Character's values
There have been a few threads regarding including characters of non-straight gender and/or romances in the game of TWD, but as I said somewhere in there, people are not just their sexuality - they are also their moral and ethical direction.
We have a character in the show (and the comic) who is a pretty straightforward redneck racist when we first meet him, but he is quite over the top. He is however a representative of a different set of moral and ethical values and it plus all the duiscussion about sexuality here got me thinking: how about including a couple of them as well?
Morals and ethics can be boiled down to two sets: political point of view and religious point of view, and these two are absolutely unknown for everybody in TWDTG - Is Lee a catholic? Is Ben a Republican? We have absolutely no idea.
First of all, just as with sexuality, this is mainly a non-issue in a zombiverse since it doesn't matter; even in the show the aforementioned redneck warmed up slightly towards people of non-white coloration, so political point of view might be a moot point, just as if Carly is a vegetarian, Kenny loves dogs or Katjaa cheats at solitaire. For the game and the story, such things are just not interesting enough and won't bring anything forward.
That is, unless they actually have political values that stand out - we could see that with Crawford and the entire idea of "survival of the fittest". Crawford was an antagonistic place; but what if someone had joined Lee's team with this kind of outlook on life? Molly had traces of this, but not nearly enough to make an impact on the overall story and direction.
Finally, religion*. Religion is an important part of life for many people, and as I said, this was totally unknown for everybody in the first season (except that girl in the first episode, but I don't think she counts really). And I find this kind of odd, especially in a game that deals with life and death on more or less a daily basis. There are no atheists in the trenches it is said, and less so if you know that if you bite the dust, you might very well come back and haunt your loved ones. I bet a lot of people would demand answers from the guy upstairs.
But that's not everything - there are also different religious paths - I mentioned muslims, and how would it be to rub shoulders with a believing muslim in the group? I mention them specifically since a lot of Americans have difficulties dealing with them after 9/11, but what about other religions that might raise questions, like Jews or Buddhists? Jews and muslims would have difficulties with food (which is hard to come by; and if then your religion forbids you to eat certain things... Or what about buddhists, with their non-violence moral code? Could they take up a gun and shoot a zombie in the head?
I think there are quite a few questions here that could be discussed.
(*Disclaimer: I'm personally an atheist, but recognize other people's need for a religious belief.)
Comments
I personally am openminded for every kinds of characters, no matter what sexual interest, religion, political placement or food preferences - as long as it provides the storyline <- that's a difficult thing to do but I really do believe if there is one studio that can manage to deliver these themes the way it matches TWD universe it's Telltale Games
Carleys parents were lutheran