Representing Latines and Hispanics In Games

[@goldenghost23]

I never realized how little and poor the representation of my own people was until that Miles Morales trailer with Puerto Rican flags everywhere as he exited his apartment. I have yet to play it because of the lack of a ps5 in my house but it was such an eye opening moment that I realized how little is done for us in media. Not just for Puerto Ricans but for all Hispanics and Latine. While I came to your videos for Dragon Quest, im glad I stayed to watch you tackle something that I only realized recently and with such good structure and a powerful voice. I feel this video should be watched by everyone, so they can finally see how poor the writing and representations of Hispanics and Latine really are. Thank you.

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for watching! The Miles Morales game was such a breath of fresh air after Life Is Strange 2. I took screenshots to contrast the two environments and it was such a difference to look at. It really was. And thank you for sticking around! I'm glad we could resonate with each other about more than just Dragon Quest :)

[@Alianger]

Not a single swede protag in a triple a game so far that I can relate to, imagine my rage?

[@blearyeyedd]

Being Salvadoran, I really could relate with the section "Not all hispanics are Mexican", and it took me till high school to realize it was a problem. Now I'm in my freshman year of college and I'm writing a paper about representation in video games and I come across this video and it is extremely helpful in getting my thoughts together. Great points, great video, and I hope I can do them justice in my paper :)

[@GCVazquez]

This was wonderful to read thank you! I'm incredibly flattered

[@DandyCaballero]

Thank you so much for this. Hispanic representation is never expressed enough in this medium. Glad to see someone out there talk about the beauty of latin heritage

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for the kind words! I tried my best. ^_^

[@Luke-tq2iy]

As an English person who really didn't know anything about this, I found it terrible that so many different cultures are just mixed together to brazenly with very little real representation. I'm glad this has been made and hopefully it raises much more awareness of this. Good job!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank youuuuu! Now you know, and now you have a whole new world of new things and people to learn about!

[@savampire3275]

Same!!! I can't believe I've been so ignorant!!

[@elimulvihill4126]

There were so many times watching this video when I had to go "Man you're right, that IS a problem." What you said about Life is Strange 2 especially got me thinking, because that style of "misery porn" tends to crop up a lot when privileged groups write stories about underprivileged ones. It just comes off as treating an entire culture or group of people as victims without agency of their own than real people with real stories to tell, and it would do a lot more good to just let said people tell said stories.

[@GCVazquez]

Pretty much! Instead of telling their real stories- or trying to- they're used as empathy checks for people who aren't going through what they do.

[@vagabundorkchaosmagick-use2898]

Jeanine Cummins’s 'American Dirt' comes to mind. As I wrote somewhere else: "Jeanine Cummins’s book was published to portrait “real Mexico”, it’s not about oompa-loompas or evil orcs, it’s about Mexicans, real Mexicans, and it literally states that she, the author, gives us poor voiceless Mexicans a voice, she says that we don’t have a voice, that we can’t possibly have opinions of our own, that we are unable to tell our own history, whether of racism or otherwise."

[@mastermachado]

Me being a Brazilian hate being called latin since i fell like being treated was only one culture since south América and central América was a gigantic culture in every country ,i want be called Brazilian, Argentinan , bolivian . No one calls a italian or a french only european , i think calling Someone latin understemitate the Power of the culture

[@shignificent]

Handsome, bilingual AND cultured... enlisting my gf into protective custody as we speak

[@Prismatic_Pixie]

This is a very well-made and thought-inducing video. I hope it gets some exposure.

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you! I hope so too. >.>

[@mongobongo3338]

Growing up playing these games as a white American I never saw an issue and took the poor representation as a reflection of Latin/Hispanic culture and now I feel that I’m a part of the problem. It is actually gross how long these racist stereotypes seem to have been publicly accepted in the gaming space. Very eye opening video GC ❤️

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for taking the time to watch it, and earnestly hearing me out! All I can hope for is better representation in the future.

[@justme14900]

Damn if that wasn't the most eloquent and real video I'll see all week. I had very mixed feelings when playing through Life is Strange 2. I'm an outspoken fan of the first game, which had a sprinkling of shocking emotional moments that took me by surprise and hit hard. It subverted my expectations I guess- kind of like Game of Thrones season 1- and I begged my friends to play it so that I could experience those beautiful and heartbreaking moments again for the first time through their eyes. Yeah, the plot goes a little "off the rails" in the second half, but I hold those first few chapters near and dear. Sean and Daniel's story quickly lost the element of surprise on me, and I realized the creators would stop at nothing to deliver those gut-punching emotional moments again. Some plot elements felt gratuitous, borderline offensive, not to dismiss the reality of some of the monstrous things that are portrayed as the brothers endure their nightmarish journey. I believe the devs meant well but maybe missed the mark a little. Sadly there is a fine line between calling attention to an issue, and perpetuating that issue. Kind of like the controversial 2020 movie "Cuties", which tried to call attention to the problematic objectification of underage girls but was widely criticized for being part of the problem and not the solution. Life is Strange 2 attempts to tell a story about racism in the US, but ends up perpetuating stereotypes and stroking white egos. You really helped me unpack and understand some complicated feelings I had about this game, and I appreciate you starting this important discussion. So thankful to Razbuten for recommending this wonderful channel to me.

[@GCVazquez]

There's a lot about Life Is Strange 2 that comes from a very specific world view- and that world view, while good-intentioned, undermines a lot of whatever is being attempted at being said. I struggle to call it nefarious, but I can't rule out ignorance and a clear lack of self-awareness either.

[@MassayukiSama]

That's why I liked Sean from Street FIghter 3 and the Brazil stage from that game, he is not violent or sexualized, he is an afro-latino, he likes basketball not soccer, as media always think that we can't like another sport. Also the Brazil stage on that game is Santos port not Rio de Janeiro and Carnaval like Laura's from SF5

[@Leonlonglegs]

Such a rough day but seeing the legend himself GC with a totally unexpeced video..too amazing to pass up. Especially with a serious topic like this

[@AStrayJose]

Hey man, this is great. I am Latino (Nicaragüenses y Hondureños), who has grown up in a culture where my heritage isn't there. Like i grew up speaking with Spanish with family, though that's about it. My family did not celebrate our heritage in any way i am aware of, other than some food. Because of this, I always have trouble when my friends, who a majority are not Latine, come to me questions about representation and feelings about culture of things that could be cultural appropriation though it's about Mexicanos, Cuban, and/or of Puerto Rico. Like I am so happy they want to talk about it and aware, though I have trouble cause so far my answer's have been "I'm not Puerto Rico, so while I have my own thoughts I would ask my buddy Ricardo who is." I can't remember where I was going with this, but I will be showing this to my friends and hope they become more aware of the Latine Representation in Games. Like i said this is great and Thanks for this!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for watching! I'm so glad a lot of Latine people are leaving comments saying how cathartic this video was. I appreciate all the love.

