The Lack of Diversity in Video Games: A Forum Post

For as long as I can remember, video games have been an integral part of my life. My brother first introduced video games to me in 2005 when I was about 11 years old. I remember sitting down at a friend’s house and my brother placing a Game Boy Color in my hands and the first game I ever played was Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. I’m not even a huge Nintendo fan as of now, but I know that I sat there for hours tapping away at the little buttons, collecting coins and stomping on Goombas.

Nowadays, I play on a regular basis. It relieves the stress from the day, but it also transports me to another world where I’m the hero of the story. Where I can solve problems easily, I can buy whatever I want, I can do whatever I want, I can be whoever I want.

Well, be whoever I want as best as I can. Ten years ago, I never even thought about who my character was. It was simply I’m playing as that character and that’s that. But today, these ideals have changed drastically. I feel that it’s partially due to the introduction of character creation games or games where you can choose from several different protagonists. It makes people think about who they want to be in the game.

Does this character represent who I am? Is this character’s personality representative of what my ideals, morals, characteristics are? Is this character me?

As video games continue to be produced, more and more people are thinking about representation in video games. It has been a hot topic in recent years because of events happening around the world pertaining to race, sexuality, ethnicities, gender and cultures. People are more aware of representation, especially if that representation is an accurate portrayal or not.

I used to not care about the gender, sexuality or race of the character I was playing. But I do now. Why? As a female, Chinese-American, I’ve faced more prejudice than I care to admit here in America. When I was 4 I had a chair pulled out from under me at the local library because I was Chinese. When I was 10 a kid in my class made fun of me daily because I had squinty eyes and yellow skin. I can still hear “Ching-chong” in that mocking voice in the back of my mind. When I was 13 a middle-aged man called me a “chink” at the local supermarket. My older sister was so angry that she went to the aisle he was in and yelled at him. She was only 15.

Kids grow up feeling inadequate and like their lives don’t matter just because they have a different skin color, they feel differently about boys and girls or because they’re a girl and are told they can’t do something. And then they see it in the game they're playing and think, "Well I guess this is the norm. If it's like this in real life and in video games, I guess I should just accept it and move on."

And that’s why representation in video games are so important. Pew Research conducted a study in 2007 and found that 99% of the boys they surveyed and 94% of the girls they surveyed played video games on a regular basis. That was in 2007. I can’t even imagine what the numbers are today with all the modern technology in games like Virtual Reality and new console releases. Children sit in front of the tv or monitor and play games for hours and what they play is ingrained in their minds. The more realistic games are the more it seems like what’s portrayed in games is what reality is really like.

I can inundate this post with facts and statistics about how poorly video games show representation. I can show the statistics on how sex sells in the industry, or how games op to not represent the LGBTQ+ community because it may take away from their sales, or how games portray minorities poorly and as stereotypical. I can show the research done repeatedly proving time and time again how poorly video games do an awful job at representing everyone but the straight, white, male gamer.

·                           A study was done in 2001 by Christina Glaubke for Children Now, a research center dedicated to improving children’s health, education and well-being. It found that when they do show diversity, they often incorporate stereotyped images and roles for people of color. Rarely ever cast as champions, rescuers or heroes, their portrayals often amount to nothing more than hyper-muscularized brutes, exotic fighting machines or athletes displaying near-supernatural ability.

·                           Pew Research did a study in 2015 on minorities in video games. It showed that 100 Hispanics, whites and blacks were surveyed and asked if video games portrayed minorities poorly or not. While majority of each group said they were not sure, it’s clear Hispanics and blacks felt that video games portrayed minorities poorly the most while whites were unsure. Minorities know their own culture and their own people. They know what accurate representation is and what isn’t.

·                           In 2009, a study was done by Alexandra Henning that studied what children’s observations were of hypersexualized females. “Overall, though, all participants viewed the images in the female-stereotypic games as more negative than in the male-stereotypic games. This suggests that violent and aggressive images are viewed in more positive light than are sexually exploitive images by adolescents.” Even adolescents think that sexual stereotypes of women is negative. Why do developers continue to do so?

·                           Adrienne Shaw wrote in The International Journal of Communication, “In some games characters are chastised and called gay if they do not display the proper interest in the opposite sex or if they hang out with LGBTQ people.” And gives the example of Dragon Warrior III in which it “features a sexual activity called puff-puff. In the game a woman NPC offers the male PC a puff-puff. If he refuses, she replies: “Hmph! What?! Not another homosexual . . .”’

When I first asked Reddit questions about diversity, someone had replied with they didn't think that the questions were fair without backup. Well, here it is. I could go on and on about the countless research, studies and journals that coincide with the diversity issue in gaming. But this post has gone on for long enough.

