Home Gaming Diversity is great – but do we run the risk of tokenism?

Diversity is great – but do we run the risk of tokenism?

5 min read
44

The witcher 3 characters

Debates about diversity in gaming are the hot topic at the moment. Everyone seems to rage about the lack of women, people of colour or alternative sexualities in games. Without representation, how can gaming appeal to a broader range of games? While I agree with the need for more varied and developed characters, some games are coming under fire in this regard, and it sometimes feels ungrounded and argumentative to me.

The reason I like more diversity in games is that it usually results in more interesting characters, more compelling stories and something unique in the experience. While plenty of games starring grizzled middle-aged white men can be excellent, it’s nice to see varied characters as well. Not all games need playable female characters (although it’s nice when those options do appear), but they should consider how they can make women (and men) more nuanced characters.

Dragon age diversity

Race and sexuality are also important in the game. I like how Bioware deals with it in its games, letting players choose their own race and sexuality, with the consequences that this may bring.

Despite receiving a ton of praise for storytelling and game design, The Witcher 3 is now coming under fire for its lack of characters of colour. It’s argued that the whole game is filled with white characters and the fact that we aren’t even criticising this is indicative of the state of the gaming industry.

Perhaps the white men who I know who have been playing the game lately are so colour blind that they didn’t even notice and it’s a big problem. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to play it and experience it’s diversity or lack thereof. That’s not to say that the game is inherently racist, though I think the criticism is fundamentally misinformed.

Not a person. Therefore not a "person of colour"

No, I’m not going to argue that certain parts of Europe are that lily white that developers could legitimately forget that other parts of the world are more ethnically varied. Rather, I’m going to ask why every game needs to represent all types of people. Are the characters that players encounter well rounded? Is the story detailed and well told? Is there nuance and realism in abundance? Then why is it such a big problem?

In Sleeping Dogs, an excellent game taking place in Hong Kong, all the characters the player encounters are Chinese. Could there be white characters in Hong Kong? Of course, but this game didn’t include them just for the sake of having some white characters. In that same vein, it feels contrived to include various races just to avoid making people feel left out. If there were a compelling reason to include a person of visually different origin (a trader from afar who Geralt needs to probe for information, a foreign soldier he needs to help), that could work. However, to insist that every game has playable, women, LGBTQ and ethnically different characters makes the whole thing feel contrived. Shouldn’t we be focusing on pushing studios towards making better games with more varied characters and deeper storytelling? If we make it simply about a diversity checklist, that doesn’t make for better gaming, or improved representation. In fact, it leads to a much more distressing form of Tokenism.

inter-alien romance

Some criticism is warranted at times though. Games predominantly feature white leads – which certainly needs a bit more balancing. This doesn’t mean that every single game under the sun needs an equal spread of representation. Rather, more games should perhaps focus on different racial demographics, so that people can engage with a protagonist who shares their ethnicity for a change.

There’s also nothing wrong with asking for better representation in games, because it acts as valuable feedback to studios who may not even realise the racial favouritism they are implementing. Rallying for every game to be a mix of colour certainly isn’t the way to approach it, but asking for games to maybe focus on protagonists of colour for a change isn’t going to hurt either. Developers don’t have to listen, and that’s ok – but for the ones who do, it could make their games more welcoming, richer experiences for it.

I would love to see games that offered more representation for people of all walks of life. As a woman, it can be really cool to play as a character who more closely resembles me. However, I can still have a fully immersive and engaging experience playing as a middle-aged man, provided the rest of the game feels right. While studios should be encouraged to make better games, and called-out for games that don’t meet player standards for representation, I don’t think it’s fair to push a singular agenda to the point of making studios worry if they’ve hit their diversity quota.

Does Dragon Age need more diversity? I don’t think so. Nor do I believe that The Witcher 3 is lacking in the representation needed to create a believable world. Could games improve in this regard? Of course. But let’s remember that this is about making interestingly varied game worlds filled with intriguing characters. While diversity is welcomed and appreciated, I don’t think that every single game needs to cater to everyone – or we run the risk of shoehorning in token characters purely for the sake of representation, creating one-dimensional characters that ascribe to the stereotypes we’re trying to get rid of.

