Woolie was recently talking about this, and he made a fantastic point. Oftentimes, when subjects like this are brought up, a common response to him was "Well why does it matter? It was made in Japan or whatever, it wasn't made for you" And Woolie's response is, "That's weird, it's not for me? Because my money went directly into their pockets."
@@CashSoprano why would they include black people then not care enough to actually do our hair justice? just because its from japan or some other place is just no excuse. the internet is free. so much refference out there for this stuff and yet still the bare minimum. or just literally nothing. but everyone else in the game will have every style under the sun. shame.
The thing about the "why does it matter" crowd that is the most confusing is, if it's not a big deal, why is it such a big deal that it's added? Same with adding characters who aren't white, aren't straight, or aren't Cis. If none of these things are a big deal, why do G*mers get so upset when they're added?
@@John-bj1zx It's because in the early 2000's gaming was being used as a platform to recruit white supremacists. Many news articles, clans, forums and message boards were affiliated with Breitbart and had actual Neo-Nazi recruiters. The whole Gamer Gate thing was instigated by Steve Banon because the idea of diversity and inclusion hurts the bottom line when you're trying to radicalize people. This is also why there's so many right wingers in gaming
Dear Blessing, as the adopted dad of a black child it is very special to hear him say “That guy looks like me” when we are playing games together. He is 7 years old, representation matters and I love that you made this.
I came into this with an ignorant take of "it's a game, who cares about the hair" because I never think to really pay attention to the hair. I've left this video humbled and educated. It's not just "hair in a video game" it's much more than that, and I was ignorant for my original thoughts. There's a whole group of people still being discriminated against and misrepresented for their culture and im too in my little bubble to see it. This was helpful. Thank you.
I grew up having these conversations with my brother, cousins and friends when playing games so it’s awesome to see such a well produced piece about it. Great work to Blessing and KF team. Much respect!
As a 3D Character Artist in the Games/movies industries, your video is a really interesting and precious gem and, with no doubt, a high source material for me which will inspire me in my work and will share it to other artists and co-workers. Thank you very much.
From the Black girl who grew up in a white rural town, and told my cornrows made me look "alien," and many other comments and invasion of privacy via grabbing and touching my twists and braids: Thank you, thank you, thank you for this video. You're amazing, Blessing. Never thpught my love for video games + Black American history + my own experiences would come together like this. This feels cathartic and I have tears in my eyes.
Top notch episode Blessing!! A long time ago I was a game tester for a Sims game. Being the one of the only black testers there I would always test the limited black hair styles first because even if they were limited, I wanted them to be right. I got called out by a manager saying that I needed to test other hair styles, which I understood and did but I always started with those.
Man that is so cool ! I heard you in the FPS podcast and instantly came and watch the video and I learned so.much about atuff I never actually thought about !! And it seems so little yet such a big deal and I agree that we all , everyone , need to make this heard about !!!😊❤
I can't say enough good things about this video. Emotional and honest interviews, great jokes, personal experience, diverse perspectives, perfectly conveyed examples of what's right and wrong in the industry today. Everybody involved in creating this put a bit of themselves in it and I can tell it was made with love and a lot of reshoots. A very loud golf clap from me.
Thank you. I've been making videos about this for years, and all I get in the comments are people asking why do I care, or it's a non-topic. Thank you!
I really hope non-black folks also watch and learn from this video and won't dismiss it like always with the *"omg who cares, not a big deal"* This has been an issue for decades and I'm thankful that you guys were able to shine light on it in a very entertaining way.
All y'all are just killing it this year. From the Spare Bedroom launch to this amazing video, every step of the way has had my jaw on the floor with how far you guys have come. Love you guys, keep up the amazing work and never change
Congratulations Bless! This was honestly a surprise. I paused games daily and decided to watch this, not expecting what I got at all. I was genuinely invested and convinced that this is a big issue that needs to be addressed. As a white person, I had no clue this was a problem. Very humbling 👏
This video got me emotional, so well paced and edited too. As a white man I never had this problem and was not aware of it, certainly not the extent of it. I cannot understand why there are games with no options or little like A Crossing, so much ignorance.
This is such a spot on way to delve into this topic! I've had dreads for many years and whenever I create my character in a game, even if they do have dreads as an option, the styles are quite limited (maybe 1 or 2). It has this weird dysmorphia-esque affect on me for a little bit because it makes me feel like my own hair style should change to be better match the character I'm making... just because I spent some time on it and got attached.
This kicks so much ass. I really appreciate the nuanced way Bless approaches the topic. There’s no blame apportioned, no villain for the internet to focus on, and everything has a positive element to it. It feels like an “us vs. the problem” conversation, which, to me, seems easily actionable for a wide audience. Show also looked great. Great work Blessing and Roger! Absolutely incredible.
