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Main But Not Too Black Discussion
"•This is a disturbingly common problem in many games with a "Create A Character" mode. In many cases, the option to play a richly dark-skinned character doesn't even exist. This is especially jarring in games which allow you to play a "Dark Elf," which is black in the most literal sense, but do not allow you to make a dark-skinned human. Sometimes, even when there are options to darken the skin, there are still no facial features or hairstyles to match. So what's left is either Ambiguously Brown or the "white person in blackface" effect. Fortunately, there are some notable exceptions."
I feel the need to point out that most games that allow Character Creation are Western RP Gs, and many many Western RP Gs focus on some sort of parallel Europe, where it would be entirely unnatural to have a black character.
However, this still applies, which is why I didn't remove it—I just feel that this should be expanded on to explain which games this trope is woefully present, and isn't presenting Fridge Logic.
Why does this thing sound like an excuse to bitch about light skinned blacks? That's got Unfortunate Implications within itself.
Ok, this example is bugging the crap out of me.
- Averted with Light Complexioned actresses like Michael Michele, Nicole Ari Parker, Kristen Wilson, Leila Arcieri, and Rochelle Aytes as they're usually paired with black men. Although this could still have other kinds of Unfortunate Implications for black men.
Has anyone considered that part of the reasoning might be that hiring a dark black person reduces your plot options a great deal? If anything remotely bad happens to the character, or they're a villain, some dipshits are going to scream racism, and cost your company big? You can do anything you want to a white, Asian, or Ambiguously Brown character; beat them up, blow them up, push them to the Despair Event Horizon, what have you, whereas you as a writer take the aforementioned risk doing the same to a black character who's not played by Denzel Washington. So there's a certain practical aspect to it all, too.
Take Resident Evil 5, for example. 5 games of "white" (sort of) zombies is fine, but the first time the (white) protagonist fights black villains, it's armageddon. I wouldn't be surprised if Capcom takes the lesson, incorrect or not, that "black anything in game = problems", and never has another one, no matter what the context.
Full metal alchemist should be in here or ambiously brown.
With Rose being pale in the manga, Dark in the anime and grossly white again in brotherhood.
- The Law And Order Criminal Intent episode "Assassin" features a cross-over between this trope and Did Not Do The Research. The episode features Torchwood's Indira Varma as a Tamil activist under threat of assassination. Thing is, Tamil people typically have very dark skin, while Indira Varma - in common with the actors playing her family, her staff, even children on a video she shows at a public event - has relatively light skin. In addition, the character has the surname Khan - hardly a typical Tamil name. Basically, the writers thought that the Sri Lankan conflict might make an interesting backdrop for an episode, but didn't know much about Sri Lankans.
I feel like this trope could use some changes. As it is now, it seems like a catch-all for any color related issues. It seems to applied inconsistently, and I'm honestly confused about what should and should not go here. Can we list all the light-skinned people who we believe are only famous because of bias and all the aversions who got famous in spite of being dark-skinned? Should we stick to talking about characters only rather than actors? How exactly do explicitly mixed race characters come into play? I think this trope should be simplified with more specific rules of what is this trope and possibly split into two or more tropes so that we can get into more complex issues without dumping everything all in one place.