Should Diversity be an Obligation in Game Design?

[Dizchu]

Lately the games industry, the publications that report on it and certain controversial personalities[footnote]Who will remain unnamed and I hope won't be brought into this discussion for the sake of my sanity[/footnote] have been focussed on the idea that game developers should cater to broad(er) demographics.

It wasn't long ago that there was outrage that Assassin's Creed: Unity did not have female playable characters (though it was greatly exacerbated by Ubisoft's PR). I am not an Assassin's Creed fan so I wouldn't have bought the game anyway. However, despite the fact that I play as female characters every single time I have the choice to do so and the lack of female characters is something that often tarnishes a game's appeal for me, I don't believe developers/publishers are obligated to provide them to me.

My particular point of view is influenced greatly by my approach to the creative process. I am a creative individual myself, I have designed games, I am an artist and I am a musician. The main reason I explored these avenues of self-expression was because I wanted to make things that would satisfy me. It doesn't matter how good a game, film, album or piece of visual art is... it will never appeal to me completely.

When it comes to the music industry, almost nothing that gets huge exposure is appealing to me. Most chart-topping pop songs are written by committee for the sole purpose of selling as many copies as possible. As big-budget games become harder and harder to "break even", many publishers have resorted to the same tactics (though noticeably not as cynical and with far more exceptions).

But just like with music, finding games that appeal on a more personal level and portray more diverse points of view requires digging a little deeper than the highest-grossing franchises. As you explore games that had smaller development teams and budgets, you'll see that the number of "conventional" male and female characters, members of ethnic minorities and even those of different sexualities and gender identities increases dramatically (though gender identity is not something that's frequently explored).

But that's just my view. What are your thoughts?

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CAPTCHA: White as snow

oh boy that is hilarious.

 

[Zhukov]

"Obliged" is kind of a big word.

Developers and publishers are not obliged to do anything of the sort. They are free to make the straightest, whitest, dudest games they can. And they do. Frequently.

Thing is, the audience, or a portion of the audience, isn't obliged to stop making criticisms, complaints or requests to the contrary. Even demands, although I personally think that's a bit rude.

(For the record, I also think the AC:U playable female thing was a bit silly and certainly misdirected.)

Perhaps this is just wishful thinking and biased observation on my part, but it feels like the message is getting through, however slowly.

 

[Dizchu]

Thing is, the audience, or a portion of the audience, isn't obliged to stop making criticisms, complaints or requests to the contrary. Even demands, although I personally think that's a bit rude.

Oh yes definitely. What I'm mainly puzzled by is how such critics expect changes to be implemented. I'd love more diverse characters in video games, however apart from praising good examples of diversity and giving them exposure I'm not sure what else can be done to rectify the situation. I doubt giving games "diversity/gender equality ratings" (as was proposed in Sweden) would help much, it might even make things worse by unfairly stigmatising "non-diverse" games that could otherwise be great.

It's a negative vs. positive reinforcement scenario.

 

[mecegirl]

No more than any other visual medium I'd say. But it shouldn't be a big deal to have diverse characters. One would actually have to ignore the diversity of real life to create a setting with homogenous characters. These characters are not having their adventures in some well to do American suburb. It shouldn't shock anyone, or feel forced, or feel politically motivated, for the main chracter to meet a diverse group of people on their adventures. Or even for the main chracter not to be white, male, and straight.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I think creators should focus on creating their vision first and foremost.
Whatever that vision may be.
Then comes listening to the public/audience, which some creators do more or less.
If you still feel offended, slighted or misrepresented;
First, do not buy any of those games.
Secondly, create your own.


*Edit* Removed bad line. Working on reformulating, might not happen.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Absolutely not.

Would it be a good idea? From a business POV in the long run I think yes, not necessarily in each game, you can still make games targeted at a specific audience but making more things that have greater appeal to a wider audience sounds like a fairly sensible long term plan, certainly now that playing computer games are a more mainstream form of entertainment.

 

[Zhukov]

I'd love more diverse characters in video games, however apart from praising good examples of diversity and giving them exposure...

[snip]

It's a negative vs. positive reinforcement scenario.

Y'know, I saw someone try that not long ago on this very forum.

It still caused the people who consider "diversity" and "inclusive" to be dirty words to promptly throw a shit fit.

