When was the last time you got to play an Inuit or a Malaysian in a video game?
A comprehensive survey of game characters has found that the video game industry does no better than television in representing society, in America at least.
For example, it found that fewer than 3 per cent of video game characters were recognisably Hispanic, and all of them were non-playable, background characters.
Stupid white men
Women, children and the elderly also were underrepresented. For example, only 10 per cent of playable characters surveyed were female, though women now make up 40 per cent of video game players.
African-Americans appeared in proportion to their numbers in the US, but mainly in sports games and in titles that reinforce stereotypes, such as 50 Cent Bulletproof. Unsurprisingly, men, whites and adults were overrepresented.
The study, conducted by the University of Southern California, encompassed the top 150 games in American over a year, across nine platforms and all rating levels, and weighted by each title's popularity. The researchers admit that many games feature non-human characters, and many are first-person games where the player never sees himself or herself. The study only included visible characters that were clearly human.
"In television, it was always a landmark moment when some minority or disenfranchised group appeared on the screen for the first time," said psychology professor Dmitri Williams. "That kind of visibility is really the first step toward leading to public consciousness and equal treatment. These cultural markers matter."
He also had a word of advice for game developers: "These are highly under-served groups. It's a missed sales opportunity."
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jerryku
August 6th 2009
5. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090729140931.htm I think this is a better write up of the story. More detail and accuracy.
Anyway, they chose the top 150 games in a single year (March 2005-Feb 2006), and weighted them for popularity, to come up with the study. Gears of War and Just Cause came out in the last half of 2006, so that explains why "no playable Hispanic" was in the games in the study.
The article also mentions that Latinos play more games than whites. And the study took into account games where you can customize your character, too.
The full 21 page study is here:
http://dmitriwilliams.com/VirtualCensusFinal.pdf
I guess when it comes down to it, whoever controls the means of media production will always put themselves out in front. This is pretty disturbing on a basic democratic level though. For example, if you're a conservative and most people in the media are liberal, then your chances of election victory are a bit tougher. Similarly, if I see a group of people making video games that make themselves out into the heroes and every other group into either the enemies or distant support characters, it makes you wonder why people are so inclined to retreat into their ethnic comfort zones when living out their fantasy, and whether or not that kind of thinking extends to real life practices such as employment, voting behavior, and such.
After all, if "Race X" people are constantly making and retreating into fantasies (like games) where "Race Y and Z" do not exist in a substantial manner, it makes you wonder what that implies. Do such people dream of an America that is more Race X? Does that make them happier?
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pimlicosound
July 30th 2009
4. No playable Hispanics? Presumably they just skipped over Gears of War 2 and Just Cause. I guess they also didn't take account of games like Mass Effect and Fallout 3 where players can create their own characters, of any race.
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padstar
July 30th 2009
3. This really is a bit a of a non statistic. The Elderly and Children are under represented? I would imagine this is because its easier to write interesting games for fit and (relatively) healthy young men than it is for pensioners. And if adult white men are over represented its because they have been the ones who historically have created and played computer games, although this maybe changing with the Wii and DS.
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ripsnorter
July 30th 2009
2. Pish and tosh! I blew away scores of Latinos in Grand Theft Auto! Now if only someone would bring out a game in which you can off the Inuit. Those seal-clubbing *******s have got it coming!
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caimbeul
July 30th 2009
1. Well it would depend on where and when the game was set and whether it was approriate for a particular minority to be there.
Generally if you look in many games there are plenty of so called 'minorites'. All of this PC stuff is getting silly these days.
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