Portrayal and Representation Issues
Issues of representation across gender, sexuality, and race are a recurrent issue in video game culture. As such, this page documents the articles concerned with representation in games content. Not all the content collected here is critical - some commend particular studios and games for their diverse and inclusive portrayals.
Gender
- Hulk on Film Crit Hulk! Hulk Blog!: Oct 19. 2011: Goddammit video games, the first few hours of Arkham City is lots of fun, but super-duper sexist
- Latoya Peterson on Kotaku: Oct. 20, 2011: Sexism, character design, and the role of women in created worlds
- Kotaku: June 11, 2012: You'll 'want to protect' the new, less curvy Lara Croft
- Salon's response to these comments, from June 14, 2012: Lara Croft battles male jerks
- Alex Layne and Samantha Blackmon on ADA: 2013: Self-saving princess: Feminism and post-play narrative modding
- Chris Suellentrop on The New York Times: June 14, 2013: In the same boat, but not equals
- Larry Hester on Complex: Aug. 8, 2013: "Dragon's Crown" is out and no women were harmed
- Erik Kain on Forbes: Sept. 6, 2013: "Metal Gear Solid V" sexism controversy: all smoke and no fire?
- Stephen Beirne on Normally Rascal: Jan. 8, 2014: The threat of sexual violence in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
- Cara Ellison on Paste: Feb. 12, 2014: Games, Noir and the 17: Where are the women?
- David R. Hussey on Playthepast: Feb. 19, 2014: Assassin's Creed Week Part III: Women of the past
- Rodain "Nandrew" Joubert on QCF Design's own blog: Feb. 28, 2014: Female representation in Desktop Dungeons
- Mrsdawnaway on Big Tall Words: Mar. 14, 2014: It's a man's world: The implications of makeup in mass effect
- Mattias Lehman on Gentleman Gustaf: Mar. 15, 2014: Gender representation in League of Legends
- Katherine Cross on Feministing: Mar. 20, 2014: Not buying sexism: How inclusive games show hope for gaming culture
- Ria Jenkins on Introskeptive: Apr. 8, 2014: Chico's Tape 4
- Nate Ewert-Krocker on his personal blog: Apr. 22, 2014: JetMoto is the most subtly progressive hoverbike racing game of 1996
- Sara Davis on The Ontological Geek: Apr. 24, 2014: The sex class in BioWare Worlds
- Kate Reynolds on Feminism/Geekery: Apr. 25, 2014: Beyond: Two Souls - A lesson on internalized patriarchy
- Sun Tzu on The Border House: May 1, 2014: I am woman, hear me gank.
- Sarah Nixon on Not Your Mama's Gamer: May 15, 2014: Debunking the "lovable pervert"
- Anna K. on The Border House: May 21, 2014: Gender neutral cover art
- Cameron Kunzelman on Paste: May 28, 2014: In Watch Dogs, women are just victims and plot points
- Aja Romano on The Daily Dot: Aug. 25, 2014: Adult women are now the largest demographic in gaming
- Maddy Myers on Paste: Oct. 30, 2014: Femme doms of video games: Bayonetta doesn't care if she's not your kink
- Chris Preistman on Kill Screen: Oct. 22, 2014: Remaking the video game canon with Rachel Weil
- Eric Caoili on Gamasutra: Oct. 20, 2014: Breaking gender and racial barriers in Netrunner
- Ayla Arthur on Medium: Nov 10, 2014: On designing better women in games
- Dan Jolley on Gamasutra: Dec. 5, 2014: A few words about Dying Light
- Kate Gray on The Guardian: Jan. 21, 2015: Let me get something off my chest about boob physics in video games
- Sam Maggs on The Mary Sue: Jan. 13, 2015: Square Enix is the only publisher that would touch Life is Strange because it has a female protagonist
- Colin Campbell on Polygon: Jan. 26, 2015: Can gaming's great women characters be written by men?
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: Feb. 20, 2015: Mortal Combat X women to be more realistically proportioned, still probably wear absurd outfits
- Patricia Hernandez on Kotaku: Feb. 24, 2015: How video game breasts are made (and why they can go wrong)
- Sam Maggs on The Mary Sue: Feb. 26, 2015: I give up: Soul Calibur: Lost Swords hires hentai artist to design female "armor"
- Dean Takahashi on GamesBeat: Feb. 26, 2015: CrowdStar is all-in one mobile gaming for women with Covet Fashion
- Eddie Makuch on Gamespot: Mar. 3, 2015: Devs call for more diversity in game content
- Megan Farokhmanesh on Polygon: Mar. 3, 2015: How a soccer game taught boys about gender equality
- Carolyn Cox on The Mary Sue: Mar. 5, 2015: Study: Appealing to young women will help developers sell more games. Shocker.
