Do you think developers should do more to promote diversity in games?

It looks like games are catching up with the times. It's no longer about the white dude with the gun. We are seeing more diverse characters in games, which is a good thing. Do you think developers should do more to promote diversity in games? I think making Ellie a lesbian was a big turning point in games. I can't remember any other major game characters that are gay. We are also seeing more black heroes and female leads. What do you think will be next?

No just let it happen, there's always been a bit of diversity in games.

Ellie was a lesbian in the first one. Horrible taste in women, though.

@SolidGame_basic:

It's best to come off naturally. If it makes sense with the game then let it happen but it's never a good thing when it's forced.

I want developers to do whatever they feel like it. Be it creatively or business wise.

Don't honestly care

Yes. Gaming is for everyone. Whether people like it or not. Oh well.

However, it should not be forced but done smoothly.

Leave the freakin politics out of gaming, in fact, leave it out of most everything. Bringing it into everything is only a cunning ploy by the leftist commies to divide and conquer. :P

Depends if it's a cool diversity.

The ones that cater to the left are usually cringey monstrosities

Thwe ones that cater to the alt-right Trump voters are usually awesome.

What do you mean with diversity? Diversity in gaming means more than just gender and racial and religious and cultural diversity. Gender, race, religion and culture tend to be very minor and weak elements of video games. They are more details than features or things that you remember a game by. Diversity is much more about types of challenges and actions and use of technology. The interactions you have with the game. The length of the game. The twists. The emotional highs and lows. The price and budget of the game. I believe that the word diversity is being abused a little for political reasons. I suppose it sounds better that way? But that doesn't really make it an applicable term. I've always been for more diversity, in the sense of innovation and new angles and settings. And I'm not going to pretend that diversity is only about race and gender, or that games lacked diversity because they lacked diversity in race and gender.

Diversity in race and gender are things that have never bothered me. I've never noticed a lack of diversity in race and gender in video games. And I don't see much of a change. But if people are really upset about a lack of racial/gender diversity then I am all for them complaining about it. I am someone who loves playing all sorts of games. I get bored with a game very easily. So if more diversity in race and gender means that we actually get more diverse games then I am very interested in it. Otherwise I don't see much of a point. And it looks like a trend that could get boring pretty quickly. I don't find exploring genders and sexual relationships between genders all THAT interesting in itself unless that somehow impacts the gameplay in interesting ways.

Of course that's MY opinion and if there is a market for games that present specific or all races and genders then sure, I'm not against it. Out of all the diversity being pushed for I am most interested in exploring new cultures. And times, even. Except that the same people pushing for this very limited scope of diversity are also the ones who don't want a historically accurate game. So I guess that's not part of their diversity? They don't want Warhorse Studio's to explore Bohemia in the 15th century which I thought was an excellent example of how more diversity can be awesome in video games. They didn't just diverse in culture and time but also in gameplay elements and the visual accuracy of the buildings for instance. I thought that was beautiful but the media was turned against them for sake of a lack of diversity in their game. I'm still angry about that. That's a good example of this political diversity crowd shooting themselves in the foot.

What I HOPE will be next is substantial things like Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Make it about a different culture and show things from that culture with music and colors from that culture. Make race more than just a decorative thing in a game. Make character customization cooler by being able to select more meaningful background stories. Do MGS or Civilisation style background information about scenes and items in the game. If you have skin color options let us choose a voice with accent that suits it better (cause I've picked a white person more than once because there was only one voice actor). You know: make it feel like more than just a color palette or background swap, do something with it, make it cool or substantial or real. But I don't need that in every game. Like I've said many times on this forum: I want my games to stay diverse. So I don't want all my games to be about cultures or races. I don't want all my games to have all races in it. I don't think they should all do the same thing. And I also don't believe that games hold in any way a responsibility to depict people or cultures accurately in any way. You can go too far to the point of no respect, but you will be punished for that by the audience. You don't need a witchhunt for that.

No let devs do whatever they want..if they want a gay or transgendered black, brown, or yellow main character they should be allow to without getting the shit...& if they want a white main character they should be allow to without the shit either. :P

How about just work on making good games. I don't care what race, sex, etc people are as long as it makes sense.

I don't mind, honestly. If the developer wants to promote a more diverse cast in their games, then that's fine with me. Even if it's sort of forced in, I don't really care either way. Video games have many unique and alternative heroes from short little plumbers to dinosaurs, wombats, blue hedgehogs, white buff men and men with hair bigger than their heads. I think normalizing character with different skin tones, sexual preferences or genders is totally fine with me.

I don't really mind if it's forced in either, as long as it's the developer's artistic expression. I do genuinely believe developers want to make a more diverse cast of characters, as much as there are other developers who don't. And both are fine by me.

Who really cares about this? I say leave it up to the developers and their creative freedom. I never think about this crap when I play a game period. One huge issue with the world today is all of this political correctness. So sick of this shit.

Right on, right on, right on !!!

Lol :P

No

Can't say I care much. It's currently going in a good direction I guess, and I think we should just let it do that in its' own pace. I only ask for good games, and characters that fit the games. I like all races, sexes bodyshapes, whatever. As long as they fit the game and aren't made solely to get plus points for being "socially correct", I'm cool.

Diversity is fine, but DON’T force it or promote it so much.

Good Diversity:

Saints Row 3/4: You can bang any man, woman or robot on the ship.

