that make them stand out within their own games..

 

Yet, I am sick and tired of all of these heroes looking the same, or having character like Sheploo fit into that neat little mold.  There is no reason to, and developers such as Manveer Heir have talked about this at length before.  Sure, it's gotten better recently with games like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.  However, particularly in games that have customizable characters, showing the protagonist looking just like all the other guys in the above picture has gotten old and a little ridiculous.  Also, it shows a staggering lack of diversity in the looks of the characters.  With a few exceptions, I don't see why at least some of these characters couldn't be black, or latino, or anything but white.  

 

Let's mix it up some.  We have a game that's going to have a customizable PC, so let's show something other than before.  After DA:I, ambigious is good but for the sake of variety, can we at least get someone that's not white and visibly as such?  I don't care if it's male or female, or if BioWare shows a signs of same sex relationships as part of their marketing, but I want them show something other than the Brown-Haired White Guy with Stubble or BHWGWS only under a helm. 

[Grieving Natashina]

I just don't like generalizations. That's all. White guys are people too. That's my point.

 

Here I am not even white and have to defend it somewhat. If a real white guy said this people would just jump on his ass and tell him to "Check his privilege". Somebody has to speak up for them... because they're pretty much not allowed to do it themselves. So much for privilege... it doesn't get them very far.

I'm not saying get rid of all characters that look like that and never have them return.  I hope you know me better than that by now.

 

I am saying that the video game industry as a whole could use to have more diversity.  To narrow the focus of my post, I think that white guys that look like that have had plenty of advertising for games with customizable main characters.  Sheploo, the Warden, Hawke, ect.  I don't see why at least a trailer or two could feature non-white N7 PC for ME:N.

 

My guess is that they'll probably do what they did for DA:I and go the more ambiguous route.  That worked okay, and I could see them doing that here so there isn't a set image about what the character is supposed to look like.  They'll probably focus on the armor and on the symbols, like they did with the Inquisitor.  It's a perfectly acceptable approach, but I would still like to see a non-white person in the advertising for their main character.  

 

Like I said earlier, as long as they don't default to the Stubbled-Faced White Dude yet again, I'm happy.  

[Steppenwolf]

Why don't we all just concede that the point of marketing is to sell as many units as possible and move on? Game companies are going to advertise to their target demographics because they know that that is where the money is. They're largely relying on white men to buy these games so that's who they have to market to. As soon as women or East Asians or whomever become the largest demographic of these sorts of games then the advertising will shift that way. Marketing/advertising is not interested in diversity, social justice, progress or equal representation. All it exists to do is sell units.

[Grieving Natashina]

I do know you enough.. and you know me. I'm just giving you some sh*t, in my friendly way. This stuff needs to be said. That's all.

 

I do want them to mix things up though, don't get me wrong. At the same time, I think this is also just a recent trend. Gaming wasn't dominated by this imagery in the past. Hell, I might partly blame it on the demise of Japanese gaming. Their characters were more diverse.... even if mostly juvenile.

Sorry if I didn't pick up on that as well as I usually do.  It's been a crazy week, and my gaming has been forced to a screeching halt.  <hugs>

 

The trend has been going on long enough.  It's been going on for the better part of 12 years, since about 2003 or so.  I don't blame the decline of Japanese games, but I do think that the Western gaming industry got stuck somewhere back in about 2003, saw the perceived demographic at the time and has only now started to come back.  

 

As far as the decline of Japanese games...well, go look up what caused Megaman's creator to leave Capcom and start his own company.  The Japanese game makers just don't care about their Western audience and several interviews from well-known Japanese developers even state as such.  I doubt one is related to the other.  <shrug>