[@thalesrodrigues9211]

Falante de português aqui. Parabéns pela argumentação, me senti representado!

[@GCVazquez]

I'm glad you saw yourself in it! I hope we can both be represented in video games more often in the years to come!

[@ararebeast]

I feel like I've learned a lot from this video and it's given me a great deal to think on and consider moving forward when I encounter characters, stories, and games! Always great to gain insight from someone so capable of opening my mind up to something I thought I understood that goes so much deeper than I had previously imagined.

[@Mingodough]

Edit: I basically said “how did you watch this video” but I thought this vid came out 6 minutes ago, I can’t read apparently

[@ararebeast]

@@Mingodough I appreciate the edit clarity! I was waiting on this one so I watched it as soon as I could get my hands on it.

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for being so receptive to what I had to say! It's difficult to learn if you go into it with a lot of cynicism, and a lot of people forget that. Being willing to listen to others in this context is a wonderful trait that's hard to come by.

[@peanutbutterjellytime6132]

Id rather have no representation than to be called a "latine"

[@verdantmischief7092]

Well maybe that's just you, I'd rather we keep getting positive representation while also letting nonbinary people exist alongside us

[@chilenocristiano7033]

@@verdantmischief7092 Los no binarios no existen.

[@dragonc305]

@@verdantmischief7092 we find more offensive be called latines or latinex, for example one time bungee used the word latinex and all latin America united against it, it's not about nonbinary people it's about respect people in the US try to impose that word over us

[@dylanb420]

Damn son, I subbed for fun vids about dquest and yakuza but here I am getting well thought cultural critiques on proper representation. This rules, good job!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you so much! ^o^ I tried to be pretty matter-of-fact about it to avoid coming off too aggressive.

[@Sokka2Me]

I got Life is Strange 2 because I really liked the first one (warts and all) and was excited to see two Mexican characters front and center. Then when their Caucasian side of the family came up it was the BIGGEST kick in the balls

[@Laura_Carvalho]

This video is great and well thought, I would like to thank you for including a little bit about latine woman representation, even when you are not from this particular group. As a brazillian woman, I'm often ashamed to reveal my nationality to others online, because despite being a person with talents, dreams, history and effort, once I'm identified as brazillian I become only a sex object through their eyes and I don't want to be ashamed of my country anymore.

[@GCVazquez]

I only wish I knew more to discuss it further! It's incredibly disheartening to see the way the industry has represented Latine women overall.

[@phantasiandream]

First off, thank you for making this video. It's informative while highlighting the multifaceted ways we experience latine representation in games while also suggesting better means of representation going forward. I'm a latine game designer working on a project with Hispanic culture and tradition as a main theme (as I don't feel like I have the knowledge of other Latine cultures required to tell their stories as well. Ideally I'd like to find some non-Mexican latine people to work with as well to offer their own stories). Telling a story based on our cultural values and history with nuance and respect is vital in media at this time. All this to say, I appreciate how this piece has opened my eyes to some potential pitfalls to look out for in designing my world and the narrative it is telling.

[@ChrisTheFields]

Not gonna lie, was kind of hoping the whole video would be spoken in Spanish after the introduction. On the for real, though. Thank you for making this video. As a Midwestern white male, I am completely ignorant of misrepresentation when it happens. Sure I can recognize when stereotypes water down people to thoughtless caricatures. Even then, it's only the explicitly gross stuff. I will fully admit I'm one of those people who never thought about why every Latin America country get defaulted to Mexican portrayals. It's thanks to videos like this that I realize more about the world. I'm glad to know what to look for more carefully, and what to think about more critically when I see it. You're right in that it's a tough conversation to have, but I'm glad you started it at all.

[@GCVazquez]

It makes me incredibly happy that you're open-minded and eager to learn about things you don't know about, and even more willing to admit when you don't. These are beautiful qualities, Chris, and it makes me happy to call you my friend. Thank you for always supporting me and sticking by me, and encouraging me to do even *more* of what makes me, me.

[@MegaBiteGames]

This was an absolutely fantastic, essential video. I played through LiS2 last year, and I just want to say that you articulated my complex feelings about it better than I ever could have. This video and this topic deserves to be talked about more. I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that happens. Thank you for sharing!

[@GCVazquez]

LiS2 was SUCH an ordeal to get through, I had to hand the controller off to a friend and just watch. Turns out that was the right thing to do, because I very nearly had a mental breakdown trying to finish it for footage. Thank you so much for the ardent support! My only hope is that others feel validated by these thoughts, and feel more comfortable speaking about their own grievances!

[@MegaBiteGames]

@@GCVazquez I really don’t blame you for having trouble with it. My prevailing thought through the whole thing was that is was a game made for “woke” white people, by “woke” white people. It’s still truly baffling to me that developers even try to make stories about specific groups of people without anyone from that group having a hand in its creation. It’s especially frustrating when they put in the effort of working with GLAAD to make sure their representation of a Trans person was accurate and respectful in Tell Me Why, but never did anything remotely similar for LiS2. Anyway, thanks again! Looking forward to checking out your backlog and whatever else you continue to produce.

[@SpitefulToast]

@@MegaBiteGames the writers at Don't Nod strike me as the sort of well intentioned ignorant that you see a lot of in suburban white society. It's like if Wes Anderson had wanted to direct Moonlight: you're telling a very personal, very culturally specific story from the perspective of someone who has never lived in that culture. I hate the term "woke" because it's been thoroughly poisoned by alt-right chuds trying to demean any sort of progressive social message, but LiS2 is the truest representation of fake woke I've maybe ever seen, it's at least up towards the top of the list. I don't find LiS2 as agonizing as GC because A) I'm white and B) I play don't nod games with a fully developed metagaming ethos where I am as cruel and violent as possible, and the fact that LiS2 actually plays along with my version of events better than trying to be honest and kind is a fucking problem. If you play Sean as law abiding and respectful, you will likely end in scenarios where you have to lie or steal no matter how hard you try, even if it doesn't make any sense in the world. In the beaver creek market, I stole the yo-yo because I wanted to. GC stole it because the game doesn't allow you to progress without a gift for Daniel, and GC made the choices earlier in the game to not steal from the swear jar or swipe food from the gas station. You can't be a good person in life is strange 2, because the writers have to force the protagonists into surreal punishments for crimes they didn't commit.

[@foreverfizz8]

A lot of these games, I haven't played, but my BIGGEST issue with any kind of South American heritage representation is that it's portrayed as Mexican or non existent. I have not played a single game with any kind of Colombian heritage. Even in movies or shows, it's all drug dealers. THAT SAID, I'm so exited for CrisTales. Even if no character is Colombiano, there's some representation behind the scenes and in the atmosphere. Makes me feel cozy, nostalgic, and kind of at home.

[@GCVazquez]

I find that sometimes, a great way to feel represented is to find people trying to create that representation by making games inspired by their personal experiences- whether or not it's directly about their culture! Very excited for CrisTales, I love the mechanics from the demo!

