I was gonna make a long post about cultural appropriation, but I decided against it namely b/c...

I'm white and feel like I shouldn't be the one speaking on the matter (I'd much rather amplify voices that can speak better about such things) and...

These forums aren't a place for that kind of discussion.

But like I said in the post above, it's good not to buy into hype culture period.

I'm definitely interested with what has been shown, but I want to see more before really wanting to buy this day one. Mostly because the story and main character just seem so generic. Without even going into race yet, I just don't think having a prequel was the right move. I don't even remember the other gang members that Marston mentioned aside from Dutch, so it's hard for me to really care about this being a prequel when I barely remember what happened in the first one. Which really has to do with Rockstar having terrible dragged out stories that are filled with boring characters.

As far as portrayals of minority races in american history? Yeah... Rockstar is not a developer I want to see tackle that simply because everything just seems to be a parody or stereotype for them and gets reduced to just being a joke. RDR loved the aesthetics of Mexican culture, but when it came to the characters, they were all just stereotypes from Western films or even based off modern ones. So I don't really trust them in handling any minority character with respect.

I'm more excited for a new Red dead because of what the setting and game play can provide, so in that context I'd be fine with any kind of protagonist. I look for compelling stories and characters too and I have no preference as to what form that comes in. Honestly, I completely recognize my mentality as a white dude here. Like others have said for themselves I don't ever look for representation, because it's everywhere for me already. I also wouldn't miss any supposed Caucasian representation as it's not something I've ever valued.

With this said. I think it'd be great for there to be more diversity among protagonists if it makes other people happy. It's always interesting getting to see through the eyes of someone else. I hope none of this sounded entitled or unsympathetic either. I usually stay quiet on subjects like this, since I feel like I'm not in a position to add much.

Totally with you OP. As a non white person myself, it is very tiring to see another straight white man as the protagonist in a big video game. Also, playing white man in a wild west game us especially jarring, knowing the atrocities that were committed to natives and th history of native American portrayals in wild west movies.

Also on the topic of AC3, I also seemed to enjoy that game more than the common sentiment. Especially the Homestead aspect of that game, it was really nice to see that build up over time and the way all the characters interacted was really cute and I had fun doing all the silly little quests for them. I wish the series had more stuff like that.

In terms of Hype I knew I was buying it the second it was announced, matter of factly. It's a done deal in my head so nothing else will get any attention unless it's delayed or something.

Representation wise Brit here - heritage and history of "my people" means nothing to me and much less in games. I've no idea what my genetic history is. My hometown alone has changed names a dozen times through history depending on if it was the Romans, Norse or Normans who was conquering it that week. I've zero cultural identity and that's absolutely fine with me.

In RDR for example I'm playing as John Marston, and through my uncle's love of westerns I've an idea of romanticised cowboys and gunslingers - but also a completely detached and objective view of the undeniable genocide of the native population. It's an interesting story with *slightly* more real life depictions of these characters as people, the Native friends of Dutch and the Professor seemed like ordinary people just doing a job without the lens of stereotype - in fact the only cliches I can remember were the Snake-oil salesman, Grave-robber and the few dozen Hicks you massacre all white but they're American stereotypes, white southern Americans. As a white Northerner from England (Winterfell from GoT pretty much) it means zero to me that some random whites are made to look slimy, scummy or stupid while some cowboy murderer is painted as a hero cause he's pretty quiet and polite normally and just wants to live quietly away from his crimes. I have no connection to any side. I'm just playing the story.

@doom616: For me personally, the only way I really identify myself is what I am not. I am NOT Hispanic, not Native American, Not African American, Not Asian so ultimately I end up being Caucasian on the government forms for demographics. Like many here, I am not really sure what that means, other than that I am NOT marginalized. All that is just to say that no, I don't feel like white characters represent me in any way. My favorite series ever, Halo, never even shows your character's face so he could be anything and it doesn't matter at all. In a game like Red Dead, the story they are trying to tell would largely influence what race/ethnicity your character is I would imagine, and with that comes some unspoken ideas in people about what that character's background is or what their cultural ideals are. Personally, because I am white, Caucasian characters always feel like boring defaults to me. I'd like to say that it doesn't matter at all what color the player character is, but I don't think that is really true given current events. Some people absolutely would boycott a game because of something like that, then again some people would ban Harry Potter because of magic.

