Challenging diversity in computer games characters

Computer games design students at Teesside University have been challenging diversity and the way different computer games characters are portrayed.

First year BA (Hons) Computer Games Design students examined different games avatars, which are typically able-bodied, young, white males, with very few based on characters with a disability. In response they were challenged to devise a game featuring a character who uses a wheelchair.

Josh Brook, 20, from Southampton, spent a week using a wheelchair to gain personal insight into living with a disability. He said: 'The lack of diversity could in some cases be due those creating the games only drawing from their own personal experiences, so I wanted to fully understand what it means to have to use a manual wheelchair. 'Spending a week in the wheelchair was a lot tougher that I thought it would be and by the end I was exhausted. There were times thought when I didn't leave the house as I couldn't bear the physical strain of moving anymore. Curbs and slanted pavements were the biggest problem, although the University has very accommodating wheelchair access.' He added: 'Although there currently is a lack of diversity in video games, over the last few years the rise of independent and smaller team projects does mean we have started to see more diverse characters. Matthew Slaymaker, 20, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, created a game featuring Noah, an elderly man with dementia. He misses, but barely remembers his wife and must collect items which remind him of her to increase his happiness. He said: 'My game focused on an old man who uses a wheelchair and is trying to find his wife, but he has memory loss so has to pick up memories to remember her. I didn't want a fast paced game with violence, as there is a tendency for most games to be made like that. 'My aim was to create a game with a different challenge rather than shooting people. I really enjoyed this project and including the wheelchair was a good concept.' Ground rules for the students were that the character would not be able to walk anywhere and there could be no magical cure or fantasy element to overcome their disability. Gabrielle Kent, Deputy Head of Games Art and Design in the University’s School of Computing, said: 'I wanted to steer the students as far away from stereotypes as possible. I have always been puzzled by the lack of disability in games, when it really opens up a really interesting set of challenges for game designers. The only two games I could think of which feature a main character in a wheelchair use astral projection and dream sequences to overcome the character’s disability.

'The students have done a great job, with characters ranging from schoolchildren to wounded war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and elderly folk.”

She added: “I do a lot of lectures on diversity in games design and we're seeing some fantastic ideas coming out of the students. I want them to take their open minded, inclusive approach out into the industry when they graduate.' Josh added: 'It was the degree course and the links to industry which events such as Animex which attracted me to Teesside University, with feedback from students from previous years also providing a very clear understanding of what I could achieve. Having supportive lecturers like Gabrielle Kent who think differently and creatively is a very big bonus as well.'

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