As a young, generic-looking white guy, seeing myself represented in video games isn’t something I’ve ever struggled with. I may not be as handsome as Nathan Drake and might have some difficulty fi꧂nding my specific brand of skater boy patchwork tattoos, but it’s not hard to see myself in the games I play. For people of colour, things aren’t so easy.
While there are some good examples of Black characters in video games, representation isn’t as good as it should be, especially in comparison to white characters, both preset and pl🐻ayer-made. Skin colour, tones, and a lack of voice options are just a few of the notable issues, .
Character creators in modern triple-A titles feature every white hairstyle under the sun, including buzzcuts, waves, ponytails, spikes, and slicked-back hair. Options for Black players are much more limited, often relegated to improperly textured afros, cornrows, and the occasional appearance of dreadlocks if you’re lucky. Braids, fades, waves, and locs just aren&rsquဣo;t recognisable enough to be included, despite being both common, stylish, and an important part of Black identity.
“I grew up with Black hair and around a lot of people with Black hair,” Neil Jones, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:solo developer of Aerial Knight's Never Yield tells me. “I know what it looks like, how it feels, what it’s like when it is right and when it is not. Not to say you need all that history to make Black hair in games, but the people with that history and knowledge are going to be the ones to tell you if it's right or not.”
Sadly, this l꧑ack of representation isn’t just a problem for custom characters in games. Take Miles Morales in Insomniac’s , who was given an incredibly dorky trim that the internet roasted for being something that a Black teen his age wouldn’t be caught dead with. Things got a lot better in his spin-off game, , which saw Miles rock a fade with a clean lineup, .
The latest trailer fo🐭r Spider-Man 2 reveals that Miles is now sporting a high-top dreadlock fade instead of his shorter trim from previous games. Despite this clearly being an effort from Insomniac to represent both the character’s growth and another styleಞ for one of media’s most well-known and influential Black characters, it’s been met with some backlash.
from July after we got our first look at his new trim, the haircut is everywhere in triple-A games as of late and has become the default choice for Black characters. The haircut might be new for Miles and representative of his growth, but it is far from new for a per♕son of colour in a triple-A game.
That’s not the only reason why the look has become controversial, however. While the overuse of this style is a valid criticism, some fans, , have taken to calling Miles’ new style a “lesbian haircut” and blasting him for it. Kinda Funny’s Blessing Adeoye Jr. ﷽and Neil both reject this sentiment, although they do recognise it as a sign that more variety is needed when it comes to Black hairstyles.
“The choice of hairstyle has become fairly common in media lately, almost to the point of approaching the ‘afro or cornrows’ trope,” Adeoye Jr. tells me. “Killmonger [from Black Panther], 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sargܫon in P🍬rince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Phoenix from Valorant, Fleetfoot Ken from Fortnite, and more have popped up lately (presumably inspired by Killmonger). Some fans are noticing it as a lack of variety, and I don't necessarily disagree. Even though I like the hairstyle, it's become very common to use.”
It’s not just the overuse of the haircut that’s causing some to hate Miles’ new look, it also suffers the age-old problem of misrepresenting the texture of Black hair. One scene in the trailer shows Miles’ hair flowing in the wind while he tal♎ks to Peter Parker, something that Blessing suggests should be toned down in the full release to prevent it from looking “floaty”.
Even with these issues, both Adeoye Jr and Jones like the new look for Miles, with Neil saying that, although it isn’t their favourite, it’s “better than the fro/buzz cut looks” the character has previously had, with Blessing noting that it’s a nice way of showing how Miles has g♛rown in between games. He also points out that, even tho𓆏ugh he understands where criticisms of the style come from, it’s a good sign of how the industry is taking Black haircuts seriously.
Although Adeoye Jr and Jones both agree that Black hair is starting to be taken more seriously by developers and g♚amers, even if the hightop dreadlock fade is being overused, there’s still a lot of work to be done🍌 to make sure that representation for people of colour continues to improve.
“Hire Black artists and devs onto your team,” Adeoye Jr. says. “Make the time and space to get Black hair right. Black hair is often not done right and there is a variety of opinions out there on what good representation looks like, so it could be worth🀅 having focus groups to gain feedback on wha༺t people think.”
“Having Black people in the room and listening to them that will solve a lot of easy mistakes,” Jones says. “But there will always be things that people are upset about. You can't please everyone”.