[@Lilsnifflygal]

I actually never knew that latine was a term, so much do that I thought the title was a typo at first. I am glad to have been given some perspective on this topic, as it’s not an issue that I think of often when playing video games. I really think I’ve learned something about the world today, and I greatly appreciate it.

[@GCVazquez]

Latine and Latinx are both acceptable, so feel free to use what you like! And it's really not your fault you don't think about it: often times (and I'm guilty of this too) we don't really think about how people aren't being portrayed accurately, or the ways they end being used as garnishing for more "popular" (for lack of a better term) aesthetics and cultures. It really does take someone saying something to you to get you thinking, and unfortunately that's just how it is.

[@yellowtheyellow]

This has to be one of your best videos yet, extremely educational and a lot to keep in my mind, especially if I’m able to break into the games industry!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you so much! It would make me incredibly happy if this video inspired you in your future career!

[@CaptainSkelly]

I almost screamed YEAAAAHHH when you mentioned Cuba and Puerto Rico in the middle of the video. A real shame that a lot of our people's characters are defaulted to Mexican. Not just in games, but in many pieces of entertainment media. I have no hate for my Mexican brothers, but the spotlight is shown almost nowhere else. I'm really glad you've made a video that has brought this kinda issue up. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has been upset about this.

[@GCVazquez]

Island culture is so very different, and even saying "island culture" is a big generalization with many pitfalls in and of itself. I'm glad that stuck out to you, and that I'm not alone feeling like a lot of our cultures are ignored. I really want to see a game featuring Latines from different countries; I would love to see the dynamic you could create using a Mexican character, and someone from Colombia, or Puerto Rico, or all three! It's not explored enough in any media.

[@WordsofIvory]

As a European Irish man whose had almost no exposure to these culture, this was an observation that I only realised upon watching GC's video. "Ignorance" is not a valid excuse though. This video has encouraged me to finally stop making excuses for my personal ignorance and go out of my way to actually educate myself about these cultures.

[@squalled90]

This was an absolute banger of a video dude. I actually learned a lotta new things from this, and I'm very thankful you put the time and effort to make such a great video on representation in games

[@GCVazquez]

Hearing this from you makes me happy. ^_^ I'm glad you liked it!

[@AirRideMaster]

Great video! I'd also like to note that a lot of what you mentioned - especially about including latine people in the creative process also applies to any media. Something I'm trying to keep in mind for myself as I slowly pick away at my own projects. Cheers, always looking forwards to your next video.

[@GCVazquez]

Absolutely! Like with a lot of media, more inclusion is just always a good idea. Thanks for watching my video, hope you enjoy the others!

[@NickolaiBoulton]

Absolutely amazing video. Where I'm from, there is basically no Latine/ Hispanic culture to interact with outside of the sparse restaurant. I really learned a lot from this video and it really opened up how I view said cultures. All of my views have been *heavily* mediated and I really hope that a stronger representation of those cultures can be put on display, so I can learn more of a world so far from my own and I can continue to find the right avenues to see the beauty of this heritage and identity.

[@GCVazquez]

WOW, thank you very much! I really hope the flood gates open the way they seem to be opening with indie studios in South and Central America pushing their games out. I'm glad I could show you something new!

[@GGHF]

As a Mexican myself, I always laugh really hard when I see these cartoon-ish portrayals of Mexicans or Spaniards. I don't really get angry or sad, but it definitely leaves me wondering what went through people's heads when making these characters. I doubt that most of it comes from any hatred toward this group, but rather an enormous amount of ignorance, with their scope being thinner than the brochure they read for their vacation trip to Cancun. Aside from Latin people, I find that pretty much everyone else also gets done dirty in a similar way, mostly because all of these works don't come from varied sources. It's either America, Japan, or a bit of Europe trying to show you what the rest of the world looks like. Everyone else in between is seemingly fodder for stereotyping. That's why aspiring storytellers always get told "Write what you know," because then this happens: A ton of black people are seen as hip-hop, gansta-style, breakdancing rappers. A ton of Chinese people know kung fu and speak entirely in Chinese proverbs for some reason. Anyone from Great Britain or Europe is either Sherlock Holmes or a Lord of the Rings character. Indian people and Russians are both portrayed as terrorist hackers. Even white people get represented as horribly racist gun-toting villains when they're not yelling at football and getting fat on burgers. Japan is anime, and the list goes on. I could go on forever, but I think this video is a great starting point in getting people to realize that not only our culture is being done dirty, but practically everyone else is too.

[@Yayofangamer16]

> Latines Dislike

[@alejandror.9974]

SuperButterBuns sent me, love the video! As a Hispanic man, this meant a lot to me. Guess you gained a sub!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you 😊

[@bigbangaries]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently so thank you for making this video it was great

[@GCVazquez]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@shinysteven7139]

Hey man really loved this video and I actually agree with almost every point. But I do want point out that to every stereotype there is some grain of truth, as a hispanic myself I do almost always see truth in the stereotypes. For example I think alcoholism is really big issue in most latin communities but I think the real problem is how whenever it is brought up in media they never explore it (sometimes it's even glorified). Tell the audience why it's bad and how it can/has affect hispanic and latinx people. So I dont think the inclusion of a stereotype is automatically bad aslong as it is explored well and given enough depth.(also thank you for mentioning afro-Latinos we really do never catch a break)

[@GCVazquez]

Absolutely! I agree: *some* stereotypes do have a grain of truth within them, but unfortunately they're never deconstructed for that truth or dismissed in lieu of using that truth instead. They glorify the stereotype, or just throw a ton of them in as quick "design choices" because they don't actually know what the truth within those stereotypes are. That's the problem. Stereotypes don't exist in media because their creators wanted to make a point; stereotypes exist in media because their creators didn't have one to make.

[@shinysteven7139]

@@GCVazquez exactly and because If the creator doesn't see it then their audience dont see it as well and they take it at face value and dont think critically or even do their own research on the stereotype. Also I'am surprised you didn't mention sylvando at all in this especially due to your love of dq what are your thoughts on his representation

[@GCVazquez]

DQ characters in general are usually based on historic periods in different countries, so it was sort of difficult to include Sylvando since I was addressing more modern depictions. I think ethnicity wise Sylvando is...harmless but not really an example of good representation if that makes sense? Not necessarily a bad thing, moreso that everything in DQXI is a fusion of fantasy elements with notable time periods. But I do love the way he's portrayed in the English localization. I think he's a really good LGBTQ+ character in that he's often the parental figure, the more empathetic of the party, and his optimism isn't the punchline to a joke, but often what keeps everyone else in high spirits. And it's not done to ignore his own struggles, because we get to see a lot of Sylvando's pain and his outward demeanor and endless love for other people is 100% informed by the love he himself wants. He's not just his expression of gender or sexuality, but he still expresses those things without anyone punching down at him for it, and I think that's great.

