Diversity is a loudly discussed and yet woefully underheard topic in the video game industry. Historically, the development and creation of video games has been dominated by a demographic of white men, and it shows. Many popular main characters within story games seem to be the same cookie-cutter, brunette-haired or bald, middle-aged white man, with dozens of examples coming to mind just off the top of my head: Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, Joel from The Last of Us, Agent 47 from Hitman, Arthur from Red Dead Redemption: 2, just to name a few.

If I attempt to name characters that deviate from that cookie-cutter look, not many come to mind. And if they do, these games were created only within the last few years or created by developers from different countries, and those games will have a cast composed primarily of those who live in the countries they are made in. And this leads to the bigger issue. A lack of diversity is a reflection of the industry as a whole–we lack POC (especially WOC), we lack neurodivergent people, we lack people who belong to marginalized genders, we lack diversity behind the scenes. This becomes a mirror, a reflection, of the industry as a whole, and bleeds into every aspect of video game creation.

This issue extends beyond the characters that actually participate within the stories, but even extending to video games with character creation. In fact, this issue becomes more specific, more harmful, and more painfully obvious when considering RPG’s, especially in games where you have a chance to create your own character. If you’re white, you probably won’t even realize this is an issue. Because character creations cater to yourself and people that look like you. You can create yourself within the game, always.

Have you ever tried to make a Black character? A Southeast Asian character? A Middle Eastern character? If you have tried, you realize that these games don’t have many options for you. More often than not, in character creation, the main idea is for you to make your own stand-in avatar to play within the world of the game, whether that avatar is a representation of yourself (most commonly) or a character you’d like to create. But if the best-looking options (or sometimes the only options) mean you have to play as a white man, is that really character creation?

The reason for this is from the lack of diversity in video game creation, causing a lack of diversity to bleed into every aspect of the game. If a game only has the perspectives of white men behind the scenes, the perspectives of POC are left behind, the perspectives of marginalized genders, the perspectives of basically, anyone, else, leaving these character creators lackluster and sad. When analyzing various games and their character creators, what do they do poorly, and what do they do well? Are the options plentiful, or are you stuck with the same hairstyles, the same look, each time? Taking a look at current popular games and their character creation, here’s an analysis of games and their character creations–the best and the worst.

1.) Cyberpunk

Overall Rating – 1/5

The Breakdown

Skin Tone Options – 12 total (split evenly between 6 lighter tones and 6 darker tones)

Hair Style Options – 39 total (35 straight hairstyles, 1 bald, 3 Black hairstyles)

Skin Tone – 2/5 

Personally, I do not believe 12 options adequately represents the vast variety of skin tones a person can have, especially with an AAA game that was released in 2020 (I mean, seriously!). I was, however, pleasantly surprised that the skin tones were split up to (roughly) six lighter tones and six darker tones. Still, even from the palest skin tone to the darkest skin tone that I chose for my character, the options were not accurate to real-life people, whose skin tones can come in a variety of undertones and shades.

Hair Style – 0/5

There are 39 total hairstyle options for Cyberpunk’s character creation. That may sound like a lot, but when I went through and counted it out, there were 35 straight hairstyle options and 3 Black hairstyle options, with one option being entirely bald. It might be worth mentioning that there was one near-bald option that could technically pass as either, but when you zoomed in, it was clear it was rendered as a straighter hair type. The option I chose was what I (and my friends) thought looked the best. Although the other options were fine and certainly something someone could have in real life, 3 hairstyles isn’t at all accurate to the variety of hairstyles that exist in real life, including women.

There was not a single afro haircut of any lengths, or a faded haircut, or long locs, just to name a few (very, very few!) of the other hairstyles they could have incorporated. 

Another bone I have to pick with the Cyberpunk 2077 character creator is that–when trying to choose face tattoos, something I loved choosing for my pale self-inspired character in my first playthrough–I noticed that some of the tattoos were not properly rendered for the skin tone I had chosen and would instead glitch out, as if it was like a sticker rather than a tattoo.

Sometimes it would try to render itself to be lighter or take on a weird almost transparent appearance. I tried to reproduce this glitch with the lighter skin tones, but only found that it happened on the darkest option. Here’s what it looks like:

Compared to what it should look like:

After further investigation, I know this wasn’t an intentional render. I thought that maybe they were trying to make the tattoo lighter to show up on the darker skin tone (which, either way, I was angry about because that wouldn’t be how tattoos work in the real world). But sometimes, the tattoo would show up the way it’s meant to on my character, but only sometimes.

Overall, even though I was able to make a character I was halfway pleased with, the options were incredibly limited and disappointing. To make matters worse, the fact that there was a skin tone-specific rendering glitch just really disappointed me. Therefore, I couldn’t give Cyberpunk’s Character Creation more than a 1/5.

2.) Stardew Valley

Overall Rating – 3/5

The Breakdown

Skin Tone Options – 24 total (14 human skin tone options, 10 random colors–5 lighter skin tones, 9 darker skin tone options) 

Hair Style Options – 74 (64 straight hairstyles, 11 Black hairstyles)

Skin Tone – 3/5

Choosing a game with an entirely different art style, I thought it would be interesting to see how a pixel art game handles character creation and diversity, especially with an art style that can somewhat limit the amount of detail you can convey. I found that Stardew Valley–a game developed by one man, by himself, for four years–in comparison to Cyberpunk 2077, had around the same amount of human skin tone options, but when I was counting it out, had more diversity in the skin tone options that were included–ranging from very pale skin to dark skin, with a variety of tones between. However, the options still weren’t great and in terms of character creation, there were a lot of different skin tones that could have been added. Another thing I noticed is that Stardew Valley has a color choosing system for hair and eyes, meaning you can pick any color you desire. I was wondering if that sort of option was possible for skin tones, allowing for greater choice and creativity. I wasn’t sure, though, if there was a development reason behind choosing present skin tones. 