I genuinely love and and appreciate this topic. There have been a lot of games that I stopped in the character customization screen after realizing that I couldn’t make a character remotely look like me or look like cool badass hero me. Normally that’s my skin color with some long dreadlocks or a good medium sized afro with twist to combo it. Some of my favorite games have this issue of making it difficult to make a black character and that makes it very difficult to Role-play that hero I version of me I want to represent in the video games I play.
After watching this video, I can't believe I have never seen this channel before. The production level, the content, the mix of perspectives, the quality of interview and editing -- are all out of this world. Can't wait to go watch every other video you have!!
Thank you, Kinda Funny. Having the conversation about this topic, Black hair, makes your channel head and shoulders above other gaming channels. I'm glad to see that this is a known problem that is finally being called out in video games.💯💪🏾
Thanks for this blessing. I’m a white guy with tight curly hair and I’ve also had trouble finding my hair in video games, and always had to go with the Afro options. But I always found it a minor nuisance. Now that I know the history behind black hair I realize this is much bigger than I initially thought. Really hope more devs can start taking diverse hairstyles in games seriously.
I had long somewhat messy hair for years and there was never a hairstyle that matched for men in games, so it's definitely an area that needs attention, fuelling it with an ethnic importance can only help the issue, so hear, hear!
This is easily the best piece of content on KFG for me. Its not about franchises or reactions or trailers, its about telling a real story about real people. Amazingly paced and edited too. PLEASE never stop doing the Blessing Show and please keep promoting it. I really hope the algorithm catches on to what you guys have going on with this series, because I really think it could be huge
Long time KF fan and I don’t usually comment on videos, but this is an excellent piece and a tremendous topic, really informative. Excellent work here Bless.
Blessing, as a black man who's just started really appreciating his hair at 33 years old, thank you so much. I didn't know I needed this episode of The Blessing Show as much as I did. And thank so much to Leanza for sharing her story. This video was a fucking 5/5 on the KF scale. This is easily the best video y'all have ever produced. ❤️
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show since all of it was left to be a surprise. But I’m really pleased with the turn out. Not only is it an eye opener but it also spreads awareness. I hope more and more new games represent black hair and culture better. Keep up the good work bless!
This has to be one of the greatest pieces of game journalism. Fantastic work to the kinda funny crew, but especially Blessing. This is something that is always on my mind as a black gamer and I hope this conversation continues and furthers change.
This is an incredible piece that really should be nominated for an award. It's insightful, well researched, and enlightening. And I love the idea that things can be called out without cruelty, I think that's a lesson very needed right now.
We needed this discussion! As a mix dude I never see more options than extremely loose curls or a tight curl fade or afro. I just want mixed and black dudes to have more than 3 options
Thank you for bringing eyes on this topic, couldn’t think of a better person in the industry to address this. Black folk aren’t asking devs to completely change everything they know about gaming, we just want to see ourselves reflected accurately in games. The fact is that black hair is intrinsically unique, texturally and aesthetically. All adding it means is more options for everyone and more people can feel represented. Win win
Literal King shit right here. I have been a fan of KF since the inception and was overjoyed to see Blessing become one of the main individual for KF Games. As a Black man who rocks a fade and full beard, I have never been felt more seen. Great work, Bless.
Thanks so much for making this video. I'm an indie game dev who cares about diversity and representation, but am limited to my own cultural experiences. I always worry that including cosmetics from other cultures will come off the wrong way, even if my intentions are good. I wish I had a budget to hire team so I could make it diverse, but even without that capability, this video has helped a lot.
I feel like I've been complaining about this for years! This is so well done! Great Job by Blessing, Roger, & the whole KF team! Representation Matters!
Thank you. Thank you. As a queer poc of euro, Senegalese, Congolese and Nigerian descent who’s been gaming since the age of 5, this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone with a platform discuss this topic as it relates to the video game industry. Yes, the character customization in Hogwarts Legacy is the main reason I’ve clocked several hours. It’s literally the closest I’ve ever felt represented in a game.
Blessing you fucking killed this my man! Always had these convos growing up with friends so I’m glad you’re putting a spotlight on it. Thank you for your awesome work, I hope this gets noticed by developers!
Really great video, this has always bothered me about most games. What hurts more is the lack of server support here on the African continent. 200ms in most online games has turned me away from multiplayer games as of late
I wish more publications did high quality content like this. It's very much appreciated in a world where we are fed so much clickbait and quick-hit news. Keep it up!
