Equal Gender Representation in The Gaming Franchise This paper tries to express how sexism/chauvinism ideas have infected the virtual-world of video games, and resulted in a male dominated video-gaming industry. Now, being that 49% of U.S. households own a dedicated gaming console (E.S.A. 2012), it is imperative that we address this issue. Gender disparity in the gaming business is exceedingly one-sided. Female employees constitute less than 10% of the gaming industry, and even though that shortcoming females have contributed to the video gaming franchise. A small number of females have indeed contributed to the gaming franchise as a result of the industries no-girls-allowed mentality which strongly suggest that old saying boys-only. In this paper, I will examine current research relevant to the video game industry and its representation of the female gender, provide personal accounts of sexual harassment within the video game industry and offer my opinions of what could be done to begin the steps in an extraordinarily difficult journey. The Industry Since their beginnings, by both female and male gamers have enjoyed video games. They are so beloved by their followers that the annual Entertainment Software Association reports the gaming industry at an estimated $17 billion dollars franchise; globally that number increases to $67 billion of which 48% is female and 52% male. Females are also part of the gaming population, representing 47% while the males represent 53% (E.S.A., 2012). This means that both males and females support the gaming industry, as well as production of their products, both financially and through its use; although, the gaming industry does not share this same support of gender equality. The 11th Annual Sal... ... middle of paper ... ...ce Review, 106(3), 533-547. doi:10.1017/S0003055412000329 National Center for Women Information Technology(2013). Retrieved Nov 3, 2013 from http://www.ncwit.org/ Nation's Report Card.(2005). 2005 High school transcript study. Retrieved Nov 3, 2013 from http://nationsreportcard.gov/hsts_2005/hs_over_1.aspx Pinchefsky. C. (2012). #1Reason why' hashtag explains why there are few female games developers. Forbes. Retrieved Nov 3, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/11/27/twitter-hashtag-explains Raja, T., (2012). Why It Sucks to Be a Woman in the Video Game Industry. Mother Jones. Retrieved Nov 3, 2013 from http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2012/11/women- video game-industry-twitter-1reasonwhy U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (2013). Laws, Regulations & Guidance. Retrieved Nov 3, 2013from: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/harassment.cfm
Grand Theft Auto IV promotes hetronormative hierarchical distinctions between feminity and masculinity through its framing of female and male bodies, its presentation of females as objects of the male gaze and its encouragement of players to adopt and act out a hypermasculine role. It is of vital importance that we do not exclude race, gender or sexuality from discussions of videogames, because as Leonard (2006, pp. 84) asserts, doing so ‘contributes to problematic, if not faulty, understandings of video games and their significant role in contemporary social, political, economic, and cultural organization.’ Instead as players we must engage in discussion regarding videogames and, as Jenkins writes, we must ‘find a way to move beyond our existing categories and to once again invent new kinds of virtual play spaces’ (1999, pp.
Often in videogames female roles are over sexualized and over dramatized within the limited supportive roles that they play, often playing the role of the sidekick. When their the protagonist they’re reduced to nothing but sex icons to appeal to men. Often scantily dressed and a bust size within the D cup and up range. Characters like Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider Series debutting in 1996 and Bayonetta in her own series called Bayonetta which released in 2010. Yet even though they are far apart in terms of release they both feature a lead female role whom dresses in an obscene manner. Why is this? The simple truth is that sex sells, games with female characters with mini skirts and tight shirts generally manage to sell decently well. This causes an issue in the min...
The world of gaming is expanding with endless possibilities of ways to play. Gaming has advanced greatly over the years by expanding over many different platforms. Smartphones, tablets, and next generation consoles are just a few of the many possibilities to play. This expansion has broadened the demographic of players and changed the way we play today. Although the demographic has widened and the games have become more advanced, there seems to be a reoccurring theme in gaming. White males make up the majority of video game protagonists, while minorities and women are stereotyped and degraded. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently released its 2013 sales, demographic and usage report for the computer and video game industry. “Numbers show that 58% of Americans play video games. Fifty-five percent of gamers are male while 45% of gamers are female.” These numbers should suggest a change in the look of gaming to support its wide range of gamers. Yet and still nothing is being done. I feel this is due to a lack of women and minorities in the video game development field. If more knowledge of the field were to be presented to the African American youth, I feel there would be more interest and an increase in the number of minority game developers.
