AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research – The visual census 2.0 : a continued investigation on the representations of gender, race and age in video games – 2020

In 2009, researchers looked at character representation in the 100 best-selling video games in the United States in 2005. The results highlighted the over representation of Caucasian, adult and male characters. In 2019, researchers at Concordia University revisited the issues addressed in the initial research and examined how these representations have evolved over time.

A few key figures

22%

of characters were female in 2017, compared to 13% in 2005.

20%

of characters studied were People of Color (POC), compared to 17% in 2005.

To go further