However, there is a significant difference between playing as a blank slate with an optional color palette and having a game built around the character's ethnicity.

In fact, a significant amount of mainstream titles allow players to make their character match their own ethnicity, such as building Mike Tyson in Elden Ring.

Now, something to note about the state of diversity in games does bring up the question of character customization and the ability for players to tune their protagonists to their preferences. RELATED: How Forspoken Takes Cues From Stranger of Paradise, Soulslike Games So, keeping the cast of games like Forspoken diverse, instead of focusing on only the majority population, shows that everyone is seen and has a seat at the table. The problem is that only focusing on the cultural or ethnic majority can wind up outweighing the proportion of characters that the minority population can more easily relate to. This is obviously why the vast majority of artwork from any culture is made specifically for the majority population, so that it will have the opportunity to resonate with the widest audience. In many cases, if the main character of any media looks like the viewer, it is significantly easier for that viewer to then relate to the protagonist. However, the most important point to be made about representation, like what is seen for Black fans with Frey Holland in Forspoken, is that it matters when people see themselves in media. Many consumers of this media are simply asking to be seen and to see themselves in the characters that they watch onscreen, either on a gaming monitor or on a large projector in the cinema. The conversation about representation and inclusion in all forms of media is as diverse as the people arguing over the topic.

Forspoken cast