I love this. As a Dominican having the same styles, I have never found a good match for my hair. I will also put a shoutout to apple with memojis are also trying by adding more hairstyles per update
This is the first KF and Blessing video I’ve watched, and I loved it. Really eye opening and entertaining. And the medieval era? Loads of black folk in Europe! Half of Spain had a big black population, and medieval Poland had a black mayor if I recall correctly. At best, it’s a lazy excuse.
Blessing please stop being so damn talented. We need you to stay with KF 😭😭😭 no but for real, fantastic episode. The blessing show is always must watch content and this goes above and beyond
Woah! ❤ This is so good-props to all who worked on and interviewed for the project. It's inspired me as a fiction writer to assess how I'm presenting hair in my characters and to pay closer attention to that kind of detail detail. It was something I knew was significant culturally, but not something I had a lot of understanding around. Thanks for educating me :)
Incredible episode Blessing! As a black man trying to get into the games industry I've found topics like these Incredibly frustrating to explain. So many of my non black peers simply don't get it due to not having they connection. You nailed this video
I think one of the biggest problems is ever hairstyle still has to be done individually. We need systems in place that makes it easier to make different hairstyles in different textures.
Absolutely fantastic piece. Important topic, well reasoned, and well presented-the sort of work that pushes the industry and the conversation forward. More content like this, please!
I love this. It’s eye opening and just so deep. My wife who doesn’t really watch the videos I put on was watching and listening the whole time with me. I love this and I love blessing. Amazing job!
Amazing video Bless. I’m so glad to see you using your platform for the change that you want to see. I’m a white man and I know that the hair options in character creators are severely lacking for anyone other than me. Production? On point. Message? On point. I love KF and the community, and this feels next level. Time to beat out Greg’s Avengers nonsense. Dead game, dead video. Blessing is the future. 💪🏻
This is an issue I'm glad has been discussed. It's always an issue for me when creating my character and trying to find a hairstyle that matches mine. Thanks for doing this Blessing 👊🏾
I literally yelled out loud when I saw the thumbnail for this episode of the Blessing Show!!! Woooowwwww!!!!! Thanks so much Bless for speaking on this topic because black hair in video games have been a failure for so long! I'll say the industry has put in effort to get it right to some degree, but those efforts have not worked well at all so far. Fantastic content as usual from Blessing and KF 👏👏👏
Huge part of this is just going to the people who live and breathe the styles to help with implementation. As a member of the 'never been able to make myself' crew, we're getting there and it will be so so joyous when we can finally say we ARE there.
Yo “professional Smash Bros player” as a hair phase took me out 😂 Great video, I do think a lot of devs are far more aware of this issue now than ever before and have made improvements. The jump between Spider-Man and Miles Morales is one recent example. Hogwarts Legacy also features a wealth of diverse hair options. I think the most obvious bar for black hair is actually the NBA 2K games, and it’s honestly surprising how few developers and even other 2K studios like Rockstar take notes from these games’ character creators. NBA 2K have featured dozens of unique black hair styles with respect to players for years now.
Unironically of anything I've heard from Hogwarts due to positive and negative discourse, I've ween maybe one single person say "Oh yeah they have decent Black Hair styles". Maybe they just don't know, I sure as hell wouldn't if I just left the game alone due to all of that drama. Edit: Actually no, he does note it at 9:25 .
Bravo Bless. Bravo 👏🏽. The different avenues of research you did for this episode is fantastic! Wasn’t expecting to hear from other people of color across the industry and how they deal with representing the black community. What Leanza had to go through is absolutely absurd and I hope that this will never happen to any other child of color again, unbelievably disrespectful and dehumanizing as you said. It really shows how much her school was wearing their views towards the black community on their sleeve… can’t believe they got away with some shit like that. Keep fighting the good fight brother ✊🏽
This is why representation is important, different viewpoints. KF has always been really forward-thinking, but I did not expect a piece like this. This is a common conversation amonst black gamers, and it’s so good to see it here. Excellent work Blessing and team.
Blessing, as one of my favorite members of KF, this video is fantastic both in substance and creativity. Keep doing your thing and speaking out on what you believe in, being the voice for those that need it. Great job to Roger as well, this video is fantastically edited and produced.
Huge congrats to Bless, Roger, and the whole Kinda Funny Crew! This is a great piece of content and you should be extremely proud of what you've created!
Wild Hearts had some pretty decent black hair options from what I saw watching other people play. Koei Tecmo character creators have been really great recently.
Well done Blessing! Very thorough discussion backed by facts and research. This is definitely a frustration that many black players have had to deal with and you shined a light on it like never before.
