More at https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...ony-ubisoft-eaAsk five people who follow the video games industry what to expect from an E3 press conference and they’ll all paint you a similar picture. Bright lights on a big stage, lengthy cinematic trailers for shooters starring gravelly-voiced stubble-faced white men, interspersed with awkward patter from white men in suits (or, depending on the publisher, suit jackets and T-shirts and trainers), cheered and whooped at by a largely white male audience. This industry is often unwelcoming to women and underrepresented minorities, and these widely watched events do little to counter that.
Of course, some conferences do better than others. This year, we’ve judged EA, Bethesda, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Sony for the diversity of their speakers and of the games and characters on show. How do they compare?
EA:
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Conclusion: While even one woman on stage is more than some others manage, a company as large as EA has no excuse for being so limited. The Play to Give programme suggests an interest in diversity, but it would have been nice to see that represented on stage. Still, with a game as hotly anticipated as Mass Effect: Andromeda it was nice to meet the female Ryder first.
Diversity rating: 2/5
Bethesda:
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Conclusion: The only identifiable woman in Bethesda’s press conference was Emily Kaldwin, and while she made a strong showing it’s unfortunate she has to share the limelight with her ageing father.
Diversity rating: 1/5
Microsoft
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Conclusion: Microsoft gets points for featuring a game that you can only play as a female character (and her robot dog). As far as diversity on stage, it was the first conference to feature more than one female speaker, and there was an effort to include female players in demonstrations of multiplayer games, though only ever one per group.
Diversity rating: 3/5
Ubisoft
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Conclusion: Only one of the games Ubisoft showed this year has a named protagonist, and it’s a black guy. Most of the speakers on stage were white men, but for the fifth year in a row the best person for the job of holding it all together was a black woman.
Diversity rating: 3/5
Sony
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Conclusion: With few speakers at all, the diversity of Sony’s conference has to be judged on the games, two of which focused on female protagonists.
Diversity rating: 3/5
Black guy on Battlefield 1 cover, black guy vs. german on event artwork, black celebrities all over the E3 Play event, Harlem Hellfighter pre-order dlc and black soldier skins for some german troops (colonial troops maybe). For me its too much already.
Mass Effect Andromeda get's a female main character for the trailer which will most likely be the the character for ads this time. Last year they had female players for FIFA as the big thing.
Sims 4, just before E3, got the LGBT update. Yeah didn't happen during E3, but what do they want? Really? A 2/5?
But funny that they leave out Nintendo which would have been an easy 5/5 if we do this.
Come on...
Originally Posted by JetForceGemini
People actually care about this? Not once while I was watching the conferences did I think... Man this would be so much better with a black guy instead. Ironic part is that I am black so maybe it's me with the problem lol
lol why do they do this? is diversity required these days even though it could be that the other person is not even able to talk to the public or knows anything about the corresponding game?
But funny that they leave out Nintendo which would have been an easy 5/5 if we do this.
Smh.Seriously, this is something that people compile data on?
Come on...
If you don't care, then there's no need to goddamn threadshit.
Honestly it seems based on their conclusions that their diversity is made up of: "How many women" rather than if there was more minority representation...Originally Posted by DoublePayje
wtf are they talking about? EA a 2/5?
Black guy on Battlefield 1 cover, black guy vs. german on event artwork, black celebrities all over the E3 Play event, Harlem Hellfighter pre-order dlc. For me its too much already.
Mass Effect Andromeda get's a female main character for the trailer which will most likely be the the character for ads this time. Last year they had female players for FIFA as the big thing.
Sims 4, just before E3, got the LGBT update. Yeah didn't happen during E3, but what do they want? Really? A 2/5?
"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has to be one of the most innovative, immersive, groundbreaking experiences I've ever encountered, and literally every developer needs to takes notes on how to make games fun.
However, the game doesn't allow you to play as a female Link. So we give it a 1/10."
gone are the days when I see bandicoot colelcting apples, dragons chasing sheep and hedgehogs running through loops, I am glad nintendi is still around
That's my conclusion too. When i see comment like this:Honestly it seems based on their conclusions that their diversity is made up of: "How many women" rather than if there was more minority representation...
Microsoft gets points for featuring a game that you can only play as a female character
They are clearly not evaluating diversity.
Not sure why someone can't rank the conferences based on that. Sometimes you have to light the fire, and sometimes you have to keep it going.
white male late 20s btw.
I don't think there is anything wrong with ranking the conferences like that. It's just this doesn't seem like a diversity report- more like a women report. Since it doesn't seem to take minority's really into account, just women.Originally Posted by Subtervotion
Id assume they do it to keep is talking about it. Women want their voices to be heard. Non whites want their voices to be heard.
Not sure why someone can't rank the conferences based on that. Sometimes you have to light the fire, and sometimes you have to keep it going.
white male late 20s btw.
Smh.
If you don't care, then there's no need to goddamn threadshit.
