When we talk about increasing diversity in our entertainment, most of the discussion is centred around the film or book industry. However with a global market revenue at $184.3 billion, according to GamesIndustry at the end of 2024, video games cannot be excluded from this conversation. At the invention of video games our main characters were mainly snakes, little ghosts floating around a maze, and some aliens from space. However, even after characters began to take the shape of humans, notably with Mario and Lara Croft, the lack of diversity in video games still perpetuates a concerning lack of consideration for minority groups. Accurate, meaningful representation does not only foster a sense of belonging and validation, but can also aid in increasing someone’s empathy as they play a character that is less relatable to them.
If we look at award-winning video games from the past two decades, a distinct pattern reveals itself. From a range of award shows, winners include: Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us, Bioshock, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The main characters of these games are almost entirely white, and largely male. Some may argue that it doesn’t matter, a few characters are non-white and that must be diversity, mustn’t it? It seems that this is not the case.
In a medium as interactive as a video game, arguably more so than a book, the player can immerse themselves entirely into a world in a way that no other medium is able to. As a result, highlighting a wide range of people and experiences is an obvious way for developers to enrich the stories that they are trying to tell. Therefore, it is imperative that these characters are also playable, not just NPCs. The story must affect and be affected by them, to add depth and perspective to a character that a lot of players (notably white, cisgender males) are not familiar with. This in turn, teaches players empathy as they learn from other people’s experiences. Arguably, as many video game players are children, this is even more important.
It’s clear that a large majority of playable video game characters are men. From Joel Miller, Arthur Morgan, Nathan Drake, Booker Dewitt, Edward Kenway (and all except three main protagonists from the Assassin’s Creed series), Link, and more, they are front and centre of a large majority of video games. Perhaps it was true at the inception of video games that men were the target audience, but now it’s clear that women make up 45% of video game players, according to Newzoo. It would make sense, then, for developers to design games with more women as lead characters. It wouldn’t only make their stories more interesting, but could potentially attract new players too. The Game Award for Game of the Year in the last decade has only been awarded to a game with playable female protagonists twice: for The Last of Us Part II and It Takes Two. Furthermore, a game with playable female protagonists of colour has never been nominated or won the award. I deliberately exclude Baldur’s Gate 3, The Outer Worlds, and other RPGs as there is a bigger point to be made about them later in this article.
It is not only women that suffer from a lack of representation, but also people of colour as a whole. Not only on our screens, but also behind the scenes. In 2016, the International Game Developers Association reported that people of colour were not only underrepresented in senior roles, but were also underpaid. This translates to the games on our shelves through a lack of meaningful stories with a main protagonist of colour. Moreover, many video games that try to be inclusive end up practicing tokenism at best. This is where developers only include diverse characters for the sake of including them, rather than giving them real depth of character or a meaningful story – they are a token character. In The Last of Us Part I and II, there are examples of this through Sam and Henry (who not only seemingly betray the two white protagonists), but also die within the same chapter. In its sequel, almost every significant non-white character ends up being killed by either Ellie or Abby. Except Lev, who Abby takes care of as Joel did with Ellie in Part I. This can be argued away by the premise of the game being a revenge quest during an apocalypse, however once you notice which characters are sacrificed, it is hard to unsee. All attempts made at diversity have been consequently undone, and their presence – or lack of – has no real effect on the end of the story. Of course, the game succeeds in other ways: Ellie and Dina are lesbians and Lev is transgender, and this is woven into the plot to give depth to these characters rather than ticking a box.
Detroit: Become Human adds some interesting weight to the discussion by having one of the main, playable protagonists be black, with a story revolving around android rights in a way that mirrors civil rights and slavery. Undeniably, this was a good idea for diversity – if it was executed well. Unfortunately, some argue that this storyline was handled poorly: by the end of the game Markus’ story became less about his character and more about his social justice movement. Its alignment with the Civil Rights Movement lacks nuance and puts fictional man-made androids on the same tier as real human beings from our past. Here, an attempt at diversity falls flat, which could make one wonder how developers keep getting this wrong.