[@topazlight1586]

@@GCVazquez Hope it's not too strange to reply to this particular message (almost a year later) rather than just to the video as a whole, but "Stereotypes don't exist in media because their creators wanted to make a point; stereotypes exist in media because their creators didn't have one to make" is a BRILLIANT line; it really hits the nail on the head. I am, admittedly, white as a sheet and of (IIRC) primarily German ancestry, so this isn't a topic I have hardly any firsthand experience with... which makes it all the more important that I hear about it from somebody who DOES. I really do hope this video gets discussions started and helps contribute to positive change regarding the issue; I know it certainly got me thinking about Latine representation in games (and media in general) in more depth than I was previously. Thanks so much for the really well-made video!

[@michaelanthonygutierrez]

Thanks for making this brother

[@LucxNovashield]

One thing I would like to add to the conversation is the lack of Andean cultures represented. I have seen that most Latin portrayals in videogames and TV Shows are from people in the coast regions, which is something great, even though there is little to no effort to explore the diversity in these communities. However, just as afro-descendant hispanics and latinos, there isn't representation regarding people who live in the Andes. I have only seen these cultures represented to showcase mystic and magical points across, and oftentimes, these portrayals are only shown as a past story that the white protagonists explores. There aren't many characters from this region, even if it has a lot of culture and diversity. It would be nice to see it more, too.

[@c_brigante]

I'm from Spain, where Resident Evil 4 is supposed to be set, and although it's an absurd and unrealistic representation of my country, I actually found it pretty funny. You made some really good points in this video, but I think sometimes it's healthy to laugh at our own stereotypes. Maybe that is what the Guacamelee's creator intended with all those tequila boxes.

[@GCVazquez]

It's a fair point to say we should be able to laugh at our own stereotypes, and in the case of Guacamelee, maybe that was the case, but like I said in the video, those games aren't just being played by Latine/Hispanic people. What's more, Resident Evil was made by a Japanese dev studio. So laughing at our own stereotypes doesn't really work when those stereotypes are being given to or made by other people.

[@AgahnimDarkWizard]

The more you talked about life is strange 2, the more frustrated I got just hearing about it. Maybe it's unfair to judge it without playing it, but a lot of things you mention really does sound like it's undermining their hispanic integrity. Also thanks for showing off those games towards the end, might even pick up cris tales

[@GCVazquez]

Cris Tales has Paper Mario mechanics in it if you need a bigger sell on it! Also yeah, I knew about the issues in LiS2 before playing it, but for the video I told myself I had to play through it to make sure what I was saying wasn't off-base. It was worse than I thought by a lot a lot.

[@AgahnimDarkWizard]

@@GCVazquez I've tried the demo and yeah, it's certainly on my radar

[@shredjward]

As a person of mexo-cuban descent i wanted to thank you for this video. And for introducing me to the variation Latine, think I'll also be using that from now on

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for watching it! I'm glad I could spread more awareness of the subject and the terminology!

[@MoonSpiritChannel]

I'm Asian, but I live in Texas, so I know a bit of Hispanic culture. But seeing this video opened my eyes on what's going on. I feel you about representation of your culture. Mine is no different, as we are always conveyed as martial artists, tech wizards, street racers, and nerds of sorts. And I'm only glad that we are getting better representation in media like "Fresh Off the Boat" and "Crazy Rich Asians." But games, those are a bit hard since most of them are fighting game characters. I can only imagine your culture being misrepresentation in such ways. Keep fighting for better representation!

[@GCVazquez]

I had to cut it to keep the video time reasonable, but I actually had a segment comparing the way Latines and Asians are misrepresented, pointing out how silly it is to lump all these cultures into a lump sum term like "Asian" when really it's a bunch of different cultures and peoples. But like with Latines, the misconception is better than being totally invisible, and we rely on those terms to remain in the conversation. Let's both keep fighting for better representation!

[@chrishunter9185]

This was a great and informative take on a subject that deserves more attention. GC does it again.

[@GCVazquez]

Much appreciated! Thanks for giving a listen to it!

[@CONWAYCAPS]

This video was really interesting and helpful especially for me being in the process of writing a latine character! ❤️

[@MrLautax]

Gracias por hablar sobre nuestra representación en los videojuegos GC, muy informativo y entretenido video como siempre viejo. (Thank you for talking about our representation in videogames GC, a very informative and entertaining video like always man).

[@GCVazquez]

Me llena de alegría ver a tanta gente valorando mi video. Gracias por verlo!

[@tanyaharmon6739]

The boi is back in town

[@GCVazquez]

Boi's always back in town, but he spends a lot of his time in town inside a boiler room writing things. :P

[@TheCodeOfMaia]

Que buen video, no me lo esperaba de vos pero fue una linda sorpresa :) La verdad la mayoria de la gente metida en esta discusion apenas sabe realmente de la cultura abajo de EEUU y es un poco molesto tener que escucharles hablar con ignorancia a pesar de que tengan buenas intenciones

[@GCVazquez]

Las personas con buenas intenciones a menudo se olvidan a veces de permitir que aquellos que desean tener voces más fuertes tengan la oportunidad de hablar. ¡Gracias por ver el video! Estoy feliz de que haya sido una sorpresa maravillosa.

[@BeniDelFuego]

This was such a great and fantastic video. I absolutely loved it. Bringing more attention to proper Hispanic and Latinx representation in video games is so important! I just found your channel today and just subscribed. I've already watched a couple of your other videos and they're also so great. Can't wait to see more from you dude! Gracias por todo que haces! Soy Salvadoreño y un dia quero ver mi pais representado en un videojuego!!!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like my work! Gracias por ser bien amable!

[@Dom-tw3xo]

can we talk about the thumbnail

[@GCVazquez]

Oh you knoowwwwww ;)

[@Hensama]

Love me some GCPositive, and that's not just because I'm a latino as well. The problem of cultural representation is widespread, and until we get a lot of these stereotypes sorted out (I think by having ethnic folks making their own media for a worldwide audience to show up as human). But there are many paths forward to accomplish this goal.

[@GCVazquez]

I agree! Thanks for your input!

[@CrayonJackie]

This as very well informed video that helped me understand how Hispanics and Latines are represented in video games and what needs to be done to improve the representation. Most of my exposure to other cultures happens to be from fighting games, as there multi[le characters from different nationalities and showcases many different fighting styles from around the world. While you didn't touch upon the subject of fighting game character that much, I did find it interesting to hear you talk about how there are other styles of fighting from Hispanic and latine cultures, as there aren't many fighting styles from those countries represented in game. Most characters from fighting games are usually portrayed as exaggerated stereotypes of different countries and identities form different countries, or just a character who uses their native countries fighting style that they were born from. You made a good point that wrestling and capoeira aren't the only fighting styles and that there should be more of them when representing Latin American characters as it would change up the variety, I still really like lucha libres and luchadors in fighting games as they have some the most standout designs to me, but they should change things up so not every Latin American character is a Luchador. Hope you can sight some positive representation characters in a future video

[@GCVazquez]

Fighting game characters was a tough one, because they're a cavalcade of stereotypes, but I did end up finding some decent ones in Tekken and the like- mostly because Tekken, ironically almost, has sorta pulled back on it in a lot of ways to make more grounded characters design wise. Their stories are still batshit insane though. I also super dig Luchadores too! But yeah, we need a little more variety there. I might consider making a follow-up with positive examples if I get the itch to talk about this more! Definitely not a whole lot, but the ones that exist are pretty important!

