'Wargroove' Dev Responds to Criticism for Casting White Actors to Portray Characters of Color

[Deleted member 12129]

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...g-white-actors-to-portray-characters-of-color

snip:

In casting these characters for Wargroove, Chucklefish said it reached out to an external casting agency to avoid having "unconscious biases impact who we hired to work on Wargroove, and to handle the auditions blindly." In other words, they chose the actors based on the samples they submitted, without looking at who they are or their specific background.

Such an approach falls neatly in line with the common refrain and excuse given for a lack of diversity in all manners of employment: it's about finding the "best person for the job." Such approaches often incorporate biases in how they define "best" and conveniently ignore how difficult it is for marginalized groups to even be in a position to be considered to be the "best person for the job," and so the cycle continues. In this case, the process determined that the best people to voice and help bring to life black characters were white people.


"We also understand that posting photos of our voice actors besides characters of colour without acknowledgement of the systemic problem of representation in the industry was insensitive and poorly communicated," continued the statement.

Chucklefish also said it told the casting agency the characters were non-white, but noted that "ultimately the decision and responsibility to blind cast was on us, not them."

The choice of blind auditions meant they were likely picking from a pool of mostly white actors, because like many industries, that represents the majority of working actors. If you want diverse options, you need to explicitly put in the work to find and hire such people.

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[XaviConcept]

Dumb and naive. Dont promise to do better, actually fucking do better

 

[TangFei]

Hmm different races playing each other has been happening since forever. But a dev wanting to be more inclusive doesn't hurt.

 

[LegendofLex]

The choice of blind auditions meant they were likely picking from a pool of mostly white actors, because like many industries, that represents the majority of working actors. If you want diverse options, you need to explicitly put in the work to find and hire such people.

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the article summed up the appropriate response well, I think

 

[Skittles]

BoJack Horseman’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg Says the Show Has Been “Hurt” by Its All-White Cast

Alison Brie still voices Vietnamese American Diane Nguyen, but BoJack’s creator says he wouldn’t make the same choice now.

slate.com

So that's why I soured on the term "color-blind," because I felt like I wasbeing color-blind. I was just casting whoever was great and I wasn't really thinking about their race, and then I was surprised to discover all the people I thought were great were white people

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[JonnyDBrit]

Long thread from one of the casting directors

 

[piratepwnsninja]

Being intimately familiar with the process of voice casting in AAA games, if I take them at their word, I can chalk it up to an indie dev mistake in not researching after getting samples. To be fair, I do think that's the case.

If you're not a SAGAFTRA project, you're probably using one of the many sites where you just put up a casting call, get samples and listen, then choose from those. Those sites generally handle everything, so most times there is little direct interfacing with your VA's. You upload the script; they receive it, record their lines, and send it back. All through a website.

Compare that to what I've been through, it's a much more rigorous process. Very specific up front about what we're looking for in terms of nationality, race, sex, etc. Work with a company that actually filters the auditions. Pull up information on everyone we get an audition from to see if they match our criteria. Actually go out to the recording sessions with the actors. Like I said, it's in-depth.

This isn't to excuse not researching who you're choosing, but I can understand how a smaller team many not even think about it.

 

[_bemusedchunk]

Being intimately familiar with the process of voice casting in AAA games, if I take them at their word, I can chalk it up to an indie dev mistake in not researching after getting samples. To be fair, I do think that's the case.

If you're not a SAGAFTRA project, you're probably using one of the many sites where you just put up a casting call, get samples and listen, then choose from those. Those sites generally handle everything, so most times there is little direct interfacing with your VA's. You upload the script; they receive it, record their lines, and send it back. All through a website.

Compare that to what I've been through, it's a much more rigorous process. Very specific up front about what we're looking for in terms of nationality, race, sex, etc. Work with a company that actually filters the auditions. Pull up information on everyone we get an audition from to see if they match our criteria. Actually go out to the recording sessions with the actors. Like I said, it's in-depth.

This isn't to excuse not researching who you're choosing, but I can understand how a smaller team many not even think about it.

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You bring up a great point.
Don't mind me, I'm just going to play a little devils advocate here...
If the website they use just has samples - with no additional information about the person behind the voice...how is that a bad thing?
Yes, I know there are a myriad of reasons why - but if the voice fits the character, does their skin color matter? Or gender? Or race?

Again, I think that Chucklefish could have done their due diligence and didn't in this specific situation.
But this is a type of situation where it feels like there would be pleasing no one.

