“I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.” - Dwight Eisenhower

Just about any writer is trying to send messages, or convey ideas and/or concepts, in their stories. The worst possible way to do this is to say it outright. The most effective way to do this is to subtly convey it. A common paraphrasing of Ike's quote above is “The art of leadership is persuasion, not hitting the other guy over the head with a hammer”, and this really says it better than anything else.

If you are preaching too the audience then you are defeating your own goal. They don't want to be hit over the head with a hammer, and they will resist being hit over the head with a hammer. They will begin actively thinking of reasons why you are wrong, and an idiot. If, on the other hand, you subtly convey an intriguing thought or concept... you may actually succeed in your goal of the audience actually accepting your message as a part of their own way of thinking.

If you intrigue them and start a thought process by which they arrived at the conclusion you were wanting them too, they will accept it into their own way of thinking. If you try to preach too them and hit them over the head with a hammer, they will find excuses why you are wrong. So you are only doing yourself a disservice when you preach to the audience about what you want them to believe... that's the one thing they aren't going to believe when they are finished with your story.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." - "Ike" again...

2 minutes ago, RevanT1 said:

I see what you're saying. So to convey it without trying to put so much of it being flashed into someone's face, I could just have a small hint about it, like maybe she wears a particular small necklace piece with a small bead in it that relates to her cultures heritage that so happens to be Native American without having to of explained to everyone "hey btw she's a Native American woman that descends from a family member of so and so tribe" I could just add some small detail like a small bead or earing or ring that is thoroughly researched in case antone questions or wonders about it based on her family's ancestral tribe that was passed down like her grandfather's great great grandfather's jewel that was kept in the family or she mentions a death of a fsmiky.member that was buried with kept native traditions?  Are  these good examples? 

Sounds pretty good to me.  

Yup, keep it about the story.  Unless this is the star character of the game and everything hinges on a super detailed  backstory, keep it simple, light, fun.  Remember, games are usually an escape from all these kinds of complex issues.  If you let people forget about them, it works better.

As long as the characters fit the story/game, nobody should be too upset about it.  How much backstory is really necessary?  Keep that in mind.  If the worry is people taking issue with your portrayal.  The less there is, the less you need to research, and the less there is to dissect.   Stories/games don't have to be culturally representative of the real world, and I think many times they shouldn't be.   Because unless they are done really really well, somebody will feel misrepresented and somebody else will feel left out somehow, and those are at least 2 somebodies who will be outspoken about not wanting to play your game.  Sometimes this works in your favor by creating a buzz and controversy(any news is good news sometimes), but these days I think it mostly leads to a dead end.

Best of luck!

3 minutes ago, RevanT1 said:

Now race is a different thing, like I don't think I would need to explain why a black Canadian character exists for example.

True, and best you don't for the above mentioned reasons as well.  haha.  

I'm all for games/stories that explore and correctly depict culture and race, so don't get me wrong.  We need more of them.  It's just something that I feel should really take most of the focus and the effort when it's done.  If you're just wanting to make a fighting game, give them a flag and an outfit that fits the fight location/style.

Always, just my 2c.