Why is there so much blowback from people when asking for more gender & ethnic diversity in games?

[Thronazuug]

Don't know if they're minority or not but those who cause "blowback" is really loudest few.

I remember in my lurking days, there was an irritating poster in a thread which asks for more sexier males in games, catering to women/gay men. That poster was a good example of loudest few.
The guy was like;
"I 'm an ally as a straight guy but that's impossible." "I wouldn't say no but all the guys would create an uproar" "Why not? But men buy games and marketing decides." "It can happen but it's financial suicide". "They should but they need to prepare for boycott" over and over again.
He was the loudest one and killed the thread basically by spamming and shutting down the discussion again and again in two three pages long thread.
Edit:See below for typical "It's ok but NO!" type of post.

 

[-PXG-]

Nothing wrong with diversity. But when it becomes mere pandering or meeting some arbitrary quota, then the original point and intent is totally lost.

For me, I'd rather have a badass black protagonist (Lord knows we do need more) because the devs genuinely wanted to make that game and tell that story, not because they felt pressured by the internet or because they thought it would sell more copies.

 

[Tatsu91]

You don't see this type of backlash against comparative changes though. Yakuza series now having turn-based combat didn't attract such bristling and that's almost a whole genre change.

It's bigotry, full stop.

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Then yakuza comparison is bad though their is huge backlash and complaints any time someone mentions the new game I am in the camp though I could care less who the characters are long as the story is good but diverse characters do give something to the player it offers new themes and story obstacles to tackle that you can't as a white protagonist so I would also say getting nothing is not the reason either.

 

[Kerotan]

From my almost 10 years in this industry, I can assure you that, the combination of those actively opposed to diversity & inclusion efforts, and those classed as apathetic, is almost an even split when compared to those of us actively pushing for increased representation in videogames and the workforce.

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Are you talking gamers or the people making the games? And do you mean US only because WW I'm just not seeing how the majority care about increased diversity.

 

[Zacmortar]

Because when you're privileged, any attempt at equality feels like oppression.

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This

 

[trugs26]

This is more of a society problem not specific to games. People don't like change and are stuck in their ways.

 

[R0987]

5 pages and no one posted this image yet

Its because these 'gamers' are fragile little man babies who are afraid to lose their only safe space from those big scary sjw's

 

[SolidSnakex]

Piss off that "racial discrimination" bullshit nonsense.

Laura Bailey is a privilege white woman taking on a role that should have been recast towards a black woman once the decisions was made to make the character a black woman.

This is actually a big problem within the industry where white folks are taking on roles that should have been reserved for People of colours.

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U4's development in general was rushed, Neil has stated that it was a game that should've taken three years but they did it in two. Which is why they largely ended up sticking to people that they'd already worked with to make sure that aspect of the game went smoothly. It's why even Merle Dandridge played the Nun and also Evenlyn (who's white). Since Neil previously had experience working with her on TLoU as Marlene. All of the black characters in TLoU were acted by black people, all of the Asian cast members announced for PII are being portrayed by Asian people. So it's not as if ND has some lengthy history of always casting minority characters with white actors.

 

[SENPAIatLARGE]

So despite the fact that they're all written and acted well, you'd prefer that they don't exist simply because they die in a story where death is the common theme?

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There was 0 black people in Joel's brothers camp where Ellie and Joel settle down in the end, and the protagonists big moment is murdering a black woman then lying about it.

 

[RuudGullitsittingonashed]

Piss off that "racial discrimination" bullshit nonsense.

Laura Bailey is a privilege white woman taking on a role that should have been recast towards a black woman once the decisions was made to make the character a black woman.

This is actually a big problem within the industry where white folks are taking on roles that should have been reserved for People of colours.

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Piss off with that racial discrimination bullshit? Great argument there. You do realise Laura would be sacked because of her skin colour and not her talent.

You do realise that Naughty Dog would leave themselves open to being sued for racial discrimination if they took your advise or they would have to whitewash Nadine which would be another PR nightmare.

Try again. What should Naughty Dog have done? Please bear in mind that I would not be defending Laura if Nadine was animated first and she went for the role.

 

[grosbard]

Always funny that minorities need a reason to exist. White people, status quo, don't ever need to think about it. Put a brown person in, though, and you better validate that so that you don't get "brownie points" for letting us see us in the entertainment we consume.

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You're the one that brought up a specific race, not me. My comment can be applied to any character with any specific traits.