Hair Style – 3/5

Stardew Valley boasts 74 hairstyle options. However, when I counted it out, there were about 13 afro or braided hairstyles and 62 straight hairstyles. Still, in comparison with Cyberpunk 2077, I found that there were a lot more options and also a variety of options (for afro alone, there were 3-4 different lengths to choose from). There was also a cornrows option and a fade option, something that not even Cyberpunk could provide. Still, the ratio unnerved me, so I could only give Stardew Valley a 3/5 for hairstyle options. 

3.) Sims 4

Overall Rating – 2/5

The Breakdown

Skin Tone Options- Before the recent update – 26 human skin tones, 9 random colors. After the recent update – About 45 skin tones under each category of cool, neutral, and warm skin tones, plus random skin tones as well

Hair Style Options – Depends on how many expansion packs you buy, but a disproportionate amount of straight-textured hairstyles to afro-textured hairstyles.

Skin Tone – 3/5

While the most recent update of Sims 4 added hundreds of more options for skin tone customization, the Sims 4 was released in 2014, meaning users have been begging EA for more skin tone options for upwards of 7 years. Before the update, Sims 4 had about a 3/5 in terms of skin tone customization with only 26 options, and after the update, the options come close to a 5/5. However, with customization being a fundamental aspect of the game, justifying spending that long just to allow someone to choose their own skin tone in game is abhorrent. What we can learn, from this situation though, is that if a fanbase is vocal enough, maybe video game developers will get the hint. For how long they took, Sims 4 will have to stay at a 3/5

Hair Style – 2/5

While Sims 4 hairstyles are dependent on how many expansion packs you buy, a common theme is supposed to be a diversity in hair type options, with categorization based on the hair type, length, and style you’re looking for. However, when sorting the hairstyles into different textures (straight-textured hair vs. afro-textured hair), the differences are clear. Even in just the scroll bar, for straight-textured hair there are so many to scroll through, while for afro-textured hairstyles there’s only a handful. Since character creation is a very important aspect to Sims 4, it’s important that these games keep their audience in mind. Especially when it comes to women, Sims 4 generally offers a more diverse character creation, but it’s nowhere near perfect.

To make matters worse, much like Cyberpunk’s ridiculous skin tone specific tattoo glitch, Sims 4 had a similar issue with rendering makeup options. The makeup textures wouldn’t sit right on darker skin tones and sometimes give a texture glitch and it wouldn’t be until years later and a very vocal community that this issue would be fixed. It also helps that the Sims community is so involved, with many custom content creators and modders allowing users to download more options based on their wants for character creation. Only with the help of the community is Sims’ character creation close to a 5/5. 

4.) Saints Row: The Third

Overall Rating – 4/5

The Breakdown

Skin Tone Options – 25 human skin tones, 35 random colors

Hair Style Options – 30-40 for each gender

Skin Tone – 4/5

For a game made years ago, Saints Row: The Third holds up next to games released in the last couple years. In terms of skin tone options, there are only 25 (one less than Sims 4 before the update), but they have a large range of skin tones to choose from and a greater range between darker skin tones. They also, in perfect Saints Row hilarity, have a ridiculous amount of random skin tones to choose from–including chrome. While that doesn’t have to do with diversity, many that I’ve spoken to have felt that the first game they could recall being able to make themselves in would be Saints Row: The Third, a game that came out in 2011. 

Hair Style – 4/5

Saints Row has a wide range of hairstyles to choose from for both men and women, making it easy for players to create themselves in game. With the ability to also choose feminine or masculine hairstyles for either gender, it allows for more customization for those that want to represent a character that expresses their gender differently, something that many games fail at (either categorizing clothing and hairstyles as either for men or for women). In Saints Row: The Third, however, the way you choose to represent yourself is up to you, making it one of the better games in terms of diverse customization, and a game that came years before its time. 

Loudly Discussed but Woefully Underheard

The larger takeaway from this analysis is that although games are making improvements to character creation to make it more diverse, it’s too little, too late. Diversity isn’t and shouldn’t be an afterthought, but when the team behind games is largely made up of white males, it’s easy to see how their character creation development has tunnel vision, only designing options that they themselves would want or see using. However, that’s where the largest issue in the video game industry comes into play. Without a diverse team behind the development of games, different groups of people become an afterthought, something to consider after the game has been created and released, perhaps in an update or a DLC, as if their existence is something separate from the “main event.”

To fix this issue would be to fundamentally change the people behind development, to have a vision that pushes for more diversity behind the scenes, and to support companies that support that vision. Even if a game cannot hire the development team that will offer insight into a more realistic character creation (even though they should), that game should make sure to listen to their userbase, and to listen to them quickly. In the case of Sims, it not only took years, but also took an amazingly dedicated fanbase to be vocal about their problems with the game’s character creation and to demand change, without giving up. Hopefully, this change can extend to Sims games going forward.

Could it extend to the videogame industry as a whole?

Well, to do that, we don’t just need to be loud, but we need to be heard.