Why aren't there more games with female/gay/... characters in indie games?

[DementedSheep]

Indie games with fem protagonist aren't uncommon.
Although most idie games I've played are more about gameplay and barely even have a protagonist or story. Hell often I don't even know their gender or if they are human let alone their sexual orientation. White male tends to be the default choice especially when most the people making it are white and male. Orientation probably won't even come up.

 

[McKinsey]

Uh, maybe because they're both unrepresented minorities in gaming?

So are wasps and eagles. You see, the existence of these minorities is dictated by totally different reasons. Try asking the question like this: Why aren't there more female/wasp protagonists? See how stupid this sounds? Please don't try to combine two or more unrelated problems into one, because this way you won't find the solution to any of them.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an answer. Developers attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Case in point.

Dude, care to elaborate on this notion? I've been in the videogame business for a looong time, I'm pretty sure I've played and enjoyed more titles than you have. Get off your high horse, bro.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Because the people who make those games are most likely neither of those and may not want to misrepresent them in their games.

 

[Hagi]

If main characters' identity doesn't matter, why do video games almost always default it to straight white male. Can't we mix it up more for variety or the sake of being inclusive? Why do people complain when it is suggested to move from this paradigm?

Whilst white male is certainly correct the vast majority of video game main characters don't really have any mentioned sexuality.

That particular problem hasn't got anything to do with video games. People default an unmentioned sexuality to straight. It's got nothing to do with the games, it's just the general view on sexuality.

Not to say I don't agree that we could most certainly use a hell lot more diversity in games, we most certainly do. But sexuality is a tricky one because of the aforementioned tendency most people have to default any character in any medium to straight until fully proven otherwise, subtle signs don't even count for most.

 

[Durgiun]

Well why don't a bunch of lesbians get together and make a game with a lesbian protagonist?

 

[KelDG]

Snip

As for the gay thing, how many games have you played where the protagonist has neither mentioned sexuality or been shown to be in a relationship, ill answer that quickly... Lots. Now why are you assuming these characters to be straight? Do gay people have to be obvious stereo types where there entire being revolves around their sexuality and not the job in hand?

Homophobe!

(Joke BTW )

Just pointing out that you may be assuming the sexuality of Gordon Freeman and many others, when we are given no indication of it.

 

[DioWallachia]

Nonsense. Even freeware has female protagonists. Like so:

Spoiler

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs37/f/2008/276/9/5/Noitu_Love_2_by_MrDream.jpg

http://lparchive.org/Iji/Images/8-Iji__s_Courage_by_Oneiric_Studios.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/358/6/2/hyper_princess_pitch_by_koloboko-d4k53sy.png

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/irisumoe_4251.jpg

Lurk MOAR.

 

[CrystalShadow]

That kind of hints at what I'm getting at... Because as soon as you shift away from that sense of helplessness, you completely shift the tone of the story. - Depending on what the story is ultimately about, that may not be a problem, but it still has the potential to make things very complicated.

Well, I think playing with the shift of power is quite intriguing. I mean the shift between redneck county and New York city for example can make a huge difference in the life of your character, starting in some rural village with all the hardships of being a social outcast to make it to new york or San Francisco to have a lot more possibilities... Or to take the Shooter approach of linear empowerment (Crowbar->pistol->shotgun->Assault Rifle->Rocket Launcher->BFG9000) you could center a game about a homosexual adolescent who gains respect by his/her deeds, climbing the social ladder... And if you think in sci fi terms, there is no need for disempowerment at all. There have been times where homosexuality has been accepted, why shouldn't it be in some new civilization? Homophobia is neither natural nor necessary for a civilizations survival, even if 50% were homosexuals the rest could still procreate, so why not have some game where relationships are free, or where gender simply doesn't exist, where maybe even sexes don't exist?

Those are all very good ideas, so... Thanks. ^_^
Not tat it still doesn't make me think of challenges with presenting other kinds of ideas...
I guess I'm trying to think of if there's some way of making the more difficult concepts work as well...
But you are somewhat correct that there's still room to work within more conventional game structures for many ideas...

 

[Oniontears]

David Gaider did a brilliant post on some reasons why non-male, non-het and non-white characters are so scarce in games, even though the demand for them is growing louder: http://dgaider.tumblr.com/post/52763739911/on-transgender-characters

I think it's definitely a marketing thing. I would JUMP at the chance to buy more (good) games with female, gay, trans, non-white protagonists. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or energy to hunt down great indie games. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm working full-time right now and I'm time-poor, I have to choose what I play and what I buy really carefully. My last purchase was Remember Me - I love the premise and the fact that the protagonist is a mixed-race woman had me pre-order it because I see it as not just a game. I see it as an investment. If it does well hopefully that will show other game companies that "minority" characters are so "risky" and we'll get more of them.

