Thesis Visual Component(3)

Here's my first attempt at the 3D model of Joshua Davis:







I know there's still a lot of problems with the model but I'm putting the finishing touches on my paper and then I'll be free to put all my energy into the 3D character model.

Stereotypes in Advertising

Ok I know this has nothing to do with video games, but I just had to share with you this advertising board that's close to my house. It displays a perfect example of how stereotypes are used even in advertising. This advertising is for bail bonding with the target audience being, I'm guessing, men. Now what does a blonde woman have to do with bail bonding? In jail men think about two things: (1)getting out of jail and (2)having lots of sex with a woman. This ad uses the "Blonde Bimbo" stereotype, which in this case, exemplifies feminine beauty. The ad wants you to remember the sexy blonde with huge breasts so when you get put in jail you can call them for a "quick release." It seems more like an ad for a phone sex line rather than a bail bonding service.

Positive Relatable Video Game Characters(6)

Billy Candle from Call of Juarez (2006) breaks the stereotypes of the bandido and the Latin male baffoon. Billy is a wanderer trying to make his way back to his home town and see his mom. She is Mexican and Billy’s real father is Caucasian but he does not know who he is. Because he was raised by his stepfather who is also a Caucasian, Billy speaks great English. However because of his Mexican descent, he endures a lot of prejudice and racial remarks. When Billy finds his mother and stepfather dead he runs for his life armed with his wits and his whip. Despite all the hardship Billy goes through, he perseveres through it all and is a positive influence for Latinos and other minorities.





El Blaze from Virtua Fighter 5 (2006) is a wrestler from Mexico who fights with Lucha Libre style. Focusing more on lightning quick aerial maneuvers rather than powerful attacks is what make El Blaze a great fighter. He works very hard to maintain his speed and ability and loves to say so in perfect English. El Blaze shatters the lazy Latino stereotype.

Positive Relatable Video Game Characters(5)

Robert Richards (Bob) from Tekken 6 (2007) is a martial arts legend in America. Bob becomes obese in order to increase his strength and defeat larger opponents. He still maintains his speed, accuracy, and discipline. Because he has become so obese many of his fans lose their faith in him, but he enters the Iron Fist Tournament to show the world that he is still a great fighter. He is a great example to people who do not fit into the so called "ideal body size".






Leo Kliesen from Tekken 6 (2007) still has Tekken fans puzzled about the character’s gender and sexual orientation. Leo’s father was a world famous spelunker and Leo’s mother was an executive at the G Corporation. Sadly Leo’s father goes missing during an expedition and Leo’s mother gets killed by an unknown assassin. Leo soon realizes that the G Corporation is behind it and enters the Iron Fists Tournament to face the man in charge of the corporation and get revenge. The designers of the game purposefully left the gender and sexual orientation of the character unclear. Is this like Samus from Metroid (1986), to show that is does not matter what someone’s gender or sexual orientation is as long as they are a great character? Were they afraid that the character might not be well received if players knew the sexual orientation of the character? Well it doesn't matter to me. Leo is a great character and one heck of a fighter. I have destroyed many opponents online with Leo.

Positive Relatable Video Game Characters(4)

A video game character who breaks the stereotypes of the unaccultured Asian, china doll, and dragon lady is Aya Brea from Parasite Eve (1998). Aya is an Asian American who was born in the United States and has been determined to be a detective ever since her mother died in an accident when she was a child. Her personality is strong willed and determined. Aya holds her own in the NYPD’s 17th Precinct which is filled with men. She is not luring men with an exotic personality, she is beating up and shooting down monsters just like any man would. She is a good role model for all women.





Jade from Beyond Good and Evil(2003) is another positive heroine for women. She is not armed with knives or swords. Her weapons of choice are a staff and her trusty camera. She is a photo journalist who is put right in the middle of a disaster that threatens her world. Her mission is to rescue the orphans she was taking care of and expose the government's corruption. The game developer Ubisoft had the intention of creating a character who resembled a real person rather than a "sexy action woman." It has been established that because Jade was not from Earth, she had no real ethnicity. But I think we can all agree she is a positive role model for all women of Earth.

Sexual Orientation Stereotypes(2)

While doing research on Caucasian Racial Stereotypes I came across this story by Richard Dyer inside his book "White". It explains the kinship he shares with a black boy who comes into his class when he was in nursery school.

