Gender and Computer Gaming
Sunday, August 2, 2009 by finn
Gaming culture is largely masculine oriented, and has changed very little despite the increase in female players. Interestingly, we can also see gender stereotyping in the games which are designed specifically for women, “girl games” may be based around the same stereotypes of women which are considered undesirable in mainstream games.
With more casual online games (associated with escapism), such as WoW, Second Life etc, there are gender issues, such as the hypersexualization of avatars or role playing. In other games where the competitive aspect of game playing is prioritized (where competitiveness is certainly not only a male trait!), we can observe a different dynamic, which is created through the use of voice chat software. This is an interesting element of gaming which works against masculine gaming culture, where “no girls on the internet” does not apply in confrontation with a real voice. The artificiality of the game environment is highlighted, and hypersexualized avatars are not so relevant, with a switch in focus to the social relation of the team. We may as well complain of phallic chess pieces, when this is not of concern to this type of gamer.
It is not useful to highlight “gender differences”, as the number of women playing video games is increasing, and the game industry may well adapt and focus on creating games that avoid sexist stereotypes. Gaming culture and industry must change, as we can still see advertising that presupposes a male buyer. However, for what ideas of progression we might have, the problem still exists where the current games offered may not encourage female players, and subsequently there will be less female game designers, and the cycle of a masculine gaming culture will continue.
With more casual online games (associated with escapism), such as WoW, Second Life etc, there are gender issues, such as the hypersexualization of avatars or role playing. In other games where the competitive aspect of game playing is prioritized (where competitiveness is certainly not only a male trait!), we can observe a different dynamic, which is created through the use of voice chat software. This is an interesting element of gaming which works against masculine gaming culture, where “no girls on the internet” does not apply in confrontation with a real voice. The artificiality of the game environment is highlighted, and hypersexualized avatars are not so relevant, with a switch in focus to the social relation of the team. We may as well complain of phallic chess pieces, when this is not of concern to this type of gamer.
It is not useful to highlight “gender differences”, as the number of women playing video games is increasing, and the game industry may well adapt and focus on creating games that avoid sexist stereotypes. Gaming culture and industry must change, as we can still see advertising that presupposes a male buyer. However, for what ideas of progression we might have, the problem still exists where the current games offered may not encourage female players, and subsequently there will be less female game designers, and the cycle of a masculine gaming culture will continue.
Finn - this is a very insightful (and level-headed) post... Your point in the last para got me thinking, where you say that the advertising for video games uses highly sexualised images of females and that this makes it unique in comparison with other media. I wonder if, perhaps, there are such occasions in 'traditional' media (e.g. advertising for gender-specific magazines; or a certain type of music video which kind of functions as an advert for the music) but that new media of various sorts are especially prone due to more 'niche marketing' and looser regulation: this would include games, of course, but also various forms of online advertising for gender-specific sites and services - especially of a pornographic or semi-pornographic nature.