For people who says this doesn't matter I wonder if they could even imagine a world where it was the Opposite wear dark skin wasn't just the default but the only option with no options for straight or blonde hair no blue or green. When it comes to a character creators I can't understand how you could be on the side of less options
This is a fascinating subject, and one that deserves a lot more attention from game devs. Aside from all the cultural barriers, there's also the economy of scale where straight/wavy hairstyles can work with a much wider range of ethnicities, so it's seen by publishers as more efficient to build models for the greatest common factor. But the greatest common factor shouldn't be the baseline anymore. Just as the industry has made strides in accessibility for the minority of people with disabilities, the industry needs to make character creators more accessible for people with minority hair/body features.
The greatest common factor should absolutely be the starting baseline, any other baseline is simply inefficient. If you're hypothetically only going to afford one hairstyle(but still somehow want to cover as many baselines), you should choose the one that covers the most types of people (short, dark, straight/wavy) The POINT is that instead of having 5 straight hair styles and no black/curly hairstyle, it should have something like 2 straight hair styles(long and short) and 2 black/curly hairstyles(long and short), *because it covers a wider overall baseline*, even if the overall selection is smaller(everyone has at least one approximate acceptable fit). It's better to have few hair options total but they are for everyone than have plenty of hairstyles but which all overlap in covering the same hair type.
Bravo to Blessing and Roger. This was absolutely amazing and taught me a whole lot about something that I never noticed. Living in a mostly white community for all of my life, a small thing like hair styles in games never crossed my mind! Thanks
Good job blessing! And good job KFG for being open and listening. You guys are different for this. Excellent work and keep changing the narrative. Really good work bless you are your name. A blessing.
What an incredible video! Black hair has always been a huge thing for me when I play my games. It's awesome to hear someone speak about it! Amazing job Blessing, Roger, and the KF Crew! The Blessing Show keeps getting better and better.
This was brilliant! Well done Bless and everyone on the KF team who helped produce this. Brilliant, informative, entertaining content. Loved it! Bless is smashing it. Love seeing his growth. So proud of him! 👊🏻
Makes me sick that there's so many people actively fighting against this, and politicians literally trying to hide history like this from school education. Videos like this are becoming increasingly important. Thanks Bless
as someone who used to roll my eyes at this issue, this video really helped me see the other perspective! Fantastic work to Blessing, Roger, and the rest of the KFG team who worked on this!
This might be one of KF's greatest pieces yet.
Hair is general is pretty bad lol
@@steve87j but glaringly so for Black people. End of story.
Agreed
@@TheCaliforniaHP dude really just said "all hair matter" 😐😐
@@ItsN3rdy HAHAHAH
Woolie was recently talking about this, and he made a fantastic point. Oftentimes, when subjects like this are brought up, a common response to him was "Well why does it matter? It was made in Japan or whatever, it wasn't made for you"
And Woolie's response is, "That's weird, it's not for me? Because my money went directly into their pockets."
I've been screaming similar stuff. going out into the WORLD market, and blatantly ignoring whole parts of THE WHOLE WORLD is very bad business.
@@CashSoprano why would they include black people then not care enough to actually do our hair justice? just because its from japan or some other place is just no excuse. the internet is free. so much refference out there for this stuff and yet still the bare minimum. or just literally nothing. but everyone else in the game will have every style under the sun. shame.
The thing about the "why does it matter" crowd that is the most confusing is, if it's not a big deal, why is it such a big deal that it's added?
Same with adding characters who aren't white, aren't straight, or aren't Cis.
If none of these things are a big deal, why do G*mers get so upset when they're added?
@@John-bj1zx It's because in the early 2000's gaming was being used as a platform to recruit white supremacists. Many news articles, clans, forums and message boards were affiliated with Breitbart and had actual Neo-Nazi recruiters. The whole Gamer Gate thing was instigated by Steve Banon because the idea of diversity and inclusion hurts the bottom line when you're trying to radicalize people. This is also why there's so many right wingers in gaming
vicious
Dear Blessing, as the adopted dad of a black child it is very special to hear him say “That guy looks like me” when we are playing games together. He is 7 years old, representation matters and I love that you made this.
I came into this with an ignorant take of "it's a game, who cares about the hair" because I never think to really pay attention to the hair.
I've left this video humbled and educated. It's not just "hair in a video game" it's much more than that, and I was ignorant for my original thoughts. There's a whole group of people still being discriminated against and misrepresented for their culture and im too in my little bubble to see it. This was helpful. Thank you.
I'm so happy we could help bring this issue to your attention!
That’s awesome. Black hair is very unique.
@@HayInAField could only imagine being this adamantly ignorant
Well it's still just hair in a video game. Doesnt mean game devs should not try to cover more bases of hair type in their character creators.