 

[Dizchu]

Y'know, I saw someone try that not long ago on this very forum.

It still caused the people who consider "diversity" and "inclusive" to be dirty words to promptly throw a shit fit.

Those two words get very knee-jerk reactions. Not because I think people are against diversity (I might just be naive though), rather they see it as some sort of authoritarian enforcement of certain "diversity quotas". Which is of course, absolute horseshit. Publishers release games so they can sell, not so they can improve social issues.

Good answers all around, guys.

 

[BraveSirRobin]

The only way to actually make it an obligation would be for the ratings boards to require it and have retailers refuse to stock unrated games. So I don't see this happening. Honestly though it's probably good that it's not required. If you were to force something like this all you're really going to get is useless token minority characters. I'd love to see more games with more well written minority characters and the best way to ensure this is to buy the games that have them not mandate them.

The fact is that ultimately the dev is going to make the game they want. If that game doesn't include anyone but white straight men then that is their choice, just like it's the consumers choice not to buy the game for that reason. Show the devs that not having diversity isn't nearly as profitable as having it, and it will change faster than you will believe.

 

[sXeth]

In a story based game, there should be no real obligation for it. Put whichever characters you can write competently in there. That said, you shouldn't be in Africa with 100% white dudes, or really have Female Asians in a Viking warrior army. If there's one main character, they don't need to be reduced to some blank slate for every possible player to project onto.

A custom character should have all the options available though. Unity/Ubisoft of course shoved their foot in their mouth by not defining that the character was customizable, but not a custom character. Then let a bunch of monkeys try and improvise damage control rather then sticking to their original clarification until people stopped ignoring it.

 

[McMarbles]

No, diversity shouldn't be an obligation.

It's something that should be as unconscious as the decision to go with a white straight male protagonist is now.

 

[duwenbasden]

Nope, because you'll end up making it worse with games that looks like those commercials -- the token guy whose defining characteristic is , the walking stereotype, etc... I rather have custom characters that you define who he/she should be, and whatever fits the theme of the moment.

You should know restrictions breeds creativity, but mostly only to circumvent the restriction -- create game, mark checklist, parachute in anything not checked off, profit.

CAPTCHA: White as snow

I knew it! The character in question is Jon Snow isn't it?

 

[Wasted]

No.

No one should be forced to add anything into their work.

HOWEVER.

It is okay to ask developers to be more inclusive and praise diversity in games. Not just with race or sex, but also with settings, time periods, topics, themes, mechanics, etc.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

It's not an obligation it's an opportunity... OK that is cheesy, but it's kind of how I look at it. Diversity is another word for variety and it's opportunity to explore or play with something you might never have thought of before.

 

[endtherapture]

Lately the games industry, the publications that report on it and certain controversial personalities[footnote]Who will remain unnamed and I hope won't be brought into this discussion for the sake of my sanity[/footnote] have been focussed on the idea that game developers should cater to broad(er) demographics.

It wasn't long ago that there was outrage that Assassin's Creed: Unity did not have female playable characters (though it was greatly exacerbated by Ubisoft's PR). I am not an Assassin's Creed fan so I wouldn't have bought the game anyway. However, despite the fact that I play as female characters every single time I have the choice to do so and the lack of female characters is something that often tarnishes a game's appeal for me, I don't believe developers/publishers are obligated to provide them to me.

My particular point of view is influenced greatly by my approach to the creative process. I am a creative individual myself, I have designed games, I am an artist and I am a musician. The main reason I explored these avenues of self-expression was because I wanted to make things that would satisfy me. It doesn't matter how good a game, film, album or piece of visual art is... it will never appeal to me completely.

When it comes to the music industry, almost nothing that gets huge exposure is appealing to me. Most chart-topping pop songs are written by committee for the sole purpose of selling as many copies as possible. As big-budget games become harder and harder to "break even", many publishers have resorted to the same tactics (though noticeably not as cynical and with far more exceptions).

But just like with music, finding games that appeal on a more personal level and portray more diverse points of view requires digging a little deeper than the highest-grossing franchises. As you explore games that had smaller development teams and budgets, you'll see that the number of "conventional" male and female characters, members of ethnic minorities and even those of different sexualities and gender identities increases dramatically (though gender identity is not something that's frequently explored).

