Video Games And Stereotypes

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A young boy can easily become immersed into the virtual world of video games. The concepts illustrated in these video games, often containing violent themes and poor morals, can leave long lasting impressions on what this young boy views as acceptable. While the ideas portrayed in the video games may not intend to have a harmful impact on players, it does blur the lines of what society views as appropriate behaviors. Many parents, along with supported studies, agree that the effects of video games are far from commendable. Video games can leave players with the impression that these artificial storylines, which often containing considerable amounts of violence, display tolerable actions of everyday life; they can also affect players as they …show more content…

A female who plays a video game will notice that females characters are regularly presented with an unrealistic body shape. This will have an impact on how the female player views herself as she compares herself to character of the game; such a comparison can lead to a lower self-esteem as she is unable to look like the portrayed females. A negative self-esteem can be very hazardous to mental health. The female player may doubt her abilities as she does not meet the standards that are set by the video game character. This can lead to further insecurities in the future about whether she will ever be as powerful as the character in the game. These tendencies for female characters to be shown in unrealistic, stereotypical ways have also shown that “female characters were much more likely to be portrayed in a sexualized way” (The Concerns About Video Games). The sexualized female characters can have a damaging effect on females as they undermine the importance of all other intellectual aspects of a female as it sends a message to players that females are objects. While this has negative effects on the self-esteem of female players, it also has an impact on the way male players will view females. For these reasons, video games are poison to the minds of youth. The content shown in video games often presents high expectations on a females appearance, which is often overly sexualized, which has a strong negative impact on the self-concept of

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