- Victoria McNally on The Mary Sue: Mar. 6, 2015: Overwatch commits to body diversity with new female character who could totally bench press you
- Patricia Hernandez on Kotaku: Mar. 6, 2015: New Overwatch character shows Blizzard really is listening
- Luke Plunkett on Kotaku: Mar. 8 , 2015: PC game adds "Women in History" DLC
- Sam Maggs on The Mary Sue: Mar. 12, 1015: PBS Idea Channel explores how we explore gender - through The Sims
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: Mar. 23, 2015: Why can't Link be a girl in Legend of Zelda games? Spoiler: There's no reason
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: Apr. 8, 2015: Women in games segment addresses the gaming industry's gender problem on Australia's Good Game
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: Apr. 9, 2015: 12-year-old girl takes the gaming industry to task over paying for female characters
- Sam Maggs on The Mary Sue: May 1, 2015: The Mary Sue interview: H1Z1's Art Director on adding a playable female character to their game today
- Jessica Lachenal on The Mary Sue: May 3, 2015: Suit Up! Treyarch adds playable female characters to Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Jessica Lachenal on The Mary Sue: May 3, 2015: Aw Yiss: Batgirl is going to be a playable character in Batman: Arkham Knight
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: May 7, 2015: Star Wars Battlefront will let you be a female Stormtrooper, but don't even think about pink Vader (??)
- Jason Schreier on Kotaku: May 11, 2015: Sources: You can play as a woman in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
- Philip Kollar on Polygon: May 12, 2015: Atlus can do better than this creepy, porn-lite dungeon crawler
- Colin Campbell on Polygon: May 28, 2015: Finally, EA Sports' FIFA games will feature women players
- Owen S. Good on Polygon: May 31, 2015: FIFA 16's women need more to do, but playing Man City isn't the answer
- Dan Van Winkle on The Mary Sue: June 2, 2015: Nintendo's Splatoon doesn't make assumptions about player's gender
- Brian Crecente on Polygon: June 18, 2015: Sony was worried about a female protagonist in Killzone dev's new IP
- Feminist Frequency: June 22, 2015: Gender breakdown of games showcased at E3 2015
- Samit Sarkar on Polygon: June 30, 2015: Here's why you can't play as a woman in The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
- Jef Rounder on Houston Press: Sept 7, 2015: Why entitled male gamers can't stand critiques of Samus Aran
- Alisha Karabinus on NYMGamer: Sept 11, 2015: Breaking down the male gaze: On Metal Gear's quiet, controversy, and cheerleaders
- Anita Sarkeesian on Feminist Frequency: Oct 2, 2015: Assassin's Creed Syndicate review
- Justin Porter on The New York Times: Dec 28, 2015: Lara Croft Has Company: More Female Heroes Appear in Big-Budget Games
- Maddy Myers on The Mary Sue: Dec 28, 2015: It’s Trendy to Put a Woman in Your Big-Budget Videogame
LGBTQ
- Jordan Youngblood on ADA: 2013: "C'mon! Make me a man!": Personal 4, digital bodies, and queen potentiality
- Samantha Allen on Polygon: Apr. 2, 2014: Closing the gap between queer and mainstream games
- Mitch Alexander on GayGamer: Mar. 3, 2014: Queer mechanic #5: Queering the male gaze
- Albert Hwang on The Ontological Geek: Apr. 17, 2014: From Jaheira to Liara: A brief survey of Bioware romances
- Mata Haggis on Gamasutra: Apr. 17, 2014: Diversity, Halo, and the 'sexual/political agenda' of Fragments of Him
- Emily Gera on Polygon: Apr. 18, 2014: Meet the gay soldier you didn't know was in Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
- Tony Sarkees on Electro Bureau, Issue 2: Crafting your core
- Todd Harper on Stay Classy: May 30, 2014: The subtle knife
- Todd Harper on Stay Classy: Oct. 14, 2014: Queer characters in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel
- Jayne Pea on Gameranx: Dec. 19, 2014: GTA5 and transphobia: Exploring Rockstar's troubling imagery
- Danielle Riendeau on Polygon: Jan. 13, 2015: Game jam created in memory of Leelah Alcorn, transgender teen who committed suicide
- Rachel Weber on GamesIndustry.biz: Jan. 23, 2015: Dragon Age: Inquisition recognized by GLAAD
- Jeffrey Matulef on EuroGamer: Feb. 4, 2015: League of Legends tournament openly discriminates against LGBT players (later reverses decision due to Riot Games, League developing company, stepping in)
- Jessica Conditt on Engadget: Feb. 27, 2015: Masquerada's gay characters are defined by humanity, not sexuality