 

[skillzilla81]

You're the one that brought up a specific race, not me. My comment can be applied to any character with any specific traits.

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Guess you cracked the code.

 

[SolidSnakex]

There was 0 black people in Joel's brothers camp where Ellie and Joel settle down in the end, and the protagonists big moment is murdering a black woman then lying about it.

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Tommy's camp is super brief and you don't see many people, but I went and checked and literally when you walk into the camp for the first time one of the first people you see is a black woman tending to a horse

 

[Ckoerner]

Because when you're privileged, any attempt at equality feels like oppression.

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I came here to say exactly the same thing. I'm so glad someone beat me to it.

If I can expand up on this idea, I've found it's a lack of empathy in being able to put yourself in another's shoes and see that it's possible that what is easy/great/accessible for you may not be the same for someone else. There are enough seats for everyone at the table.

 

[Htown]

1. More people than you'd think are actually racist and sexist.

2. Some interpret calls for diversity as attacks on their favorite game, which is therefore an attack on them for liking it.

 

[Osu 16 Bit]

I want trans representation. Like, in any way. As a major part of a character's story, or the opposite, they're just a trans character and it barely comes up. I want it all. I couldn't care less about it being forced, earned, or whatever other "concern" talking points there are. I just want to see people that look and think like me in games. If a developer puts in a trans character to get brownie points on twitter...GOOD. Keep doing it. I'll be one of the people giving them brownie points. My life might have been drastically different, for the better, if there were more trans representation in media, so I have no patience for holding off because it's "forced" or whatever.

 

[RuudGullitsittingonashed]

1. More people than you'd think are actually racist and sexist.

2. Some interpret calls for diversity as attacks on their favorite game, which is therefore an attack on them for liking it.

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I agree with the above wholeheartedly.

We also need the big guns, Epic, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Valve to come together to create scholarships exclusively for minorities to get them into coding, design, writing, etc. The studios could offer internships to teenagers to get them involved earlier and consider creating games as a career choice. The lipservice given to minorities by corporations such as Pride month (the promotion of inclusion ends the moment the month ends) needs to stop and replaced by a constant all year support and promotion of different views from people with different experiences. We need to be inclusive as how many wonderful ideas have we lost due to the current model? It won't be a quick fix but the sooner it starts the better. I acknowledge there are efforts to promote inclusion but it's not signalled as much as it should be.

 

[Neoxon]

1. More people than you'd think are actually racist and sexist.

2. Some interpret calls for diversity as attacks on their favorite game, which is therefore an attack on them for liking it.

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That's something I definitely noticed when discussing the matter for Smash. It's weird, as some of my theatre friends who play Smash agree that the roster needs more women & minorities. But I'd imagine that this carries over to other games as well.

 

[L Thammy]

Even in this thread, there's often a subtle (?) gatekeeping thing where minorities face higher standards and are given more responsibilities in order for their voice to be heard.

A big one is that in order for members of an ethnic minority group to talk about the racism that they face, they are often tasked with solving the whole of racism. Other people face racism too, so you have to shut the hell up until you solve their problems before you can address your own.

With diversity in video games, it's the minority quality standard. A lot of video games have bad writing. A lot of video games don't even care about the writing; the main appeal is somewhere else. Generally, when people bump into this, they just think about whether or not the game as a whole is worth it, and often it is. But for minority characters, it's often brought up that they should be good if they're going to be there. You could have hundreds of mediocre white characters but one mediocre non-white one is the problem.

For bonus points, this is often lumped up with cheap stereotypes. But cheap stereotype characters probably aren't tacked on for diversity. They probably never had any intention of being strong characters and aren't actually failing to be what they're intended to be. They're most often built for mockery by people outside of that demographic. It's totally different to say that minority characters shouldn't be built as targets of ridicule as saying that minority characters shouldn't exist just for the sake of diversity.

Another common one is that character need a reason to be a member of a minority group, or need to embody the concerns of a minority group. Of course, no one needs a reason to be a minority in real life. Most people in the world are non-white and yet white characters don't need any special reason to exist.

Closely to this, but there's also this sort of pseudo-socially aware thing where people go "corporations are only including diversity characters to make themselves look good" and decide that they should tear up those efforts. The premise is right, but the issue is that the superficial concern still has positive effects. It increases the diversity we see in games, thus normalizing diversity and empowering individuals who haven't fit into gaming's once narrow target demographic. There's no good reason to tear that down. Rather, we need to built it up and continue to encourage diversity efforts while criticizing diversity failures in order to encourage companies to take these efforts farther. We celebrate these small victories while pushing for deeper internal changes.

