Originally Posted by
CaptainV
Okay, lets start by being civil on this topic, since the last one ended in a fire blazing itself into oblivion, lets start with this:
I am a white male straight player, I happen to be disabled with aspergers, and I also happen to be a pretty intimite gamer who likes to play some pretty challenging games, as long as they dont revolve around a tedious grind.
Am I represented in the gaming industry? Probably, do I actually "care" if I am represented?
Not really.
Heres the thing, pro divercity, anti divercity, no matter what side of the fence your on, the reality is, your a gamer, first and foremost, your interest is the game.
If a game has an interesting cast of vibrant individuals, or a cliche cast of predictable individuals, what matters, is why you care about it, you play it because you want to play it, it doesnt really matter what "steriotype" it appeals to or "category" it appeals to, becuase frankly, the notion of such things is irelevent in fiction.
So lets start with the whole, colours/sex/sexual prefference thing.
What makes a character interesting?
The truth is, its not the colour of their skin, the sex they represent, or the sexuality they stand for. It really doesnt matter if they are disabled, straight, gay, transgender, or anything else.
Before and above all else, what matters is, are they interesting as a person. If the answer is yes, then its not because of their appearence or cliche that they are interesting, its beause of their design.
The writers/actors/designers that bring these characters to life make them fun for you to enjoy, you feel like this char is some badass chick, or awesome dude, or some evil douche you come to love even if their also gay.
It doesnt matter what the "Sub-type" is, because that shouldnt "dominate" the character trope. Do you watch a vampire because they're a vampire? No, you watch them because of their character, who happens to be a vampire.
Do you watch a female char because shes portrayed as a strong, independant epic badass that can beat up men? No, you watch her because shes cool, and thats really what appeals.
Do you like the black guy because hes black? No, you like him because hes a badass.
Simply put, your reason for liking these people has "nothing" to do with their physical characteristics, disabilities, sex prefference or gender.
You are only interested in them BECAUSE, they are appealing to you, as a CHARACTER, in FICTION.
Now lets put that into perspective for a second...
Im disabled, mentally disabled at that, do I "want" to be represented in a video game?
No, I dont I really couldnt care if I was, frankly id rather not have someone try to represent my disability as if "someone gets it" because frankly only "I" get me, only "I" understand who "I" am and nobody will ever truly grasp what "I" want to a core T even if they can come close or make interesting chars based on my archetype.
I mean, as an example, Borderlands has a character who happens to be autistic, I didnt even realize that UNTIL someone brought it up in the game itself, and I didnt even 'care' when I learned it because I was too busy laughing at how epic she was and just fun to listen to and watch.
Seriously, the appeal is in what the PERSON is, not what their label, is.
Because frankly? A label? Be it a steriotypical white male blonde hero or a steriotypical strong female heroine, is boring.
Because if they dont have personality, depth, layers, and character development that makes them engaging to watch and grow with, then why do I actually 'care' about them?
See this is where the "issue" is, for alot of gamers, to all you pro represent folks out there.
What we dont really care about, is that very point, we dont 'care' if they are transgender or not, what we care about, is that they're an interesting character that HAPPENS to be transgender but that entire thing does NOT dominate their character development or depth.
And see thats... what gamers really want, and really care about that are anti-represent, its not that they dont like it, they just want people to actually write characters with "ACTUAL" personality, not just "they're gay, and you should like them or your a homophobe".
Sorry but that medium is "never" going to win people over, okay?
Because even the gay people can agree, thats not a good way to get people to 'care'.
So simply put, what we like about overwatch "IS" the divercity, but NOT because they're female, gay, straight, robot, or whatever.
But because they're AWESOME, and every one of them is fun to play and learn about.
So dont think were all homophobes in closets refusing to progress, we just dont want that thrust in our faces and be forced to "care" about it.