Current Events > Was there really controversy over GTA: San Andreas having a black lead?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I keep seeing people on this board bring that up, but I don't remember people complaining at all when the game came out.
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Yes. The San Andreas board here on gamefaqs was notorious for it.
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I remember at the time there were people who were mad about having to play as a black guy. It probably didn't help that SA broke down a lot of language barriers for gaming, most notably its repeated and unapologetic use of the n-word
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yes
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I remember people throwing a fit that the first thing the game has you do is steal a bike, but other than that I don't remember much outrage.
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Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

Or was it controversial in a SJW I dont want to perpetuate the stereotype of black people as criminals way?

People were trying to make mods to turn CJ White lol
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I don't remember anything like that but I was never into GTA so I might have just missed it.
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gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

Obviously this one.
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gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

yes

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"
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Romulox28 posted...

gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

yes

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

Aaaah early 00's, when "gay" was the most common insult for kid across the globe.
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I loved GTA: SA.

Definitely huge steps forward in that game.
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DuranOfForcena posted...

Romulox28 posted...

gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

yes

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

to be fair, complaints about having to play as that nancy boy are legitimate, because everyone was lead to believe that they'd be playing as Snake, and then the game decides to pull a fast one on you

Kojima said he intended for it to be a twist similar to Terminator 2.
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The dialogue in that game is too annoying. On a tech level, SA beats VC, but I would still rather play Vice.

Yes, there was a lot of trolling, shitposting, and racism around it. People acting like they can't play as a black character, that it breaks immersion, that they can't relate to the character and the 90's west cost gang scene but apparently they could relate to the previous protagonists or something?
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Ooooh yes there was.

pres_madagascar posted...

Yes. The San Andreas board here on gamefaqs was notorious for it.

I've never seen so many people show their true colors the day images were finally released for the game.
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Garioshi posted...

DuranOfForcena posted...

Romulox28 posted...

gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

yes

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

to be fair, complaints about having to play as that nancy boy are legitimate, because everyone was lead to believe that they'd be playing as Snake, and then the game decides to pull a fast one on you

Kojima said he intended for it to be a twist similar to Terminator 2.

Did the trailers not show that Arnold was the good guy? If so that's pretty cool. I wish movie trailers today weren't so revealing.
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You had people that didn't want to play a black guy

Then you had people who thought it was going to be nothing but gang banging and hated it because they were used to the more mob heavy style in the last games.

When it came out, most of the people in the second camp were fine with the game because it was a nice mix of everything.

Romulox28 posted...

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

I don't remember that term being used (at least not much) but yeah, it was a huge deal at the time because people thought he was girly or effeminate or any number of ways to say "not Snake."

For years after release, people considered it the worst game in the series because of Raiden, lol. When MGS4 came out, all the sudden you had this vocal minority who "always liked him even in MGS2" because apparently turning him into the goofiest most nonsense electric-superpowers weaponized-high-heels stops-a-battleship-from-destroying-a-dock by-standing-on-said-dock-and-pushing-against-it cyborg made him cool.

If you ask me, it wasn't until Rising that he became a decent character. In 2 it at least worked with what they were trying to do but in 4 they just had no clue what they were doing.
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Did the trailers not show that Arnold was the good guy? If so that's pretty cool. I wish movie trailers today weren't so revealing.

They didn't in Japan, apparently :/

America they came right out with it from the first theatrical trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qI3PUT5a5I

EndOfDiscOne posted...

Garioshi posted...

DuranOfForcena posted...

Romulox28 posted...

gamer167 posted...

Was it controversial in a racist I dont want to play as a black person way?

yes

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

to be fair, complaints about having to play as that nancy boy are legitimate, because everyone was lead to believe that they'd be playing as Snake, and then the game decides to pull a fast one on you

Kojima said he intended for it to be a twist similar to Terminator 2.

Did the trailers not show that Arnold was the good guy? If so that's pretty cool. I wish movie trailers today weren't so revealing.

No, it was a very well-kept secret.
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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Did the trailers not show that Arnold was the good guy? If so that's pretty cool. I wish movie trailers today weren't so revealing.

lol no. Arnold was a big time action hero by the time T2 came out and they capitalized on it greatly.

Unless it was different in Japan, Kojima was full of crap on that one.
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DevsBro posted...

I don't remember that term being used (at least not much) but yeah, it was a huge deal at the time because people thought he was girly or effeminate or any number of ways to say "not Snake."

kids called everything gay in the late 90s/early 2000s
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Romulox28 posted...

DevsBro posted...

