How to make the point: Diamond Lobby reimagines computer game characters with ethnic diversity

Diamond Lobby video game characters reimagined with ethnic diversity. I hope they battened down the hatches.

I think it’s a good thing to highlight, though. Ethnic diversity in computer games is poor, and it shouldn’t be.

The 2021 research found that 61.2% of all prominent gaming characters were white (Caucasian), despite projections that the ethnicity accounted for just 10-15% of the worldwide population.

Furthermore, 9.5% of games had no ethnic representation in any character other than white. In comparison, just 5.3% did not have any white characters, with many of these games depending only on ‘cartoon animals’ or other non-human casts.

Here’s what they’ve come up with.

Captain Price

Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare subseries stars Captain Price.

According to the 2011 UK census, 7.5% of the population is Asian, while 2019 predictions put it at 8%.

Aloy

Horizon’s protagonist is Aloy. The series is set in future America (3020, to be precise).

The Horizon series respects Native Americans’ desire to carry on their ideals and traditions through their native language.

Link

Link is a Nintendo icon and is the main character in the Legend of Zelda franchise. 

Link’s actual ethnicity is unknown; however, he is white and of the ‘Hylian’ race; based on mediaeval Europe, DL defined him as Caucasian.

Princess Peach

Princess Peach is Mario’s girlfriend in Super Mario.

Mario’s universe has been criticised for lacking variety, and this hasn’t improved much, but there’s still time.

Chris Redfield

Chris Redfield is a prominent protagonist in the Resident Evil game series, and he initially appeared in the 1996 original as one of two playable characters.

The reinvented figure is a Samoan guy who shares cultural values with the original Chris, such as a deep tie with friends and family and respect for colleagues.

Lara Croft

Lara Croft originally appeared in 1996’s Tomb Raider and has since become one of the most known video game characters ever. This is possibly because she was one of the few AAA titles with a female heroine in the early days of gaming. However, her original design was critiqued for being sexualised.

This new Lara Croft is a British lady with African origins.