Video games, just like other media, are not usually the places to find positive imagery for black folks. As a person who grew up on video games (and I still play them), I find my pool of options dwindling. I am now the father of a black boy and I have become much more sensitive to the imagery he sees. Often, black people are flat-out nonexistent or we, more often than not, show up as either athletes or criminals.
Richard O. Jones, in a piece for Black Voice News Online, has stirred up a minor controversy in his criticism of the role of race in video games. However, Jones takes it a step further. He doesn’t see the continual portrayal as just a cause for alarm but, also as a challenge to black gamers to not just play games but, become insiders and game developers (currently, on 4% of developers are Latino and less than 3% are Black).
While this is a concern for me, I also see a big opportunity out there for some industrious black game developer(s) out there.
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