In the documentary Gaming in Color, director Philip Jones calls attention to the marginalized, LGBT gamer community as well as issues of gender representation in the video game industry. The film is composed of several individual interviews that touch upon the same broad topic of LGBT gamers. The propositions advanced in the documentary offer temporary relief to marginalized gamers, but in order to ensure that gamers are not persecuted based on sexual orientation or gender, a new empathetic perspective has to be adopted by gamers as well as by video game designers.
The film begins by explaining what a game is and the effects games can have on players. The documentary discusses the idea of escapism, which is the idea that players indulge in …show more content…
The documentary calls attention to the fact that the majority of mainstream games, such as Grand Theft Auto, are tailored to the white, male, heterosexual audience and as a result other groups, such as gay and women gamers, are marginalized. Most of those interviewed in the film brought up the topic of underrepresentation and misrepresentation of LGBT characters in video games. For example, writer and video game editor, Jessica Vasquez, speaks about the lack of female protagonist in video games and talks on her experiences as a female gamer. Vasquez describes how the video game industry is male dominated and lacks diversity within the games it produces. The lack of gender diversity within the video game industry gives rise to biases within video games that can be observed without even playing a video …show more content…
Online gamers should be educated about the diversity of online gamers in order for them to switch their perspectives on gay and queer gamers. In addition, the video game industry needs to implement more diverse characters in their video games. For example, as mentioned in the documentary, the "Grand Theft Auto" series does not feature any female protagonists as their main characters. Video game series and "triple A" budget games should take initiative to depict more LGBT and female protagonist to diversify the video game market. Big video game franchises should take the initiative in depicting LGBT and women protagonist as main characters in their video games in order for there to be a new perspective towards marginalized gamers. With the implementation of diverse characters in video games, marginalized gamers will feel less excluded and gamers will be able to witness diversity within video games. If there is a diverse amount of video games that depict LGBT and female characters, a new perspective towards gay and women gamers can be adopted. As founding member or Geek Squad, Joey Stern, suggests there needs to be types of games that foster and encourage the acceptance of diverse gamers. With the implementation of diverse video games that depict LGBT and women gamers, the video game community can begin to learn how to look past their
The film begins by explaining what a game is and the effects games can have on players. The documentary discusses the idea of escapism, which is the idea that players indulge in …show more content…
The documentary calls attention to the fact that the majority of mainstream games, such as Grand Theft Auto, are tailored to the white, male, heterosexual audience and as a result other groups, such as gay and women gamers, are marginalized. Most of those interviewed in the film brought up the topic of underrepresentation and misrepresentation of LGBT characters in video games. For example, writer and video game editor, Jessica Vasquez, speaks about the lack of female protagonist in video games and talks on her experiences as a female gamer. Vasquez describes how the video game industry is male dominated and lacks diversity within the games it produces. The lack of gender diversity within the video game industry gives rise to biases within video games that can be observed without even playing a video …show more content…
Online gamers should be educated about the diversity of online gamers in order for them to switch their perspectives on gay and queer gamers. In addition, the video game industry needs to implement more diverse characters in their video games. For example, as mentioned in the documentary, the "Grand Theft Auto" series does not feature any female protagonists as their main characters. Video game series and "triple A" budget games should take initiative to depict more LGBT and female protagonist to diversify the video game market. Big video game franchises should take the initiative in depicting LGBT and women protagonist as main characters in their video games in order for there to be a new perspective towards marginalized gamers. With the implementation of diverse characters in video games, marginalized gamers will feel less excluded and gamers will be able to witness diversity within video games. If there is a diverse amount of video games that depict LGBT and female characters, a new perspective towards gay and women gamers can be adopted. As founding member or Geek Squad, Joey Stern, suggests there needs to be types of games that foster and encourage the acceptance of diverse gamers. With the implementation of diverse video games that depict LGBT and women gamers, the video game community can begin to learn how to look past their