Professor Edmond Chang of the University of Oregon says in relation to sexuality in games: “Why and who does it hurt if they are in a relationship?” But I think it’s worth noting that this doesn’t necessarily only pertain to relationships between two men, or two women. I think the real question is “Why and who does it hurt?” Why does it hurt to have a female warrior in full armor when she goes into battle? Why does it hurt to have a Hispanic protagonist in a game set in rural Kansas? Why does it hurt to have a black protagonist who isn’t part of a gang? Why does it hurt to have a Chinese character who isn’t good at kung-fu? Why does it hurt to have a lesbian character who has story arc that doesn’t focus solely on being alienated from the community because of her sexuality?

Why do stereotypes exist or even matter? The world is fictional. We can be whatever we want to be. We can do whatever we want to. More and more gamers look for diversity in gaming. It’s starting to part from traditional gaming. Why do developers continue to keep themselves cemented in the idea that only male white protagonists is the safe way to go?

I interviewed XiaoXu Yan, a video game character designer for Skill Check Games. He said, “At the end of the day, it’s a business. It sounds bad, and games should be for fun, but the gaming industry is a business.” And he’s right, the game industry at the end of the day is a business.

So how can we have developers understand that, yes, it’s a business, and you could potentially make more money if you give gamers what they want? Professor Chang said in his interview, bring in women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people into the gaming industry. Writers are the ones who write the stories, whether they are Asian, Hispanic, gay or black. They have the power to change who the characters are in the game. If the industry is dominated by straight, white males, that’s generally who the protagonist will be of the story they write. People will write about what and who they can relate to. Help people to understand your point of view. How you’re tired of being sexualized as a woman. How you’re tired of being shown as a Latino who came to the states illegally. Make your voice heard.

Why does one race or one gender or one sexuality get singled out as the best or the worst? I think the simple answer comes from Yan that honestly can cover all diversity topics:

“I think it’s interesting when we say race… As American, African, Chinese and so on. But I think: human race. There’s one race.”

The Lack of Diversity in Video Games: A Stakeholder and Genre Analysis

The lack of diversity in video games and in the video game industry has been an issue for as long as games have been around. This paper aims to ensure that the issue is communicated to stakeholders and discourse communities that may be able to make a difference and change this. There are a few main discourse communities that I will be focusing on. The first group will be video game developers such as BioWare, Infinity Ward and Bethesda Softworks. Along with these developers, their corresponding forums will be a target discourse community as well: The BioWare Forum, Infinity Ward Forum Gamers and Bethesda Softworks Forums. I will also be using Reddit to speak to users universally. These forums will not only give me a basic idea of how they feel about diversity, but it may bring me closer to developers since many of them check forums quite often to see what fans say.

Stakeholders and Discourse Communities

Development teams are composed of a series of job titles, from level designers to software developers and development directors. They are the ones who make create games, make worlds come to life, but most importantly they are the ones who create characters and the stories. This makes them primary stakeholders and the primary audience of my paper. My paper’s goal is to show these stakeholders that the lack of diversity in the games that they are creating is in fact hurting them more than they understand. Gamers are consistently finding issues in the games that are being pushed out, such as making a game set in an Asian country have a white protagonist. Gamers are becoming more aware of human rights, just as our world is today and know when a game design is pushed more for the creator rather than the gamer. Developers continue to cling to the idea that most gamers are predominantly heterosexual, white males when in fact, they are not. Pew Research Center conducted a survey in the past year and found that 50% of the men they surveyed played video games while 48% of the women surveyed played video games.[1] This is not a very large gap. More women are playing games nowadays but developers refuse to acknowledge this fact. They are hurting themselves when they do not create games that can relate to women or minorities. Few women can relate to male protagonists just as few men can relate to female protagonists. The same goes for minorities; Latinos cannot relate to a white protagonist in a game set in a predominantly white suburban environment. Developers must understand that the gaming community is evolving and thus they must evolve as well.

            The second group of stakeholders for my paper is the gaming community itself, particularly pertaining to the forums. Gamers are huge stakeholders in my paper because they are the only voice that developers can hear. Gamers cannot speak directly to developers because of career and location gaps, therefore they turn to forums to make their voices heard. There are many occasions where developers will hold Q&A sessions on forums and sit down with gamers for a few hours to answer questions or just to speak to gamers and get a feel of what they like or dislike. These sessions are key to making gamers opinions and voices heard and if my paper is able to show them how the lack of diversity is hurting games, they may be able to convey to developers the same sentiment in a purely academic perspective.

Genre Sets for Stakeholders and Discourse Communities

            Genre sets are especially important to the gaming community because it allows for developers to gain information on what their game should eventually become. It also allows for gamers to become informed on what games they may be interested in or give them an idea as to what upcoming games there may be.

There are several genre sets that developers use in order to gain an overall vision of what their final project or game will become. There are three main genres that developers go through, including pitch documents game design documents.[2]  Each of these give them a clear understanding of what the team wants to create. Developers do not necessarily do research in a traditional sense when envisioning a game, instead, they approach their game in a more creative aspect. This is what the pitch, concept and game design documents come from. The team envisions a concept then puts together general ideas and give it to the lead developers to figure out what elements they would like to add to a game.

