Raymond Lin

Mr. Matthews

English 101

21 November 2019

Minority Representation In Gaming

There has always been a discussion around representation in gaming. On one hand,

experts say video games should ideally represent all demographics in the community. However,

on the other hand, certain people argue that the primary purpose of a game should be to entertain,

where real-world politics don’t belong. Yet, in this discussion, the former yields more benefits

than the latter. We still see the continuous efforts gaming studios put forth to represent a broader

scope of ethnicities, genders, and sexualities. Certainly, games from the industry should be able

to represent everyone playing them, but we are still a ways away from that goal. Having more

honest and equal representation in video games not only empowers the player but also gives

minority individuals role models to look up to. As many experts suggested, the clear path

forward is to hire a more diverse crew of people in the game development fields. By making

games more appealing to a broader audience, more people can appreciate the benefits and the

wonderful learning experience along the way.

As many gamers may know, video games aren’t just “mindless” pieces of entertainment

where many kids and teens waste hours of their lives playing, but many of them are also

meaningful crafts of storytelling. Video games offer opportunities to learn from their mechanics,

themes, and characters. They empower the player and encourages self-discovery. And from that

learning, players start to find themselves in the games. Players start to learn more about what
they like, what they value, and who they are. They start to become more comfortable with

themselves and eventually become comfortable with others. Video games give them

opportunities to explore topics that they aren’t vocal about. To many people, games are their

homes--a safe haven--where they are free to express and discover themselves. Wouldn’t it be

nice if more people could experience that growth and learning?

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to allow more people of color, genders, and cultures to

experience a personal journey of growth and discovery. A quote from an article about diversity

in gaming on The Guardian states, “...games let me explore sexuality and gender at times when

I’ve questioned both; I still have questions that I can’t vocalize, and games still help.” The

various themes and stories video games can tell through player interaction and engagement can

end up teaching a lesson that can last a lifetime.

An important part of representation in gaming is giving people who struggle to play

games the ability to join in and to be visible on screen. Accessibility and inclusivity are two

different parts of the representation discussion. The gaming industry, in its current state, is

working to improve both the inclusivity of different genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and even the

physically impaired, as well as the accessibility of those games to a wide variety of people. The

importance of having games appropriately display figures of minority is because it incites

motivation from minority players. Having relatable characters on-screen means players will

begin to have aspirations and motives to become like the character itself. Having appropriate

representation means that minority players will have role models to look up to, both on-screen

and people behind the scenes. Imagine being empathetically moved by a character coming out of
the closet and you becoming inclined to do the same, or getting the confirmation you needed

about a career you’re on the fence about. Video games drive ambition and passion.

Minority developers working in the industry often inspire many to do the same. They are

an essential role model for countless players outside of the games. Take, for instance, Amira

Virgil, the creator of The Black Simmer. Amira played ​The Sims ​since she was 11 years old and

she realized that none of the sims looked like her. She noticed a void of content in the Sims

community and decided to put it in her own hands. As a result, she made The Black Simmer, a

mod that allows other people from the community to create and share Sims characters with

various custom skin tones and designs. With this mod, ​Sims ​players can submit their creations to

a forum for other people to see. Amira had the ambition to create a platform that can represent a

multitude of ethnicities and thus inspired more people to make their own Sims characters that

represented themselves. As Chella Ramanan, a journalist and game developer, put into

perspective, “It's about including a broad range of voices and experiences in your games so that

people from different backgrounds see themselves represented. That is important because it

might make them think that they can also come up with a cool story for a game with people in it

who look like them... There are more black leads coming through but we just want to encourage

even more diversity and more voices of young people who may otherwise think the games

industry is not for them.”

As Ramanan stated, representation of different backgrounds is important because it can

influence people to make games that represent their own backgrounds. As many researchers

suggested, the best way to diversify the gaming industry, both in the games and in the

development fields, is to initially bring in more culturally, ethnically, and gender diverse people
into the development fields. These positions include artists, character designers, and writers, but

more importantly, high ranking roles such as executive producers and directors. By giving

people with diverse backgrounds the freedom to express and represent their own cultures and

themes in video games will, in turn, attract more diverse players to play the games. This will

entice a slew of diverse people into game development fields making the process a cycle. By

bringing multiculturalism and various unique experiences to the forefront of gaming, the

community, or even the larger part of the internet itself, might become more culturally unified.

To quote The Guardian article again, “When people dismiss representation as a political

fad, as an imposition on the creative process, as a means of ticking off lists, they are almost

always doing this from a position of privilege.” People who view minority representation as a

hindrance usually receive an ample amount of representation already within the industry. They

argue that games should prioritize being well written and fun to play instead of providing a

broader representation. The fallacy with that argument is that they’ve already had it the best in

terms of representation. Their logic against minority representation is justly invalid due to the

fact that they’ve been spoiled with the abundance of representation, which is taken, more or less,

for granted. Growing up in a white male majority, players are spoiled for the number of white

male role models you can choose from. Everything from Iron-Man to Mario to Solid Snake; the

list is virtually endless. Having so many white male figures, not just in gaming, made people

entitled to the idea that a “white male” character is the default in life. But in reality, it’s not. The

world is also full of different people. And when a video game character is not white or male or

straight, that character can be a role model for that thirteen-year-old that’s gay and still in the

closet.
 In conclusion, the gaming industry should be able to represent everyone playing the

games, however, we are still far away from that goal. There are many benefits that come with

better minority representation. Having characters and people you can relate to empowers the

individual and encourages self-discovery. Having role models in-game and developers in real life

can inspire ambition in the hearts of many players. This can lead to a more diverse industry by

bringing in more people with unique backgrounds in the development fields, often creating a

player-to-developer cycle. Putting minority representation in the spotlight can shift the sentiment

across the internet to be more culturally unified. The conversation about this topic has risen in

popularity in recent years is directly due to the increasing popularity of the notion that all people,

regardless of race, gender, and sexuality, should receive equal opportunities in the real world.

The topic of video game representation is also a part of that bigger, overarching conversation. As

the world becomes an increasingly more progressive place, the gaming industry should follow

suit.
 Bibliography

● Malkowski, Jennifer, and TreaAndrea M. Russworm. ​Gaming Representation Race,

Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games​. Indiana University Press, 2017.

● Mihir Zaveri, Meron Tekie Menghistab. “Fear, Anxiety and Hope: What It Means to Be a

Minority in Gaming.” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times, 17 Oct. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/16/technology/game-developers.html?action=clic

k&module=Top%2BStories&pgtype=Homepage.

● Nefas, Li. “Gamers Are Getting Upset Over 'Forced Diversity', But This ‘Straight White

Dude’ Shuts Them Down In A Viral Twitter Thread.” ​Bored Panda,​ Bored Panda, 10

Apr. 2019,

www.boredpanda.com/gaming-forced-diversity/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=org

anic&utm_campaign=organic.

● Sheikh, Rahil. “Video Games: How Big Is Industry's Racial Diversity Problem?” ​BBC

News​, BBC, 20 Dec. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/technology-42357678.

● Stuart, Keith. “Why Diversity Matters in the Modern Video Games Industry.” ​The

Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 18 July 2017,

www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/18/diversity-video-games-industry-playstatio

n-xbox.