Showcasing that diversity is marketable is a huge win.

 

[Renteka-Bond]

Nothing wrong with diversity. But when it becomes mere pandering or meeting some arbitrary quota, then the original point and intent is totally lost.

For me, I'd rather have a badass black protagonist (Lord knows we do need more) because the devs genuinely wanted to make that game and tell that story, not because they felt pressured by the internet or because they thought it would sell more copies.

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As opposed to the well-noted history of the same reasoning being used to ensure that so many games appeal explicitly to white guys? If white dudes get to relegate the market, why can't black women or mexican dudes or etc?

Hell, to use a contemporary example, I recall reading that the reason Fallen Order has Cal, a white guy, as the protag basically boiled down to 'we hit our quota with the movies, so we went back to a white dude': https://www.gamesradar.com/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-alien-hero/

 

[Mekanos]

Elephant in the room is no one wants to talk about japan's issue when it comes to this, you have to tell Sakurai to stop including a pot plant over someone like Elma. alt right shitheads bitching about it can go take a seat.

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Who's gonna tell Sakurai to do this tho

 

[JahIthBer]

Who's gonna tell Sakurai to do this tho

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It's not just Sakurai, most of the famous white guy characters are straight from japan & their western divisions can tell them it's not the 1960's anymore. similar to how Atlus USA has to tell Atlus Japan that making a trans character not transition isn't a good ending.

 

[Mekanos]

It's not just Sakurai, most of the famous white guy characters are straight from japan & their western divisions can tell them it's not the 1960's anymore. similar to how Atlus USA has to tell Atlus Japan that making a trans character not transition isn't a good ending.

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Colorism runs deep in Southeast Asian countries sadly, although it's getting better... never as fast as any of us would like though.

 

[Mesoian]

It's not just Sakurai, most of the famous white guy characters are straight from japan & their western divisions can tell them it's not the 1960's anymore. similar to how Atlus USA has to tell Atlus Japan that making a trans character not transition isn't a good ending.

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And yet they still did it though...

 

[Gotdatmoney]

What is this pandering line even about? Like, if a studio is like designed a role amd it was going to be cast white and someone was like, "yo, know what would be cool, make this character asian just cause we rarely see asian characters in this role", that would be great.

What is bad about this? Most video game writing is shit. It's not like it would actually matter to most narratives. But it may matter a lot to the player base.

 

[JahIthBer]

And yet they still did it though...

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Oh really, i thought they actually listened, shame.

 

[Mekanos]

It's weird because at the peak of Overwatch's popularity it was one of the most diverse AAA games on the market (far from perfect of course) yet it seemed embraced even by the "anti-SJW" crowd. Not gaming, but I noticed a similar phenomenon with Steven Universe.

 

[Mesoian]

Oh really, i thought they actually listened, shame.

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The problem with Atlus specifically is that their bigotted stuff is so pointed that there's nothing the localizers can really do to soften it or make it better. The guys in P5 and P5R are still a stereotype of predatory gay men, the overall message for that one Catherine ending, slightly softened as it was, was still, "we think her life would be easier if she wasn't a her."

I expect a lot of the same in their fantasy RPG where they can be bigotted and wave it off as "but these people don't exist".

 

[JahIthBer]

The problem with Atlus specifically is that their bigotted stuff is so pointed that there's nothing the localizers can really do to soften it or make it better. The guys in P5 and P5R are still a stereotype of predatory gay men, the overall message for that one Catherine ending, slightly softened as it was, was still, "we think her life would be easier if she wasn't a her."

I expect a lot of the same in their fantasy RPG where they can be bigotted and wave it off as "but these people don't exist".

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Yeah, it's a big blight spot over Atlus because they do make good games but they have real issues with this, Square & others while not perfect, are no where near that bad.

 

[Mesoian]

Yeah, it's a big blight spot over Atlus because they do make good games but they have real issues with this, Square & others while not perfect, are no where near that bad.

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I mean, Square has its own issues.

Said issues tend not to spill into their games though.

 

[JahIthBer]

I mean, Square has its own issues.

Said issues tend not to spill into their games though.