"I seem from a very early age to have had a feeling for non-white people, a feeling something like kinship; yet there were moments when, for some reason or other, I suddenly realized that I really was not kin, and it was thus that I really realized I was white. I was brought up in a suburb of London, in a period (the late 1940s and early 1950s) in which there were relatively few non-white people in Britain. I went to a nursery school. On day a black boy came to class and was teased unmercifully by the other children. I, however, took his side. I knew that I was regarded as a funny little boy, chiefly because I preferred playing with dolls and flowers to guns and cars. Perhaps I felt an affinity between myself and another boy who was funny because, albeit for a different reason, he too was not like the other boys." (Dyer: 1997: 5)

Richard Dyer also talks about his kinship to a Jewish boy named Danny Marker.

"I used to visit him and his family in Golders Green, a Jewish neighborhood of London. I knew by then that I was a homosexual and I envied Danny and his family- they too were an oppressed minority, whom, like queers, you could not always spot; but, unlike us, they had this wonderful, warm community and culture and the wrongfulness of their oppression was socially recognized." (ibid)

After reading Richard Dyer's book "White", I have gained a wealth of knowledge on the white culture and I have the utmost respect for him. Not only because of his bravery in openly admitting his sexual orientation, but also sharing his point of view of whiteness.

"The point of looking at whiteness is to dislodge it from its centrality and authority, not to reinstate it (and much less, to make a show of reinstating it, when, like male power, it doesn't actually need reinstating)." (Dyer: 1997: 10)

Sexual Orientation Stereotypes

I must admit I didn't know my research on this part of my thesis would be so difficult. It has been a great challenge to gather information from many people inside the gay community because of the ignorant hate crimes and horrible scrutiny of gay people. Lets be honest when compared to other social groups homosexuals are still among the most stigmatized groups in the nation. This fear of being exposed and hated caused many people not to be as open and honest in my survey questions. As a result I made sure to put a disclaimer at the very top in bold letters that the survey is for thesis research only and your identity will not be made public and your answers will not be published or directly quoted. I'm hoping this will help get me more feedback. It's a shame that this ignorance reaches even as far as The White House where gay public officials even vote against the interests of the gay community because they're afraid to come out of their own closets and lose their position of power. Take a look at this trailer for the HBO documentary "Outrage" that I saw last year.



I myself being a heterosexual African American male, have not gone through hate crimes on the level that a homosexual male has. But there is a kinship between us because this sort of behavior was endured by the African American community not so long ago. But unlike the African American community, the gay lifestyle is still seen as taboo. Gay men and lesbians are still banned from serving openly in the US military service. Child custody decisions still frequently view gay and lesbian people as unfit parents. Gay and lesbian adolescents are often taunted and humiliated in their school settings. Many professional people and employees in all occupations are still fearful of identifying as gay or lesbians in their work settings. Gay relationships are not widely recognized in any legal way.

These hate crimes are evident even in the video game community. Take a look at this video where an openly gay gamer is continuously taunted with ignorant hateful remarks.



This is why many people will not openly admit their sexual orientation!

Positive Relatable Video Game Characters(3)

This week I want to take a look John Marston, the main protagonist from "Red Dead Redemption" (2010) by Rockstar Games. Ok now I wouldn't go as far as saying he's a positive role model for kids but his story is extremely relatable for all gamers. The word that I want to focus on is redemption. Here's a guy who was an outlaw and gets betrayed by his former gang and left for dead. Realizing his past mistakes and old lifestyle, he sets out to make things right and hunt down his three former gang members and bring them to justice. Everyone can relate to this because we all have done things in our past that we're not proud of and seek to make things right. We all hope for redemption.





Heather, the main protagonist of "Silent Hill 3" (2003), does a great job of representing an average teenage girl. Her hair is not nice and neat all the time and her face is filled with freckles. Sato Takayoshi, character artist for the survival horror game Silent Hill (1999), explains his thought process for designing characters with emotion and ambiguity. He explains:
If you are attracted to a woman, she is not perfect. You love her because she is human and has character. That character has bad points as well as good points.

Thesis Visual Component(2)

These are my character concept sketches illustrating how the difference in someone's character traits can dramatically change their outward appearance.








This is an early concept of J Dirty. I changed his design a lot because he wasn't thugish enough.

Name: Joshua Davis Jr. III, but he likes to go by “J Dirty”

Josh has always had the best in life. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Josh being an only child, his parents always gave him whatever he wanted without question. Growing up in his great big mansion, Josh has always loved hardcore gangster rap music. He loves NWA, 50 Cent, The Ying Yang Twins, Little John, and many other hip hop artists. Although he has never left his parents home he’s always wondered what it would be like growing up in the “hood” or “ghetto”. He’s always wanted to live the life of a hardcore thug. Growing up Josh was always a straight “A” student, but he also sold drugs on the side. He called it getting his street creds up. After Josh graduated from high school with very high honors, his parents wanted him to go off to college and become a doctor or lawyer, but all Josh can think about is becoming the next big hip hop artist. Josh has a crew of friends that he hangs out with and they smoke weed and play video games all day. He secretly likes baking cookies and cakes when no one is watching.

