A MORE REPRESENTATIVE MEDIUM

HOW DIVERSITY OF MAKERS AND PLAYERS IS GROWING.

Representation matters. It matters because it brings more voices into the industry and into the world of gaming, and that’s important because more gamers means a stronger community, and a stronger community means more games. A more diverse industry means more perspectives, and with so much of what we love about games being the escapism of the experience, more diverse perspectives can only be good for the creativity of the projects that come our way. So representation matters, and it's a big way in which the industry will be changing going forward.

“I hope that we see more investment in diverse games and the building of diverse teams,” says Creative Assembly’s Jodie Azhar. “Despite a much wider range of game genres and experiences being available now than ever before, we’re still seeing a lot of the more experimental games being developed by independent developers, and a lot of the larger investments are still going toward games that are seen as less risky, because they stick within an established genre with defined ‘gamer’ user bases.”

Jeff Kaplan is hopeful though, especially as he sees another generation of game makers emerge. “I am fortunate in that I get to visit with a lot of up-andcoming game students from various universities,” he explains. “I think there is so much talent in this generation, and I know they will make amazing games. The level of diversity in terms of who they are and the types of games they want to make is so promising for all of us as developers. I can’t wait to make games alongside of them, and I’m very much looking forward to learning from them.”

Diversity goes beyond upbringing and outlook, and also to what we even consider to be a gamer in the first place. “Looking at the diversity of people playing games, I’d love to see us get rid of this idea of a ‘gamer’, or that there are casual and hardcore players, and realise that anyone who plays games is a legitimate consumer in the same way you don’t need a special identifier to say you enjoy watching films,” says Azhar. “Games can be played and appreciated by everyone, and I’d love for the enjoyment and discussion of games to be a much more inclusive environment.”