First Impressions: Effects of Representation on Video Game Covers

This study examines how representation on digital video game covers shapes players' first impressions and, in turn, their purchasing and consumption decisions. Drawing on a survey of 298 respondents who evaluated covers from six compilations of Steam's top 20 best-selling games released between 2010 and 2015, the research argues that publishers should deliberately communicate inclusion through cover art, since players form expectations about a game's welcomeness before gameplay begins. The sample was predominantly young and included substantial shares of Asian, white, and bi- or multiracial participants, and the authors caution that their findings are not generalizable beyond this group.

The most striking result concerns a divergence in self-representation. Respondents broadly agreed that characters of color are inadequately represented on covers, yet participants of color reported feeling significantly less represented by at least one character (mean 2.06 versus 3.74 for white participants) and by many characters (1.82 versus 3.40). Both groups, however, rated the adequacy and overall quality of representation similarly, suggesting that the gap lies in personal identification rather than in general judgments of fairness.

Those differences carried into attention and engagement. Participants of color paid significantly more attention to cover content (p = 0.044) and considered it far more important when characters shared their ethnicity (3.43 versus 2.23, p < 0.001), even though the two groups did not differ on whether covers play a role in their overall gaming experience. Open-ended responses most frequently cited a general lack of diverse representation, at 57 percent, leading the author to conclude that covers may signal to prospective players of color that they are less welcome in games. The concluding section calls on scholars and designers to examine the links between covers, potential players, and the cultural "capital" covers confer, with the aim of addressing representational inequities.