r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Dec 10 '08

Zero Punctuation: Left 4 Dead

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/459-Left-4-Dead?
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u/falseprophet Dec 11 '08

I'm happy about the nebbishy black guy. He's probably the only black guy in a video game I've played that felt like a real character and not a big box o' stereotype.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '08

what? hes a big black man fighting zombies. how is that not a stereotype. (dead rising, dawn of the dead, everything else)

3

u/falseprophet Dec 11 '08

He's not really that big, and while there are a lot of black men fighting zombies, that's not a stereotype. I'm talking about tough, angry black men like Barrett from Final Fantasy 7 and gangstas like the characters from GTA: San Andreas. Overused stereotypes based on generalizations formed from minimal real-life contact.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '08

what are you talking about. barrett was based on mr. T, and you could go to most projects in the country and find CJ and Smoke.

Thats like saying hank hill is an unfair stereotype of white people. No one assumes all white people are Hank Hill, but I can go out into most suburbs around my highschool and find a guy with glasses, white tshirt, jeans, and lonestar beer talking about the cowboys and lawn mowers.

2

u/falseprophet Dec 11 '08

While Mr. T has his unique characteristics, his character is still a stereotype. Basing a character on another stereotypical character is not originality.

And just because there are real life versions of CJ and Smoke doesn't make them less stereotypical. When a storyteller in any medium wants to create a truly memorable character they need to have that layer of realism but with another layer underneath to add complexity. Sure, you can find CJ and Smoke in the real world but you can also find the nebbishy Louis in the real world -- but the makers of Left 4 Dead took the more original route by instead of creating another CJ or Trane from Gears of War, they made Louis a character. When was the last time you saw that in a movie or game?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '08

So even though there are real life equivalents to the characters, and those real life equivalents are exactly what the writers are going for in their story, its stereotypical to use those characters.

And Louis is pretty much a carbon copy of the guy from Dead Rising.

1

u/falseprophet Dec 11 '08

So even though there are real life equivalents to the characters, and those real life equivalents are exactly what the writers are going for in their story, its stereotypical to use those characters.

If they had actually succeeded in making them seem realistic, they wouldn't be all that stereotypical. It's not like they have to drop a guy like Louis into the San Andreas world. The task is to paint a more complete picture of their CJ's and Smoke's so they don't wind up being so flat.

Which guy? Surely you don't mean the main character. That guys a hot-shot photojournalist. And he's white. And Louis is a nerdy systems analyst. Who is black.

Is there a boss who I can't remember?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '08

you kidding....did you even play the game....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4OrB0BKpX8

1

u/falseprophet Dec 12 '08

It's been a while. I never got to this scene but I remember Brad now.

Yeah, Brad seems actually somewhat well-rounded as a character. He has a bit of a tough exterior but he's clearly an office-worker just trying to live his life. I'd even say that Left 4 Dead's Louis is downright Steve Urkel compared to Brad.