Pitch documents, one of the most important genres for developers is the general idea of what a game may be, the keyword being “pitch”. These are in essence the abstract of a game, much like experiments done in the scientific community have abstracts. Irrational Games released their pitch document to the public in 2010 for their 2007 game, Bioshock. They “initially [the document was] presented to publishers, selling them on the idea of supporting our little odyssey beneath the waves.”[3] These were the first designs and concepts for the game. Both publishers and developers needed this genre in order to understand the concept of the game and decide if it was a game that should be given a chance. This document includes every concept the team wants in the game from how the gameplay will come out to, from manipulating the game environment to creating a first, second or third person shooter. This award winning game’s pitch document covers the smallest of details to the largest of details, which is exactly what developers and publishers are looking for. “They want the ins and outs of the game before they decide to invest in the game.”[4] As stated before, there really is no sources for pitch documents because these documents come from the team’s mind. It is a document that is designed purely from creativity. The more creative a game concept is, the more of a chance they have to push publishers and developers to invest and help bring a game to life.

The second genre set that developers use are design documents. These are similar to pitch documents in that they, according to Tim Ryan a veteran video game designer, “express the vision for the game, describe the contents, and present a plan for implementation.”[5] The difference between pitch documents is that the design document comes after a developer or publisher decides that they want to create the game. The design document is more solid and is almost a revision of the pitch. They tend to include revised game concepts, the market analysis, technical analysis, legal analysis, cost and revenue projections as well as concept art.[6] This gives developers a better understanding of how the game equates into monetary value because at the end of the day, the game is not just fun, it is a business. This document helps developers to have a better understanding of what their investment will become.

            Genre sets for forums are quite the opposite. While forums do generate their own ideas and thoughts on games, they are not part of the creative process, therefore their genres differ. The information they gain tends to be from trusted online gaming sources, such as IGN Entertainment and GameSpot. Gaming magazines such as Game Informer Magazine and GamePro also tend to be a massive genre set for forums. These genres are the sources of news in the video game industry. They inform gamers on what new games may be releasing in the upcoming years and game reviews on what games have excellent graphics, smooth gameplay, engaging storylines and interesting characters. Magazines and other online news sources also allow for gamers to engage with developers and get direct information from them. Often times there are Q&A sections that allow for gamers to send in questions and ask developers or designers questions about certain games. In turn, gamers can be informed this way. The sources that these online news and magazines cite do come directly from game developers in the form of interviews and information taken from gaming conferences such as PAX West/East and E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). Gaming conference summaries are an excellent source for gamers to gain information on upcoming games as the attendance is generally tightly reserved for industry professionals only.[7] Being able to read about these conferences is usually the only way for regular gamers to get information on games announced exclusively at the conferences.

            Another genre that gamers tend to gain their information from are strategy guide books. These books generally contain gameplay information that may not be detailed in the owner’s manual, complete maps, puzzle explanations, checklists of collectables or cheats. They can be in the form of a physical book that gamers can buy from stores, e-books online,[8] unofficial guides written by other gamers on sites such GameFAQs,[9] and online videos hosted on sites such as YouTube. The market of physical copies of strategy guides have been steadily declining according to many users in online forums. There are countless threads asking gamers if they still buy strategy guides. The reply to these threads compose of the same answers, “Not since the Nintendo GameCube.”[10] The GameCube was released in 2001 and was discontinued in 2007. However, games continue to gain the information they need on games through free online sources. Most generally do not buy physical copies of strategy guides unless they are collectors or prefer to have a copy in their hands. The information gained from official guides come directly from that particular game’s developers and publisher, therefore gives credible sources. Other unofficial sources, such as guides from GameFAQs are written by other gamers and often have discrepancies between guides therefore gamers look through several guides before settling on one. The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo, 1986) itself has fourteen general walkthroughs and game guides and over twenty in depth guides for boss fights, maps, dungeons and individual quests.[11] Despite these discrepancies, gamers continue to use them because they are free sources and do not require flipping through a large book to find the information they need.

Reaching Stakeholders

I do believe that my main audience will gamers that participate in forums. As they are the most acquainted with developers through more convenient means without going directly to the officers or living in the same area, this seems to be the most logical audience. Although my paper will be submitted for class, in a form of genre, the best possible way of reaching gamers through forums is by creating a thread of my own and reiterating facts that I have researched for my paper. If they are able to become more open minded about listening to the academic point of view when it comes to video games, they may be open to bringing up ideas when having Q&A sessions with developers. They may also bring up topics that will at least have developers aware that gamers see this as an issue that is affecting gamers of all ages, ethnicities, sexualities, genders and cultural backgrounds. If we can at least plant the idea, it may be counted as a small success.