 

[Nomadiac]

David Gaider did a brilliant post on some reasons why non-male, non-het and non-white characters are so scarce in games, even though the demand for them is growing louder: http://dgaider.tumblr.com/post/52763739911/on-transgender-characters

I think it's definitely a marketing thing. I would JUMP at the chance to buy more (good) games with female, gay, trans, non-white protagonists. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or energy to hunt down great indie games. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm working full-time right now and I'm time-poor, I have to choose what I play and what I buy really carefully. My last purchase was Remember Me - I love the premise and the fact that the protagonist is a mixed-race woman had me pre-order it because I see it as not just a game. I see it as an investment. If it does well hopefully that will show other game companies that "minority" characters are so "risky" and we'll get more of them.

Gaider makes a lot of good points and I enjoy reading his blog (though he can be a bit rude about it sometimes), but I think he overestimates the effect that a "minority" protagonist would have on wider appeal. It's an issue, certainly, but there are plenty of novels, films and TV shows which have "minority" protagonists, and yet they do fine - the Hunger Games was one of the biggest things to hit YA fiction in years, and its protagonist is female. Gaming is far more widespread than it was in the past, and that (probably) means that the gaming population is now more similar to the population in general and thus a lot more varied. It seems to me that it's more an issue of perception by the marketers, rather than what actually is - if a publisher actually tried to have some variety in their protagonists, I think they'd be surprised by how well it does.

(Maybe it's just my wishful thinking. No one I know would actually be put off a game which made you play as someone who isn't white and/or as a woman.)

In fact, one of the reasons (not the reason) why I like Mirror's Edge is because Faith is Asian and female, yet they don't mention that even once (apart from gender-specific pronouns, obviously.) "Asian female" is one of the most common stereotypes out there, but in Mirror's Edge the Asian female's gender and race don't matter at all within the game - she's just completely kickass.

(Then again, I'm Asian and we, uh...don't really get the best representation in entertainment media, so that probably factors into what I'm saying.)

That said, judging by how many people are just viscerally disgusted by LGBT people, we're probably not going to see much change on that front for a while.

 

[Smeatza]

Many conservative religious folks aren't going to buy a game that heavily features homosexuality or transgenderism.

I don't know why there aren't more non-white characters.
My favourite thing about Diablo 3 was the witchdoctor's accent. You're so used to hearing the typical gruff-American and evil-British voices in games, that when a more original accent comes along (South African in this case), it just sounds so fucking awesome.

I've been thinking recently, a game featuring a South African, 50 year old, female protagonist would be really cool, just because it wouldn't be expected.

 

[flatten_the_skyline]

Many conservative religious folks aren't going to buy a game that heavily features homosexuality or transgenderism.

Sometimes I forget that religious people are such a huge demographic in other parts of the world. On the other hand, do they play DIABLO? Or is playing a necromancer raising the undead okay unless he's gay? I think either conservative religious people are highly hypocritical in their views on murder/violence/crime compared to sexuality, or game devs do not always care for their precious religious feelings...

I've been thinking recently, a game featuring a South African, 50 year old, female protagonist would be really cool, just because it wouldn't be expected.

What, a female character hos not in her 20ies max? now that's unheard of. How should we explain that her bum looks so sexy?

 

[Oniontears]

If main characters' identity doesn't matter, why do video games almost always default it to straight white male. Can't we mix it up more for variety or the sake of being inclusive? Why do people complain when it is suggested to move from this paradigm?

^this. A lot.

Because it doesn't matter? Who cares if the lead of the game is gay, black, white, chinese, japanese, female, male. People who put too much emphasis on something as unimportant as that need to be slapped.

It matters (to me) because I want to see diversity in my media. I don't want to have to be constantly empathising/staring at a white dude when I'm NOT a white dude. Maybe you don't understand what it's like to be flooded with media where somebody like you does not exist. Take it from me, it sucks.

 

[Ickorus]

Because indie gamers are making a game because they want to make a game?

I doubt many of them even take stuff like that into consideration, they'll just make a character familiar to them.

Actually, thinking further into it, most indie games don't even feature a romantic sub-plot so their sexual preference doesn't even come into it, in fact, half the time gender isn't even assigned.

 

[babinro]

I haven't played many indie games that focus on complex relationships.
For the most part, the characters in those games are sexually ambiguous.

If I had to guess though I'd say because people write best about what they know and have experienced. Perhaps these teams don't know enough about those types of characters to give the game justice. For all we know, we'd just end up with a heavily steriotyped lesbian/little person/etc. The effort could easily end up feeling more offensive than embracing the differences in our society.