Quote 1: “Let me pimp or let me die”

Quote 2: “I was born a hustla, I’m gonna die a hustla, and whether you like it or hate it I’m the fool yo mama warned you about.”








Name: Joshua Davis

Joshua’s life is one of constant struggle. He’s the younger of two boys and his mother left them in the care of their grandmother when they were babies. Since she was addicted to cocaine she knew she wouldn’t be able to take care of them. Joshua found out that she died when he was 12 and he’s been going downhill ever since. Not knowing who his father is didn’t help at all either. He was constantly getting into fights at school because they would tease him about his mother dying and saying his father must be Saddam Hussein or something because of the way he looks. They would call him terrorist among other hurtful things, so Joshua joined a local neighborhood gang so that he could feel safe. His older brother Jason thought this was a stupid idea and that he didn’t want Joshua to throw is life away. Jason would always tell Joshua, “All we have are each other in this world Joshua, and no matter what happens I’ll always take care of you little brother.” Joshua always looked up to his big brother Jason. When Jason graduates high school he decides to join the military. He says it’s the only way he can make money and one day take care of him and Joshua. He goes over seas and leaves Joshua in the care of their grandmother. At the age of 17 Joshua and his grandmother get a letter about Jason from the military, and it says, “Soldier Jason Davis on medical discharge because of schizophrenia.” Joshua had never heard that word before. “What does it mean?” he asks. Joshua was just glad his brother was coming back home, but when Jason got back he wasn’t the same. He was talking and acting differently and most of what he said didn’t make since. After Joshua and his grandmother found out from the doctor what schizophrenia was he knew things would never be the same but he had hope. Joshua knew that he would have to find out more about it and maybe there was a cure out there somewhere. He knew that it wouldn’t be easy but he had to do better in school so that he could go to college and become a doctor. Now Joshua attends medical school where he hopes to get a great education and travel the world studying medicine.

Quote 1: “I have to be strong for my brother.”

Quote 2: “Now it’s my turn to take care of you big brother.”

Quote 3: “All we have are each other in this world Jason, and no matter what happens I’ll always take care of you big brother.”

Thesis Visual Component(1)

The visual component for my thesis will contain two video game characters. The characters will be one negative stereotypical video game character and one positive version of that video game character. Based on my research I have created a list of stereotypical character traits which will be applied to the negative stereotypical character. From that list I have created a positive list of character traits which will help me in designing the positive video game character. These characters are meant to show that anyone in this world can be of great good or great evil depending on the choices they make. Anyone can be negative stereotypical person or a positive person. It is important to give the player a choice of which personality they can best identify with. My two characters are actually just one character, but they live in two totally different worlds with two totally different personalities. They have different backgrounds, beliefs, and different views on life.

My major source of inspiration comes from the two female characters inside the game Silent Hill 2. This is a survival horror game made by Konami in 2001. The characters are Mary and Maria. The thing is that they are actually the same character, but with two different personality traits. In the game you follow the main character James, who gets a letter from his dead wife Mary, who passed away 2 years ago.



Mary is the average sweet, loving, kind, and devoted house wife. While searching for Mary in the town of Silent Hill, James meets Maria, who looks exactly like his wife Mary, but does not act anything like her.



Maria is a sex crazed woman who loves to show off her body and throw herself at men.

You see the same character with two totally different backgrounds and character traits. The character model is actually the same but when you change the clothing to match their character traits, they become two totally different characters. The character models have subtle changes based on each character’s personality traits as well.

Positive Relatable Video Game Characters(2)

I have yet to play Left 4 Dead (2008) and Left 4 Dead 2 (2009) because I don't own an XBox 360 but I already had Louis and Rochelle picked as positive relatable video game characters. Their outward appearance alone separates them from the mold of the stereotypical African American male and female. When I read up their background information and character traits I was full of joy.



Louis is a Junior Systems Analyst in the IT department for Franklin Brothers in Philadelphia before the zombie outbreak in Left 4 Dead. His attire is like the average business man. He wears a button down shirt, tie, and slacks. Also even though he is stuck in this horrible situation where zombies are trying to eat him alive, when he speaks you can tell he is a well educated man.




Rochelle is a minor associate producer for a news station with a high reputation. She was in Savannah producing a segment about the evacuation center when the area became overrun with zombies in Left 4 Dead 2. She is fully dress and doesn't have an attitude all the time. She doesn't fit the "Angry Black Woman" stereotype and is actually very caring towards her fellow survivors.