Reading 06

 So I did more research into representation in video games. I shifted my focus to researching how different nationalities are represented. Surprisingly, I couldn't really find any papers about this specific topic, but I myself see the problem.

If any video games you play that take place in some sort of Earth or similar, 90% of the player characters will be some type of American or Japanese nationality, whether it's partial or fully. And for me, being non-American or Japanese, it makes me feel insecure about my own nationality because I don't see it represented enough in a non stereotypical way, some of which I'm actually starting to find it offensive because of how much they are stereotyped, this is more seen in American animated sitcoms, but that's beside the point.

Because I couldn't really find much papers on this topic, I had to do my own research, as people don't seem to see this as a problem, and I do, as how can the video game industry be diverse if every player character is American or partially American.

Take Mario for example. He is one of the most prominent video game characters out there. He is seen as Italian, but, he is technically Italian-American. So the most prominent video game characters is partially American. He may not be fully American, but he's still American to some degree. Another video game series I like, the Dark Pictures Anthology, also has this problem. The first game, four out of the five player characters are American. The second game, all five player characters are American. The third game, four of the five player characters are American, despite the game taking place in Iraq.

Resident Evil, one of the most popular horror franchises, all player characters are American, with an exception being a player character in Resident Evil 5, who's African instead.

So while, I couldn't find a lot of papers about this problem. It is a problem and unfortunately, it appears to be overlooked. While the movie industry appears to be improving with being over-saturated with American characters and settings, the video game industry does appear to have a ways to go. I do hope that this gets addressed soon, as it makes me feel insecure about not being American at all and it sometimes makes me believe that Americans will become extremely insecure if they are not in the spotlight all the time. 

Anyway I think I've looked into just about everything I wanted to look at in terms of representation. Being, gender, race, sexuality and nationality. So I believe I should be ready to write my chapter now. So I'll get started with that soon. I'll see you next time


Bye

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