We are fortunate to live in an incredibly diverse world with opportunities for people of various faiths, creeds, and orientations to interact and learn from each other. As technology has progressed, so too has our ability to flourish and interact with society\u2019s treasure trove. Nevertheless, considering the wide-spread appreciation of games, it is shocking to see the lack of representation, or even the advancement of stereotypes in them. While it is true that in recent years we have witnessed progress in efforts of inclusion, there is still an overwhelming proportion of games whose protagonist fit the basic mold of the white, cis-gendered, heterosexual male. Moreover, when we find characters who do not fit this mold, they fall into the trap of tokenism, and leave a meaningless experience with them. If not, reinforce the stereotype altogether. For example, it is no coincidence that Muslims, particularly Arabs, are routinely depicted as the enemy, members of the LGBTQ+ are routinely depicted sexual deviants, and African Americans are routinely depicted as either athletes or gangsters. Games act as an extension of society\u2019s understanding of one another. Hence, representation has an importance beyond simple cosmetics, as it delves into the psyche and mindset of the player. To obtain a better understanding of the concept of representation, I interviewed 10 people from various and differing social identities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In choosing a character for a given\ngame, some had said it was as simple as choosing a color, while for others,\nthey envisioned themselves in these protagonists. Rachel, a black cis-gender female,\nsays that she chooses the character that most aligns with her. Whether that be\nphysical appearance or qualities that she aspires to be. Rachel continued stating,\n\u201cIf my character was thin or attractive, then these are qualities that I want\nto see in myself.\u201d Britney and Elizabeth, two white, gender fluid females, echoed\na similar sentiment. Britney expressed a goal of choosing a character that represents\nwho she aspires to be seen as: \u201cI might gravitate towards some more androgynous\ncharacters, or if there is a gay\/lesbian character I would pick them so I can\nfeel like I am being seen and validated. While Elizabeth desired a character\nthat represents who she aspires to become: \u201cSometimes a guy character when I\u2019m\nfeeling more masculine so I can muster more confidence in myself for not conforming\nto the hyper sexualized female characters that I have no resemblance with.\u201d For\nboth Rachel, Britney and Elizabeth, their reasonings were clear. They chose\ncharacters based around their identity and qualities that they aspire to\nemulate. In doing so, that character has become more than just about playing a\ngame, but rather a symbol of the possibilities they see in themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For others, however, choosing a\ncharacter mattered less about what the character looked like, and more about the\ncharacter\u2019s background and psyche. Bram and Harry, two white, cis-gendered males\nboth agreed that they didn\u2019t pay much attention to the cosmetics, but they wanted\na game that humanizes the protagonists with both positive and negative representations.\nThey wanted them to be relatable and not the tired ploy of hero versus villain.\nBram continued by stating that one particular quality that he gravitates\ntowards in a protagonist are those who are shy and friendly but are willing to overcome\nchallenges for the sake of a greater purpose as these are qualities that he\nsees in himself. While physical appearance is not as important to them, Bram and\nHarry find their connection by relating to the protagonist\u2019s beliefs and actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about the impact of positive\nrepresentation of social identities in games, those that I interviewed had\nmixed responses. Dion, a black cis-gender male, believes that positive representation\nin the media is important because games are something we do as an outlet. For\nmany people such as Dion and Britney, games represent a space where they can\ntap into their future aspirations and visually see the person who they want to\nbe. For Bryan, a white cis-gender male, representation in games acts as a\nmirror to our own world: \u201cI think there is a story to tell when the only games\nmost people can think of with a person of color on the front label are sports\ngames or Grand Theft Auto. If we are to believe that games mirror society\u2019s\nideals, then what does that say about us?\u201d Bryan brought up an interesting\npoint. Why do we see certain communities pigeonholed into certain roles? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bill, an Asian cis-gendered male, believes\nthat representation is important, but believes that there should be a focus on\nmixing both positive and negative representation. Humans are not perfect. They\nmake mistakes and unethical choices, nevertheless, humans also learn and grow. Explaining\nhis response for negative representation, Bill say, \u201cCompliments tend to make\nme uncomfortable, and if you show negatives there\u2019s more room for self-reflection.\nIf a game is supposed to reflect society\u2019s vision, then it should not hide the negatives\nand force the player to reflect on them through an engaging story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Games act as an extension of\nsociety\u2019s understanding of one another. Their purpose serves beyond enjoyment,\nbut as a tool for social engineering. Specifically, to\ninfluence the social standings of those who do not fit the mold and to mend any\nunjust, bigoted, or racially biased understandings. Accurate and positive\nrepresentation in games affords the opportunity to act as a symbol of\nrepresentation for minority youths, which in turn, allows those youths the\nencouragement to aspire, and achieve, greater successes. Moreover, positive representation\nin the hands of a historically underrepresented, or marginalized, community can\ncreate the ideal that one\u2019s identity should not subtract from one\u2019s\ncapabilities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We are fortunate to live in an incredibly diverse world with opportunities for people of various faiths, creeds, and orientations to interact and learn from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2909,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assignments","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tabletop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}