For most of gaming's history, its core audience was primarily male focused.
Generally, video games were designed to appeal to male-centric interests, and the characters in those games represented that fact - the heroes were often hyper-masculine ciphers for the player to project themselves onto, and female characters existed purely as a victory trophy reward for completely the game.
Thankfully, as video games have grown and evolved - especially in the last decades - this is no longer the case.
People of all walks live life are now creating their own characters, ones that more accurately represent them and their own life experiences, and the landscape of video game storytelling is a far more diverse place as a result.
What games do you think have done an exemplary job at promoting diversity, and what characters do you think stand out the most in highlighting it?