Mass Effect 1-3: Optional Romances, not too extreme.

MGS1-5: Probably the most diverse cast in gaming, Bi sexual vampires, every race, robots that moo lol

Bad Diversity:

The Last Jedi: Bashing Staight White Males, Men are stupid/emasculated, extreme leftist/feminism views

Ghostbusters: If you don’t watch this movie, you are a sexist/racist

There is a huge difference. All for diversity, but don’t force it or ram it down my throat.

Yeah I think so.

Yes.

Gaming should be as apolitical as possible. Most gamers want to entertained, not subject to ideology or politics.

Let devs make the games they want to make. They can be inclusive and progressive if they feel like it, but it isn't a fucking video game developer's obligation to lead a moral crusade.

@SecretPolice: I think you need to leave politics out of how you view minorities and just view them as people. Keep thinking of everything not like you as politics or some agenda and it'll be hard for you to enjoy things.

@uninspiredcup: all 4 of those examples are honestly terrible. the first 2 didn't try all that hard, and probably didn't do much research to get examples of what looks right. The other two are just pitiful eye candy

@Celsius765:

Wut? I have no freaking idea where you're getting that from. Me thinks you think you're a mind reader and trust me you're not because in no way you can be saying that to me based on what I posted here.

Now, scram. lol :P

This generation has been fantastic when it comes to diversity. Indie devs, in particular, have been doing an amazing job bringing dead genres, and the experimentation of the early days, back to the mix.

@PAL360: he's not talking about this kind of diversity.

Ham fisting it in because some crybaby snowflakes want to see their exact genderless elfkin dragon personality represented by a character in a game isn't good character creation and development.

A human being should be able to identify and feel what a character is feeling regardless of that characters ethnicity, gender, sexuality or beliefs.

I identify with female characters in games all the time, but am definitely not a woman. I don't need to be.

@recloud: Didn't read the whole post. But i agree anyway.

What would be Next? Just by observing how the Left wants to push their SJ and PC agenda I can see games with plots like:

A gender fluid heroperson
In a land ruled by perfect Socialism
Fighting a Cis White male

Yes, the other 2 are absowootely diisgusimings.

Stop.

Not especially, I think we're doing ok.

Gamers are diverse and the games should reflect this. Gaming is a business and catering to gamers has always been part of the ritual. Saying it should not be forced is a cop out because that argument is never made when gamers complain about anything else in which the developer includes in a patch or the next iteration of the game. If gamers want something developers typically make it happen.

So games like...

-Elder Scrolls (Morrowind and Skyrim being the most political, at least that I've played)

-Witcher (I'm not a fan, but does have it's place)

-Wolfenstein reboots

-Beyond Good and Evil (first game bombed anyway and wouldn't survive this era in politics either, part of the reason I'm worried for BGE2 alongside the super-long development)

-Kingdom Come: Deliverance (a game LOVED by those super-critical of the SocJus)

-Fallout: New Vegas

-Sid Meier's Civilization series

-Far Cry 4 and 5

-Mass Effect series

...all have no place in games because of politics?

If you want games that aren't political, plenty out there.

I think he's referring to advertising your own as a means of propaganda, than a game objectively exploring it.

Yes. Keep pouring salt to racist, homophobic, xenophobic and sexists Trump supporters.

Which a couple of the games I mentioned above either were accused of such (Wolfenstein, particularly New Colossus) or could be (Beyond Good and Evil, a game influenced by Ancel's own politics)?

@uninspiredcup: you must hate the Bioshock series then, since it's a completely political series.

gender diversity?

no

for these reasons.

1. I am male, I am highly represented, I dont think its my place to suggest either way, I think that is up to the women.

2. if you are going to put a woman in a role that is just running around killing things and being pissed off then that really doesnt help society.

I think developers should focus on other kinds of diversity. like diversity of game play.

EVERYTHING doesnt ahve to involve killing something

Eh? Not sure what you're trying to argue here, but I don't. Bioshock is a rehash of System Shock 2 and 3 is a bloated pretentious mess.

I like 2, because of A) Better gameplay and B) Frankenstein.

Mary Shellys.

You know, a book that just happens to be by woman, praised for being good, and not because it's a woman doing a thing.

@uninspiredcup: you missed the point.

The game criticizes Ayn Rand and capitalism HEAVILY.

Bioshock 2 has multiple endings up to the player. Including a leftist lamo "forgive" option.

This game is not forced propaganda. By any stretch, nor do I actually give a shit in the first place.

sorry guys but 'have more female leads' is NOT a political position unless there is a counter position to that position on substance of the position itself

Yeah, but don't act like it's a big deal. When you don't cater exclusively to dudes, they get a little sensitive about it.

@uninspiredcup: have you listened to the audio tapes? You probably didn't.

'there could be more women leads in gaming'

is not a political position unless its 1920

Trying very desperately to make out it's some piece of developers political propaganda. First taking someone else's argument, then taking a game out of content, now assumptions on your end.

Will the evil that is extreme leftest never cease.

'the evil that is extreme'

like what exactly? 'there should be more women leads in gaming' is an 'extreme position'?

I was told its not the position, its the tactic. now you are saying its a position? so what is the counter position?

'that there should not be more female leads in gaming'

that is the ONLY way its a political position. no other way around it.

there MUST be a counter position ON SUBSTANCE in order for it to be a political position