There has been a lot written on inclusive game design: everything from what it is to how to achieve it. And yet, as much as the industry has changed over the years, the primary target audience, with few exceptions, has remained young, white, heterosexual men. But, from the perspective of the industry, does such a narrow focus make sense?
Trying Not to Alienate One’s Core Consumers
One of the problems with inclusive game design is that it has the potential to alienate the audience that was being catered to previously. While it may not seem like a big deal for one game out of ten to feature a non-white, non-male, and/or non-heterosexual protagonist (who is presented in a non-stereotyped, non-objectified way), when players are used to being represented in every game they play, being asked to play outside of their comfort zone can cause a backlash. An example of this (discussed in greater detail in my paper “Idealizing Fantasy Bodies”) can be found in the reaction to the Blood Elf models in World of Warcraft, where the original slender model was changed because many fans were upset that the body type did not match that of the other male models.
This feeling of alienation is not confined to the way that avatars are represented in games, either. Although the reception of the Nintendo Wii has been pretty positive, there are some gamers who have taken exception to not being the sole targeted group. On Level Up, Tyler Bleszinski has written about his concerns that the casual gamer market will overshadow the hardcore one in a post entitled “He, For One, Does Not Welcome Our New Wii Overlords.” After opening with a personal anecdote on his surprise and distaste over an older woman buying Cooking Mama and Wii Play, Tyler sums up his personal feelings on the direction the market is taking: “So while the business of the Wii has [sic] great for Nintendo … it’s thus far been ugly when it comes to the experiences beloved by core gamers like myself.”
While Tyler’s case may be on the extreme end of the spectrum, the underlying feeling is part of a larger unease with the presence of women who game, which manifests itself in the harassment, objectification, and otherwise dismissive behavior towards women that can be witnessed on mainstream gaming sites, and is well documented by websites and news articles.
The question then becomes: how much of your target audience do you actually alienate by inclusive game design? Does it outweigh the potential consumer base that can be gained by including other groups? Although it is too early to know for certain which strategy will hold up in the long term, it is worth noting that Nintendo has been successfully working outside of the traditional, “hardcore” demographic for some time; first with the GameBoy and its successors, then to a lesser extent with the GameCube bowing out of the hardware race, and most recently with the Wii and its aggressive advertising campaign aimed at casual and non-gamers.
Considering the Costs of Inclusion
Another argument that is often brought up is the cost in developing extra content. If the potential romantic storylines are to have both heterosexual and homosexual possibilities, then the homosexual one must be added. If the player has the option to play either a male or a female, then the female character models must be added. If a character can have a skin color other than white, then extra skins must be added.
Game companies already know that pandering to the traditional target audience works. If they go outside of what they know then they are taking a risk that it might not pan out. They have to gamble that the profit from the game will justify the added content, and even then they will wonder how much of that extra profit, if any, has come from the group or groups they were trying to include.
But stop for a moment and think about the language that was just used, above. Consider the possibility that viewing inclusive game design as an “extra” might be part of the problem. When designers plan out a game from a white, heterosexual man’s perspective, then the primary thought, effort, and time will go into developing that side of things, and so it is only natural that any inclusion, since it is an afterthought, will be seen as an “added cost.” But if designers plan from the beginning on including diverse and inclusive characters, and develop their games accordingly, if money and time become tight it won’t be the diversity that gets thrown out but rather truly superfluous elements, such as an extra costume, or a stand-alone side quest, or an item whose potential presence has no real influence on the game.
Even without the question of added costs, however, there remains the problem of how effective inclusive game design is in attracting a diverse audience. The answer to that is: on its own, it’s probably not very. Inclusive game design on its own may make gamers who already have an interest in the product feel more positive about it. They will likely tell their friends, which may minimally increase the sales, but not in a statistically significant way.
This is where advertising comes in. If companies don’t let their potential consumers outside the traditional demographic know that the product might be of interest to them, then there is no reason for them to assume that the game is anything other than yet another product featuring childish caricatures of their group. Again, look to Nintendo as an easy example of proactive marketing — the company has not only generated a lot of PR about its shift in focus, but it has also been funding successful advertising campaigns that reach out to underserved demographics, such as women, for years.
A Little Goes a Long Way
While it only makes sense for companies to be conscious of their bottom line, and it is often safer to go with a tried-and-true method than with one that might not pan out, inclusive design is not an either/or proposition. The facts are that it is possible to write yet another “white man saves the world” plotline and still have a fairly inclusive game.
Little inclusions – such as having a diverse supporting cast, using incidental characters and storylines to challenge negative stereotypes that create barriers to effective inclusive game design, making sure that the background characters in the game have more skin tones than white and tan, and showing non-white, non-male, non-heterosexuals in positions of power – can make a difference. In fact, these little differences are just as important as the “big inclusions,” like who the protagonist is, because they are the subtle part of the universe that blurs into the way that the player feels about the game on an unconscious, rather than conscious, level.
Testing the waters with small inclusions also serves two purposes: 1) it is a low-risk way to gather information on whether or not, and to what extent, the more inclusive world-building has affected sales, and 2) it helps the audience become acclimated to diverse worlds, which takes away much of the fear of the unknown when and if a game company decides to be more bold with its inclusive game design.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it may be more comfortable, and it is certainly easier, to adhere to the status quo, but in the long run it is likely not as profitable as going after a more diverse market. In the process of adjusting to the greater role that video games are coming to play in popular culture, there will be failures. Some games will have poor sales despite their quality, some companies will fold because they couldn’t find their niche, and there will never be a time when the consumers are completely happy with the state of things.
The upcoming years are important ones for the field of video gaming — will video games be able to grow up and join other popular media, such as books and film, as a worthy of respect and study? Or will the industry stagnate, continuing to struggle with being taken seriously and retaining its profit base? Although it may not seem that way at first glance, inclusive game design is something that can help tip the scales in favor of gaming being taken seriously, as it is a key element to making gaming a beloved pastime for everyone.
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