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I think hes the reason getting the orchestrated sound track is difficult for DQ too, all around dickhead.

 

[SchrodingerC]

When straight white guys have been pandered to for literal decades, change to an escapism hobby can cause quite the visceral reaction. Sometimes it's about how change can be difficult and other times it's just plain 'ol sexism/racism/homophobia/transphobia.

 

[Dongs Macabre]

.

 

[jblanco]

I wonder if there's a better way to address representation in games.

Perhaps there would be less outrage if there was less effort on old and/or established game/movie/tv franchises being updated with diversity. By now, everyobody has a very defined set of expectations of what those series should or should not be, and it's going to be very hard to not have backlash when defying those expectations, no matter how unreasonable they are. Instead, imo, let those established franchises die with the passage of time.

Inject it through new content, that's the way to go. Let the new generations grow with that new content and bam, it'll become normal in the future. And those who refuse to adapt can fade in relevancy as the old (currently established) content does.

Defy expectations with new/fresh ideas. It can be done. It is being done.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[Gaia Lanzer]

• "Gameplay is more important."

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I'd say, "I agree that gameplay is important, but adding gender or ethnic diversity has nothing to do with that. A white man on a quest doing shit could very well be a black person or a woman doing the very same shit! And as long as the gameplay isn't changing, then you are fine with it!"

• "It shouldn't matter what's between their legs/what skin color they have."

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I'd say, "Good, then we agree, it doesn't matter, soooo why are you so against gender and ethnic diversity. If it really doesn't matter to you, you wouldn't be saying anything on the subject and just take it as it is, but you had to chime in."

• "Let the developers do what they want."

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I'd say, "Well then, why is it that when they DO incorporate diversity, you bitch and moan about SJWs and shit? You can't have it both ways. Either you want the developers to do what they want, or you don't. OR, you can go the hypocrite route and say that people should let the developers do what they want, then whisper 'as long as it fits with what I want'."

• "There shouldn't be forced diversity."

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I'd say, "Fuck off bigotted shitstain. I know your angle because it's been uttered by racists and misogynists forever. You should be hung from a bridge by your nipples, assmunch!"

• "As long as the character is fun, who cares?"

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I'd say, "So you agree, there CAN be diversity, as long as the character is fun! Happy day, glad you see our point, friend!"

• "A character decided by race or gender isn't good game design."

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I'd say, "I don't think many characters are SOLELY decided by race or gender. A character can be a blank template. If you want to make a game where your character is an adventurer, a soldier, a detective, a race car driver, a martial artist, a cyborg, knight or a pirate, those will always be the basis of what the game will revolve around, But, all those professions don't HAVE to be white males. If YOU are a developer that says there can ONLY be a white male in those types of roles, you got fuckin' problems! Get your mind checked before someone wrecks you upside the head, yo!"

White is a "neutral ethnicity", dontcha know.

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In games, I tend to think people believe it's the "default". "White males" are the "default" video game heroes. The "status quo" to them, so when you upset the status quo, they freak out. The status quo needs to be taken out back and shot!

 

[L Thammy]

I wonder if there's a better way to address representation in games.

Perhaps there would be less outrage if there was less effort on old and/or established game/movie/tv franchises being updated with diversity. By now, everyobody has a very defined set of expectations of what those series should or should not be, and it's going to be very hard to not have backlash when defying those expectations, no matter how unreasonable they are. Instead, imo, let those established franchises die with the passage of time.

Inject it through new content, that's the way to go. Let the new generations grow with that new content and bam, it'll become normal in the future. And those who refuse to adapt can fade in relevancy as the old (currently established) content does.

Defy expectations with new/fresh ideas. It can be done. It is being done.

That's my 2 cents.

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A lot of old and established franchises introduce new characters and settings on the regular anyway. See Fire Emblem, Street Fighter, Zelda...

