Native American video game characters?

[Deean]

Do character from wrestling games count?
IIRC Mickie James is a native American

 

[Blamhammer]

Red in Red Dead Revolver is Native on his mother's side. A small list of games here, which is disappointing. Finding games where Natives take the main role in a contemporary can get political, fast, and the kind that major publishers don't want to dabble in.
(Although it can show up, like in New Vegas - Wounded Knee\Bitter Springs.)


I guess Hollywood has had a major hand in influencing game designers when creating Native American characters in games.

A side note, maybe worth putting here in case anyone wishes to learn more about western media's handling of Natives. Rich Hall, a American comedian, made a documentary with the BBC talking about Hollywood's representation of Native Americans.

 

[Ikagura]

Do you mean an Indian? Because I was born in America, which makes me a native American. Same with my whole family, and a huge amount of other people born in America who are native Americans. I suppose you're talking about tribes and Indians etc. Not many games about that culture because it doesn't sell.

No, Native Americans are not Indians, It's a language abuse from Columbus back when he confused India with the people of the land that would soon be named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Non-native people are from European descent (among Asians and African through various ways) whereas actual natives lived for way longer than just several centuries.

This is an actual Indian living in the Indian sub-continent:

No you're not. Your ancestors were probably European like 90% or more of the American people. Native American means having descendents who were born in that continent, specifically North America,

Honestly the actual name of the people living in the USA should be called "United Statian" as technically Mexicans and Canadians are also Americans.

 

[Big Finger Jim]

 

[StopTheCatastrophe]

I believe by "original" the OP means *not* a caricature stereotype. For historical sociological examination of games (and game devs) I'm including superficial examples although the post didn't specify *respectful* or *normal*.. Of the very few examples the exist (relative to other peoples depicted in thousands of games) how many aren't simplistic stereotypes and are treated with a similar portrayal and respect as other characters? And for instance, how many depictions ever mention a national origin (no not "tribe" as most people say/think but nation)?

Mother 3 has a person who appears both Black/Indigenous and lives in a "teepee" and does a "rain dance" or a weather-related thing if I remember correctly. He's depicted as a weirdo vagrant. (Side note: it's almost never depicted in media/art but there were indeed historical mixings between Native and Black people in USA during history.) Of the many many characters in Mother 3 almost every one is white except for "Reggie"and an Arabic/Middle Eastern person who is depicted as evil, greedy, fat.

Crimson Skies
Salawa is said to be Hopi

Soloho Salawa

Soloho "Wind Warrior" Salawa was born in Phoenix, Arizona and spent time both on and off Native land while young. He was fascinated with mechanized flight and scratched out a living doing air shows. While doing air shows he took the name Soloho, Hopi for "the sound made by a bird's wing during...

crimsonskies.fandom.com

Killer instinct 2
1996, Arcade
You would think the Meso-American (?) character named "Maya" wouldn't be blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but then again: racism/colorism.

Chief Thunder
Killer Instinct (1994)
Arcade
The weird creepy thing about "[Chief] Thunder" was that his hair was feathers. As if the feathers were growing out of his head?

Julia and Michelle
Tekken (1990's)
I forget which games exactly. "Julia" and "Michelle" are said to be "Native American" and/or Chinese, though one is adopted by the other and may be raised ethnically Native American (unspecified nation) rather than originally. Anyway Michelle and Julia were created as basically white or Asian but with a couple feathers in their hair...

Tvtropes.org (which specializes in "examples of things") has examples I forgot or didn't know about, as game examples under specific Native American related tropes:

- Vulcan Raven in Metal Gear Solid 1: Inuit
- Code Talker in MGSVTPP
- Rick Strowd from Real Bout Fatal Fury 2
- Sunset Riders - Chief Scalpem

Badass Native - TV Tropes

Many indigenous people have a tradition of hand to hand combat using traditional weapons. When they're defending their village from an invading tribe or colonial soldiers, of course they're badasses. No matter what era you're in, if you live in …

tvtropes.org

Braids, Beads and Buckskins - TV Tropes

The Stock Costume Traits for Native Americans portrayed in the pre-modern age and, all too often, modern days. Typical traits of the uniform include: Long hair on both sexes, either free-flowing or in a single, thick braid. Alternately, mohawks …

tvtropes.org

Magical Native American - TV Tropes

A specific type of Ethnic Magician, centered around indigenous peoples (for example, Native Americans, Canadian First Nations, and Aboriginal Australians) and fantasy races based around them. Natives that fall under this trope have magical powers …

tvtropes.org

 

[ATenderLad]

Sunset Riders - Chief Scalpem

Gahdamn.

On topic, I can't think of many, but I remember thinking the scene from Red Dead Redemption 2 where Arthur and Rains Fall talk about sons, violence, and life in general was maybe the most interesting conversation in the game!

 

[Antilocal123]

Connor? Idfk

 

[popckorn]

Doña Claudia, from Final Fantasy Mexico

 

[Boo Man]

Dusty Earth from Vigilant 8

Dusty Earth is a Native American shaman and chief of the Zuni tribe who is angered that the Vigilante auto skirmishes have destroyed his tribal lands. Dusty was indecisive about whether he should join the war, so he decided to call upon the ancestral spirits for guidance. After three days of 'kachina' trances, Dusty had a vision of a falcon that told him of a great Coyote Demon that would arrive and destroy all in its wake. To defeat the Demon, the falcon told Dusty that he must travel to the top of the mountains and learn the ways of his shaman ancestors. When Dusty awoke the next morning, he was still unsure of his decision, but suddenly spotted a falcon perched on top of his vehicle. He knew then that he must go.