Damn bro that was deep...Well done.
I grew up having these conversations with my brother, cousins and friends when playing games so it’s awesome to see such a well produced piece about it. Great work to Blessing and KF team. Much respect!
As a 3D Character Artist in the Games/movies industries, your video is a really interesting and precious gem and, with no doubt, a high source material for me which will inspire me in my work and will share it to other artists and co-workers. Thank you very much.
From the Black girl who grew up in a white rural town, and told my cornrows made me look "alien," and many other comments and invasion of privacy via grabbing and touching my twists and braids: Thank you, thank you, thank you for this video. You're amazing, Blessing. Never thpught my love for video games + Black American history + my own experiences would come together like this. This feels cathartic and I have tears in my eyes.
The story of the dev trying to do the right thing and struggling because of just not knowing the context was so enlightening
Top notch episode Blessing!!
A long time ago I was a game tester for a Sims game. Being the one of the only black testers there I would always test the limited black hair styles first because even if they were limited, I wanted them to be right. I got called out by a manager saying that I needed to test other hair styles, which I understood and did but I always started with those.
Man that is so cool ! I heard you in the FPS podcast and instantly came and watch the video and I learned so.much about atuff I never actually thought about !! And it seems so little yet such a big deal and I agree that we all , everyone , need to make this heard about !!!😊❤
I can't say enough good things about this video. Emotional and honest interviews, great jokes, personal experience, diverse perspectives, perfectly conveyed examples of what's right and wrong in the industry today. Everybody involved in creating this put a bit of themselves in it and I can tell it was made with love and a lot of reshoots. A very loud golf clap from me.
Thank you. I've been making videos about this for years, and all I get in the comments are people asking why do I care, or it's a non-topic.
Thank you!
I really hope non-black folks also watch and learn from this video and won't dismiss it like always with the *"omg who cares, not a big deal"*
This has been an issue for decades and I'm thankful that you guys were able to shine light on it in a very entertaining way.
"Put the soul in souls-like." Love it!! Great job, Blessing!
All y'all are just killing it this year. From the Spare Bedroom launch to this amazing video, every step of the way has had my jaw on the floor with how far you guys have come.
Love you guys, keep up the amazing work and never change
Congratulations Bless! This was honestly a surprise. I paused games daily and decided to watch this, not expecting what I got at all. I was genuinely invested and convinced that this is a big issue that needs to be addressed. As a white person, I had no clue this was a problem. Very humbling 👏
Absolute Top Quality Vid (ATQV) here!!!!
This video got me emotional, so well paced and edited too. As a white man I never had this problem and was not aware of it, certainly not the extent of it.
I cannot understand why there are games with no options or little like A Crossing, so much ignorance.
This is such a spot on way to delve into this topic! I've had dreads for many years and whenever I create my character in a game, even if they do have dreads as an option, the styles are quite limited (maybe 1 or 2). It has this weird dysmorphia-esque affect on me for a little bit because it makes me feel like my own hair style should change to be better match the character I'm making... just because I spent some time on it and got attached.
This kicks so much ass. I really appreciate the nuanced way Bless approaches the topic. There’s no blame apportioned, no villain for the internet to focus on, and everything has a positive element to it. It feels like an “us vs. the problem” conversation, which, to me, seems easily actionable for a wide audience.
Show also looked great. Great work Blessing and Roger! Absolutely incredible.
Bless and Roger killed it… I lost it when blessing said “surprise… I’m black” 😂. Awesome work!
I genuinely love and and appreciate this topic. There have been a lot of games that I stopped in the character customization screen after realizing that I couldn’t make a character remotely look like me or look like cool badass hero me. Normally that’s my skin color with some long dreadlocks or a good medium sized afro with twist to combo it. Some of my favorite games have this issue of making it difficult to make a black character and that makes it very difficult to Role-play that hero I version of me I want to represent in the video games I play.
Blessing, big congratulations for such an amazingly written and produced show. Simply, incredible.
Blessing and Roger, please keep on doing what you're doing. You are fundamentally setting the bar for games media discussion, across the board.
After watching this video, I can't believe I have never seen this channel before. The production level, the content, the mix of perspectives, the quality of interview and editing -- are all out of this world. Can't wait to go watch every other video you have!!
Thank you, Kinda Funny. Having the conversation about this topic, Black hair, makes your channel head and shoulders above other gaming channels. I'm glad to see that this is a known problem that is finally being called out in video games.💯💪🏾
Thanks for this blessing. I’m a white guy with tight curly hair and I’ve also had trouble finding my hair in video games, and always had to go with the Afro options. But I always found it a minor nuisance. Now that I know the history behind black hair I realize this is much bigger than I initially thought. Really hope more devs can start taking diverse hairstyles in games seriously.
