Many gamers have trouble identifying with video game characters. While 80% of teenagers want to see characters who look like them, more than half say it’s very difficult to find them, says a Californian study.
Whether it’s gender or sexual orientation, gamers want more representation in the games they play. This is the conclusion of the study entitled “Teens & Screens 2024 GAMING”, by researchers at the Center for Scholars and Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), conducted among 1,644 teenagers aged 10 to 24, spread across the United States.
Some 50.6% of young people surveyed complained about the difficulty of finding video games with characters that look like them.
Adolescents from ethnic minorities (55.5%) and the LGBTQIA+ community (58.5%) are particularly concerned by this issue.
An 11-year-old black gamer expressed their desire to see characters authentically portrayed in video games. “(I want to see) original stories starring black characters. Not black hand-me-down versions of white characters. Please stop,” the gamer said in the study.
“My generation wants to engage with entertainment that reflects our lived experiences, including the complex parts of our unique, diverse identities,” said Bubba Harris, the center’s Youth Media Representation program manager and a self-described Gen Z gamer. “The best way to start representing us better? Give us a seat at the table. Talk to us.”
Despite this, a majority of those surveyed (39.2%) prefer to play video games rather than watch TV shows or films (33.3%) or even consult social media (27.5%).
This popularity of the format can be explained by the fact that teenagers who prefer to play video games find them more rewarding and enjoy interacting with their friends.
For the majority of teens surveyed, the world of gaming is a bonding experience. Some 68.4% of teens claim to find a sense of community through video games.
This feeling is shared even more sharply by players suffering from attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) (74.1%) and those with autism (79.8%).
According to the study, multiplayer battle games (32.4%), sandbox games (27.3%) and FPSs (first-person shooters) (17%) are the most conducive to building community ties. – AFP Relaxnews
