Dove Debuts Video Game With Diverse Characters Who Defy Unrealistic Body Ideals

Dove is bringing real beauty to video games with female-led Toya gaming studio, and it’s announced its first game on Roblox.

Free to play now for girls aged nine to 16, Super U Story is a story-based game that navigates today’s beauty standards, inviting young players to look inwards at what beauty means to them. The game mirrors unrealistic ideals so girls can grasp that stereotypes do not define them.

The game features a host of female characters with different body types, skin tones, backgrounds, and abilities to reflect the diversity in women that is conspicuously absent in video games today.

In research endorsed by Women in Games and the Center for Appearance Research, Dove found that 60% of women believed they weren’t adequately represented in the gaming sphere. Furthermore, 35% noted that this lack of inclusion negatively impacted them.

In addition to a new game, Dove is working with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine to create a new suite of diverse female video game characters.

‘Real Virtual Beauty’ is a course teaching video game creators to avoid unconscious bias when designing female characters. Along with the training is an art collection where developers can upload their creations to help inspire others to develop a diverse selection of women.

Female gamers have time and time been sidelined and objectified, and while there are thousands of video games out there, representation is still hard to come by. The move will hopefully spark a new wave that encourages studios to take a stand and bring accurately-represented women to the forefront of gaming.

[via VentureBeat and Dove, images via Dove]