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[1] Duggan, Maeve. “1. Who plays video games and identifies as a “gamer”.” Pew Research Center. December 16, 2016. Web Access. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/who-plays-video-games-and-identifies-as-a-gamer/

[2] Xiaoxu Yan (Video Game Character Artist) in discussion with the author, November 6, 2016.

[3] Irrational Games Administrator. “From the Vault – The BioShock Pitch.” Irrational Games. May 20, 2010. Web Access. http://irrationalgames.com/insider/from-the-vault-may/

[4] Xiaoxu Yan (Video Game Character Artist) in discussion with the author, November 6, 2016.

[5] Ryan, Tim. “The Anatomy of a Design Document, Part 1: Documentation Guidelines for the Game Concept and Proposal.” Gamasutra. October 19, 1999. Web Access. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131791/the_anatomy_of_a_design_document_.php

[6] Ryan, Tim. “The Anatomy of a Game Design Document.” Gamasutra.

[7] E3 Attendee Registration Form. 2016. Web Access. https://www.e3expo.com/attendee/2904/attendee-registration/

[8] Prima Games Shop: Official Guides. Web Access. https://www.primagames.com/shop

[9] GameFAQs Contributor Central. Web Access. http://www.gamefaqs.com/contribute

[10] Various Forum Users. “Is it worth getting Strategy Guides?” IGN. August 3, 2013. Web Access. http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/is-it-worth-getting-strategy-guides.453243877/

[11] “The Legend of Zelda.” GameFAQs. Web Access. http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563433-the-legend-of-zelda/faqs

The Lack of Diversity in Video Games: An Annotated Bibliography

“Brown Skins, White Avatars.” Edmond Chang, from KCSB News. February 2016,

https://soundcloud.com/kcsb-news-1/brown-skins-white-avatars

Professor Edmond Chang, an Assistant Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Oregon held a talk at UC Santa Barbara on January 26, 2016. Here he spoke about the lack of representation in video games and movies, including the race and sexuality of characters. Because I was not able to attend this talk, he was interviewed at KCSB FM in Santa Barbara and gave a brief summary of what he spoke about.

This is relevant to my own research paper because he speaks about the different ways developers and gamers think about the race and sexuality of characters. He also speaks about the different ways minorities, such as blacks or Asians feel left out when it comes to representation in a form of medium they enjoy.

He also gives small solutions to fix this problem, such as bringing in minorities and LGBT people into the gaming industry. Writers are the ones who write the stories, whether they are Asian, Hispanic, gay or black. They have the power to change who the characters are in the game. If the industry is dominated by straight, white males, that’s generally who the protagonist will be of the story they write. People will write about what and who they can relate to.

This information is great to use in my paper because Professor Chang has experience in this area and understand the science behind gender and sexuality. He explains in the recent Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, some fans see the possibility of a relationship between Finn and Poe Dameron. He asks the question, “Why and who does it hurt if they are in a relationship?” He sees the problem behind what he calls “straightwashing” and how many Western cultures find that anything that deviates from the “norm”, such as a homosexual relationship, is wrong.

Saleem, Muniba. Effects of stereotypic video game portrayals on implicit and explicit

attitudes. Iowa State University, 2008.

Saleem’s findings focus on the stereotypical representation of Middle Easterners in video games. This does not only include the people of the Middle East, but it includes the land as well, pointing out the “Middle East seems to be a favorite virtual battleground.” (Saleem 6) This is important to note because we see this in many games, yet we do not acknowledge it. It is true that this is the case, especially since terrorism has become a favorite topic for many games, including Call of Duty (Activision, 2003) which has a story arc that is titled “Middle-Eastern Conflict” and Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad (SCi, Gotham Games 2003).

Saleem writes, “In today’s generation, children play video games an average of 13 hours per week.” (Saleem 8) What we see as good versus evil in a video game may not seem like a big deal to others, however we know that media often times affects the way we think. The more people are exposed to a media, the more they will perceive it as normal. Therefore, the more Middle Easterners are portrayed as terrorists and their homes considered a battlefield, the more gamers will see real life as the same.

Alexandra Henning, Alaina Brenick, Melanie Killen, Alexander O'Connor, and Michael J.

Collins. "Do Stereotypic Images in Video Games Affect Attitudes and Behavior? Adolescent Perspectives." Children, Youth and Environments 19.1 (2009): 170-96. Web.

This study was done in 2009 to find out if stereotypical images portrayed in video games affected adolescents, specifically male and female gamers from 9^th-11^th grade. Their end results found that, “Overall, though, all participants viewed the images in the female-stereotypic games as more negative than in the male-stereotypic games. This suggests that violent and aggressive images are viewed in more positive light than are sexually exploitive images by adolescents.”

This is quite alarming that developers continue to do so, even if people of all ages are pointing this out. In my recent proposal, BioWare user Ashes_Arizona had written, “Listen… I’m a man, I’m an extremely married man, had my fill of women over my life and I’m also an artist. Its not that you’re visually offensive because it might be viewed as sexy, its that its literally crude and adolescent… So basically you have all these little crudely sexualized characters running around and BioWare profiting off the juvenile need to sexualize anything that can be sexualized. Its not just disrespectful to women…its disrespectful to art.” This is what the study has proven: that developers do not care if their portrayal of women as sexually explicit. It’s viewed as negative, even by adolescents, yet they continue to do so because it brings money in.