This is an opinion piece by the author indicated and does not represent the views of the publication or its staff.

Last Updated: June 5, 2015

44 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    June 5, 2015 at 14:36

    Yoh, so heavy for a Friday!

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 5, 2015 at 14:39

      Hey, are you going to ask for fat characters now too?

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        June 5, 2015 at 14:40

        Would have been nice if Skyrim had some Dwarves, instead of telling us they’re all dead.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          June 5, 2015 at 14:41

          *Dwemer, but their ruins are fun to explore anyway. 🙂

          Reply

          • Dark

            June 5, 2015 at 14:49

            Full of cogs no diversification.

          • Pariah

            June 5, 2015 at 14:51

            I don’t think their machines care about diversity. 😛

          • Dark

            June 5, 2015 at 14:53

            surely a spanner in the works would be okay?

        • Hammersteyn

          June 5, 2015 at 14:41

          I never liked their discrimination towards knees

          Reply

          • Dark

            June 5, 2015 at 14:48

            Knees always win over kankles!!!

      • Lardus-Resident Perve

        June 5, 2015 at 17:24

        They should give me a fat character that looses weight. Might motivate me to hit the gym more 🙂

        Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      June 5, 2015 at 14:39

      I think we all just need to sit down, relax, and have a drink.

      Reply

    • tomas_ammy

      June 6, 2015 at 06:42

      ?#?? $91 per h0ur @mi12//

      ?? https://www•AllCurrencies/Earn/MIGApproved

      ???????????????????????????????

      Reply

  2. Pariah

    June 5, 2015 at 14:39

    I couldn’t agree more Zoe. +1

    Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    June 5, 2015 at 14:40

    Do in gaming what South Park did, that way no one can complain
    http://entertainment.ie/images_content/Goobacks.jpg

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 5, 2015 at 14:42

      It’s a bird! It’s a plain! Yeah, it’s a plain. In fact, what do you call a group of plains? O_o

      Reply

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        June 5, 2015 at 14:42

        A Spanish rain of plains.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief's Adventure

          June 5, 2015 at 14:43

          Mainly

          Reply

          • Dark

            June 5, 2015 at 14:48

            communist plains.

      • Hammersteyn

        June 5, 2015 at 14:43

        Politically Non Diverse?

        Reply

  4. Dark

    June 5, 2015 at 14:43

    Zoe +1

    Reply

  5. kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

    June 5, 2015 at 14:47

    Beside inclusion, better representation and crushing stereotypes is also important. I mean, look at Prototype 2. Black protagonist = Yay
    Protagonist feels like he was cut straight out of Friday = Booooooo
    Tekken 7 is probably the only game featuring an Arab who is not a terrorist.
    Look, Games are about interesting worlds and enjoyment, but it can be about that and still be inclusive. We can’t just brush it off and ignore it. I think that it’s OKAY to ask for better representation and I think, just maybe, we shouldn’t get so defensive when we’re asking for it. I also think that those asking for better representation shouldn’t push the boundary and start throwing insults and nasty remarks at those who have an opposing view.

    Reply

  6. Kromas,powered by windows 10.

    June 5, 2015 at 14:48

    This is the White Disney princess thing all over again.

    Reply

  7. konfab

    June 5, 2015 at 14:53

    If they fit it into the game properly, then I ask: why not?
    Krem in DA:I is a good example of this. Bioware didn’t have to include a trans character. Anyone could have fitted that role, but Bioware took it and fleshed out an interesting glimpse into Tevinter and Qunari society. Then they go further in allowing your character to completely disapprove of it.

    At risk of sounding insensitive, there is one thing I have noticed. Everyone wants the “good” guys to be a bunch of diverse happy people, but what about the baddies. If the people wanting true diversity in games are to be sincere, then they must be fully accepting of a game where the baddies are a bunch of genderfluid lesbians with a high amount of melamine in their skin. Everyone is all too happy to gun down white males, preferably lead by a smirking British Gentleman.
    #DiversityInMyCrosshair.

    Reply

    • The Sten

      June 5, 2015 at 14:57

      Agreed

      Resident Evil 5’s Black zombie army saga comes to mind.

