Let's revisit games from past Raiders events which include GLBT stories, migration stories, mental health, women’s history, and disability representation. We will draw on the narratives of these games to talk about diverse representation, including resisting character tropes and stereotypes about the gaming community.
Developer: Infinite Fall
Raiders Theme/s: Mental Health and Gaming and Disability Representation
In Night in the Woods, you play from the point of view of Mae, a twenty-year-old woman that has recently dropped out of college to pause and reevaluate her plans. Possum Springs doesn’t feel much like the home she’s left behind. The coal mine has closed, the town’s economy is struggling, and the friends that she was looking forward to seeing again are experiencing hardships of their own. Things pick up pace when Mae witnesses a kidnapping and enlists her friends in some amateur sleuthing to try to figure out why people from Possum Springs are disappearing. Throughout the game, you witness Mae work through bouts of anxiety and depression.
Eventually, it’s revealed that Mae has been experiencing dissociative episodes (and the social stigma that has resulted from those around her not understanding them). In an article for Games Radar, journalist Heather Wald shared that the game normalized mental health and reminded her that it was “okay not to be okay”. Blogger Chloe Spenser from Kotaku praised the game for highlighting what it’s like to cope with mental illness instead of villainizing those that experience it. The successful and empathetic depiction of mental illness likely stems from the fact that the creators had all experienced their own battles with depression and were writing from an informed place.
Developer: Nomada Studio
Theme: Mental Health
In Gris, you play as a hopeful young girl lost in her own world and dealing with a painful experience. As you accompany her on her journey, you will see Gris grow emotionally and see her world in a different way. Gris gains new abilities as she progresses which are manifested through her dress.
In this game, players do not experience danger, frustration, or death. They explore a meticulous designed world full of puzzles, platforming sequences, and optional skill-based challenges. Gris is full of delicate art, detailed animation, and an elegant score which makes it more of a work of art than a game.
Developer: Andrea Gonzales, Sophia Houser
Theme: Women’s History
Tampon Run was created by Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser at a Girls Who Code summer camp while they were still in high school. The game confronts the menstrual taboo. “Tampon Run is a way of discussing the taboo in an accessible way”, the introductory text of the game notes, “Instead of holding a gun, the runner holds tampons, and instead of shooting enemies, the runner throws tampons at them. Although the concept of the video game may be strange, it’s stranger that our society has accepted and normalized guns and violence through video games, yet we still find tampons and menstruation unspeakable.” The game became a viral success, receiving international recognition and being reported on in TIME, Teen Vogue, Fast Company, and many others. Andrea and Sophie went on to write a book, Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting it Done. They continue to advocate for marginalized identities in tech.
Developer: Atari Inc.
Theme: Women’s History
If you are a fan of retro video games, then you have probably heard of Centipede. Centipede is a vertically oriented fixed shooter arcade game produced by Atari, Inc. in June 1981. The game was designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg. It was one of the most commercially successful games from the video arcade's golden age. But what you don't hear about is the toll it took on co-creator Dona Bailey. After the success of the game she left the industry for 26 years. She stated "it was the pressure and criticism from her male counterparts which drove her from the business.” At the time, Dona was the only woman to be working for Atari. While the gaming world may have lost a great young mind due to sexism, in recent years Dona has been featured on panels giving her a chance to tell her story and inspire the next wave of women developers.
Developer: Ubisoft
Theme: Gaming and Disability Representation
In Watch Dogs 2, the hacktivist organization DedSec recruits hacker Marcus Holloway to help reveal the corruption of the cTOS system created by the Blume Corporation. They’ve been guilty of everything from rigging elections to spying into people’s homes. DedSec sees going to war with the Blume Corporation as a means of fighting systemic injustice.
Josh Sauchack, also known as Hawt Sauce, is another member of the hacktivist group. Over the course of game play, it’s revealed that Josh has Asperger Syndrome. He plays a huge role behind the scenes, serving as their strongest programmer and finding holes in the group’s plans.
An interview of voice actor Jonathan Dubsky revealed that in order to get into Josh's character the actor did considerable research into Asperger's syndrome and Autism-spectrum disorders. He even contributed changes to the character’s dialogue and actions to avoid stereotyping and ableism.
Hellblade: Senuas SacrificeDeveloper: Ninja Theory, QLOC
Theme: Gaming and Disability Representation
In this game, players take on the role of Senua, a warrior on a quest to save her lover’s soul from a goddess named Hela that oversees the realm of the dead. To get to Hela, she must overcome external roadblocks along the way while also warring with herself.
Throughout your journey, you witness Senua’s struggles with psychosis, which are often depicted through delusions and hallucinations. While the horror genre has a history of framing mental illness in an insensitive light, the game’s creator made sure to involve members of the mental health community in his planning process to ensure the game wouldn’t further contribute to the stigma around severe and persistent mental illness. While Hellblade received rave reviews from the gaming community, it looks like the feedback from the disability community is a bit more mixed.
Syrian JourneyDeveloper: BBC
Theme: Migration Stories
Syrian Journey is a digital project that explores the exodus of the Syrian people. It is composed of three parts: a ‘newsgame’; survivor’s stories; and a discussion about #WhatWouldYouTake. The project aims to bring the audience closer to the plight of Syrian refugees in an interactive and creative way. Fully responsive for mobile and produced in 7 languages it aims to reach a wide audience on any device.
Papers, PleaseDeveloper: 3909 LLC
Theme: Migration Stories
In Papers, Please, the player takes on the role of a border-crossing immigration officer in the fictional dystopian Eastern Bloc-like country of Arstotzka, which has been and continues to be at political hostilities with its neighboring countries. The game takes place at a migration checkpoint. As the immigration officer, the player must review each immigrant and return citizens' passports and other supporting paperwork against an ever-growing list of rules using a number of tools and guides. Tasks include allowing in those with the proper paperwork while rejecting those without all proper documents, detaining those with falsified information, and balancing personal finances.
Developer: Game Grumps
Theme: GLBT Stories
Dream Daddy is an interactive visual novel where the player can choose between seven different single fathers they can date. Included are mini-games to complete, multiple endings and voice acting by members of the show Game Grumps. The player is able to customize the appearance of their player character.
On one hand, the friendly, sweet, awesome dads of Dream Daddy are fulfilling tropes and narratives invented by fans who want to explore less traditional depictions of masculinity. On the other, the game has drawn criticisms of being fetishistic, designed less for actual gay men than for women and straight people wanting to treat gay men as play dolls. Meanwhile, its creators have said they don’t intend to be seen as “a queer game,” but rather as a game for everyone.
HadesPublisher: Supergiant Games
Theme: GLBT Stories
Hades is a god-like rogue-like dungeon crawler that combines the best aspects of Supergiant's critically acclaimed titles, including the fast-paced action of Bastion, the rich atmosphere and depth of Transistor, and the character-driven storytelling of Pyre.
The protagonist of Hades, Zagreus, is able to date both a man (Thanatos) and a woman (Megara) at the same time, which will prompt other characters to acknowledge and discuss polyamory. There are also several queer NPCs in Hades, including Achilles, who is gay (as he is in Greek mythology), Chaos, who uses they/them pronouns, and Dusa, who implies when you pursue a relationship with her that she may be asexual or aromantic.
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