And after many researches, it been found that men are more addicted to video games, because most of games reflects their actions and behavior, and the type of games they play are usually contains violence and, action. And the male characters are always represented as a muscled and tough men. Unlike females they are less addicted to video games, because when they found most of games contains violence, and their naturality is usually calm and soft, they stayed away, so they turned to adventure, and puzzle games. But what made arguments is the representation of females, they were often shown as a sex object, and that because game designers tend to please male players, more than females because their percentage is higher. Games industries are willing to change the representation of each character from different gender in next the generation of games. but will it be more successful than the way genders are being represented now
Since the humble origins of the video gaming industry, individuals used it as a challenge of their abilities. In modern day, this industry is just a popular as any other media which exists in the mainstream world. Video games reflect society’s changing views of the normalities of which individuals and/or groups must abide to. This is exemplified in the evolving representation of the queer individuals within the virtual world. As the video game industry came into focus, so did the LGBT rights movement. This illustrates that society’s views on the LGBT community were reflected in the video games made, however, it was rare that such characters existed as protagonists until the twenty first century. Due to the extreme lack of asexual and non-binary
According to the data presented by the Entertainment Software Association, roughly 58% of Americans play video games. Worth over 20 billion dollars, the video game industry is one of the fastest growing businesses for entertainment outlets in America. With growing influence on the public, more attention is being brought to the exact content of these games and whether they have any lasting effects on individuals outside their virtual walls. More specifically, gender representation of males and female in video games and their relationship to real societal gender roles has been a topic that has instigated considerable research by social scientists. Though, female gamers make-up over 45% of the gamer population, they are often underrepresented and sexually or stereotypically depicted as characters in games. (The Entertainment Software Association) These stereotypes create extremes for “what is feminine” and “what is masculine”, that as a result, present more rigid gender roles for players and their characters. (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009) Contemporary gender representations of men and women in video games have damaging effects on men’s treatment and opinion of women, women’s self-efficacy, and female gamers’ position in the gaming public.
Video games have been around since 1958, and ever since then video games have developed more. With video games becoming a bigger industry, there have been more people purchasing and buying more and more video games. For examples, up to 2001, “roughly 79 percent of America's youth played video games, many of them for at least eight hours a week” (Layton). Furthermore, in 2008, “97% of 12-17 year olds in the US played video games” (“Video Games”). With a growing industry, there has been more competition between video game companies. The companies that make these video games try to make a huge profit by appealing to people’s likes. In 2008, “10 of the top 20 best-selling video games in the US contained violence” (“Video Games”)
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
"Interest In Gaming Grows With Focus On Competitiveness, Engagement And Critical Thinking. (Cover Story)." Electronic Education Report 14.12 (2007): 1-3.
Video game industry have been representing female character as sexually objectified or shown as a victim who is in desperate need of help through male protagonist, this portrayal has negative effect on the mind of our generation and the gender roles they identify with.
Besides female game developers, women who self-identify as “gamers” reveal that there is a larger gap between women who play video games and the video game community on a whole. A total of 6 percent of all adult women interviewed said that the term ‘gamer’ describes them well, whereas 15 percent of all adult men interviewed said the same. This gap further intensifies when looking at young adults aged 18 to 29, as one-third of young men agree that the term ‘gamer’ describes them well, more than three times the proportion of young women (9 percent) (Duggan, 2015). Without being able to feel as though the ‘gamer’ identity can apply to them, this further isolates women from embracing this title as well as isolating them from trying out video games and contemplating if they enjoy the games or video game culture. By having only 6 percent total of adult women identify as “gamers” when women make up 41 percent of the total gaming population, it shows that the “gamer” label does not fully or truly represent those who game, which
Within the gaming industry, whether it is within the PC gaming industry network or the general gaming industry network, sexism exists. This is supported by the findings discussed within this case study. One such example is: “60% of women in the game industry have experienced sexism... Almost 77% of women and about 55% of men have female friends in the game industry that have experienced sexism.” (Allaway, 2014)
With the amount of people playing video games, both male and female, sexism should not be associated with the medium, but it is still propagated by game developers and players alike. There is a vast amount of content that can be talked about here so I’m going to narrow it down to three things; pinked-down games, “girlfriend mode” (Lincoln, “Sexism in Games: 5 Reasons It’s a Thing”), and in-game harassment of female gamers. I will also discuss what they are, how they are related, and possible solutions to all three of these issues.
Gaming has long been considered a male-dominated activity. There have been numerous scientific studies conducted to analyze the impact video games have on an individual and vice versa, however one of the most common discussions concerning the gaming community is sexism. With today’s growing audience and the popularity of smart phone gaming, it is a mystery as to why gaming has managed to keep its male-minded stereotypes. Most games reflect the sexist gender roles imposed upon gamers by society, however today’s response is a heated protest, some more dramatic than others. Most gamers are demanding more female protagonists, and developers are listening, but it’s a slow climb to equality in the world of pixels and fantasy. Let us discuss the surrounding influences of the video game community, some setbacks and remarkable breakthroughs in diversifying, and the ways gamers shape the games they play.
The video game market has shifted from being a predominantly male market to include the female population with games like The Sims, in which players build virtual worlds. Such games often result in online communities, where players build avatars and interact with others across the globe. My sister used to spend hours at the computer buildi...