IGN takes issue with white male lead in Days Gone.

[ArchangelMadzz]

pokoko said:

SpokenTruth said:

Yet another black guy or yet another bassy voiced hulking character using street slang?

See, the first one is bad.  The second one is a character trope.  People get tired of character tropes.  Remember the bald, space marine trope? The shirtless, bandana wearing Rambo trope? Or the buxom busted chick with attitude trope?  It's not their race.  It's not their sex.  It's not the their demeanor.  It's their trope.  A combination of character traits that may start off interesting but then itself becomes a generic character type that gets boring after the nth iteration.

We aren't even talking about a trope, we're talking about the attempt to create a trope in order to satisfy an agenda.  "Gruff White Male Protagonist" is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  We're supposed to believe that "Gruff" is the primary descriptor?  Bullshit.  What is that even supposed to mean?  That the person fighting to survive in a living hell isn't dancing and singing as they fight zombies?  A serious character in a serious game isn't a trope, it's just common sense.  

Looking at a character and deciding that they're boring just because they look kinda-sorta similar to other characters is shallow and unimaginative.  I'm reading a really good book right now where one of the characters is a beautiful princess with long, golden hair.  Gosh, how boring--except, of course, that she's one of the best characters in the book because events turned her from a spoiled child into someone ruthless and unhinged.  

Wait so you're saying you're consuming a piece of media where at first impression the character is a boring trope but turns out to be really interesting? 

 

Man if only the article said something like that...