Until Dawn can also serve as another case study: with an ensemble cast and plot informed by Native American mythology and culture, how did it fare with its representation? Its main antagonist is indeed a Wendigo, a creature derived from Native American culture, and the main collectibles in the game are small totems. On the surface, this may seem inclusive, but I invite you to dig deeper. We play a range of white characters (aside from Emily and Joshua) interacting with Native mythology, and consequently receive no individual voice for Natives through any character; just through the antagonistic Wendigo. It is difficult to find information on whether Native people were even consulted for research on the game. If they were not, then the game’s use of Native American culture could be seen as appropriation more than anything. Once again, there is no real representation.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy adds more to the discussion, however it’s an example that clearly demonstrates that developers must do more than create diverse characters. Nadine Ross and Chloe Frazer are both women of colour, and the protagonists of the game. Although, both characters do not succeed in giving true representation. Chloe is introduced in the second Uncharted game, and crucially, her character looks white, has an Australian accent, and is from Australia. She was created to act as a foil to Nathan Drake, and nothing in the original series alludes to Chloe being a woman of colour. Until, of course, the release of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, where Chloe is revealed to be half Indian. Complete with a character redesign, her character has been rebranded to help sell a better story in the DLC. The game being set in India brings new legends to the story, and teaches the player new myths and history, but the lack of consideration for her character’s background in previous games raises the question of whether Chloe was ever intended to be half Indian in the first place.
I have a feeling that she was originally written as a white Australian, until the developers of The Lost Legacy realised they would have a better narrative if her backstory reflected on the tusk of Ganesh – the treasure of the game. This last minute change in her character design perpetuates the idea that people of colour are often treated as afterthoughts, and its prominence in such a successful game demonstrates how overlooked this is within the gaming industry. The other issue with The Lost Legacy is clear with the second protagonist. Nadine Ross is a black woman from South Africa, yet is voiced by a white voice actress. Even though I am a fan of Laura Bailey, I do wonder why Naughty Dog couldn’t cast a black South African woman to voice Nadine instead. Perhaps it doesn’t seem like an issue to many casual players, but when critically analysing a game’s development, those that seem like small points actually add up to highlight the lack of real consideration for diversity in video games.
The Lost Legacy is not the only game to fall into the voice acting trap – Hogwarts Legacy has arguably made a worse decision with the casting of one of the Hogwarts professors: Abraham Ronen. Through his name and character design, Professor Ronen is a person of colour, though it is unclear whether he is from India or further towards the Middle East. Nevertheless, he is voiced by Enn Reitel, who is white and Scottish. It would be no problem if Ronen was depicted as having grown up in Scotland through a simple Scottish accent. However, Reitel’s acting leaves us under the impression that he is performing a modern form of Orientalism with an ambiguous twang to his words and the jarring roll of the letter ‘R’. It’s not only questionable but also embarrassing that the developers allowed this to be published in a game released in 2023. Allowing actors to perpetuate stereotypical representations of minorities is the opposite precedent to what developers should be aiming for, which is showcasing the best talent from actors and writers of all backgrounds.
On the topic of RPGs, it is significant that in them players can now choose from a range of skin tones, voices, and even be flexible with their gender identity. This undoubtedly helps the player be immersed into the game better than ever before. However, players have noticed that while this customisation is available, it is still extremely limited. The skin tones usually include a basic range, with no option to tweak them if you are somewhere in the middle of one being too light and the other too dark. Moreover, preset faces are often limited with the ethnic features they include – while the Eurocentric features have several options for eyes, noses, mouths and more, the presets clearly for non-white characters only have one or two styles. For example, there’s only one preset for an East Asian character or a black character. There’s also a lack of Indian characters, or even an option for mixed heritage individuals. Some may argue that in a fantasy world, these sorts of considerations don’t matter, however this is completely unfair on players who wish to see themselves in the game that they’re playing. The most complex character creator for this is Dragon Age: The Veilguard, where you are able to mix facial features in a way that I have never seen before, leading to a unique character every time. I do believe that every RPG should focus on representing their entire fanbase, as there is no worse feeling than a game being marketed as allowing you to create yourself, and then lacking in options to allow you to do so.
There is no excuse for video game developers to ignore diversity. This may have to begin with more people of colour in senior management roles, however, it is crucial for those currently at the top to prioritise stories that bring new perspectives to the player. If video games are indeed a form of literature, and literature does wonders in fostering empathy in people, then it must be obvious that video games should prioritise as many new, diverse stories as possible. Otherwise we’d just be playing the same game a million times over, and I couldn’t imagine anything more boring than that.