This is important information to note in my research paper because this can be brought up to developers. I am able to point out that studies have shown that showing women as sexual objects is seen as negative, even toward children.

Glaubke, Christina R., et al. "Fair Play? Violence, Gender and Race in Video Games."

(2001).

This study finds many issues in the gaming world, from the ineptitude of women to the lack of racial diversity in games. Glaubke finds that overall, 50% of women who are portrayed in games are bystanders who do not engage in action. (Glaubke 15) She also finds that females were seven times more likely than males to be participants. Participants are “characters that obey the commands of the player, but do not necessarily have personalities or abilities of their own.” (Glaubke 16) This is quite troubling because it shows that women are portrayed more as objects rather than a person, someone who can think and act on their own.

In addition to seeing the stereotypes and lack of females in video games, this study also analyzes stereotypes of races and ethnicities. Of the 53 heroes analyzed by the study, 46 were white. In sports games, 8 out of 10 African American competitors were the ones to engage in physical and verbal aggression. (Galubke 26) This shows that stereotypical portrayals of races are an enormous factor when creating a character of color in games.

The end result of the study is that “When they do show diversity, they often incorporate stereotyped images and roles for people of color. Rarely ever cast as champions, rescuers or heroes, their portrayals often amount to nothing more than hyper-muscularized brutes, exotic fighting machines or athletes displaying near-supernatural ability.” (Glaubke 30) This is important to note, especially in my research paper because many other studies and articles that I plan to use forget that when diversity is shown, especially in a protagonist, they are still shown in a negative light. This is similar to Bane, in the Batman: Arkham Asylum (DC Entertainment, 2009) game. He is a Latino male, who although is not a hero and is an antagonist, he is shown as a behemoth with enormous budging muscles who tries to defeat Batman through brute force while Batman (a white male) tries to defeat him with wit.

Anderson, Monica. “Views on gaming differ by race, ethnicity.” Pew Research Center. 17

December 2015. Web. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/17/views-on-gaming-differ-by-race-ethnicity/

When reading this article, a table is provided titled, “Many Americans – regardless of race or ethnicity – unsure if video games portray minorities poorly”. This shows that 100 Hispanics, whites and blacks were surveyed and asked if video games portrayed minorities poorly or not. While majority of each group said they were not sure, it is clear that Hispanics and blacks felt that video games portrayed minorities poorly the most while whites were unsure. This says a great deal about how others see minorities in games. Minorities felt that video games portrayed them poorly because they are minorities and know how they act, speak and think.

This is important to note in my research because minorities know how their cultures are, and they also know what stereotypes come with them. They also know what poor representation is, thus can spot this in video games. Developers need to understand that these poor representations in games are not seen as a good thing, but as negative in the minds of gamers.

The Lack of Diversity in Video Games: A Research Design Propsal

Research Proposal

My research topic is over the lack of diversity in video games and how it effects the community as a whole. As video games become more and more popular with the new advancements, such as virtual reality and the use of the Oculus Rift that completely immerses gamers into a 3D world, the need for diversity continues to grow. Diversity is need in all aspects and forms of media because of how varied our own, real life world can be, whether it is in our workplaces or in school. The way we perceive the norm of everyday life can be drastically changed through the media we consume on a daily basis. We must address the issue of the lack of diversity throughout media, especially in a form of media that the younger generation uses consistently.

What I Have Learned Thus Far

Through my preliminary research, I have found that although many gamers are upset with the lack of diversity, they do not have the willpower to go and change it themselves or to bring it to a higher up, in this case a production team. Others find that speaking to a community (such as Reddit) and posting online in forums can be effective as many production members often read these posts. Reddit user “rakkanoth” wrote in the NoMansSkyTheGame subreddit, “If Hello Games is clever they will listen to community feedback as to what could enrich the gaming experience and let it inform their content additions. Every game I've played in the past that listened to the community only got improved over time.”[1] Many take to forums to have their voices heard when it comes to changing the way games are portrayed. They also feel that if gaming companies listened to gamers, not only will gamers have a better experience, but the companies will earn a better profit. Unfortunately, the lack of diversity continues to persist, even as games are being introduced this year, thus many gamers continue to complain. The logical conclusion companies could be making is if they made what gamers want, the greater their profit will be.