Edit:
I read more of your post and I can see the difference now. Clearly one is a very lengthy in-depth process where another one is where a third-party (similar to a recruiter) would do (or not) that work for you.

 

[Hella]

Waypoint's article (by Patrick Klepek) said it best:

In the case of Wargroove, the developers at Chucklefish haven't indicated they will be changing the voice casting for the game, but did "promise to do better going forward."

We hear lines like a "promise to do better" a lot. At some point, you need to actually do it.

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I get that it's good to have a diverse set of characters--and of course agree--but if that isn't backed up by diverse casting it feels counteractive. You've gotta follow through all the way.

(And please don't use this as an opportunity to pivot into "but we're colour-blind" or " a meritocracy" because this is a systemic issue that is perpetuated by such (in)action.)


I don't begrudge anyone at Chucklefish for this lack of self-awareness... just, please, do better.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Being intimately familiar with the process of voice casting in AAA games, if I take them at their word, I can chalk it up to an indie dev mistake in not researching after getting samples. To be fair, I do think that's the case.

If you're not a SAGAFTRA project, you're probably using one of the many sites where you just put up a casting call, get samples and listen, then choose from those. Those sites generally handle everything, so most times there is little direct interfacing with your VA's. You upload the script; they receive it, record their lines, and send it back. All through a website.

Compare that to what I've been through, it's a much more rigorous process. Very specific up front about what we're looking for in terms of nationality, race, sex, etc. Work with a company that actually filters the auditions. Pull up information on everyone we get an audition from to see if they match our criteria. Actually go out to the recording sessions with the actors. Like I said, it's in-depth.

This isn't to excuse not researching who you're choosing, but I can understand how a smaller team many not even think about it.

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Supposedly the particular issue came in the desired accent and the degree to which the director pursued that when, in hindsight, they could have just eased up on that requirement:

 

[Skittles]

Waypoint's article (by Patrick Klepek) said it best:


I get that it's good to have a diverse set of characters--and of course agree--but if that isn't backed up by diverse casting it feels counteractive. You've gotta follow through all the way.

(And please don't use this as an opportunity to pivot into "but we're colour-blind" or " a meritocracy" because this is a systemic issue that is perpetuated by such (in)action.)


I don't begrudge anyone at Chucklefish for this lack of self-awareness... just, please, do better.

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There's definitely a lack of self awareness here as they seem to have copied what indivisible was doing up to launch with their voice actors, but completely missed the point.

 

[CodyV]

The issue with blind audio auditions is that the group deciding may have an implicit bias towards an imitation / stereotypical voice. For instance, they may have an inclination to a white man performing a black voice than an actual black male voice. Bias in audio is a big issue, louder Usually sounds better, repeated listening dulls the ability to recognize mistakes, etc. with something like representation, it needs to be limited to the preferred type before blind auditions. The talent pool is there. This is the way movies work if the race and gender matters. The only way a blind audition with out limiting first would work is if the game designers changed the character's race and gender to match the voice actor.

 

[iareharSon]

Hmm different races playing each other has been happening since forever. But a dev wanting to be more inclusive doesn't hurt.

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Society would suck more than it already does if things "happening since forever" was reason enough to not strive to change them

 

[Garlador]

The issue with blind audio auditions is that the group deciding may have an implicit bias towards an imitation / stereotypical voice. For instance, they may have an inclination to a white man performing a black voice than an actual black male voice. Bias in audio is a big issue, louder Usually sounds better, repeated listening dulls the ability to recognize mistakes, etc. with something like representation, it needs to be limited to the preferred type before blind auditions. The talent pool is there. This is the way movies work if the race and gender matters. The only way a blind audition with out limiting first would work is if the game designers changed the character's race and gender to match the voice actor.

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Voice acting is such a weird one because it's an example of only a voice being used, and that's far less evident of the voice actor's race when you listen. That gives the developers a lot of excuses for why they did it. The result is a lot of video games having black people voiced by white people:

I mean when Uncharted's devs can say this:

"Having a white actress play a black character is part of the beauty of games and voice acting, Druckmann said. "Your outward appearance doesn't matter at all," he said.

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... it makes you realize just how far the entire industry needs to grow - from small indie studios to even the biggest blockbuster studios backed with millions from Sony to make the next blockbuster holiday game sensation.

So, yes, learn from this and please - ALL developers - DO BETTER.

 

[AndrewDean84]

I think this really comes down to being inexperienced at this. Chalk this up as an L and learn from it.