This inclusive attitude toward gender and sexuality, once a rarity in video games, is becoming more common as games take on more diverse and weightier subject matter, beyond flesh-eating zombies and alien attacks.

In recent years, new games have emerged such as Papers, Please, by the independent designer Lucas Pope, which puts players in the role of an immigration officer at the border of a fictional country. The game That Dragon, Cancer caught the attention of critics and players this year for its emotional portrayal of family grief. The game was based on the experiences of two of its creators, Ryan and Amy Green, whose son died of cancer in 2014.

A yet-to-be-released game called Camp Bucca, made by five independent developers and students from New York University and Carnegie Mellon University, will put players in the shoes of an American soldier stationed at a detention center of the same name during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Players will be able to use “enhanced interrogation” techniques on Iraqi detainees to draw attention to the abuses that occurred at the center.

“We want the game to provoke an emotional response and convey a deliberate message,” said Edward John, one of its developers, who asked for his last name to be omitted, citing safety concerns from those who might oppose the game. “In the game, there is no ‘winning,’ a metaphor for the current state of Iraq,” he said.

Some of these games may raise a ruckus among gamers who operate within the toxic subcultures of the industry, kindling controversies over gender and other issues. But at their most powerful, such games can also move people to take action on their own behalf.