The lack of diversity comes in many forms in this medium of media. Whether it is the lack of females, LGBTQ characters, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, or even just the way characters are portrayed, the video game industry continuously misses the mark. Reddit user “oneLguy” posted a thread in the subreddit, “Negareddit” that simply said, “Video gaming culture has a legitimate problem with sexualizing women in games.” Another user, “Zone_boy” replied with, “I agree but I think problem lays in lack of diversity. There is nothing inherently wrong with having sexual characters, except when that's only kind of women characters shown. Just look at the street fighter series. Men come in so many different favors. They can be smart, badass, ugly, weird, fat, evil, good, and sexy. Women just get sexy. :|”[2] Countless users agreed with this statement. It can be backed by the example of numerous games out there, including the Mortal Kombat series in which all women in the games are portrayed as skinny, voluptuous women who wear very meagre clothing. As compared to the men, the clothing they wear are not appropriate for a “fighting” style game.

I also have spoken to several players in the mass multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR). Males and females alike find that the in game clothing is too sexualized for women supposedly in a position of combat. SWTOR user Ashes_Arizona wrote in the forums, “Listen… I’m a man, I’m an extremely married man, had my fill of women over my life and I’m also an artist. Its not that you’re visually offensive because it might be viewed as sexy, its that its literally crude and adolescent… So basically you have all these little crudely sexualized characters running around and BioWare profiting off the juvenile need to sexualize anything that can be sexualized. Its not just disrespectful to women…its disrespectful to art.”[3]  He referenced to an outfit that users can put on their online characters called “Exquisite Dancer”, which in essences is a Star Wars exotic dancer outfit.

However, female characters being sexualized is not the only lack of diversity, it is the lack of racially diverse characters that gamers are allowed to play. The thread, “Do video game protagonists lack racial diversity?” on ComicVine is an example of mixed feelings, as compared to many other threads whom most everyone agreed on the answer was simply, “Yes.” However, numerous replies to this thread state that it doesn’t matter, as long as the game was good or the story was engaging. Yet, one user wrote a reply that made me look twice. User “McNultySonofDarkseid” wrote, “I get the feeling like all the people saying “it’s all about writing and story” would be thinking differently if every single character (or the overwhelming majority) was suddenly NOT white." [4] This is something to think about in the video gaming world. Minority children often feel inferior because the hero who saves the world is generally a middle aged white male. I myself felt a sense of gratitude and elation when the game Sleeping Dogs was released in 2012 simply because it was a game set in a place I am familiar with, Hong Kong. The characters even spoke Cantonese, instead of the general “Hollywood gibberish” that is supposed to portray Chinese. I felt this way because it was a language, a culture that I could relate to. Minority children do not get this opportunity often because the video game industry does not see it as a priority, to make games relatable to multiple races and ethnicities.

Further Investigation

As I continue my investigations on the portrayal of diversity in video games, I want to compile multiple reasons as to why this is a problem. It’s a problem for children, teenagers and adults alike. Being able to relate to characters on screen builds confidence in everyone and allows them to explore their possibilities. Maybe they can’t all be treasure hunters or street fighters, but they can do something as simple as inventing and creating something that will change the world for the better. Video game characters are given the freedom to do that, but many gamers often feel inferior and do not believe they can do it simply because the one who did it in the game is a heterosexual, white, middle-aged male. I want to find out how I can do my part in changing this mindset, but I must find the reasoning why companies choose this route when designing characters. I must find not only a reasoning, but also why consistently putting out the same character design is a flaw in the system and because of this, I can improve on it.

I know I will encounter many different people with many ideologies and perceptions on this subject. I know that many will oppose me or agree with me, but it is important that I understand this topic because it is one that I am deeply affected by. I must make sure I’m reasonable and open-minded so that I can remain in these communities to continue gathering data for this research paper.

Preliminary Sources

“Brown Skins, White Avatars.” Edmond Chang, from KCSB News. February 2016,

https://soundcloud.com/kcsb-news-1/brown-skins-white-avatars

Htoon, Sonia May. “Professor Discusses Lack of Diversity in Video Games.” Daily Nexus. 28

January 2016. Accessed 26 September 2016. http://dailynexus.com/2016-01-28/professor-discusses-lack-of-diversity-in-video-games/

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Impact on Social, Cultural, and Political Perspectives. IGI Global, 2016.

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[1] rakkanoth, “Why a lack of diversity is probably a non-issue long term anyway.” July 2016. Reddit. Accessed 25 September 2016. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/4rnwuy/why_a_lack_of_diversity_is_probably_a_nonissue/

[2] oneLguy, “Video gaming culture has a legitimate problem with sexualizing women in games.” May 2016. Accessed 25 September 2016. https://www.reddit.com/r/Negareddit/comments/4keimp/video_gaming_culture_has_a_legitimate_problem/

[3] Ashes_arizona, “I wish there was a “Generic Armor” checkbox in the client options.” 18 May 2015. Accessed 25 September 2016. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=813198&page=3

[4] McNultySonofDarkseid, “Do video game protagonists lack racial diversity?” January 2015. Accessed 25 September 2016. http://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/off-topic-5/do-video-game-protagonists-lack-racial-diversity-1632568/

