Avatars and playable characters; one of the most prominent beacons of identity, windows of interaction, and anchors of presence in digital spaces. We relish in the opportunity they provide to embody ideals, see the world through new lenses, craft and explore identities, and share our truth. But there is a glaring lack of representation in playable characters and avatar creation systems which leaves a gaping hole of identities missing from digital worlds and further feeds negative ideas about who gets to occupy space.
A few statistics:
Individuals with disabilities, individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community, ciswomen and transwomen, and individuals who don’t identify as non-Hispanic whites are particularly inadequately represented in games. A study of 810 games conducted by DiamondLobby found that :
> 79.2% of main protagonists were male.
> 66.3% of playable characters were male, only 27.7% were female and 5.8% were non-binary.
> 31.7% of games had only had male playable characters.
> 54.2% of main characters were white and 61.2% of playable characters were white.
> 9.5% of games only had white protagonists.
Another study which focused more on the representation of characters with disabilities, found that out of 108 reviewed games, only 0.99% had playable characters with disabilities.
A study that looked at the affordance of avatar creation systems of popular social platforms found that all but one of the participants were not satisfied with the extent to which they were able to represent their disability in their avatar.
This list could go on and on…
What can we do about it?!
Games are already expensive to develop and extra “identities” represented = extra assets that need to be created = extra time and money spent on the development. Developers focus on catering to the masses, ignoring the wants and needs of minority groups.
Have you ever felt inadequately represented by your avatar? Have you ever felt exhausted by the common tropes of available playable characters in games?
5 responses to “Design Considerations For Representation In Video Games and Avatar Creation Systems”
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Hi Danielle, your topic is very novel to me. I have not personally experienced feeling inadequately represented by an avatar. Nevertheless, these questions raise important concerns regarding diversity and representation in the gaming industry. Many individuals across different communities have called for increased diversity and inclusivity in avatar representation and playable characters in video games. I believe game developers have demonstrated increased awareness of inclusivity and are endeavoring to create more comprehensive and equitable gaming experiences.
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Very insightful post! I also have a friend who has hearing impairment. But she hardly can find someone with hearing-aid in the games we play. She once mentioned it in our chitchat.
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Hi，Danielle，really like your blog and I really have observations on the topic you mention. In a lot of games, female characters are portrayed as damsels in distress, mirroring the male-dominated player base.
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Hi，Danielle，really like your blog and I really have observations on the topic you mention. In a lot of games, female characters are portrayed as damsels in distress, mirroring the male-dominated player base.
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Hi，Danielle，your blog inspires me a lot! I completely agree that a conspicuous absence of representation in playable characters and avatar creation systems leaves a substantial gap in the spectrum of identities within digital realms. This absence perpetuates negative notions about who deserves visibility and space in these environments.
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