I'm Not Alone

Others have spoken out on stereotypes in video games as well. The Media Awareness Network explains that while people of many cultures play video games, that diversity is not usually reflected in the games themselves. White male characters dominate in the majority of popular games, while non-white characters often play the traditional supporting roles of sidekick or villain or else are confined to a narrow range of genres. (Media Awareness Network: 2010)
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/race_videogames.cfm/

A 2009 study by Karen E Dill, "Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Videogames, also made some discoveries on racial stereotypes in video games. Her study found black and Latino men were more likely to be portrayed as athletes or aggressors. Black men were less likely to wear protective armor or use technology than whites. Asians were often portrayed as intellectually superior but physically inferior… (Dill: 2009)

A study by Dmitri Williams, a social psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Southern California (USC), found that women, Native Americans, children and the elderly also were underrepresented in video games. Fewer than 3 percent of video game characters were recognizably Hispanic, and all of them were non-playable, background characters. (Williams: 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090729140931.htm

An article by students Barlett and Harris explains how they did research on stereotyped bodies found within video games and how playing them for long periods of time can affect our own body satisfaction. Results showed that participants in both studies had significantly lower body esteem after video game play. “This suggests that video games can also have a negative influence on the body-image of players.” (Barlett and Harris: 2008)
http://vgresearcher.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/gendered-ty/

Poor representation of a video game character’s sexual orientation has been noticed by players as well. In some cases gays, lesbians, or bisexuals are not even mentioned at all. An abstract submitted to Gameology by Evan Lauteria states, while gender and race studies have been done on video games (even if very few and far between), the issue of representation of sexual orientation in video games has largely been overlooked academically. Within gaming culture, there seems to be a certain level of accepted homophobia , probably due to the lack of cultural diversity that is associated with “gaming culture.” (Lauteria: 2006)
http://www.gameology.org/essays/sexuality_and_sexual_orientation_in_computer_and_console_games