Black Representation in Video Games

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Video games have existed for over 60 years and have seen major upgrades. One upgrade that has been adopted at a really slow rate is the inclusion of Black characters. In cases where Black characters are included, there are heavy limitations on aspects like their skin tones and hair.

While it is good to be satisfied that Black characters have some representation, it’s still important to ask for better.

Black hair in video games

Rumors of cauliflower

The Sims 4 is the fourth iteration of the life simulation series The Sims. Simmers, as the games’ players are called, saw an article where a concept designer showed that they modelled an afro after a cauliflower. Now, it’s not known if this designer actually worked with Electronic Arts (EA), the company behind The Sims franchise. However, what is known is that simmers weren’t happy with the afro choice they did end up with.

After seven years of that afro, The Sims team (the team at EA responsible for The Sims franchise) released a new afro. Simmers do end up referencing the old ‘fro as “the cauliflower hair”.

Hair has been a contention in The Sims franchise. An EA Forums post from 13 years ago, before The Sims 4, had discussions about hope for the inclusion of more Black hair. Modders (someone who creates modifications and custom content for a game) have had to come to the virtual rescue. They will often add in content like Black hairstyles that aren’t available in the game, among many other things. The problem with this is that the entire Sims 4 community isn’t being served as simmers on consoles like the PlayStation, and Xbox can’t access that content.

Kilmonger

The award-winning film Black Panther graced screens in 2018. One of the main villains is Eric Killmonger. He sported a high-top fade with locs. The look inspired too many video game characters; the style has been dubbed the “Killmonger hair.” The problem is that the overuse of this hair makes players become tired of seeing it. It also gives the illusion that game development companies were finally glad to have another easy hairstyle (like the afro and cornrows that they always do) instead of also incorporating other natural hairstyles.

Black skin in video games

The Sims 4 finds itself here again. The problem was that the skin colour swatches were limited and some of the darker shades were ashy with bad undertones. Then, six years after the initial release of the game, Black simmers had more options when the game developers expanded the available skin tones. This came after a modder, Xmiramira (Amira Virgil), released a custom content pack with better skin tones than what was available in-game. The Sims 4 article that announced the update credited her and other simmers for helping them diversify the game. In 2024, the Sims team teamed up with Ebonix (another prominent modder) and Dark & Lovely (the haircare company) to add more variety for Black simmers.

Black characters

Adding a Black character to a game stirs online talk as a lot of people take issue with what skin colour a fictional character has, like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadow. The Assassin’s Creed series changes locations for every installment. This installment is set in Japan and has a Black samurai, Yasuke, and female shinobi (ninja), Naoe, as protagonists. Many people got upset that the samurai isn’t a traditional Japanese man; however, Yasuke is historically accurate. There is an argument to be made about the lack of a male Japanese protagonist in a game that is based in Japan. However, the conclusion should be to ask Ubisoft (and any other game developer) to expand its inclusion, not limit it.

What Black people are doing in response

There is a lack of education on how to make Black hair and a lack of Black video game developers. Many Black artists are now creating the change they want to see.

More Black video game models

A.M. Darke is an Associate Professor of Performance, Play, and Design, and Digital Arts at the University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz). Alongside a team headed by Yale computer science professor Theodore Kim, Professor Darke worked on a program “that better represents coily hair in animation.” This collaboration is important because, as Professor Kim says, “[an] artist and a scientist put their knowledge together and make something really interesting that neither could have done individually.”

To add to that idea, it is important to get Black artists involved when tackling issues like hair and skin tone in the virtual space. For artists like Professor Darke, knowing how and why Black hair works the way it does is a step towards knowing how to recreate it. You can read the study that came from the team here.

Professor Darke also started the Open Source Afro Hair Library where individual artists can use models (created by contributors) to make their art. The library being open source means that artists can freely transform the models while giving the contributors credit.

Code my Crown is a guide that stems from a collaboration between Open Source Afro Hair Library, Dove (yes, the body care company) and artists. The guide “[offers] more help combating the lack of access to resources and detailed documentation.” According to Isaac Olander, one of the artists who worked on the guide, “the response to Code my Crown has been overwhelmingly positive across the industry.”

Black Girl Gamers

Female gamers tend to receive a lot of harassment online, and that harassment worsens for Black female gamers. This is misogynoir, the intersection of sexism and racism. To provide a space for Black female gamers like herself, Jay-Ann Lopez founded Black Girl Gamers. Today, the company has expanded into consulting and doing events. They also have a Twitch page (with over 40k followers) that features several Black gamers.

A common theme in asking for new hair types, skin complexions, or better representation overall is a pushback from others who feel like games do enough already. Many times, they’ll use the word “woke” in a condescending way when in reality, people who point out problems are actually woke. They’ll say that the “woke” side of the audience is trying to get companies to cater to them. There’s no problem with that. When companies make games, they should try to be as inclusive as possible. Black people always have to stand up for themselves, even (especially) in the face of those who see their fight as unnecessary. It’s important to remember that while keyboard warriors always voice their dissent, companies tend to listen to Black voices, even though it takes them a while.

There’s still a way to go with Black representation in video games, so be sure to support Black gamers. Change is inevitable but it relies heavily on encouragement.