 

[TC McQueen]

I think a lot of the blowback is due to several factors:
-If you've been a nerd for past 20 or so years, you probably have next to zero confidence in anything being executed properly before having the product in hand. Too many things have made grand promises and failed to deliver on the expectations they've raised, especially from certain creators. As a result, calls for diversity feel like an overemphasis on something that should take a back seat to the more important goal of making the thing to a high quality standard. (There are times when both are in concert, such as an adaptation of a work with a diverse cast maintaining that diversity as originally laid out.)
-A lot of the more visible pro-diversity stuff being this formula: "*insert character X* should be *insert minority Y*". For example, I believe there was a thread here that had a title like "Samus should be black in the next Metroid game" or something like that. This kind of thing pisses people off, because it is coopting an existing thing and transforming it for what are likely to be highly cynical reasons, instead of creating something new (like a cool new character or a separate continuity) that adds to the existing thing.
-A lot of media companies these days tend to use diversity as a shield from criticism by conflating all criticism of the work as being the result of bigotry. This results in increased suspicion and resentment of diversity as an idea, especially when the product turns out to be bad in multiple ways (up to and including the writing and/or acting of the cast).
-Media companies tend to market diversity in really shitty ways, a lot of which basically are either patronizing to the people who they're supposedly uplifting, insulting to a specific group that is not the diverse cast (men, a lot times), or both. This also furthers resentment, especially combined with the above factors. This gets even worse when the franchise involved actually has been super diverse in the past, but the media markets the latest version as some great revolution. (Star Trek: Discovery is a great example of this. The media completely whitewashed the existence of Deep Space 9 - black male captain - and Voyager - female captain - when talking up how great the black female lead was. Sad thing was, they could've had Michelle Yeoh as the lead and everyone would've been hyped, because Michelle Yeoh has a proven track record and people like her.)

I don't have a problem with say, Halo, building a diverse cast of supporting characters to support Master Chief, because that's totally in keeping with the franchise, but seeing Captain Keyes and his daughter suddenly going from white to black in a show that's supposedly in the same continuity as the games gives me zero confidence in anyone working on that show. This is especially bad when Halo is a big enough universe where you could have a cool new badass black captain, which gives you A) diversity and B) the opportunity to have this cool new guy work with other previously established characters in a way that gets the fans hyped.

 

[Canucked]

If creators can't be diverse then their vision isn't something that we should look at with integrity.

I hate it when I see the "pandering" line. Developers pander to a wide range of stuff, but pandering to diverse audiences is somehow is protected by artistic integrity.

Literally everything is pandering when you're selling a consumer product.

 

[Golden]

I do sympathise with the sentiment that it should be the developers choice. That being said, a bit of discussion can't hurt, the number of bearded white leads is totally embarrassing,and I wonder if the devs even realise they are doing it.

When it is an existing franchise it can come across as a bit forced /shoehorned. I have never really understood the complaints about diversity in Nintendo games. They have such cartoonish characters that I don't find them representative of real people. I do know that my daughter would never play as one of the "girls" in Mario kart, and my wife always plumps for lakitu. That's good because I get cat peach to myself.

 

[skillzilla81]

I do sympathise with the sentiment that it should be the developers choice. That being said, a bit of discussion can't hurt, the number of bearded white leads is totally embarrassing,and I wonder if the devs even realise they are doing it.

When it is an existing franchise it can come across as a bit forced /shoehorned. I have never really understood the complaints about diversity in Nintendo games. They have such cartoonish characters that I don't find them representative of real people. I do know that my daughter would never play as one of the "girls" in Mario kart, and my wife always plumps for lakitu. That's good because I get cat peach to myself.

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All this line of thinking does is show that whiteness doesn't need justification and minorities do. It seems forced because it's not happening enough. It seems forced because you notice it. It seems forced because it's notable when it happens. When it's not notable, when we stop noticing, then we'll probably have reached a point where representation has been satisfied.

Black people were fucking ECSTATIC when Monster Hunter World had authentic GOOD LOOKING black options for hair. I am planning on buying it for PC for that reason. I know lots of people that are happy with how many brown people there are just chilling in the world of Pokemon Sword and Shield. We're happy because it's great when we see us. We're happy because we don't always get to in a medium that is constantly challenging us to prove that we matter and give reasons why we should exist but don't apply that same logic to fucking dragons, elves, and zombies.

 

[NoName999]

I like when people say they don't want "forced diversity" they NEVER clarify what that means.

You guys ain't slick.

 

[Palidoozy]

Literally everything is pandering when you're selling a consumer product.

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Yeah I get my jimmies kind of rustled at even seeing responses in this thread that boil down to "I'm okay with representation as long as it's not forced." Not all art is deep and meaningful and seeks to address deep social issues. Sometimes a group decides to make a game about punching robots because fuck it, they wanted to, and they thought it'd sell well. Women and minorities can and should be featured in dumb popcorn stuff, too (note: as long as the depiction is not problematic).

