dragon age inquisition character creator elf

Where games like Elder Scrolls do the equivalent of colourblind casting, with all the problems it entails, Dragon Age theoretically does the equivalent of writing roles for minorities, telling their particular stories. No, Dragon Age limits your choice to a few available backstories, and with these backstories go specific dialogue options and even quests in the game. Let me use the three Dragon Age games as an example here, to illustrate the problems inherent in this approach.Īs I said, its world is not one where the universe pretends at no prejudices and your character has, in fact, no background, their race and gender influencing nothing at all.

The most interesting tales usually employ conflict with society in some ways, and that almost always means systemic oppression.īut once you do incorporate structural injustice, can you really afford to give players complete freedom in what character they come up with? That means an utopia, and nice as it might be to live in one, they are rather boring as far as narratives go, proving little in the way of tension for the story to use. Because ultimately, complete freedom in character creation makes sense only in a world without structural injustice. And this is where the complications come into play. Many other universes, on the other hand, decide to keep some form of systemic injustice, usually in the form of fantastic racism. It can break the suspension of disbelief just a little, but overly, it’s not such a big deal. This is probably partly a result of lingering prejudices and partly thanks to pseudo-medieval tropes tied to the fantasy genre. Not always wholly successfully or consistently – frequently the implication is that the universe is all equal, but it just so happens that most people in power are straight white males.

Some fantasy universes actually go in that direction. But it also makes storytelling more complicated, because if the story doesn’t reflect this diversity, it only makes sense in a world where there is no discrimination based on these things.

And giving gamers a chance to play as various genders, races and sexual identities is an awesome thing. Dragon Age has always been on the frontlines when it comes to diverse protagonists, though it is far from the only game to offer this.

Dragon age inquisition character creator elf