      Reply

  8. The Sten

    June 5, 2015 at 15:02

    Gamers today:

    – Falls in love with games when main characters supposedly werent diverse/representative/gender neutral/whateverthefuck

    – Complains that games today need to change and be more diverse/representative/gender neutral/whateverthefuck

    – Then complains when games arent what they used to be. Then goes to play indie games only inprotest

    Reply

  9. Gavin Mannion

    June 5, 2015 at 15:03

    Personally I really don’t care if the game includes white males, black males, coloured emu;s.. or anything else you can think of.

    I do however care that developers are being hounded and attacked because they didn’t think to cater for every whiners whim. If they want to make a game where everyone is white then just let them. If you don’t like it then head to kickstarter and make your own.

    It’s a creative industry and the last thing it needs is the PC gang bashing everything that is made

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the_scarrrr

      June 5, 2015 at 15:39

      I agree with you.
      Everyone’s always going on about how games should be viewed as creative art the same way movies, series and theater is, but then it get’s judged for not conforming. What do people exactly want then? Because you can’t have both.

      Reply

    • Bagel

      June 7, 2015 at 11:47

      TIL PC players bash everything

      Reply

  10. Blood Emperor Trevor

    June 5, 2015 at 15:05

    I think there’s just way too much knee-jerking & extremism. There’s plenty of valid criticism around a lack of diversity in games, and that’s because THERE IS. There’s also constructive criticism & poor criticism. Instead of examining the critique many people simply knee-jerk denials, usually poorly, which then leads to arguments, then extremists get involved, and then internet echo-chamber magnifies everything even more.

    I’ve said this before, if you see everything in the world through a characteristic that you possess, you’re going to end up with a distorted point of view. That applies to everyone.

    Reply

  11. Goal9

    June 5, 2015 at 15:23

    Hi developers; I’am gay. Please stop fussing so much trying to crowbar in a gay character. Just make a good game. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Dark

      June 5, 2015 at 15:25

      Ballad of Gay Tony was good?

      Reply

      • Goal9

        June 5, 2015 at 15:27

        Wouldn’t know. Didn’t play it. :V

        Reply

        • Dark

          June 5, 2015 at 15:30

          Its very good.

          Reply

    • Captain JJ the_scarrrr

      June 5, 2015 at 15:36

      You sir, make a really good point.

      Reply

  12. Captain JJ the_scarrrr

    June 5, 2015 at 15:31

    Considering The Witcher 3 is made by a bunch of Europeans, with the idea of (although lots of fantasy is added) kingdoms of the medieval European nations, it’s perfectly fine to do it like the Witcher has. If it were a game inspired the old African tribes of the same era and there were only black people I certainly wouldn’t have much of an issue with that. That’s like saying Prince of Persia is racist for only using Persians. Oh boo hoo.
    People get so hung up about race that that they forget that a writer or creator who uses specific things or times for inspiration can create whatever the hell he or she wants. That’s the thing about art, it’s not dictated by what’s expected from it.

    Reply

  13. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    June 5, 2015 at 15:54

    I believe a big part of this argument falls under contextual usage. For instance, if we were to apply this concept to books for example, would we still be having this argument/it’s points raised? How many books would have to be re written because it’s not all inclusive? Contextuality in essence (Yes, I did just make up that word). If we are going to criticise anything based on whether it’s representative of all races, animals, insects , houses, rivers etc. we’ll never get to the actual story. A story is told from a viewpoint, whether that be one of a deceptive racist, or a gangster that spent the last 15 years on the street, it needs to be judged contextually and yes, it won’t suite everyones’ needs, similarly, if you were to re write the story from another viewpoint, you are going to miss some essential bits. People complaining about inclusiveness are missing a bigger picture, I won’t review a game solely on the fact that it has Aiden Pearce as the lead protagonist, I’ll complain about him having the personality of a piece of gum stuck the bottom of my shoe, but I won’t complain about him being a white male, Prototype 2 had an interesting protagonist, not because he was black, but because he had an interesting story to tell.

    Either way, I believe people mostly complain because they have to find fault in something, if The Witcher 3 is being crucified about inclusiveness, well then it has done a bloody good job in not miss stepping anywhere else….

