2023-12-11 09:53:38
Studios are increasingly interested in inclusive video games, so that they integrate transgender heroes, indigenous peoples and Afro hairstyles, due to pressure from users, who want more “representativeness” in the characters and intrigues.
The clearest example of this trend is the introduction in the highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto 6” of Lucía, which will allow, for the first time in the saga, to use a female character as the main player. For decades, the franchise has been criticized for its misogynistic and hypersexualized depictions of women and caricatures of minorities.
In a sector marked by several cases of harassment (Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft…), “we are increasingly aware” of the need for a “more thoughtful” representation of female characters, Ashley Reed, head of narration, explains to AFP from “Apex Legends”, published by the American studio Electronic Arts.
Although with these cases of harassment the big studios have begun to change, “the trigger comes above all from the players,” says Jennifer Lufau, a consultant on inclusion in video games and founder of Afrogameuses, an association that seeks to improve the representation of black women in this sector.
“It is because there is a genuine demand for representativeness in the content they consume, and even more so with the rise of social networks,” that studios “realize that there is diversity” among players, beyond the stereotype of “man white,” he adds, giving as an example the stir that “Animal Crossing” caused.
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This video game, which was successful during confinement and allows you to customize your avatar with the clothes and hairstyle you want, was the subject of a petition at the end of 2020 – with more than 50,000 signatures – to protest against the absence of Afro hairstyles. among the possible options.
“I can’t believe it, Nintendo listened to us! We got inclusive hairstyles (…) Now my avatar looks like me!” said Taniesha Bracken, a Denver native and author of the petition, after the Japanese publisher make the modifications.
To avoid these oversights, studios hire inclusion directors, as Ubisoft did since February 2021, to promote the integration into creative teams of “talent” sensitive to diversity issues.
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So-called “sensitivity readers” are specialized consultants who point out cultural inconsistencies, both in scripts and visual representations. Some criticize them and call them censors.
“My role is really to explain to them how what they propose will be perceived and how they can avoid falling into some traps that will create stereotypes,” Lufau emphasizes.
Independent studios, aware that video games are a “powerful” medium to circulate “inclusive and progressive messages”, have been the first to adopt these themes, such as the French company Dontnod, which caused a sensation in 2015 with the series “Life is Strange” for its credible representation of LGBT+ characters.
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“We cannot compete with the big studios on the ground. We have to make our difference, and that’s how we achieve it,” explains its leader, Oskar Guilbert, who admits that he was rejected a dozen times before the Japanese publisher Square Enix took over. with the game.
The study also highlights native languages and indigenous peoples, as in the game “Tell Me Why”, with the Tlingits of Alaska, or in “Banishers”, where the actor who voices one of the main characters took Gaelic courses Scottish.
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