[@OtsoCafe]

My KZbin recommends finally drops me something good.

[@TVBNexus]

I don't usually like, comment, and subscribe all at once in one video but watching this well made video has convinced me to do so in the first time. Thank you for speaking up about all this.

[@GCVazquez]

Glad to hear it!

[@SadBlueGirl]

I know this might be late and you might not see this but as a Mexican American thank you so much for making this cause it brought my frustrations with how gaming represents us and how it just ignores everything else that’s not Mexico as if it’s just the default.

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@redphienix]

Pre-emptive comment because I'm struggling to find time/headspace to focus intently right now and don't want to do any of your longform vids a disservice, least of all this one- I'm excited to sit down and take in the discussion at hand and can't help but smile to see ya taking your already valuable looks at games and spreading it to such an overarching important discussion/topic. Jeez my head's clearly in the works I can't phrase in the slightest. Pre-emptive thank ya for making the vid I'm excited for when I get to sit down for it :P

[@Nothingtothetable]

Love the video! Cuban-American here. I'm pretty sure it's spelled guagua, not wawa, but your point is still super valid about regional vocabulary!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for watching! And thank you for the spelling correction. I've never had the opportunity to write in Spanish often outside of speaking with my grandparents through text, so my spelling is atrocious.

[@Nothingtothetable]

@@GCVazquez I mostly learned through school and I’ve had my huge share of, “Wait, that’s how it’s spelled?!” moments. I still remember being shocked to see azucar written out. Then I started seeing some of the less standard Cuban words...

[@dapanduh6490]

Great video as always! You did such a good job on this! 👍

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@dapanduh6490]

@@GCVazquez no problem bro!

[@stevenrohttis5158]

This was an amazing conversation. Latin America is definitely underappreciated as a whole, especially here in the US.

[@Andrew-Gomez904]

Loved this video man! It really hits home for me. Throughout the video, I was saying to myself, "spot on", "that right", "Good point". then when You said to include more Afro-Latine part I literally shouted out loud to no one "OH SHIT I DIDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT!". Then that line of thinking lead to other things and blah blah introspection. Excellent video man! thank you again!

[@GCVazquez]

THANK YOU for sharing this! It's been nice to see some solidarity out of the community.

[@Rael199327]

Thank you so much for making this video. One thing that i've always hated is when people try to defend their harmful stereotypes as "a celebration" is that when the whole medium is almost made exclusively of those types of characteristics it stops being a celebration and more of keeping the status quo. Like how many more times is there gonna be a mexican luchador (which i also ended up feeling annoyed that they call it like that, something thats literally translated as "fighter" or you know, "wrestler", since it gives me a lot of weeb vibes lol) and call it a celebration instead of just another lazy representation.

[@GCVazquez]

One thing I learned playing Guacamelee, is how distinct of a difference it is to have Lucha Libre in your game, and to utilize Lucha Libre in an *authentic* way. Once something becomes a low effort generalization of what is supposed to be something more nuanced, it's no longer a celebration; it's a cheap token. Thank you for taking time to watch it! I'm glad it resonated with you.

[@umamisoy]

Just in case you are a voice actor or just actor in general and you are reading this: Do not let ANYONE tell you, you can't play a role in something just because of your etnicity or nationality. If you have the skills to play the role and you can portray the character then you should be able to do it. Saying that some people shouldn't play a role because of things they had no choice over is awful, and saying that some people are entitled to a certain type of role will just make typecasting and stereotypes even worse. For example one of my favorite Samurai is not played by a japanese man. For the love of got do enjoy other cultures, respect them, understand them, but do not "racekeep" them. Cultures are meant to be exchanged and experienced.

[@GCVazquez]

Who's your favorite samurai? And I agree. But I don't agree with stereotyped accents, and I think people who aren't represented by these characters should be considered *after* people who are. Given how hard it is for non-white actors to land main (or even secondary) roles in a lot of media, I don't think it's unfair to say, yes, if you don't even bother trying to give the role to someone who can lend authenticity to the character, you're contributing to a problem. When there's a history of marginalized people getting snubbed for roles, yes, I do think the industry should make greater effort to cast Latine actors to play Latine characters. This also isn't discussing matters of localization.

[@Nothingtothetable]

The issue is less with the voice actors and more with the studios. If they don't shake things up, they're likely to pick from the same five or six actors every time they need to fill a role. Then they'll say, "Well, there's no one qualified for the role," even though it's a chicken and egg issue where they aren't picking from a wider pool of actors so no one else can get that experience. Spanish is only exceeded by Mandarin as the language most spoken as a person's first language. There's no excuse for not being able to find people from appropriate ethnic backgrounds to play roles. No one wants to limit cultures. In fact, if studios had more diverse casting they'd probably have more correct, less offensive, and overall better cultural exchange than ever. Adding more diverse voices to all aspects of the creative process definitely would not make typecasting or stereotypes any worse than they already are.

[@gerardwaysway5999]

This video needs more attention, honestly i had never thought about this stuff when I played video games, but i see the importance, Latinx people deserve much more of a real portrayal in games, i originally subscribed for yakuza content, but i still wanted to watch this video because I wanted to learn, I'll be sure to share this with my friends

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for insisting upon learning!