 

[TheWanderer]

Julia chang from Tekken

 

[theshiningpath]

Best image I could find. She's (name Youno) one of the party members in Tengai Makyou IV, which is set in 1895 U.S.A.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Honestly the actual name of the people living in the USA should be called "United Statian" as technically Mexicans and Canadians are also Americans.

I can finally flex my Spanish by pointing out that they call them “Estadounidense” which is basically United Statian. “Americano” isn’t actually that common since all Spanish speaking people in NA are Americans.

 

[Ikagura]

I think I can kinda understand when Japanese devs portray N-A people in their classic clothes since they also tend to do that for many other people (although it's maybe not really acceptable for everyone today) but for Northern American devs they almost never do games portraying them despite that they're from where they're making the game in.

 

[fake-kun]

I think I can kinda understand when Japanese devs portray N-A people in their classic clothes since they also tend to do that for many other people (although it's maybe not really acceptable for everyone today) but for Northern American devs they almost never do games portraying them despite that they're from where they're making the game in.

That's because most North American devs are white, with all that entails.

 

[Ikagura]

That's because most North American devs are white, with all that entails.

I won't ask you what you mean by "with all that entails" but nowadays there aren't only these in dev teams.

 

[fake-kun]

I won't ask you what you mean by "with all that entails" but nowadays there aren't only these in dev teams.

Yes, I know there are non-white people there, but the majority is still white.

 

[Ikagura]

Yes, I know there are non-white people there, but the majority is still white.

But what does that change anyway? Japanese devs aren't white either, this isn't really a matter of skin colour and personally I wouldn't overly focus on that aspect to define people's need, thoughts nor behaviour and I think this is a slippery slope and that we shouldn't insist on it on the forum as we could get warned, do you agree?

 

[fake-kun]

But what does that change anyway? Japanese devs aren't white either, this isn't really a matter of skin colour and personally I wouldn't overly focus on that aspect to define people's need, thoughts nor behaviour and I think this is a slippery slope and that we shouldn't insist on it on the forum as we could get warned, do you agree?

I was responding to your question about why North American developers keep screwing up Native American characters.

I agree that we shouldn't get too deep into this discussion, hence why I didn't elaborate in my post.

 

[DeeboDeebo's icon]

I won't ask you what you mean by "with all that entails" but nowadays there aren't only these in dev teams.

But what does that change anyway? Japanese devs aren't white either, this isn't really a matter of skin colour and personally I wouldn't overly focus on that aspect to define people's need, thoughts nor behaviour and I think this is a slippery slope and that we shouldn't insist on it on the forum as we could get warned, do you agree?

I was responding to your question about why North American developers keep screwing up Native American characters.

I agree that we shouldn't get too deep into this discussion, hence why I didn't elaborate in my post.

I disagree that we shouldn't get too deep into this discussion, hence why I’ll elaborate in my post:

@Ikagura, I believe @fake-kun was saying that North American games devs primarily being white, or at least not native, colors their perception of native people and determines their willingness to create good-faith stories about native people. I’m going to bust some bubbles but 90% of the characters shown in this thread are Party City costume depictions of native people, or ecchi. It’s reasonable and valuable to point out that many US game devs aren’t equipped, or just don’t want, to make awesome native characters. And even when they do, backlash to this kind of stuff has only gotten worse with time, counterintuitively.

@Ikagura, I agree with your earlier point, that it’s a bit more understandable that Japanese devs wouldn’t handle it well, and that it’s disappointing that US devs don’t seem to care much at all. I want you to see that just because they’re from the US, doesn’t mean that these (mostly white, like fake-kun said. And yes it is relevant) devs care about native people.

Our government systematically killed most of the people that already lived here, intentionally. It was a genocide. If that’s too heavy, then close this whole thread bc this is the reality of Native American history, and this thread is about Native Americans in games. In the US, our textbooks gloss over all this, tell us weird stories about how native people gave us corn and are our friends, that they GAVE us land. To participate in this thread and become conspicuously heated as soon as someone passively mentions white men is counterproductive, immature, and….telling.

I understand some people here feel that they’re “walking on eggshells” when topics of race and identity come up. However, please consider that if you feel like you’re walking on eggshells, you probably either:
—already know that you’re holding onto antisocial ideals that usually just upset people, or
—you grew up very enmeshed and get upset when people aren’t all on the same page.

I think avoiding talking race and identity allows the people who harbor hate to flourish. If we get into this then just cut it off bc we don’t want it to “blow up”…maybe we’re not very good at letting new ideas have the floor. The same thing happened in the trans thread, the LGBTQ characters’ thread….and I’ll say the same thing here: Native people aren’t a political statement. The thread is about native characters, so we discuss native people. Sounds simple enough to me.

…….
Also, Julie Tekken /j

 

[fake-kun]

@Ikagura, I believe @fake-kun was saying that North American games devs primarily being white, or at least not native, colors their perception of native people and determines their willingness to create good-faith stories about native people. I’m going to bust some bubbles but 90% of the characters shown in this thread are Party City costume depictions of native people, or ecchi. It’s reasonable and valuable to point out that many US game devs aren’t equipped, or just don’t want, to make awesome native characters. And even when they do, backlash to this kind of stuff has only gotten worse with time, counterintuitively.

Thank you. That's exactly what I meant in my post.

 

[DeeboDeebo's icon]

Thank you. That's exactly what I meant in my post.