Introduction

The first thoughts of this subject came to me as my professor Brenda Brathwaite gave a presentation on abdicating authorship in the game design process. She asked,"What happens if a player can’t find themselves in your game?" As she shows a picture of the famous African American actress Angela Bassett she asks, "What kind of video game does Angela Bassett like to play?" The players of your game have to identify with someone or something in order to even want to play it. So I asked myself," What character in a video game today could Angela Bassett, a strong African American woman, relate to?"



What about Oprah Winfrey, another strong positive African American woman? What video game character can she relate to? Then I asked myself the BIG question,"Are there any African American characters in video games that I can relate to?" It feels really sad to say the answer was NO. Then I asked a couple of my African American friends if they knew any African American characters in video games whom they could relate to? They were stunned with the question and I was stunned at the answer and again it was NO. Many of my female friends said they didn't play video games anymore or at all and I asked, "Is it because there are no positive African American female characters in video games who you can relate to?"

Then I asked myself many other big questions like,"Why aren't there more African American characters as the main playable character of a game?" "Why aren't there any African American female characters as the main playable character of a game?" "Did anyone ever stop and think if there were more positive African American female characters in video games, then more African American females would start playing video games?"

Most African American male characters in video games appear as thugs, pimps, angry, and very uneducated. Take this example of the concept artwork from 2003's Def Jam Vendetta for the PS2.

I began to wonder why video game companies portrayed African American characters in this manner. Then I remembered most people assume how another culture or race act from watching television. The images found in the media are very powerful tools.