I had long somewhat messy hair for years and there was never a hairstyle that matched for men in games, so it's definitely an area that needs attention, fuelling it with an ethnic importance can only help the issue, so hear, hear!
"And whatever the f*cks going on w Drake's hair" 😂😂😭😭😭 excellent content
This is easily the best piece of content on KFG for me. Its not about franchises or reactions or trailers, its about telling a real story about real people. Amazingly paced and edited too. PLEASE never stop doing the Blessing Show and please keep promoting it. I really hope the algorithm catches on to what you guys have going on with this series, because I really think it could be huge
Long time KF fan and I don’t usually comment on videos, but this is an excellent piece and a tremendous topic, really informative. Excellent work here Bless.
Blessing, as a black man who's just started really appreciating his hair at 33 years old, thank you so much. I didn't know I needed this episode of The Blessing Show as much as I did. And thank so much to Leanza for sharing her story. This video was a fucking 5/5 on the KF scale. This is easily the best video y'all have ever produced. ❤️
The Rachel Dolazol comment took me out 😂😂😂 Thank you for taking the time to research and talk about this!
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show since all of it was left to be a surprise. But I’m really pleased with the turn out. Not only is it an eye opener but it also spreads awareness. I hope more and more new games represent black hair and culture better. Keep up the good work bless!
This has to be one of the greatest pieces of game journalism. Fantastic work to the kinda funny crew, but especially Blessing.
This is something that is always on my mind as a black gamer and I hope this conversation continues and furthers change.
This is an incredible piece that really should be nominated for an award. It's insightful, well researched, and enlightening. And I love the idea that things can be called out without cruelty, I think that's a lesson very needed right now.
We needed this discussion! As a mix dude I never see more options than extremely loose curls or a tight curl fade or afro. I just want mixed and black dudes to have more than 3 options
From personal anecdotes, to professional interviews, a history lesson, and incredible editing: this is the best that video game essays have to offer.
Thank you for bringing eyes on this topic, couldn’t think of a better person in the industry to address this. Black folk aren’t asking devs to completely change everything they know about gaming, we just want to see ourselves reflected accurately in games.
The fact is that black hair is intrinsically unique, texturally and aesthetically. All adding it means is more options for everyone and more people can feel represented. Win win
Literal King shit right here. I have been a fan of KF since the inception and was overjoyed to see Blessing become one of the main individual for KF Games. As a Black man who rocks a fade and full beard, I have never been felt more seen. Great work, Bless.
This was an awesome episode. Really informative and interesting. Thanks Blessing! (and the editor, if it's not Blessing. You're killing it.)
Thanks so much for making this video. I'm an indie game dev who cares about diversity and representation, but am limited to my own cultural experiences. I always worry that including cosmetics from other cultures will come off the wrong way, even if my intentions are good. I wish I had a budget to hire team so I could make it diverse, but even without that capability, this video has helped a lot.
I feel like I've been complaining about this for years! This is so well done! Great Job by Blessing, Roger, & the whole KF team! Representation Matters!
This was next level y’all! Excellent job Blessing, Roger and the gang! 🔥🔥🔥
ngl I am impressed. This is beyond what I'd expect from any outlet
Thank you. Thank you. As a queer poc of euro, Senegalese, Congolese and Nigerian descent who’s been gaming since the age of 5, this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone with a platform discuss this topic as it relates to the video game industry. Yes, the character customization in Hogwarts Legacy is the main reason I’ve clocked several hours. It’s literally the closest I’ve ever felt represented in a game.
Blessing you fucking killed this my man! Always had these convos growing up with friends so I’m glad you’re putting a spotlight on it. Thank you for your awesome work, I hope this gets noticed by developers!
Really great video, this has always bothered me about most games. What hurts more is the lack of server support here on the African continent. 200ms in most online games has turned me away from multiplayer games as of late
I wish more publications did high quality content like this. It's very much appreciated in a world where we are fed so much clickbait and quick-hit news. Keep it up!
I love this. As a Dominican having the same styles, I have never found a good match for my hair. I will also put a shoutout to apple with memojis are also trying by adding more hairstyles per update
Also shoutout to Leanza for being awesome 💜
This is the first KF and Blessing video I’ve watched, and I loved it. Really eye opening and entertaining.
And the medieval era? Loads of black folk in Europe! Half of Spain had a big black population, and medieval Poland had a black mayor if I recall correctly. At best, it’s a lazy excuse.