[@redphienix]

Low value compliment but fantastic intro, displaying the topic at hand- enticing understanding with an example for the likely audience to experience, and I appreciate the mention of using other people's stories strictly for an emotional response rather than treating them as human stories / people / etc as it comes up a lot in media as a cheap way to give cardboard representation and dissuade backlash because "What do you mean? We told a near-emmy-award level story about -insert literally any ethnicity here- and how sad it is to be them, didn't ya cry about it?" where suffering is the only side of a story seen as worth telling, the exclusivity of that is incredibly shit. All to say, great hook. As I'm not sitting down to write and proof and research out exactly how to state it will flub it here so I won't go expanding your point and instead just want to, I don't know, thank you for the important understanding of how attempts at good representation, coupled with a lack of past examples or pooled knowledge, can undermine those efforts even in the best attempts- IE: Guacamelee. Not to undermine the beauty therein, but to explain where missteps are and what damage they do, heck clarifying it so simply as "not longer laughing with, but at" sums up that wonderfully. Great read of the topic. Dude! potentially awful time to throw hype at the video but 16~ min in the fact you tackle the complexity of the labels in use so clearly and without fluffing around struggling on any one entomology WHEN TACKLING THEIR USE IN DIFFERENT REGIONS WHERE DIFFERENT OPINIONS ARE UPHELD, SO CLEARLY COMMUNICATED. I'm a sucker for a well handled script conveying things so effectively. Hey I just said I enjoyed the nod toward cruelty/suffering exploitation as a good enough note and you expanded on the subject I find important, great work. That's the phrase I was forgettin' misery porn, or pity porn, as disturbing and distasteful a term as it should be- the idea that x isn't interesting or worthy of being told to the audience but we want money for talking about x, so kick x's puppy. I know full well my comments are too long and as it's a comment and not a long winded essay I'd post elsewhere with notes and research or even a live narration of my game shit elsewhere- it often lacks proper tone or direction or impact. So let me say just one thing that'll sum it up. Phenomenally done. And more than any video I've seen from you yet, this is what I'd uphold as a chief reason to check out your content both for your individual view on games and the subjects you find important to talk on because they are important to talk on. And while many other videos end on uplifting life lessons or human experiences, this one ending on a call to action, a reminder of where to place your humanity and for us all to grow, - it honestly beats em all thus far.

[@GCVazquez]

It makes me incredibly happy you took the time to watch this, Red. I was hoping you'd let me know what you thought about it! Thanks for always supporting the work I do, and thanks for giving it an earnest, honest listen.

[@AtotheZness]

Great topic. Definitely something I’ve always felt was off in gaming but didn’t know how to put into words. Would be interested to see how the medium plays out over the next few decades. Like music and film, a broader pallet was eventually achieved but only over time. Gaming is still relatively new and predominantly made by western/ eastern developers. The markets in those regions are pretty specific to a traditional population but I believe in time, representation will increase. At this point it’s almost inevitable. The world is too small nowadays for it not to. Keep up the good work. You’re a good egg!

[@GCVazquez]

I GOT CALLED A GOOD EGG! :D I digress! And I agree, with time there's no doubt more (better) representation will become more common so long as there's people paying enough attention to steer it in that direction.

[@ajaykundlas7461]

Miles Morales may be cheating because Comics and his original conception was to provide representation, but the original Spider-Man game was mentioned and shown multiple times, so I'd say it counts. Edit: And he is in the video. Neat.

[@GCVazquez]

The Miles Morales game is such a good example of good representation, and it's so unfortunate that the caveat is he's not an original video game character. But *with* the Miles Morales game, we now have one more example of what good representation looks like, and I am going to *milk the shit out of that.*

[@retrorocker77]

hello, i recently subbed for your yakuza content and after seeing this video it made me realize that other people feel the same as i do regarding representation of hispanics and latine cultures. being mexican american in the west coast, i often see many cultures and backgrounds of latine and other poc and it makes me think of how none of them are truly represented or even that close. im glad i stumbled upon this and am looking forward to your other content! btw when will the yakuza 5 video be releasing, thanks heh heh

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for enjoying my videos, and for adding your voice to the conversation as well! I'm actually stopping to reply to this comment in the middle of playing Yakuza 5 for the video haha; I'm trying to get it out before the new year, but given what usually goes into Questrospective, I expect it'll be done sometime in January or February. Stay tuned though, you never know!

[@bradleyhead7113]

Before watching the video: I actually agree, from what I understand games tend to make it the “stereotype gangster” character and it honestly is kinda ridiculous in my opinion, they need to start showing the positive light of your country’s in videogames, I’d like to see that, and when they do it’s not enough, thanks for making this.

[@SkarmoryThePG]

This is the first I hear of 'latine' and I gotta say, it sounds so much better than 'latinx', not to mention so much less pretentious and without that misguided "shut up when we speak up for you" approach.

[@GCVazquez]

I agree! Some Spanish speakers claim "Latine" still doesn't make sense, but we have plenty of plural words in Spanish that use "e" at the end because the subject is gender-neutral to begin with! I've never liked "Latinx" because it's impossible to pronounce it in the languages of the people it's meant to represent, and I feel like that sort of defeats the purpose to begin with.

[@SkarmoryThePG]

@@GCVazquez I want to add, looking from the outside, "latine" looks like a word. "latinx" looks ridiculous.

[@ZenithiaKids]

Que ilusión escucharte hablar en español! Grandisimo video!

[@GCVazquez]

Muchas Gracias!

[@xXxDamon96]

My first character I thought of during your „little test“ was the Book from It Takes Two 😂 he was fuckin hilarious, but yes.. total stereotype 😂

[@fakename4683]

Thanks for the video. I remember playing Total Overdose. So much of that game was open mockery. Still waiting for that game staring a pocho main character. Edited: My original comment made reference to a movie. I meant to make reference to Total Overdose.

[@abdullahfaheem4369]

That was an amazing video. You touched on every possible issue I could think of, not saying that there aren't other problems but all the ones I could think of were addressed. I find alot of the issues you mentioned are also problems in TC shows and movies as well

[@BluesM18A1]

Certainly a severe mood shift from your usual goofy content but I think you did a pretty good job outlining not just misrepresentation of your culture, but how foreign cultures are misrepresented in general. Whether people are genuinely trying to help or are genuinely prejudiced, we need to see cultures have deliberate and tasteful implementation rather than be used as a lazy means to an end. This is a super hotly contested topic on the internet with lots of the nuance and details being lost in online discourse, but you have highlighted them really well. Though there are very few good examples of representation to go off of and it would be really hard to come up with a good answer, I still wish this video did more to bring ideas for how story writers could do better though.

[@GCVazquez]

That's totally fair! I was thinking the same thing as I was wrapping up editing. Maybe in the future I might do a video showcasing some good examples, and use them as a basis to celebrate good representation!

[@patsg1146]

Great video, GC! I kinda feel you missed the elephant in the room with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, when you spoke about white saviors, but your point was made a long time ago at that point. And you've just made me want an Assassin's Creed set in South America even more! Evil conquerors, culture variety, ancient civilizations, rich mythologies? Come on, Ubisoft Montréal! That shit just writes itself!

[@GCVazquez]

I ended up having to limit my examples, because the first draft of the script was very, very long. Like, stupid long. Like, longer than my longest script long. LONG. And an open-world game like Assassin's Creed set in South America would be DOPE.

[@JohnyTwitch]

This video was great. Absolutely amazing. Would love to see more like it.

[@GCVazquez]

I'll see what I can do! I don't have a whole lot of bones to pick, or think about something with this much clarity all that often, so I might stumble a bit trying.

[@PepeCucumber]

Excelente video, Giancarlo. Me emociona mucho que haya alguien que se ponga a hablar respecto a esto.

[@GCVazquez]

Muchas gracias! Solo estoy tratando de crecer el visibilidad de estos problemas, y nada me hace mas feliz de descubrir que hay muchos que estan de acuerdo.