The Lack of Diversity in Big Name Media: A Topic Reflection

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, diversity is defined as, “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.[1] Today, many advocates push for diversity in schools, workplaces and even going so far as Hollywood. As American continues to grow, different cultures and races blend together to form what many people know as the “melting pot”. We often times use our own cultures to define others and deem them as “normal” or not. This may in the long run be harmful because we cannot seem to shake the negative stereotypes of others or the bias against a particular culture. Diversity in big name media, such as video games and movies seemed to be an issue before, albeit a very small issue, however recently has largely become a hot topic for many media enthusiasts to discuss. Because superheroes have always been a fascination for the young and old alike, and recently been the fascination of Hollywood, the diversity (or lack thereof) has become under fire by many critics. The DC Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment companies have been producing film after film of beloved superheroes, including Superman and Spiderman. A topic of debate however is who is winning the great diversity race between these two entertainment titans? They both admittedly have their own issues, nevertheless one should be doing better in the diversity department, correct? The answer may not be as simple as one thinks. It is the same with the recently booming Star Wars franchise, in which many have been praising the producers for their inclusivity of casting actors and actresses of different backgrounds and ethnicities while casting a female as one of the star roles. Despite this, many people are also finding that Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released last December was still lacking in diversity. This December we will see the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Many Star Wars aficionados find themselves excited for the story while others have seen that the main character is a woman and majority of the rest of the cast are Asian, Pakistani, and Mexican and feel that the movie will be a flop. What does this say about the movie industry as well as the people paying to see these films?

            The media does not just consist of films, it consists of video games and even literature. Yet, books and texts are not the ones lacking in diversity. Video games severely lack diversity in which many of the protagonists consist of white males. Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, and many other ethnicities are underrepresented. Sexualities are erased or glossed over. Gender is discriminated against. How often do video game developers gloss over these important storyline characteristics because a few gamers may feel uncomfortable?

            But backpedaling back to Hollywood and the lack of diversity in the films. The research and debates done on this topic is massive and may take years to compile. However this is an important topic to think about as numerous people find the lack of culturally, racially and sexually diverse characters offensive and backwards. In the recent casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, a traditionally Tibetan character from “Doctor Strange”, fans were outraged and felt that this was considered racist. “It turns out that the filmmakers scrubbed the Tibetan origins of the character from the comic book altogether, in large part over fears of offending the Chinese government and people…”[2] Actor George Takei wrote on his Facebook page over hearing the news, “You cast a white actress so you wouldn’t hurt sales… in Asia? This backpedaling is nearly as cringeworthy as the casting. Marvel must think we’re all idiots." [3] Hollywood consistently casts white actors and actresses to portray Asian, Hispanic and even Native Americans roles. On the positive side, however, there are the few diverse moments in these entertainment productions. Wonder Woman is getting her own film in the DC Universe as well as she was always a key member to the Justice League. Deadpool was confirmed as pansexual by writer Gerry Duggan in the comic books and again by director Tim Miller in the films. There are so many superheroes with diverse backgrounds, cultures, races, ethnicities, and sexualities that Hollywood refuses to portray simply because it may shock the masses. The pros to this research topic are that it helps us to understand this and thus helps us to change the way Hollywood thinks. People want diversity now and are upset when there is an absence of it. The cons of this topic is that it is so massive, there are thousands of superheroes out there that can be researched and analyzed. They each have their own personalities, genders, ethnicities and sexualities and it would possibly take years to go through them all. The research paper for me in this topic could focus on the few most diverse backgrounds. This could include Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle. This Hispanic character in DC’s television show Young Justice had a story arc that revolved around his family and friends, something that Hispanics in media often do not have the best representation of. Another could be of a woman who breaks the gender barrier, such as Wonder Woman, who was mentioned earlier. As a key member to the Justice League, she is vastly different from Black Widow in the Avengers who does not get as much positive attention.

            The massive universe of Star Wars has recently be both praised and criticized for the diversity included in the recent film The Force Awakens. As the three main protagonists were all diverse, Rey is female, Finn is African America and Poe Dameron is Hispanic, many felt that this was a big step in the Star Wars franchise. In the movies before, majority of the characters and protagonists were white, including Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo. Critics still are uncomfortable or upset that there is barely any Asian or LGBTQ representation. This research topic too has its cons in that it is a massive universe and would take possibly years to go through the hundreds of characters that the universe provides. However the pros are that this particular subset of media is improving rapidly on the representation and diversity department. Rogue One’s main protagonist Jyn Erso is a woman, Poe Dameron is implied in the novel that he’s not completely heterosexual and Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One is portrayed by Donnie Yen, a famous Cantonese actor. There are many possibilities to explore on this topic in this universe, however it is just such a large topic.