Blessing please stop being so damn talented. We need you to stay with KF 😭😭😭 no but for real, fantastic episode. The blessing show is always must watch content and this goes above and beyond
& Roger 🙏🏻 how dare I forget the importance you have on these videos. Youre both absolute masterminds
Woah! ❤ This is so good-props to all who worked on and interviewed for the project.
It's inspired me as a fiction writer to assess how I'm presenting hair in my characters and to pay closer attention to that kind of detail detail. It was something I knew was significant culturally, but not something I had a lot of understanding around. Thanks for educating me :)
I’m sharing this everywhere I can. Great job Blessing!
The fact that this only has 64k is upsetting
Incredible episode Blessing! As a black man trying to get into the games industry I've found topics like these Incredibly frustrating to explain. So many of my non black peers simply don't get it due to not having they connection. You nailed this video
I think one of the biggest problems is ever hairstyle still has to be done individually. We need systems in place that makes it easier to make different hairstyles in different textures.
Absolutely fantastic piece. Important topic, well reasoned, and well presented-the sort of work that pushes the industry and the conversation forward. More content like this, please!
Blessing and Roger Represent our generation with pride. This piece of content is amazing
I love this. It’s eye opening and just so deep. My wife who doesn’t really watch the videos I put on was watching and listening the whole time with me. I love this and I love blessing. Amazing job!
Amazing video Bless. I’m so glad to see you using your platform for the change that you want to see. I’m a white man and I know that the hair options in character creators are severely lacking for anyone other than me. Production? On point. Message? On point. I love KF and the community, and this feels next level. Time to beat out Greg’s Avengers nonsense. Dead game, dead video. Blessing is the future. 💪🏻
Damn this was well put together. Shout out to blessing and the kinda funny team. 🙏🏾
This is an issue I'm glad has been discussed. It's always an issue for me when creating my character and trying to find a hairstyle that matches mine. Thanks for doing this Blessing 👊🏾
I literally yelled out loud when I saw the thumbnail for this episode of the Blessing Show!!! Woooowwwww!!!!! Thanks so much Bless for speaking on this topic because black hair in video games have been a failure for so long! I'll say the industry has put in effort to get it right to some degree, but those efforts have not worked well at all so far. Fantastic content as usual from Blessing and KF 👏👏👏
Huge part of this is just going to the people who live and breathe the styles to help with implementation.
As a member of the 'never been able to make myself' crew, we're getting there and it will be so so joyous when we can finally say we ARE there.
You can feel the passion in this project. Great episode to those at KF who worked on this!
At 16:34 that's Woolie! Who's talked a lot about character creators rarely letting him make himself.
Yo “professional Smash Bros player” as a hair phase took me out 😂
Great video, I do think a lot of devs are far more aware of this issue now than ever before and have made improvements. The jump between Spider-Man and Miles Morales is one recent example. Hogwarts Legacy also features a wealth of diverse hair options.
I think the most obvious bar for black hair is actually the NBA 2K games, and it’s honestly surprising how few developers and even other 2K studios like Rockstar take notes from these games’ character creators. NBA 2K have featured dozens of unique black hair styles with respect to players for years now.
yeah its really weird they won't cover this topic they supposedly care about in regards to Hogwarts, shameful honestly.
Unironically of anything I've heard from Hogwarts due to positive and negative discourse, I've ween maybe one single person say "Oh yeah they have decent Black Hair styles". Maybe they just don't know, I sure as hell wouldn't if I just left the game alone due to all of that drama.
Edit: Actually no, he does note it at 9:25 .
@@CreationsFlare passing reference, won't even say it by name, that's shameful.
Bravo Bless. Bravo 👏🏽. The different avenues of research you did for this episode is fantastic! Wasn’t expecting to hear from other people of color across the industry and how they deal with representing the black community. What Leanza had to go through is absolutely absurd and I hope that this will never happen to any other child of color again, unbelievably disrespectful and dehumanizing as you said. It really shows how much her school was wearing their views towards the black community on their sleeve… can’t believe they got away with some shit like that. Keep fighting the good fight brother ✊🏽
Damn, Blessing and co. killed it. Definitely one of the best videos I've seen on KFG channel. Great job Blessing!
I love the color through line in this video too. The red background when presenting and even the red outline while showing in game stuff.
This is why representation is important, different viewpoints. KF has always been really forward-thinking, but I did not expect a piece like this. This is a common conversation amonst black gamers, and it’s so good to see it here. Excellent work Blessing and team.
I listen to KFGD every day but I’ve been sleeping on this content.
I eat up video essays on RUclips, especially this focused on video game nuance etc.