[@Mcintron12]

On a side note, yo he jugado videojuegos mi vida entera y jamas pensé sobre este tema. Igual que al ver televisión cuando veía a Goku no pensaba si era caucásico o asiático, era Goku y ya. Cuando mis amigos me empezaron a comparar con Javier Escuela de Red Dead Redemption 2 (un mejicano de tez oscura, yo soy un dominicano de tez más clara) me di cuenta que en la mente americana todos los latinos 9 hispanos somos lo mismo. Gracias por traer esto a mi atención, GC.

[@BigChallenges]

I'm Colombian (on my dad's side) and was raised by my white mom. At the same time I spent a lot of my childhood around other latine kids, and my mom would try to keep me connected through what ways she could. As a result a lot of my experience with my culture is through a layer of proxy. It's made me question my racial identity a lot. What shocked me about watching this video is how much I related to and immediately agreed with it. I have noticed a lot of the talking points here throughout my life and how disappointing representation of my culture is in mainstream media. My first experience with racism was realizing that all depictions of Colombia in western culture were focused on cocaine production. Now that isn't to say this is an unheard of topic of discussion within the culture, pop or otherwise, but I think it says something that this is the only thing a white person knows about the country.

[@ZeroCoolIsGod]

This is one of my favorite videos by you dude.

[@GCVazquez]

That makes me happy to hear, dude. ^_^

[@HeavyEyed]

Love you and to anyone mad - grow up lmao

[@GCVazquez]

Love you too buddy ^_^

[@EliTheGleason]

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a video about this subject, thank you (I'm white and dear god do I need to learn)

[@GCVazquez]

Glad it was helpful! Part of my goal with the video was to provide information in a way that would inspire a desire to learn more.

[@mana-uv7cz]

Al fin encontré una vídeo sobre este tema! Gracias. Now I will which to English to further elaborate. I know a lot of minorities get left out as characters, but I really do think we Latinos are the least represented. I haven't played a single game where a Latino is main character. And your right when I do see a latin character in tv or a video nothing about their culture is represented. I still need to play spider man Miles Morales, but overall I wish there were more options for us than Gangster or a story grounded in realism. I much prefer fantasy stories and would like to see myself.

[@wizawhat]

I've begun to be more interested in Latine culture and values ever since I met my gf this year and was excited when I saw you uploaded this. This video was super informative and inspiring. If I'm ever teaching someone or speaking to someone about representation, I'm going to send them this video. Fantastic work my dude!

[@GCVazquez]

Hahaha! I hope you know a little more about us now! Hearing about stuff like this makes me really happy.

[@TheBoneHeadClan]

Gears of War features Marcus Fenix enduring a lot of suffering, the loss of his family and friends. Dom's struggle relates to his family, more specifically finding Maria. Marcus is P1, but P2 is almost always Dom. Though every major character does get their time in the lime light, some arc. I don't really feel like you made a great case for Dom over Marcus, nor do I think would Marcus's suffering be as impact full had you witnessed all of his losses from Dom's perspective. And Dom's search for his wife largely had an impact on the tone and direction of the story. I'd hardly say he had a backseat. Idk if you know Halo, but its not exactly like he became an extra (like Arbiter did) once his use was done with.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

I didn't know there was a gender neutral version for Latino. This video was very informative and I'm very thankful that you've put alot of time into making this. Obviously I don't know all the ins and outs of various latin cultures but alot of people including me, can say that this culture is heavily badly represented in alot of western made media.

[@GCVazquez]

Well now you know! Feel free to interchange between Latinx or Latine as you like too; they're both relatively new terms, but from what I understand equally acceptable!

[@fermrack7460]

Si lo hay, es Latino. Ese es el neutral. Ni latinx ni latine.

[@GCVazquez]

@@fermrack7460 Latine es predominantemente usado en los Estados Unido porque los Americanos adoptado la palabra en Ingles. Es una palabra creada por gente Latine. No creo que hay problema usando una palabra nueva que incluya mejor la gente. El Espanol no tiene que ser una idioma estatica.

[@fermrack7460]

@@GCVazquez Muy poca gente realmente la usa, y generalmente son swj que ya no saben de qué quejarse. Latino es una palabra neutral igual que como lo es persona. Nada de latine o persone.

[@GCVazquez]

@@fermrack7460 Si no puede expresar tu punto de vista sin descartar el mío como algo "sjw", ni siquiera esta tratando de sentir empatia con personas que no son como usted. El espanol por defecto es un idioma de genero, y hay formas dentro de su propia gramatica para neutralizar ciertas palabras para que sean mas inclusivas. Que tengas un buen dia. Espero que vuelvas cuando lo sepas mejor.

[@theempireeofficial3935]

Marco Diaz from Star Vs. The Forces of Evil is a good Hispanic character. So is Generator Rex.

[@TheSpiderface]

Watched one of your yakuza videos and saw this, subscribed. This is really good content.

[@GCVazquez]

Awesome, thank you! I'm really happy this is the video you commented on. Seeing people support this video is honestly such a real inspiration for me.

[@zeroderorero3948]

I was looking for a video talking about Spanish (from Spain to clarify) characters in media after Venture was announced for Overwatch, the *third* mexican character (mexican-canadian but Sojourn also exists so... also yes MEXICAN, not latino) even though Gibraltar is a VERY important place since, you know, overwatch HQ is located there

[@jorgealvarado8376]

Amazing video man. Thank you so much!

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for watching it, and for your kind words!

[@dopship6257]

¡Excelente video hermano! Como mencionaste una forma de tratar de que esta situacion mejore es apoyar la industria local de latinoamérica. Desafortunadamente "llegamos tarde a la fiesta" en esto de los videojuegos, pero ojalá que con el tiempo sigamos creciendo en esta industria y poco a poco llegar a tener un lugar importante en la escena en general como Japón, que no necesita ser representado por alguien más. ¡Saludos desde México!

[@GCVazquez]

¡Muchísimas Gracias! Quiero ver el día que los latines sean nombres internacionales en la industria.

[@sydneygorelick7484]

What a fantastic and approachable dive into this topic! I'm very much not Latine/Hispanic, so I feel the most I can say about the issues presented was that I learned something, and now have better tools with which to discuss Hispanic and Lantine representation (or lack thereof) within the videogame industry, and to a degree, media as a whole. Thank you for such a wonderful, eloquent, and high quality discussion of this topic!

[@ArielTst]

Btw, no one says latine or latinex. It's an americanization of its gender neutral language that is not official nor used, unless mockingly.

[@GCVazquez]

That's funny, most of the people I see push back against either of the terms almost always turn out to be bigots.

[@ArielTst]

​@@GCVazquezsure buddy, go ahead with your fallacies. You claim to be so inclusive and yet here you are, trying to explain me the way we speak our own languages.