But that's just my view. What are your thoughts?

-

CAPTCHA: White as snow

oh boy that is hilarious.

Hello there

I personally am not of the opinion that diversity should be an obligation. It should be an artistic choice. A good example to bring up is a game set in a historical period, where gender equality was not the norm. Say for instance, the middle ages, in for example, France. As we know, males were the dominant gender then, dominating warfare, politics, religion (save for a little woman named Joan of Arc), and the racial make up of this France would be overwhelmingly white. Sexual preference would be mainly heterosexual. Therefore, if you decide to set your game about Knights and Kings there, you shouldn't have the obligation to include a playable black character, or a female character, or a gay character. As an artistic decision this is justified, but also it's fair enough that your audience may be limited because of this decision of game design you've chosen to make.

I'd just like to address your pop music point. I'm personally more a fan of punk and indie music, however I do listen to a lot of pop music (Taylor Swift mainly). Her last album was something that is made to appeal to the mass market but also has a lot of really deep and artistic content showcasing some emotional vulnerability. A lot of pop music is definitely constructed for the mass market but doesn't mean it's automatically worthless.

So I suppose, no, diversity shouldn't be an obligation in game design. It should be the choice of the games designers but it shouldn't be forced upon every game.

 

[Littaly]

Like with so many other good causes, the video game industry should strive for diversity, but it shouldn't be (or have to be!) obliged to do so.

At times regulating things like these can be useful to break a type of light catch 22 where badly represented groups don't play or care much for video games because they don't feel like the games cater to them. Meanwhile nobody who plays games does anything about it because, since they are adequately represented they don't care all that much for the situation. The developers don't make games for anyone outside of the target audience and nobody outside of the target audience buys it, so the situation remains unchanged.

The thing is, given how big of an issue this has become in the last couple of years and how much it's being discussed, I don't believe that to be the case. To me, it seems to me there is a fair, growing amount of people who play video games despite being inadequately represented by the medium. And because of that the issue is being raised, and (if ever so slowly) it seems as if things are starting to happen.

So no, I don't believe you should obligate anyone to increase diversity. I hope, and I'm cautiously optimistic, that we'll get there anyway.

 

[theNater]

Key points from the OP:

...the lack of female characters is something that often tarnishes a game's appeal for me...

Most chart-topping pop songs are written by committee for the sole purpose of selling as many copies as possible. As big-budget games become harder and harder to "break even", many publishers have resorted to the same tactics (though noticeably not as cynical and with far more exceptions).

The issue is that the committees designing and funding the big-budget games have this bizarre idea that female characters are not desired and/or are actively rejected by audiences. You see this a little with AC:U. It's more obvious with that whole Remember Me dealie.

This becomes a problem because the big-budget games are our ambassadors to non-gamers. How many potential gamers have dropped the hobby because of the lack of characters with whom they could connect? How much of our image among those who aren't likely to become gamers comes from the endless succession of dudebro shooters? Maybe a lot, maybe a little, but unless it's none the industry is poorer for it.

Fortunately, the way to fix it is simple, if not easy. We need to convince those committees that diversity is desirable. That games aren't going to fail just because the protagonist isn't a straight white dude. If we can just get that idea into their heads, no external compulsion will be necessary; they'll ensure diversity(or at least stop actively avoiding it).

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

The only time I would see diversity as an obligation (as in a "must happen" type of thing) is in a game where the main character and/or other characters are created by the player. That is, the option of diversity should be an obligation, save for those odd fringe moments.

Example: being unable to play as a female human, but because you can't play as a human at all. Or maybe the playable race has a single gender for whatever reason.

When you get into games with defined or mostly defined characters, it gets a bit muddled. What makes sense for the setting/type of character? Do you have racial/gender/sexual orientation/etc. diversity on a main character, side character, background character level? Does it matter?

For me, as long as the diversity occurs on a level above the random npc that says one or two lines of repeated dialogue, I'm fine. (A bit of hyperbole, but I hope it makes my point) Obviously, higher up the hierarchy of interaction is better, but I'm not going to complain too much, especially if the character is well-written.

 

[Shadow flame master]

Obligated? No. But I would like to see more characters of varying races in games that aren't RPGs.