            The video game industry has always been the subject of criticism, toward those who advocate diversity and to those who do not. Many “straight white male” gamers are happy with the white male protagonists and are happy to play them. We however cannot speak for all of them, because many do indeed enjoy the few times that they are able to play a female or a character of non-white origins. This research topic again is massive, and there are many possibilities, however it would take quite a long time to compile even a list of all the diversity problems and achievements. Again, in order to work around this problem, the paper could focus on the few characters that do have that diversity and the few characters that do not. It could focus on difficulties that arise when trying to create diversity in video games. In 2007, Mass Effect was released to the public, but not before it faced a torrent of controversy in including not only romantic scenes, a playable female protagonist, but including a character that would have been bisexual. It face so much controversy they took that storyline out of the game. In the third game of the trilogy, they brought back that storyline because the influx of gamers that wanted to explore this possibility. The game also included the gamer’s choice of playing as a male or female protagonist, and many were angry that even being able to play as a woman was unthinkable. Video games face a flurry of controversy revolving diversity, but it is important, especially to the newer generation simply because it is happening all around them in the real world, it is only sensible it happens in the virtual world as well.

            There are so many diversity problems happening in the media, which affect how we as people can view others. Whether it is disrespectfully or courteously it depends on the media we consume and what we deem as normalcy because of what we seen on the big screen. The media influences our thoughts even without knowing it.

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[1] “Diversity.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed September 12, 2016.

[2] Wong, Edward. “‘Doctor Strange’ Writer Explains Casting of Tilda Swinton as Tibetan.” April 26, 2016. The New

York Times. Accessed September 11, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/world/asia/china-doctor-strange-tibet.html?_r=0

[3] Takei, George. April 30, 2016. Facebook. Accessed September 11, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/posts/1561565090539605

Twitter Reflection

I think the last time I've actively used Twitter was back in 2010 when I was in high school. So when I was told that one of my assignments for ENC 4416 was to use Twitter for the entire semester and actually be active on it, to say I was a little annoyed was an understatement. In 2010 I used Twitter actively for about half a year, got bored and never touched it again. Having to use a platform that I wasn't too fond of for an entire semester I thought was going to be seriously boring and it'd be hard to keep up on.

But I was wrong. We used the hashtag #ENC4416 for anything we wanted the rest of the class to see, whether it was interesting articles we read or if it was something useful that the class needed to know about, like deadlines or helpful articles that could help us with our design in the group project or our web audits. I remember there was an assignment due the following night that I had completely forgotten about, but luckily I was on Twitter and a classmate had tweeted out the deadline. There were also some pretty interesting articles that classmates had tweeted out, especially pertaining to this year's election which has been an incredibly hot topic. I was never short of something to read when I popped into Twitter.

Howard Rheingold writes, "The diversity of Twitter includes political or technical argument, gossip, scientific info, news flashes, poetry, social arrangements, classrooms, repartee, scholarly references, and bantering with friends. And I'm in control of deciding how much of each flavor I want in my flow." My experiences with Twitter exemplified this. I saw what I wanted to see based on who I followed and what hashtags I wanted to look at. In turn, I was able to see so many different ideas and thoughts that people felt were worth sharing or were interesting, and since we had shared interests, I saw so many things that I would not have if I hadn't used Twitter on a regular basis.

I may not use Twitter regularly again, but I find that I no longer despise it. I may even pop back in every once in a while to see what people are talking about.

ENC 4416 Course Reflection

There have been so many new ideas that I've learned throughout my ENC 4416 course. It's amazing how many things you can learn in one semester from just one class. I've learned how to create web audits to doing long term projects with a group, to even understanding basic principles behind digital environments that I never thought of before. But the two most important things, or should I say interesting things I've learned this semester is of course the web audit as well as understanding digital environments, the content it holds and the spreadability of the content I produce.

I look back now at the beginning of the year and I think of all the websites I've ever been on, I never even thought of the principles behind the design or the content that's included on the page. There might have been times where I thought, "wow this page is ugly" or "I wish this page had more of ____ for me to read about or look at." but i never thought of what improvements could be made. Or even better, I didn't know what improvements could be made. I look at web pages now and I can immediately spot areas that need improvement. It could be the design of the web page, such as layouts, color, image placement (or the images themselves), font or even font size. It could also be the content that is actually included in on the page. I know now constitutes as important to have on the page as well as text that may just be unnecessary. Understanding the audience behind the page and knowing what people want and need contributes to how effective a page may be. This class has helped me to understand the factors behind a page that makes a page interesting, easy to understand and even likable.

This leads me to the second idea I've learned in this class and that's web audits. I didn't even know what a web audit was at the beginning of the class. Now that it's over, I know what it is and what's needed in it. My first web audit may not be the best, but if I keep learning and understanding pages, I will be able to create better and better audits. I was actually given an opportunity to do a web audit for my sister's company. It's a fairly small company and I have never seen their page before, but the first time I looked at it, I knew exactly what they needed fixed. I know I have a long way to go before I can do web audits professionally, but after this class audits don't seem as daunting as it first was when I started. It may actually be something I'd like to do in my spare time if I'm given the opportunity to do so.

Source: Think Digital Now