My profile picture is my ACTUAL picture, which I am sure some people look at and then take everything I say with a grain of salt when it concerns racism, discrimination etc., which if I am being honest is probably a valid thing to do. I haven't ever felt discriminated against because of my race or gender, so any discussion on the subject is purely hypothetical or second hand as far as my experiences with it. Largely I leave it up to developers to decide what character best fits their creations, but that is also because in America, Caucasian culture is the default so I don't feel underserved at all.

I own the first game, but haven't put that much time into it, so I am also not super looking forward to RD2 and am going to wait for reviews and QLs to decide. I have a tendency to give Rockstar the benefit of a doubt. I do love GTA5, and actually found that Franklin was my favorite character because his experiences and friends and family were the least familiar to me and therefore the most interesting. I don't have any clue if his character is at all "representative" of African American culture and experiences in the US, I imagine it isn't because it is a video game and because he is just one character.

Indie games can take more chances, and come from more diverse cultures so hopefully as more and more indies start to gain traction and the tools become easier and easier for people to use to make games, we will see more diversity.

This was a rambling reply, but TLDR No I don't feel like white characters represent me, and you are totally justified and correct to not buy into hype on a game sight unseen.

@jonny_anonymous: Personally my family heritage is German and Polish which is why I use it, but because most of the "White" people in this country are descended from somewhere in Europe, there is a high probability that they are in some part true Caucasian. Our government further perpetuates this by making Caucasians "White":

The U.S. Census Bureau must adhere to the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards on race and ethnicity which guide the Census Bureau in classifying written responses to the race question:

White – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

People I think prefer using Caucasian because it is one step further removed from the more emotionally charged and offensive black, brown, red, yellow, white terms many racists use in their attacks, and it sounds more unbiased and scientific.

While I don't think RDR is overrated, it is quite a bit of a slug to get through it. First part of the game was good, really good and the second part had an amazing introduction but it ended up being too long and made no sense from a story telling pov that it tarnished the third part for me to a point where I just didn't care.

As someone who's favorite movie genre is spaghetti westerns, I will most definitely keep my eyes open for this one. I hope the development team took all the advancements made in recent year and will make a memorable experience.

I'm really looking forward to playing RDR2. Not so much from any preview hype, but mostly because I loved the first game. Historical settings are not my preference at all but the story telling and gameplay in the first game were just fantastic. RDR was far and away my fav R* game, and I'm hoping they capture some of that greatness in this game. As far as self identifying or referencing , I just don't think that way I guess. It's all about how the game is crafted and plays, and how great a story they can create. Like many have intimated itt, cultural diversity equals richness, and adding more of it generally makes everything more interesting imo.

I guess so, yea. The cowboy fantasy is ingrained in me. I love it. But it is just a fantasy. If they attempted to give us the accurate late 1800's gunfighter it would be bleak, boring and disgusting.

I've been thinking recently how there has been a lack of games starring native americans during this period. Actually, I can't think of any. Not that there are many games about this period in general.

@doom616: Speaking as a white dude I'm not sure I care much about being represented in my games. I know. Easy to say you don't care when you're the one getting the representation.

For whatever reason I don't care about characters looking anything like me other than on gender. I don't know why the gender thing is important to me but it is a big bonus to me if the game gives me the option to play as a dude. Whatever the dudes skin color is doesn't bother me much.

Of course I have no idea if my opinion would hold on that if I didn't usually get the option to play as a white guy though. I definitely think more developers should give gamers options on who to play as.

Other than a few nintendo games here and there very rarely to I get excited for any AAA game these days. I don't have the time or commitment to even put into these games to even enjoy properly so I don't even bother trying anymore as I'm just throwing away money and often will just get bored. As good and as well made as many of these games are very little of these games just speak to me or compelled to even bother with most AAA games as I tend to never connect to the characters or find the writing to be just awful and very amateurish even with the best of games these days.

Last of Us is the last big game I remember playing and I did enjoy it to a point but the character motivation and just how cheap and uncharacteristic in many parts completely took me out of it to the point I just did not care at all and felt completely out of place a lot of what happened later in that game did that just killed anything I enjoyed about that game.

I had zero hype for this game even though I loved the last one, but when I looked at my PS4 dashboard last night and saw the timer ticking down from 3 days and 5 hours, it kind of hit me: this is the first and probably only Rockstar game this generation. Now I’m getting pretty psyched. Wish I had a three-day weekend coming.

I don't care, either. It'll probably be really good and well-made but I don't feel like playing it. That's fine.