    Reply

  14. Galbedir

    June 5, 2015 at 15:56

    People who complain about things like this, are the people who see a skin colour, not a person/character, and are the people we need to get rid. I myself work in a creative industry, namely Animation/Illustration ect. One of my biggest peeved with South Africa these days, is when I hand work over to a client, with a illustrated character in, and there response is: “Omg they can’t be white or black, we may offend certain customers”, I have literally made characters skin unnatural colours to cater for this…People are offended by EVERYTHING they can be these days, and I hate them for it.

    Reply

  15. Lardus-Resident Perve

    June 5, 2015 at 17:27

    “If we make it simply about a diversity checklist” – unfortunately, a lot of the vocal a-holes only care about getting their voices heard and this checklist. Had I started ME2 without playing ME1, I might have thought Anderson is just a token placed on the citadel placating to those checklist idiots. Lucky for me I played ME1 so I knew who he was and his importance. We do not need token characters. Like you said, we need GOOD characters!

    Reply

  16. Ohm

    June 5, 2015 at 19:09

    “called-out for games that don’t meet player standards for representation”

    That is the problem of Social Justice Whiners throwing a Twitter tantrum, not the developers. Don’t like it? Then don’t buy it.

    Reply

  17. Orl?anž

    June 6, 2015 at 14:19

    If there are elvis, dwarfs, dragons, and other made up fantasy crap, then there’s really no excuse for Excluding human races. The excuses I see from people is that the setting. Not really. Nothing in the Witcher 3 has ever happened in the real world. The world in W3 is made up, pretend fantasy, and other ‘magical’ world’s that also don’t exist. The game isn’t set in Europe either because Europe doesn’t exist in this game. It’s a ‘White people’s game’ because the developers are white, and people of the same race typically are selfish of other race groups when they gather, especially whites. Their genocidal rampages in Europe and other parts proves this. That’s why we only see white faces in media even tho whites are a global minority. NEW FLASH: They control the media!! One of the reasons why I don’t watch television.

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 8, 2015 at 09:54

      its fantasy, so it should be all inclusive because its all made up and the points dont matter?
      i call BS.

      Reply

  18. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    June 6, 2015 at 14:54

    What really annoyed me a day or two ago was a new hashtag on twitter called “GamesSoWhite”, presumably sparked by an opinion piece by our old friend Tauriq Moosa (written for Polygon…ugh!).

    The problem was that in their* well-meaning desire for more diversity in games (the Witcher 3 taking the most heat), these assholes were actually advocating for tokenism.

    In other words, merely throwing a black or brown face in a game to conform to some artificial and contrived standard of “diversity”. I got extremely annoyed, because the comments ventured ever so closely to being extremely patronising – not just for the developers of the Witcher or other games but also for gamers of colour.

    Personally, I would love to see games feature more black, brown, asian protagonists, but the answer isn’t in forcing developers to merely throw in a black face for the sake of it.

    Take Never Alone as an example, here’s a game designed with the help of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, and the end result was an amazing little title. It gave me a glimpse of a culture I would never have been exposed to.

    The worse thing you could do… is ask predominately white developers to create characters of colour, because invariably you’re going to end up with crap steeped in stereotypes. For example, take Cliffy B’s take on the black warrior i.e. Cole Train.. groan…. He’s black so he must loud and obnoxious, yo!

    [strong] *the SJW scum [/strong]

    Reply

  19. Matthew Holliday

    June 8, 2015 at 09:50

    100% on the LBTGQ

    was one of my issues with DA:I
    the whole LBTGQ scene there was way too forced, the ratio was totally off compared to real world, having a certain percentage of your team being LBTGQ limits your own relationship options. as a straight male inquisitor, out of 8 romance possibilities, you have an option between 2, thats it, which also split down categories aswell…

    for an RPG priding itself on freedom and choice, being reduced to 2, split by racial categories, doesnt seem too have many choices.
    too inclusive.

    Reply

  20. AmandaWhereTo

    June 8, 2015 at 12:21

    Lol. <3 the giant sized 42, ctrl+i, ctrl+B, red disclaimer at the bottom 😉 Heaven forbid anyone decides to get offended by an opinion piece…

    Reply

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