I don't remember that term being used (at least not much) but yeah, it was a huge deal at the time because people thought he was girly or effeminate or any number of ways to say "not Snake."

kids called everything gay in the late 90s/early 2000s

I'd say they still do now.
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I was just a kid at the time and wasn't on any sites like these so I never heard of it, and I didn't care either lol I was hype for new GTA. It would later go on to become my favorite GTA game.

The San Andreas board as well as NGG were unbearable for six months before it came out and about 8 months after.
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eston posted...

I remember at the time there were people who were mad about having to play as a black guy. It probably didn't help that SA broke down a lot of language barriers for gaming, most notably its repeated and unapologetic use of the n-word

It was realistic. If you were a hip hop fan or liked black movies it wouldn't even of made you flinch. I was gonna say if you hung around different groups but I figured most people here just grew up in their small circles and didn't get the exposure. Nothing wrong with that.
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More like the obnoxious use of it.

I'm gonna give it another try since I was told voice audio can be turned off. I'll ignore dialogue and focus on mission objectives.

yup

racist nerds are not a recent phenomenon
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mario2000 posted...

yup

racist nerds are not a recent phenomenon

I think they're more so just way too sheltered from the non white real world
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hot coffee
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Romulox28 posted...

"how can i relate to some black person from the hood" type shit

I've never understood that argument that those people have. First of all, its just like, do you always want to play as people who are relatable to you? That would be boring.

And second, if CJ was another race, does that make his gangster lifestyle any more relatable? Is Tommy or Claude, both criminal mass murderers, more relatable than CJ?

if you thought this is bad though, you should have been here for when MGS2 came out and everyone hated raiden because he was "too gay"

Not gonna lie, I remember actually being excited to play as Raiden and looked forward to it lol

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/new-gta-sa-screens.820/#post-18276


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I never played SA so I never was part of the community but from what I know people didn't complain about the game until that sex scene patch.
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I thought it was a nice change of pace personally. To this day SA is easily my favorite in the series.
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Lost_All_Senses posted...

mario2000 posted...

yup

racist nerds are not a recent phenomenon

I think they're more so just way too sheltered from the non white real world

I would say that's pretty much it.

During a discussion about me not liking rap, amidst the sea of "You're racist!" comments came a rational person who said he doesn't see me as racist. He said he only saw someone who didn't grow up in that sort of environment so he just can't relate to it.

Them white boys had me on crystal meth
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On Gamefaqs at the time, there absolutely was people like "This is bull****, I'm not playing this if I'm forced to play as a character I can't relate to."

Evidently, unless these people were Italian plumbers and adventurers from Hyrule, they couldn't play Mario or Zelda games either.

Lost_All_Senses posted...

eston posted...

I remember at the time there were people who were mad about having to play as a black guy. It probably didn't help that SA broke down a lot of language barriers for gaming, most notably its repeated and unapologetic use of the n-word

It was realistic. If you were a hip hop fan or liked black movies it wouldn't even of made you flinch. I was gonna say if you hung around different groups but I figured most people here just grew up in their small circles and didn't get the exposure. Nothing wrong with that.

I agree. Just like Vice City, SA drew a lot of inspiration from specific movies, and the characters' dialog reflects that
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None of the supposed racism surrounding that game ever happened at all. People here just like to make that shit up now.
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The only thing I remember controversial about San Andreas was Hot Coffee, but then again I wasn't on gamefaqs at the time, so...
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Howl posted...

None of the supposed racism surrounding that game ever happened at all. People here just like to make that shit up now.

Setting aside that I personally witnessed it at the time the game was released, what do you find more likely: that some racists had publicly negative reactions to a popular game having its first black protagonist, or that literally no one anywhere had a problem with it whatsoever?
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There were a few whiny edgelord kids but nothing I would call a real controversy.

GTASA has always been one of the best in the series, gameplay and story wise.
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Ya...I don't know how people missed all that but I remember it being pretty bad. As someone else said they literally had mods to make CJ white.
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YourDrunkFather posted...

Ya...I don't know how people missed all that but I remember it being pretty bad. As someone else said they literally had mods to make CJ white.

Someone should mod it so you play as Riff Raff and change literally none of the dialog
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eston posted...

Howl posted...

None of the supposed racism surrounding that game ever happened at all. People here just like to make that shit up now.

Setting aside that I personally witnessed it at the time the game was released, what do you find more likely: that some racists had publicly negative reactions to a popular game having its first black protagonist, or that literally no one anywhere had a problem with it whatsoever?

He's just shitposting, there's literal proof of it in post #36

No it was the hidden sex minigame.
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