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DiamondLobby.com redesigned characters from Call of Duty, Zelda, Mario, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Horizon to see how they could look if they were non-white
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The designs were to promote ethnical diversity in gaming: a 2021 study showed that 61.2% of all preset video game characters are Caucasian
With only 5.3% of games releasing without any white characters — and with many of this small percentage relying on animal or otherwise non-human casts — the team at DiamondLobby worked to reimagine how popular games could have looked if they opted for more diverse characters.
Working with artist Hossein Kalantari, the designs were made to encourage diversity and to promote a more inclusive range of video game stars in the future.
“For an industry that prides itself on innovation, the world of gaming is certainly playing catch-up when it comes to ethnic diversity” said Ola Olayiwola, the brains behind the concept for each of the newly-designed characters.
“These images are visual representations of our ideas for how this can be improved.
“We’ve tried to avoid changing characters’ story arcs — we just want people from less-represented ethnicities to be able to see themselves as the main character in their favorite video games,” Ola added.
Each design was created to mimic the game’s original aesthetic and to follow the existing game lore as closely as possible, whilst opening things up to a wider variety of ethnicities and cultures.
Within the piece, characters range from African American females to British-Asian Sikh males.
“More often than not, characters with my ethnicity are relegated to minor roles. If you compare the level of representation to the reality of how many African, African-American, Black British and British-Asian people there are within the societies that games are often set in, I wouldn’t call it fair — and data backs this up.”
To see the original article, visit: https://diamondlobby.com/geeky-stuff/video-games-reimagined-with-ethnic-diversity/
About DiamondLobby
DiamondLobby exists to help people get better at the games they’re playing with 100% free-to-read guides. They donate prize pools to a number of small gaming communities, and also work on creative pieces, as well as research and data analysis, to encourage discussion for both entertainment and for driving positive industry change.