What can video games tell us about neurodiversity and autism?

Abstract

Video games are increasingly recognized as cultural artifacts capable of shaping public perceptions of societal norms, including neurodiversity. Autism, as a form of neurodivergence, offers a unique lens to explore the intersection of media representation, cognitive diversity, and societal narratives. This extended abstract examines the reciprocal influences between autism and video games to highlight their relevance as tools for fostering inclusive and critical discourses. Specifically, it explores how autism narratives influence video game design and how video games serve as platforms for counter-discourses that challenge dominant societal norms. Counterdiscourses, in this context, refer to narratives opposing stereotypical or deficit-based views of neurodiversity, instead reframing autism as a valid and natural variation of human cognition. This work highlights video games’ dual role in reinforcing dominant discourses and fostering non-pathological representations of cognitive differences. While this analysis primarily engages with games from the past twenty-five years (reflecting a recent increase in the presence and discussion of autistic-coded characters) it does not impose a strict temporal or geographical frame. The evolving definitions of autism and the increasing visibility of neurodiversity in game culture shape the scope of the study in dynamic ways. Although many of the examples discussed are from Western-developed games, this reflects the current state of the database under construction, which draws from a mix of personal research and community-sourced identifications (Reddit threads, fan wikis, Facebook groups, etc.). The corpus remains open to expansion and includes titles with explicitly autistic characters as well as those with ambiguous or unofficially interpreted traits. This fluid, exploratory approach allows for the inclusion of diverse perspectives and highlights the complexities of naming, categorization, and interpretation across cultures and genres.