operation-codecolor

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Offering only select character classes in specific genders has been common practice in [games] for quite awhile…By limiting the number of female-presenting characters to a fraction of those that are male-presenting, it may also appear that the female character offered is nothing more than a ‘token’ character, particularly if the female character class chosen to be female is stereotypical in its appearance or in its assigned occupation.

Sheri Graner Ray, Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market

quote as raced:

"Offering only select character[s] in specific [races] has been common practice in [games] for quite awhile...By limiting the number of [poc] characters to a fraction of those that are [white] it may...appear that the [poc] character offered is nothing more than a 'token' character, particularly if the character chosen to be a [poc] is stereotypical in appearance or assigned occupation."

quote as raced specific to women:

"Offering only select character[s] in specific [races] has been common practice in [games] for quite awhile...By limiting the number of [woc] characters to a fraction of those that are [white women/men] it may...appear that the [woc] character offered is nothing more than a 'token' character, particularly if the character chosen to be a [woc] is stereotypical in [her] appearance or in [her] assigned occupation."

[operation-codecolor]

Purpose:

To discuss the issue of representation as it applies to Women of Color (WOC) and Girls of Color (GOC) characters

To provide gamers from all backgrounds with recs for games where WOC/GOC are playable characters.

To be as inclusive as possible by discussing and reccing games for all ages and including games with WOC/GOC of differing sexual orientations, body types, and gender identity.

While there has been much rich discussion of the placement of the female playable and non-playable character in the realm of video games, the scope of this discussion tends to be broad. As it is meant to be inclusive, the term "woman character" defaults to represent all women, however, this default still functions under the socialized (and often unnoticed) definition of "woman" as white which means most of the discussion is about white women in video games.

It would be disingenuous to act as if the world is color blind, therefore Operation Code: Color aims to carve out a space in the discourse, a sub field if you will. The intention of this blog is to help fill the gaping hole apparent in the discussion of the representation of women in video games as well as expose visitors to games where they can play WOC/GOC characters and information on the games' various triumphs and pitfalls.

In order to accomplish the goals of this blog I'm going to need your help. If you know any games with WOC/GOC playables (or ones you wish were playable) then don't hesitate to message me. My ask is open for game suggestions and questions. Also, don't hesitate to tell me if I'm being offensive. I am going to do my very best to be as inclusive as possible and use the correct terms of the different racial, sexual, and gender identities that I will be discussing on this blog but there are going to be things I don't know or mess up so don't hesitate to tell me about it. I'm still learning, too.