I wouldn't really call this threadshitting, they're giving their opinion on the article and its relevance. Just because their idea isn't the same as yours doesn't mean they're messing the thread up.
I think that pressers and games in general are becoming much more diversity friendly, Who would have thought 5 years ago that a woman or black man would be the protag of an AAA game?
Seems a bit narrowminded
How about handicapped people, protagonists over the age of 65, eastern europeans, asians etc. That would be diversity to me.
Amen.Originally Posted by JetForceGemini
People actually care about this? Not once while I was watching the conferences did I think... Man this would be so much better with a black guy instead. Ironic part is that I am black so maybe it's me with the problem lol
Anyone is welcomed in the industry. Are they supposed to start forcing people to participate?
It's the same thing as Sony's Livecast, which they also didn't judge. A conference and an all day live stream are very different.Was Nintendo ignored because they did a somewhat different kind of event? Because the person didn't want to score it without watching all 6-7 hours of it? Or because Nintendo had a majority of women hosting for probably the majority of the total runtime? How does an event with game featuring an androgynous male character and a game featuring male/female selectable characters score on a 1-5 scale?
Your points are valid but their format doesn't mesh well with most outlets that cover E3 as a whole. Giantbomb literally tuned out for a while during the Treehouse event. With that said, the Treehouse events have always nailed it when it comes to diversity.Was Nintendo ignored because they did a somewhat different kind of event? Because the person didn't want to score it without watching all 6-7 hours of it? Or because Nintendo had a majority of women hosting for probably the majority of the total runtime? How does an event with game featuring an androgynous male character and a game featuring male/female selectable characters score on a 1-5 scale?
Me? CJ is the main character of one of the best selling games of all time and that came out in 2004. It just sucks that nobody followed R* effort with that.I wouldn't really call this threadshitting, they're giving their opinion on the article and its relevance. Just because their idea isn't the same as yours doesn't mean they're messing the thread up.
I think that pressers and games in general are becoming much more diversity friendly, Who would have thought 5 years ago that a woman or black man would be the protag of an AAA game?
And yeah EA was a lot more diverse than this write up gives them credit for.
Yeah if you're gonna do a scorecard like this feel like you have to be a lot broader.Originally Posted by Cold Lager
So diversity = black people and women?
Seems a bit narrowminded
How about handicapped people, protagonists over the age of 65, eastern europeans, asians etc. That would be diversity to me.
Amazed Aisha Tyler has been doing those conferences for five years straight. Hope she's making good buck for trying to keep those conferences interesting.
EDIT: Lol about applying the Bechdel test to a video game conference. When are presenters actually interacting with each other beyond a game demo anyhow?
lol why do they do this? is diversity required these days even though it could be that the other person is not even able to talk to the public or knows anything about the corresponding game?
But funny that they leave out Nintendo which would have been an easy 5/5 if we do this.
Originally Posted by JetForceGemini
People actually care about this? Not once while I was watching the conferences did I think... Man this would be so much better with a black guy instead. Ironic part is that I am black so maybe it's me with the problem lol
Seriously, this is something that people compile data on?
Come on...
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Is there a heavy focus on just women and African-American? Other demographics should be taken into consideration and some rankings I disagree with, but this is important to track.
Conferences and games on display were generally very poor not just in demographical diversity but also thematically and in design. Didn't the Sony conference start with two games with dead/absent wives? That was definitely something.
yeah that bothered me as well. Like seriously you gave it points because there was no playable male character that sounds even more sexist.That's my conclusion too. When i see comment like this:
Microsoft gets points for featuring a game that you can only play as a female character
They are clearly not evaluating diversity.
There's clearly still a lot of improvements to be made.
I'm a black guy too and the sad part is you still don't get the underlying problem despite being a minority.Originally Posted by JetForceGemini
People actually care about this? Not once while I was watching the conferences did I think... Man this would be so much better with a black guy instead. Ironic part is that I am black so maybe it's me with the problem lol
Sarcasm? Bandicoot is back, there are dragons chasing other dragons in scalebound, new Sonic game looks almost like a return to classic Sonic.Originally Posted by BodiesWithoutOrgans
and all the games look the same all end of the world rubbish to and so voillent
gone are the days when I see bandicoot colelcting apples, dragons chasing sheep and hedgehogs running through loops, I am glad nintendi is still around
Granted a lot of the games were solemn post apocalypic nonsense or shoot shoot bang bagng but that's what sells.
Same goes for everyone, really. This seems really focused on speakers rather than games.
He didn't say "no one cares about this". Maybe actually read? Those threads are always such tiptoe eggshells, with thinly veiled insults and attacks (to quote someone else earlier in the thread "says a lot about you" etc.)Originally Posted by Broken Joystick
No. Someone spent all this time compiling the data because no one cares about it.
Think before you post.
Yeah, I think that horizons mc could have been a native American woman easily. Scale bound from ms could have been anyone but we got drew.Honestly it seems based on their conclusions that their diversity is made up of: "How many women" rather than if there was more minority representation...