Look at Ruy for example. He is a Japanese dude, the story says. But why the hell doesn't he have Japanese eyes then? If only he would have that, he would have looked a lot more Japanese, but even Ryu looks more South European or Persian than Japanese now, at least most versions of Ryu do. But for example in the SF II V anime he looks a lot more Japanese though. Also in anime's you often have that hybrid Japanese/European look.

What the Japanese also have are those boy/girl characters, like Kuja from FFIX, where you almost can't make up whether that guy is a guy or a girl. But there is also a reason for that I think, cause the more pretty a guy and a girl get in regard of our standards for beauty, the more they look like each other. Pretty people seem to look like each other, up to a certain extend of course, regardless of whether they are men or women. And of course the Japanese artists take that to the absurd. lol

Japanese culture is beyond my comprehension at this point but one thing I can say is that their artists sure love to draw white people. Its surprising though because most of the arguements of having whites as the standard of beaty arise from european conquests of other nations and imposition of their culture on them.

However, Japan has never been ruled by anyone else but themselves yet they seem to have fallen prey to the same effect to a higher degree if I may add. Its seems that even westerners are more open to making games with real Asian-looking characters than the Japanese themselves because I just remembered Heavenly Sword lol. Also, the game: Mirror's Edge has an Asian female as the lead. She's pure Asian (probably Japanese) not the hybrid they create.

That's because a lot of white nerds find asian women hot.

Thats true though. I guess the real test is to see an Asian male lead.

 Whats funny is that even when they finally use an Asian lead, they're still pandering to a white audience lol.

It's all about economics.

What races buy video games?
What continents buy video games?
What countries make video games?

As time progresses, and economies develop, we'll see more diverse lead roles. But when your audience and consumers are white-skinned, and either Caucasian or Asian by a vast, VAST majority...Your going to lean one way.

Should the midde eastern, african, or indian economies develop into powerhouses, I am sure more and more developers will spring out from those areas due to better education, and spur video game development and purchasing power in their territories.

So the simple answer is that we don't see diversity because people that make and buy games are white-skinned, and it's easier to cater to the largest, most profitable audience rather than make your lead character Indian or Middle Eastern and lose out on 90% of your audience.

This doesn't address why Japanese games have blond hair, blue-eyed white leads 99% of the time. The vast majority of white people don't even look like that and another 70% of those who do, cheated by dyeing their hair so what gives?

Also, this confirms my point that the devs are pandering to white audiences because it appears to sell more games. Many were trying to argue that any lead would do but you are proving that thats not the case i.e the gamers need to see characters that are just like them in the games.

My question for you is would the "vast gaming audience" buy the game if the lead was from Western Sahara or Papua New Guinea?

I wouldn't say pandering.  I'd say that most videogame designers are in fact white nerds... and they make characters they find hot because they find them hot.

I think that's why there are a lot of white "default" main characters... designers don't really think about it. When race isn't important they just design a charater without thinking about a race.  That character comes out white, because they are white.

Think of your imaginiary friend when you were a kid... he was the same color as you right?  You didn't really think about it cause race didn't really matter... so it set to "default".

Well there's that and the fact that you can't really win as a white designer making a character of another race.  Either you get accused of making a "person of a certain race who just acts white" or you get accused of playing into stereotypes.  It can be a lose/lose situation.

It's easier with women, because women are well horrible rejected and objectified no matter what race they are.  So long as they are hot... people aren't really going to notice.

Or with side characters... because then they are playing side characters that are really out of view half the time.  I mean no one is really going to complain about the cool nearly silent black guy who shows up occasionally to bail you out... for example.

Japan = Bizzaro country expect crazy stuff

This is a pretty good counterarguement. However, it doesn't explain why the devs have no problem with a black lead when the game is called "True Crime" or "Grand Theft Auto". They could have also used thier imaginary friends as leads in such games no?

With that said, I don't think the lead characters are as random as you think. Some granted may be random but the vast majority aren't! You really think all those blond hair, blue eyed JRPG leads came at random?

Yes I find it discriminating and even offensive that all war games seem to be based on the US perspective. I'm sure there would be quite a market in Europe, Asia and obviously the Middle East that would enjoy playing a War game from Iraqi perspective or that of the Russians.