When deg a video game protagonist, it's often easy to make a character that falls into a basic, default template. Elements like a character's background, environment, and even gameplay can potentially connect them to real or in-game cultures, making them more believable. But instead, many protagonists just end up as generic audience surrogates with ambiguous, unspoken origins. John Diaz, a Technical Game Designer at Amazon, spoke at the Game Devs of Color Expo 2020 about how the concept of video game protagonists' cultures is overlooked in many titles.
The presentation hit on numerous points in relation to how culture can affect the development of a game's protagonist and setting, driving home aspects of the process in an effort to create more memorable characters within video game stories. Diaz mentioned how a memorable video game character is "unique, grounded, and has flaws," and one way to ground a character in their world would be to introduce the world to elements of culture. This brings a character closer to reality and relatability for players, as it increases their ability to draw on their own experiences in order to to empathize with the character.
The "Default" Video Game Protagonist & How To Move Past It
In the presentation, Diaz used Marcus Fenix from Gears of War as an example of what he called the "Default Tier" of character culture, which he defined as the typical, "white male with a really good proficiency with firearms [and who] probably comes from a military background." Through Gears of War's backstory, players don't explore much of what makes Marcus who he is as person - only as a character they play, which happens to default to the exact description Diaz used. Diaz listed Chris Redfield from Resident Evil as another example in this category.
Designers who default to this kind of typical male lead character are being "risk-averse," Diaz said, and rather than utilizing the research tools at their disposal to flesh out a culture within that particular world, they move to an easier character archetype. This leads to "carbon copy" protagonists in many games. In games that aren't just driven by gameplay, culture can be a path to improving both characters and the worlds they exist in. Diaz described it as the "spice" that adds life and flavor to a game world, and as more games go the default route, character diversity begins to dwindle.
Diaz said Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy is a step in the right direction. With a character like Aloy, Diaz said, not only has the gender default been shifted, but players also get insight into her life and culture through her upbringing, the game's setting, and the people around her. The world builds Aloy's character just as much as Aloy is a part of that world - not as a generic, "default" individual but as a member of the Nora society (albeit one cast out due to the beliefs of the tribe). This adds layers to Aloy's character, making her stand out among her peers in the gaming industry, as the world isn't merely a playground for her to explore: It's an element of the characters in the story.
Trane from Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was also cited as an example of a character who not only portrayed his racial background but his background as a graffiti artist through the game itself. Leaning into the culture of street tagging, Getting Up's gameplay used stealth elements to convey the sorts of situations a tagger would encounter. Diaz also mentioned the cast of Treachery in Beatdown City, as their diverse set of backgrounds is perfectly fitting for the game's New York City setting - the city that has been called the "melting pot" of America.
Today's Culturally Aligned Video Game Characters
Games today, particularly AAA titles, generally have shown improvements with aligning the culture of their worlds with their protagonists. Spider-Man: Miles Morales' PlayStation 5 Showcase trailer, for example, places the titular character in the Harlem neighborhood during a street fair organized by his Puerto Rican mother, Rio. Immediately, players are shown a glimpse of Miles' world, with elements of his cultural upbringing displayed in the world around him. This touch finds its way into the music used when Miles enters combat, too, with the orchestral, cinematic music breaking down into a more urban, hip-hop-inspired score, owing to Miles' love of hip-hop music in the source material.
Watch Dogs, as a series, provides an interesting contrast in regards to the cultural aspects and alignment of its lead characters. One of the biggest complaints of the original title was the presentation of its protagonist, Aiden Pearce. Using Diaz's examples, Aiden falls cleanly under the "Default Tier," trading the firearms proficiency for hacking, and yet still achieving similar results as a generic lead devoid of redeemable qualities or even character. As a result, despite being a hacker in Chicago, Aiden Pearce simply exists without truly incorporating the elements that his surroundings or his abilities could afford him.
Allegations of Ubisoft's toxic workplace culture, including a demand for "straight white alpha male" protagonists, show some AAA studios struggle to build characters outside of the "Default Tier," but Ubisofts developers have at least been able to push through with some more well-rounded protagonists. In Watch Dogs 2, Marcus Holloway, a Black man, replaced Aiden as the lead, and players would immediately notice the difference in portrayal and stylistic approach. Marcus' race plays a role in his place in the world: He openly displays fear when working at Nudle, due to there being nobody who looks like him there, and at one point, the game references a real-life controversy, when a car's camera can't recognize Marcus because of his skin tone. Automatically, players can relate to Marcus, due to the fact that his fears are ones people deal with in real life.
Marcus is steeped in hacker culture, as well, with real-world hackers being brought in to consult Watch Dogs 2 in properly portraying hacker culture. Compared to the original title, the difference is striking. Instead of a distant, one-man hacking army, Marcus is accompanied by his friends in the hacker collective known as DedSec. The portrayal of hacking culture through DedSec brings everything together within Marcus, adding layers to his character beyond even the culture of his race. It's the melding of all of these elements that helps make a character stand out as unique in their world, and in an industry of "Default Tier" characters, normalizing these kinds of unique perspectives will go further towards making more protagonists culturally aligned with their worlds.
The real world has always had a complex, diverse lens of perspectives, ideologies, and cultures. When video games choose to set themselves to the "Default Tier," it can potentially water down the narrative or the characters themselves, making them blend in with the crowd. With orignal game worlds, there should be a focus on creating and crafting a tangible culture, and with worlds based in reality, the characters' design, backstory, and personality would be better served to align with the culture presented around them. There is nothing inherently wrong with the "Default Tier," but if the "spice" that is the culture of a character were normalized, maybe developers would no longer be scared of the risk.
The Game Devs of Color Expo ran from September 19, 2020, to September 20.
Header Image: Game Devs Of Color Expo