Also, shit, if studios are deciding to make women/minority main characters solely based on money? Good! It reflects a changing market where now more than just white men with beards will make money. It reflects these kinds of protagonists gaining wider acceptance among the general populace. I'd kill for a lead character where their being trans was just a footnote that didn't dominate their entire character.

 

[Gundam]

People are sexist and racist

 

[TaterTots]

Because people are closed minded. When the new Half-Life game was shown there was a ton of people complaining about playing as a woman on Steam discussions. Boggles my mind.

 

[Sprat]

I don't care what race /gender /persuasion a character is I just want an actual character. Well written and with personality.

I dislike any kind of character creator as it usually results in a mute protagonist with no actual character.

 

[Sprat]

Because people are closed minded. When the new Half-Life game was shown there was a ton of people complaining about playing as a woman on Steam discussions. Boggles my mind.

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That is odd. I usually prefer to play as women. Especially in third person games as they take up less of the screen.

 

[BrandoBoySP]

Yeah no, this was at some smaller companies I worked at (that I believe are all dead). I wrote that out and then went "... wait, shit, I should REALLY clarify that lol."

EA isn't perfect, but I openly transitioned from female to male here. This has been the only company I've worked at where I have black coworkers. For some of my coworkers it's the first place they've worked at where they haven't been the only woman in the office.

That said -- I don't think this should be taken as "EA's great!" -- rather, it should be taken as "holy shit it's really fucked up this isn't the norm."

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Oh, for sure; I just meant that it's nice to see some positivity since so many people loathe EA. There's definite reason to critique the company imo, but people forget that it's not just All Bad. (It's really, really heartening to hear that EA is relatively diverse and handled your transition well. It sucks that's not the norm.)

 

[¡ B 0 0 P !]

After Atari went bankrupt and Nintendo revived the console industry gaming went from an industry that appealed to all to one that only cared for (White) American and Japanese males between the ages of 10-30. The extinction of the arcades in the late 1990s killed off the last renaming diverse parts of gaming and the male dominated consoles reigned supreme. It's why in the 2000's gaming advertisements were crass, edgy, and filled with half naked women. Their main audience was teenage boys.

It wasn't until the the arrival of the iPhone and the Wii which brought in loads of non-gamers and lapsed gamers before the industry began to change. A lot of the blow back around diversity in games was started by male gamers who grew up in the male dominated culture of 1990-2010. For them attacks on gaming and pushes to appeal to women are an attack on their childhood and hobbies.

It also hasn't helped that conservative and far-right political groups have exploited typical "they raped my child hood" fears for their own insidious benefit.

 

[PtM]

To get ahead of what some of you may be wondering, this isn't just about Smash. It's something I've noticed on the topic of representation as a whole whenever it's raised on social media.

Anyway, since I've started to become more conscious about how much diversity there that may or may not exist in games & began pushing for improving such matters, I've started to come across a number of arguments when the topic is brought up or requested...

• "Gameplay is more important."
• "It shouldn't matter what's between their legs/what skin color they have."
• "Let the developers do what they want."
• "There shouldn't be forced diversity."
• "As long as the character is fun, who cares?"
• "A character decided by race or gender isn't good game design."

...& many other arguments similar to that. People treat it like it's a one-or-the-other situation & I'm honestly not sure why. Most would say that the answer is sexism/racism/homophobia/transphobia/etc. on the part of those giving said responses (& I can easily see why), but is it simply that? Is there something else that's driving such pushback against the idea of improving diversity in games, or am I just over-thinking things as usual? I thought I should raise the question here since most of Era seems to be more aware of the problem than most other areas, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the problem.

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Well for Smash, there's definitely some kind of meritocracy at play (and not without merit, heh), though it's probably mostly a front for fanboyisms, as are "we need more rep from series XY".
At large, though, people don't like change.

 

[Majunior]

I don't think the "gamers are just racist bigots" does a good job of explaining this. If that were the case, we wouldn't see games with minorities/women not only being met with positive reception but also selling well.

The forced diversity criticism certainly holds wait imo. There are cases where developers try to include a minority to appeal to the people that advocate for that type of things and we end up with negative representations. These cis white men are trying to write about minority problems that they can't relate to and it turns into a mess. As a black man, I would prefer no black characters over another shitty stereotype.

There is only one way to solve this problem and it's to have non-privileged groups writing about the things that they can relate to.