- Joe Donnel on Kotaku: Mar. 5. 2015: How one game helped me reject homophobia
- On GamePolitics: Apr. 3, 2015: 'Pillars of Eternity' update offers a ton of fixes, but doesn't address an in-game trans joke
- Joe Morgan on GayStarNews: Apr. 15, 2015: Mortal Kombat reveals first gay character
- James Fudge on GamePolitics.com: May 4, 2015: Steam Greenlight highlights hate-crime game, 'Kill the F*ggot'
- Steam responds May 5, 2015: Homophobic game gets pulled from Steam Greenlight, developer issues statement
- Johnny Chiodini on EuroGamer: May 29, 2015: Video: LGBTI characters in games are important
- Rachel Weber on GamesIndustry.biz: June 12, 2015: Riot donating LCS tournament fines to LGBTQ charity
- Brian Ashcroft on Kotaku: July 6, 2015: Why some people are calling Fire Emblem Fates 'homophobic'
- Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody on The Mary Sue: Sept 1, 2015: Metroid's Samus Aran is a trangender woman. Deal with it
Race/Nationality
- Sidney Fussell on Salon: Dec 11, 2013: Video games’ race problem goes all the way to the top
- David R. Hussey on Playthepast: Feb. 16, 2014: Assassin's Creed Week Part II: Native relations and slavery
- Reid McCarter on Digital Love Child: Mar. 25, 2014: Missing representation and Infamous: Second Son
- Phill Alexander on Not Your Mama's Gamer: Apr. 17, 2014: Red Dead Redemption and the myth of the noble savage
- Sidney Fussell on Medium: Apr. 17:, 2014: Being black and nerdy
- Corey Milne on Kill Screen: May 1, 2014: What does it mean to be an Irish videogame character?
- Gita Jackson on Paste: May 9, 2014: The Chicago of Watch Dogs vs. The Chicago of reality
- Shivam Bhatt on Gamasutra: May 21, 2014: On Far Cry 4 and respect
- Jim Ralph on The Ontological Geek: May 21, 2014: Is Kratos black?
- Tom Dawson on The Ontological Geek: May 26, 2014: Human resources
- LeSean Payne on Polygon: Aug. 13, 2014: A life spent gaming while black
- Adrienne Shaw on University of Minnesota Press: Jan. 21, 2015: #INeedDiverseGames and why representation in games matters
- PBS Game/Show: Why are NPCs still racist? (video)
- Evan Narcisse on Polygon: Feb. 19, 2015: Video games' blackness problem
- Kate Chironis on Gamasutra: Mar. 2, 2015: "But it's not historically accurate!" - Diversity in Elsinore
- Philip Kollar on Polygon: Mar. 6, 2015: Black developers speak out on stereotypes in gaming
- Michael McWhertor on Polygon: Mar. 6, 2015: How Bungie made Destiny's tower 'feel like home' to international players
- Patricia Hernandez on Kotaku: Mar. 13, 2015: Someone actually tried testing out if GTA V cops are "racist"
- Kristina Bell, Nicholas Taylor and Christophe Kampe on ADA New Media: Issue No. 7: 2015: Of headshots and hugs: challenging hyper-masculinity through The Walking Dead play
- Charline Jao on The Mary Sue: June 4, 2015: New #GamesSoWhite hashtag discusses diversity in gaming
- Jef Rounder on Houston Press: June 5, 2015: Would you believe there have been only 14 playable black women in gaming?
- From GamePolitics: July 2, 2015: 'Gaming in Color' now available on Steam
- David Mullich: Feb29, 2016: #MarioSoWhite: The Lack Of Racial Diversity In Games
General
- Charlie Hall on Polygon: Mar. 5, 2015: The games industry is wrong about kids, gaming, and gender
- Jason Wilson on VentureBeat: Mar. 6, 2015: Talisman and its fans create special DLC character to help disabled-gamer charity
- Colin Campbell on Polygon: Mar. 6, 2015: Professor highlight's gaming's tendency to shame overweight people
- Joe Parlock on Polygon: Mar. 31, 2015: Writing characters, not symptoms: a gamer with autism discusses what our hobby gets wrong
- Jon Fingas on Engadget: Apr. 22, 2015: Why video game bodies look nothing like real people
- Kevin Wong on Gamasutra: May 20, 2015: Vanishing point postmortem
Diverse and Multi-Faceted Representations
Although the focus of games journalism is often the lack of diverse and complex representations in video games, commentary also emerges that recognizes particular games and development teams as exemplary.
- Jacob Dubé on Motherboard: Dec 5, 2017: This game developer wants to create space for Indigenous stories
- Strength Gamer: Aug 22, 2013: How #SaintsRowIV is the answer to #Sexism in gaming
- This piece describes the things you can do in Saints Row IV because of the apparent lack of gender norms or limits.
- Laura Hardgrave on Den of Geek: Nov 5, 2015: Overwatch: Diversity in Gaming Done Right