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Thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns, more than half of Americans have started playing video games.
And that audience is more diverse than ever—Asian and Black people are more likely to identify as gamers than white players, with Hispanic gamers not far behind—and an increasing number of women are also playing video games, comprising nearly 41% of U.S.-based gamers in 2020.
Despite this shift, video games continue to cater to white males in character creation. From having light skin set as the default to unrealistic body proportions for female characters, women and people of color hardly see themselves represented in this medium. As this can carry negative implications for players, game developers and society as a whole, it’s time for gaming marketers and creators to more thoughtfully represent these audiences in their marketing campaigns.
Representation in media matters
Limited minority representation isn’t just an issue in video games; it’s a pervasive problem in the media as a whole. Movies and TV often draw inspiration from other cultures without casting people who belong to them and instead default to casting white talent to fill the roles. The practice of whitewashing not only limits opportunities for minority professionals to rise up in their respective fields but it also restricts how diverse audiences can connect with the media they consume.
While the film and TV industry have taken steps to reflect more diverse voices, the video game industry lags far behind.
While the film and TV industry have taken steps to reflect more diverse voices, the video game industry lags far behind. Female characters are often depicted as purely fantasy, with body proportions so unrealistic it makes Barbie dolls seem more approachable, not to mention their oftentimes incredibly revealing outfits even in battle.
This sends out a dangerous message to women that their only value is in their sexuality rather than their skills, personality or unique experiences. To be clear, a female character doesn’t have to be completely desexualized, but her appearance shouldn’t be her only defining characteristic. Women in video games can be visually appealing while also demonstrating their skills, power, intelligence and personality.
People of color are rarely seen in games at all, and when they are, characterizations often rely on outdated racial stereotypes. Reductive representation like this is insufficient, at best, and harmful, at worst.
Inclusivity in gaming starts at the top
When you consider that white males hold a majority of leadership positions within both the game development companies and the marketing agencies, it’s easy to see how issues of representation might fly under the radar. They may not even be thinking about diversity in their stories and only draw on what they can relate to, especially when you consider that most art comes from personal experience.
One way to combat this is to bring women and people of color into higher-level positions. By having a diverse leadership team, companies are more likely to get a wider range of creative, making for richer stories that more accurately represent the diversity of today’s gamers. When a marketer casts for live-action spots or develops animated characters within marketing campaigns, they should be mindful of representing diversity—whether that’s through casting people of color, women who are not purely sexual objects, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and so on.
In a white male-dominated environment, women and people of color should feel empowered to speak up and share their thoughts, and everyone should share in the responsibility of seeking insights from others with differing points of view.
As decision-makers become more diversified, they also gain an opportunity to enact inclusion or equity riders like many actors and filmmakers do. This would help forward progress and ensure a level of diversity is reflected in casting and production staff.
The opportunity to consider representation for existing franchises, even though games, characters and stories have already been established, is still important and possible. This can be achieved through developing campaigns and creative content that appeals to audiences beyond white males, regardless of game story.
As marketers and professionals in the gaming industry, we are image-makers, and the images we make flood into public consciousness.
Agencies can also demonstrate how games deemed niche because of diverse characters or how less traditional storylines can tell a more compelling marketing story and connect with broader audiences, even encouraging companies to develop and distribute a more diverse portfolio of games.
As marketers and professionals in the gaming industry, we are image-makers, and the images we make flood into public consciousness. Marketers can be more discerning about in-game shot selection that doesn’t rely on the sexuality of a female character or a predictable racial convention. Marketers can also pose and visually represent existing diverse in-game characters in powerful and nonconformist manners in cinematics, AV campaigns, key art and social media that build positive and relatable representation.
Images of the same tropes that perpetuate racial and gender stereotypes ultimately hurt our society and reinforce the idea of Asian Americans, African Americans and Latinx Americans as other. Therefore, we all have a responsibility to make our images more diverse and complex to reflect our current society. This creates richer, more developed games that more people can enjoy and relate to—and who wouldn’t want that?