This is easily one of the best pieces of content put out by this channel. To say it was under-hyped and over-delivered is such an understatement.
Blessing, as one of my favorite members of KF, this video is fantastic both in substance and creativity. Keep doing your thing and speaking out on what you believe in, being the voice for those that need it. Great job to Roger as well, this video is fantastically edited and produced.
Huge congrats to Bless, Roger, and the whole Kinda Funny Crew! This is a great piece of content and you should be extremely proud of what you've created!
as an aspiring game developer, i wish someone would have a seminar on creating game ready afro texture hair.
Such an excellent episode. Extremely important conversation. This honestly might be the best piece of content KF has ever put out. Great job everyone!
Wild Hearts had some pretty decent black hair options from what I saw watching other people play. Koei Tecmo character creators have been really great recently.
Blessing does not miss!
This is quite possibly some of the best content Kinda Funny has ever put out ❤️
Well done Blessing! Very thorough discussion backed by facts and research. This is definitely a frustration that many black players have had to deal with and you shined a light on it like never before.
For people who says this doesn't matter I wonder if they could even imagine a world where it was the Opposite wear dark skin wasn't just the default but the only option with no options for straight or blonde hair no blue or green. When it comes to a character creators I can't understand how you could be on the side of less options
Most normal people don’t care, it’s a videogame, I’ve yet to see a character look like me nor do I care when the stories good
Absolutely Love this. The Blessing Show is always getting better and is a must watch every time!
The video game industry is lucky to have Blessing. We need more informed perspectives like this, and in general.
EXCELLENT STUFF! Shout out to you Blessing and everyone that worked on this.
This is a fascinating subject, and one that deserves a lot more attention from game devs. Aside from all the cultural barriers, there's also the economy of scale where straight/wavy hairstyles can work with a much wider range of ethnicities, so it's seen by publishers as more efficient to build models for the greatest common factor. But the greatest common factor shouldn't be the baseline anymore. Just as the industry has made strides in accessibility for the minority of people with disabilities, the industry needs to make character creators more accessible for people with minority hair/body features.
The greatest common factor should absolutely be the starting baseline, any other baseline is simply inefficient. If you're hypothetically only going to afford one hairstyle(but still somehow want to cover as many baselines), you should choose the one that covers the most types of people (short, dark, straight/wavy) The POINT is that instead of having 5 straight hair styles and no black/curly hairstyle, it should have something like 2 straight hair styles(long and short) and 2 black/curly hairstyles(long and short), *because it covers a wider overall baseline*, even if the overall selection is smaller(everyone has at least one approximate acceptable fit). It's better to have few hair options total but they are for everyone than have plenty of hairstyles but which all overlap in covering the same hair type.
Bravo to Blessing and Roger. This was absolutely amazing and taught me a whole lot about something that I never noticed. Living in a mostly white community for all of my life, a small thing like hair styles in games never crossed my mind! Thanks
Good job blessing! And good job KFG for being open and listening. You guys are different for this. Excellent work and keep changing the narrative. Really good work bless you are your name. A blessing.
Keep em coming and I'll keep watching. That first interview was crazy and I'm sure it's one of many stories out there.
“Almost as dark as Rachel Dolezal” spectacular! 😂
But this is a great piece, thank you for shedding light on this subject.
This is the type of content we've been waiting a decade for. Well done Blessing, Roger, and KF!
Really enjoyed the closer look into the hair from Horizon and how close it is but also the shortcuts they took
What an amazing video! First video ive ever watched from this channel. Thank you for taking the steps to Push for our hair in games
This is peak Kinda Funny, we are so damn lucky to have The Blessing Show!
What an incredible video! Black hair has always been a huge thing for me when I play my games. It's awesome to hear someone speak about it! Amazing job Blessing, Roger, and the KF Crew! The Blessing Show keeps getting better and better.
I had no idea about this before, thank you for this video. Fantastic episode Blessing & Roger. Well done 🙌
This was brilliant! Well done Bless and everyone on the KF team who helped produce this. Brilliant, informative, entertaining content. Loved it! Bless is smashing it. Love seeing his growth. So proud of him! 👊🏻
Makes me sick that there's so many people actively fighting against this, and politicians literally trying to hide history like this from school education. Videos like this are becoming increasingly important. Thanks Bless
I doubt people fighting against the actual hair in games. Its the pandering
@@ha-kh7ef naw bruh the gaming community is racist af people are sho crying about this
as someone who used to roll my eyes at this issue, this video really helped me see the other perspective! Fantastic work to Blessing, Roger, and the rest of the KFG team who worked on this!
So glad we can bring more context to the issue for you!
"puts the soul in soulslike" - love this line Bless! :)