From Japan

[loaf]

My only answer is...


Because they can.

I don't know, my guess is because they want to appeal to the Western folk.

[Andromeda]

I believe Kotaku had an article about the reason that they always have white skinned characters in their game. If you note their manga/anime also have white characters as well, but it is implied that they are all Japanese. Even in multi-national series there is rarely many physical features to make someone clearly Japanese or American, aside from the stereotype that all Japanese have black hair and all Americans have blonde hair.

Typically, even if they are white skinned you'll probably note a lot of them are also black or brown haired, which is a common hair color for Japanese. Even though they appear as being European, in reality they are actually Japanese and not European. It is just that we attribute white skin to being European, a trait that the Japanese do not. For them that is Japanese. For us Japanese is all about the eyes, because if you end remove the unique eye structure they have they would end up looking almost identical to us.

It also comes down to how we identify between individuals. If I remember right Japanese identify one person from another differently than we do. So that ends up playing into it, if I'm remembering correctly. In video game terms, most characters usually have two traits that you end up using to know that they are different from someone else. That tends to be the wardrobe and the hair (hair style and hair color). Something that I've noticed frequently in anime and video games, is that out of the main cast of characters everyone will have a different hair color and never the same hair color (as though they are using it as a identifier to the viewer).

I think for us a lot of the differences end up coming down to the face. It is less about hair or cloths, but more about the face. We remember faces and the differences about them to remember people. So that ends up being what we use, which helps when facial structure in a people are pretty varied. Otherwise you have to rely on other factors.

If I can find the Kotaku article I'll provide it, it was quite an interesting read.

[Merlin]

If you note their manga/anime also have white characters as well, but it is implied that they are all Japanese.

I've watched quite a lot of anime and read my share of manga and I never got the impression that the characters were Caucasian. If anything I'd say the majority of them are race neutral. Of course, I don't pay much attention to race in media as much as other people seem to.

I find it kind of offensive how much effort people put into pointing out racial issues in places that are completely irrelevant. So what if all the characters in their games appear to be Caucasian? Do you only play games that have an African American in them? Is the game not as enthralling because the lead character isn't Spanish? I don't know about other countries, but in the US, too much time and energy is wasted on pointing out people's race. People should stop letting their personal prejudices get in the way of having fun in a game. [/soapbox]

[JuzamDjinn]

I find it kind of offensive how much effort people put into pointing out racial issues in places that are completely irrelevant.

Someone always has to be the holier than thou person who is supposedly oblivious to the fact that people of different races look different.

I didn't say it was racism, I said that I noticed that a country where people have yellowish skin, slim eyes and a flat facial structure produce countless games starring peach skinned, wide eyed pointed nosed characters.

People being aware that difference races have unique physical characteristics is not a problem, it only becomes a problem when people become offended for no reason.



to Andromedia: I see what you mean about how we look at different features, considering this, I notice that many of the japense heros have an endomorphic physical build (slim top to bottom) as opposed to the common american hero having a mesomorphic structure (thick shoulders, slim med/lowe body, medium hight).