2023-12-05 15:51:42
Published5. December 2023, 4:51 p.m.
Diversity, gender, feminism: Video games that go “beyond the white guy stereotype”
In recent years, major studios have been striving to offer more inclusive video game universes. Latest example with the highly anticipated “GTA VI”, from Rockstar.
The character of Lucia, future star of “GTA VI”.
Rockstar/Take Two
Transgender heroes, Afro haircuts and indigenous peoples: studios are switching to more inclusive video games, under pressure from players, more demanding “representativeness” in characters and plots, and the impetus of a new generation of sensitive creators to these issues.
“Real questioning”
The most telling example: the introduction in the highly anticipated GTA VI of Lucia, the first playable female main character in the history of “Grand Theft Auto”, while the sulphurous franchise has been criticized for decades for its misogynistic and hypersexualized representations of women, and caricatures of minorities.
In an industry marked by high-profile cases of harassment (Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, etc.), “we are becoming more and more aware” of the need for a “more thoughtful” representation of female characters, Ashley Reed tells AFP , responsible for the narration of Apex Legends, published by Electronic Arts.
If there is a “real questioning” of the major studios since these cases, “the trigger comes mainly from the players”, explains to AFP, Jennifer Lufau, consultant on inclusion in video games and founder of ‘Afrogameuses, association advocating for better representation of black women in the video game industry. “It is because there is a real demand for representativeness in the content they consume, even more so with the rise of social networks”, that the studios “realize that there is diversity” among gamers, beyond the “white guy” stereotype, she adds, citing the example of a “bad buzz” around the game “Animal Crossing”.
“Sensitivity reviewers”
Star of confinement, this game which allows you to personalize your avatar as you wish, from clothes to haircut, was the subject, at the end of 2020, of a petition bringing together more than 50,000 signatures to protest against the absence of afro hairstyles in the available options. An update then repaired the oversight.
To avoid this kind of blunders from the design of games, studios appoint directors of inclusion, like Ubisoft since February 2021, to promote in particular the recruitment into creative teams of “talents” from diversity and/or more sensitive people. to these questions. Like the literary world, they also increasingly call on specialized consultants, “sensitivity readers” in English. This recent profession points out cultural inconsistencies both in scenarios and in visual representations, even if they are seen, by some, as censors.
A “powerful” medium
Aware that video games are a “powerful” medium for conveying “inclusive and progressive messages”, independent studios remain the first to have put these themes in the spotlight, like the French studio Dontnod, which caused a sensation in 2015 with the Life is Strange series for its credible representation of LGBT+ characters.
Native languages and indigenous peoples are also highlighted by the studio, from the game Tell Me Why with the Alaskan Tlingits, to Banishers, where the actor lending his voice to one of the main characters took “a few lessons in scot gaelic to make sure he pronounces (his) few sentences correctly”.
But this trend is not always welcome, like the controversy surrounding Starfield, a very popular game which allows you to choose your gender and associated pronoun when creating your character. Enough to provoke the anger of certain players, like that of HeelvsBabyface, a British YouTuber, who went viral in September, for his diatribe filled with insults in which he deplores that the publisher Bethesda has inserted “ideology » in his favorite game.
(AFP)
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