[@GCVazquez]

Don't get upset just because I'm standing my ground; no one is here is trying to explain to you anything, but I *am* going to insist that language changes as needed- both historically and naturally. At any rate, the use of the term wasn't the point of the video.

[@rerunx5]

Thanks for covering this topic. Very well done

[@GCVazquez]

Thank you for the compliment! ^_^

[@eruel285]

As someone from a culture that is entirely just reduced to a grand total of 2 stereotypes, neither of which represent me, I empathize with this a lot. But one thing about it still bugged me. The idea that if a character is vaguely from a certain culture, that culture ought to play a part in their characterization, otherwise it's "bad representation." I don't agree with this. If the character or story set out to represent something about a certain culture, like Life is Strange 2 for instance, you can criticize it on bad representation. I'd say that's fair. It tried to represent, it did it badly. But I don't agree with the criticism of Gears of War or The Evil Within. Just because they didn't represent the culture, to say this means they think little of the culture or send a bad message, I think that's going far too overboard. It's asking everyone to represent, whether they want to or not. I think it's entirely fine for a character to have a, say, Japanese name without being all that Japanese. Put bluntly, I don't think a character having a certain type of name "to add a little color to the narrative scenery" is a particularly bad thing. I still agree that games ought to strive towards good representation is still better, if only just to give the players a chance to interact and experience more rich cultures than stereotypes, but using tidbits to flavor a game not striving towards representation is a bad thing.

[@GCVazquez]

I didn't say they thought little of the culture or send a bad message though. In fact, I quite literally almost said the same thing you did. When talking about Dom and Sebastian, I pointed out they were missed opportunities to create stronger characters, not necessarily problematic representations. That part of the video very much talks about how situations where cultural representation would benefit the story in certain ways, such as with Sebastian's segments relating to his life being vastly vacant of anything substantial, or really Dom speaking Spanish to his wife in their final moments together. I also don't want it to be understated that another part of that section addressed making characters coded as minorities backdrops to white protagonists with less motive and less ways to relate to. Like I said in the video, I'm not asking for Dom and Sebastian to suddenly bust out the merengue or the salsa, but there are a multitude of small ways to make those characters more believable, and one of those ways is inserting aspects of their coded cultures in the details. Otherwise, those tiny aspects of them are just token qualities that don't mean all that much in the way of representation.

[@eruel285]

@@GCVazquez Alright, that's fair enough. The closing statement on that part said "Its absence in either of these games can mean two things, neither of which are positives towards representation," and that ended up giving me the idea that this meant these characters having Latin names was a net negative, as it wasn't good representation. Rather than jumping to the opposite of that, assuming that meant it was bad representation and therefore bad for the game, that should've been interpreted as it just not being representation at all. The distinction between "bad representation" and "no representation" was lost in my interpretation.

[@Kaslo25]

Its always crazy how different someone sounds in English vs family language. I have an Indian friend who speaks in Indian when around family and sounds almost completely different.

[@GCVazquez]

I've learned that I use different parts of my voice to speak Spanish! It's wildly interesting to me the different parts of my diaphragm I use to speak two different languages.

[@lapiswolf2780]

I was mostly neutral about this when it came to big media like movies(I kind of stayed in my own world doing something else). The thing that actually stuck out most to me was that now because of some media, the voice I can think of most readily for imagining a Mexican(I do actually mean from Mexico) cartoon character is that one high-pitched voice that sounds like tiny motorcycle engine revving into the distance. Not even Speedy Gonzalez sounds like that and he's the closest one to that kind of voice(but that case actually works because he's a small mouse). :/ On a side note, felt weird hearing you stress "latine" in the video. I don't hear that used often, if at all so it comes off to me like another latinx.

[@MassayukiSama]

As a brazillian they also tend to represent us as super sexual and speaking spanish like it was our native language.

[@Redxan600]

Well, to be fair on Tekken, it was an old game when they first introduced the characters in the first game. Harada (the creator of Tekken.) admits on the mistakes he made when designing Miguel and the Arabic stage. He does have trouble understanding other cultures other than his own. I agree with this video, I'm just saying cut the guy some slack since he is trying.

[@GCVazquez]

Honestly I didn't find Miguel (in Tekken 7) *too* bad, and his appearance in the video is because, as it turns out to my point in the video, there weren't a lot of games with explicitly Latine character I could use to talk about the subject matter. It was genuinely funny, because I was looking for games I could record footage for and being like "fuck I can't find anything with a Hispanic or Latine person for filler footage why isn't there....Oh right." So yeah Harada is fine! Miguel is used as relevant visual less so as a problematic example.

[@ImranAhmad-rz5oz]

I relate to this quite a lot though I'm definitely do not have Latin American heritage. I'm from Bangladesh and am a Muslim. I have inherited various cultural aspects from the South Asian subcontinent as well as a lot of cultural aspects common in Arabic and Persian cultures. But I they are still significantly different and it's a massive pain to explain to people that I'm neither Indian nor an Arab. And god knows we're never getting any meaningful representation anytime soon.

[@GCVazquez]

It's amazing how nuanced the differences between cultures are to people who have no frame of reference for them, and how often they just assume those cultures are one and the same. I hope we both get better representation in the future!

[@nyxkhaos247]

Thank you for this. Wish more would see it this way with both movies and games and make a bigger stink about it. All Latins and Hispanics are not just mashed into one fits all type of style or accent. I was taught Spanish first (Chilean Mother) then English second and though I have spoken English most of my life, i have no accent and if i speak Spanish it sounds authentic like I never spoke English. Not all of us sound like Mexicans from the South Side of town. Even people in my city in the US don't sound like these types of characters and the majority of people in my city of are Hispanics. Parents or grandparents from a Mexican family lines. Even if they have accents it not even the same. Its like saying all Americans sound the same when a New Yorker would definitely sound different from someone from Texas. Every time I see the same old default model/voices used for Hispanics in movies or games, it just gets under my skin. Its terrible representation majority of the time. Thank you for pointing this out.

[@aki.l9823]

Hola! Muchas gracias por este video! Soy de Chile y, como latina sudamericana, I really appreciate all the effort you made to try and give us all a moment in the video: contries, races, genders. I saw my country's flag and smiled. Now I'm thinking what I would like to see in a latine character, because clearly just giving us a few hispanic sounding names is not enough. I've seen so little representation of my country in the media: the only time I remember, it was basically a "mexican" that said they were chilean, which made me feel really pissed that the creator didn't care enough to do a proper research and just decided to thow an "exotic" nationality. It's nice to hear your thoughts about this, I feel it gives importance to all of us. Thanks again, I'm definitely sharing it!

[@mana-uv7cz]

Okay glad I didn't play Life is Strange 2 because I don't want to experience more racism than I do just to hear a message I already agree with. Also what a double standard, in Life is Strange those characters didn't experience a ton of homophobia and they went through scary experiences as well but not nearly to that extent. Also no one has your back like the Latin community.