White Male Protagonists in Video Games

Since the beginning of the video game industry, white protagonists have been pretty much what is considered to be the “norm”, the default, and the “go-to” for video games. Iconic characters like Mario from Super Mario (1985), Doom Guy from DOOM (1993), and MegaMan from Mega Man (1987), have set a standard for the future of video games forever, making it a trend for video game developers to have their heroes to be white and male for their audience. This problem has been brought up, however, was never brought out to the light because of how it was considered to be irrelevant. But, there have been many video games that have been put into the mix that have been catching the eyes of many gamers, and it is still growing. Games have been going outside the norm and sending out something new for gamers to experience, a protagonist that was either/both of a different race or female. Releasing these games made a statement to the community and with it came a rise in diversity within video games.

There is a sea of video game titles that feature a white, male protagonist, however, there have been games that shocked fans when it came to the “big reveal” that the protagonist went outside of what was considered to be normal in video games (Prebble, The Guardian). By releasing games that were outside of what was considered as “normal” in video games, a developer was throwing away its business in the trash, those developers being Square Enix, Bioware, and Nintendo. The games that showed the specific change and diversity within the gaming community was The Tomb Raider (1996) which featured a British, female protagonist named Lara Croft, Metroid (1987) which shocked its players by revealing that the protagonist, Samus Aran, was a female hero, and Mass Effect 3 (2012) where the hero, Commander Shepard, was a white male, but switched to a female protagonist in order to pay homage to its female players. These titles brought attention to the problem that too many games have always had a white and/or male protagonist, and has proved to the gaming community that a non dominant and/or female lead to a video game can be just as amazing as its male lead predecessors (Porter, Gale Group).

Titles that presented a lead that was female and/or another ethnicity may not have reached the same level of praise as its white/male counterparts, but the influence it made on other developers was substantial. Due to the release of a few games with a female lead, inspiration within the gaming community led developers to push out titles with more diversity, however, it was still considered as the “go-to” for video game titles to feature a white male lead. This is because women in video games are heavily sexualized; they’re seen as someone in need of saving, some princess, a toy, or are even given clothing and armor that is way too revealing to audiences, and they are rarely seen as a hero and/or someone who is powerful and can be just as cool as a white male protagonist (Han, ProQuest).

In recent years, the appearance of white/male protagonists in video games seems to be lower than usual. There are titles being pushed out by developers that lets players be given the choice to either be a male or female lead in the game’s story, and also, giving players more freedom by giving the ability to choose their avatar’s preferred love interests within a game, and with this resulting in more diverse communities into the video game community (Turner, ProQuest). This type of freedom is present in games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018), Tom Clancy’s The Division (2016), and The Last of Us (2013), where players are either presented with a character that is associated with the LGBT community or gives player a choice to choose their own sexual orientation.

In the video game community, it is widely ignored that women play video games just as much as men do, but are unfortunately, almost totally forgotten about by fellow male players. There are a variety of titles in the video game industry that have an online experience to go head to head with other players all over the world; these games being Fortnite: Battle Royale, Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. Due to the running joke and assumption that women, apparently, do not play video games, it is an all out war to get the attention of that female player within an online game, and this has become an ongoing problem since very start of competitive, online gaming. Presence of women in video games needs to be brought to light that women play video games as much as males and should be treated just like any ordinary gamer as a part of the video game community, whether the game is a triple A title or an indie game.

Diversity in games needs to be brought to the attention of the people who are present in the gaming community, and also those who are outside of it, whether developers of the title may feature a female hero and/or even the hero being a non dominant race in society to their audiences. With only but a handful of video game titles featuring a hero that is of a different culture and/or a protagonist who is female, both common and major developers should try to remember this problem with common titles today, for these titles are the beginning that will bring more attention to this problem in order to bring much needed diversity within future video game titles. Future triple A video game titles that are bringing video game titles that bring much needed attention and diversity to the video game industry are Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which features a Japanese protagonist taking place within the mythological lore of the Japanese culture, Ghost of Tsushima that brings yet another Japanese protagonist, Jin Sakai (Daisuke Tsuji), that focuses on the story of the last samurai during the Mongol invasion of Japan, and in the process of doing so, introducing audiences to Japanese history, Gears 5 that, for the first time in the past five video game titles, lets players step into the shoes of the female protagonist, Kait Diaz, and lastly, Anthem that gives players a vast amount of customization to suit their playstyle, beginning their journey by allowing players to select the gender of their avatar to play throughout the game. These are just a few titles that are taking note of the much needed change and diversity in video game titles. Attention to this problem in the video game industry will sooner or later be known to the community, especially with the upcoming titles that will be released soon, and change will eventually follow. Specifically, what is considered to be what is “normal” for video game titles to feature a white and/or male protagonist will soon change over to a much more different selection of heroes that will leave gamers wondering why there weren’t even more characters that went outside of what was “normal”.