Stereotypes In Video Games

Sadly, the gaming industry has been criticized for lacking complex characterization, especially when it comes to female characters. While this complaint is valid, and it cannot be denied that there is a surplus of overly sexualized one dimensional female characters in gaming, the industry has begun moving away from

Author A.B. Harris declares a call to action in his article “Average Gamers Please Step Forward” published in 2012 as he talks about the how gamers shouldn’t settle for how the Entertainment Software Association put the average gamer into a box, Harris (2017) declares that the average gamers are far more credible and intelligent than the perceived demographics suggest (pg.503). He starts to build a bond between himself and the reader by connecting himself with the audience and asserting himself as one of them who all want the same thing, to “change the mainstream” (Harris, 2012, p.506) and show non-gamers they are more than over-sexed male adolescents with a penchant for violence (Harris, 2012, p.504). Harris uses his personal values and experiences

Video games are progressively becoming a crucial medium today, despite the light connotation of its initial categorization. Today they are a business that produces billions of dollars and employs engineers and artists alike in an art form connecting interactive games, to virtual societies where millions of people dwell. However, like all human products, our same emotion, flaws and injustice show in the games, with the impression of hatred, racism and stereotypes that are our everyday background. What are the creators of these video games real intentions in the desire they produce in the human?

As video games become more and more popular, we will inevitably see an increase in amount of video games being produced. The growth in popularity of video games is facilitated by the creation of a website known as Twitch.com. This website allows gamers and content creators to stream themselves playing video games online and interact directly with a live audience via chat. This new platform makes gaming both more accessible and more acceptable. The social stigmas that accompany video games are diminishing; in fact there has been an increase in competitive electronic sports as well. Logically, the growing interest in video games encourages programmers to make more and more games. Melinda Burgess et al presents an interesting perspective about video games. She explores the prevalence of racial stereotypes and how their effects are detrimental to society as a whole. In Burgess’s essay, “Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Video Games”, she provides fantastic commentary on how top selling video games show “overt racial stereotyping” (Lunsford et al 551) and negatively affect how we think. By providing statistics and data about the videogames that she is critiquing, she effectively shows that there is may be a correlation between video games and how we think and interact with the world around us.

In modern day, there aren’t any slaves and Blacks receive the same treatment as everyone else. But hidden in plain sight, the stereotypes regarding to Blacks still linger and one of them includes video games. Leonard (2006) mention stereotypes based on the race and Blacks were listed “as are the violent and muscular Black athlete” (p. 85). Due to their structure and history, game developers viewed them as a perfect race for enemies within the game. Deskins (2013) gave an example from Devine’s research that each participant was primed with stereotypic words such as “hostile”, “gangster”, and “Black” (p. 2). Although game developers have no ill intent towards Blacks, it was simply because it’s “default” of the discourse in society. According

When you think of the average gamer who comes to mind? On television you probably see some over-weight and unemployed guy who is living in the basement of his parents’ house. The visual discourse in this is that only males are gaming “nerds” and that there is no place in the field for women. The group called The Fine Young Capitalists (TFYC) try to change that narrative with a contest of their own allowing women to create their own ideas for games. Some disturbing contradictions came out of their mission, and it was criticized by game developer Zoë Quinn.

Video games have been a way to express the ideas and creativity of video game developers’ for year now. Recently they have taken a turn for the worst by incorporating racial, sexual and violent metaphors or scenarios. Two articles that talk about this important issues “Sex, violence and video games” by Mitch Krpata and “Not a Hater, Just Keepin' It Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies” by David J. Leonard. Leonard makes a crucial argument about the importance of balck, Hispanic and latino’s stereotypes in video games that are primarly played by white gamers. On the other hand, Krpata defends the critiques made about racism, violence and sex portrayed in video games by stanting that it is just fantasy. While both, Leonard

People are entitled to their own opinions. And that’s a fact. Some think violent video games are poisoning the youth of our modern day. Although others severely disagree with this point. Two men, J. Ramirez and the other man anonymous, have stated their opinions in written articles. My adult education teacher, Mr. Michael Bittner is having us compare these articles to determine whose argument is supported by the words following their point.

As stated earlier, video games have transitioned into an art form. Art is an extension of the artist and their creativity. Their heart, soul, and being is present in the pieces they create. In the same way, video games are just an extension of those who create them. With this reasoning, we can assume that cultural attitudes will be present in various digital content they provide. Most game developers are males. (This highlights another issue which highlights the lack of gender diversity in certain career paths.) Therefore, the notion that many video games will be layered with attitudes that are geared toward the "stereotypical" male desires is not farfetched. Some of these desires include sexually clad women, minimal clothing, and robust body figures. (Salter & Blodgett, 2012) Now, this perpetuates a real-life narrative that reveals certain hegemonic ideologies concerning masculinity in the US. "According to Wood, masculinity themes are: don't be female; be successful; be aggressive; be sexual; and be self-reliant." (Allen, 2004) The problem is that video games do not create these themes; they are created within a cultural context and applied to different platforms to perpetuate them throughout society. In the world of Infinite, a few of these themes were clearly placed to fuel the male libido in a virtual

Individuals in the world are all linked by different means. There are relationships formed and identities created. Culture is one such force that helps to explain the mindsets of people and the actions they do for the groups they associate themselves with. Culture is a feature in society that is shared amongst contributing individuals. It also changes and evolves throughout time (Innocente 2016).

You can't recreate emotions that video games bring out of you. No matter the perspective, video games are always first-person. I have always believe video games can trigger amazing emotional appearances. When you are playing a videogame you are sucked into the world and the character becomes you. Everything that happens from fighting dragons, to falling in love you experience as that person. In hindsight, you won't think about it in that way but that's how it happened. When you start the game you shed your original identity and take on another. When I am playing a video game I am not thinking of what Daveion is feeling or if I am going to die if I take one more hit. I feel everything the character feels from horror from being chased or joy

Through our advancement of society, technology itself has been a big contributor to the continuation of hegemonic masculinity way of thinking. One of the ways technology enforces this ideology is through themes presented in videogames. As stated by Nina Huntemann in her 2000 film, Game Over: Gender, Race, & Violence in Video Games, video games are often filled with violence and

After an hour of frustration and an inability to find a topic for this qualitative gender portrayal, I gave up and decided to play video games to relax. All of a sudden, I sat staring at my TV screen completely dumbfounded as a nearly nude woman popped up on the loading screen of Grand Theft Auto V. For very obvious reasons, I was inspired to qualitatively analyze Grand Theft Auto V focusing specifically on gender stereotypes and sexualization present in the game. In order to accurately depict the video game’s portrayal of gender I studied both the story mode and online mode looking closely at the actions and speech, physical appearance, and prevalence of females within the game.

Gender disparity in video games is a topic that both scholars and major gaming icons have discussed before. However, the topic recently resurfaced with the upsurging population of female gamers. The integration of females was a spectacle that caused a massive culture shock. Many members of the gaming community were unsure how to handle the change and took to discriminating females. While discrimination may seem unimportant, many scholars and icons believe it is a prominent factor of gender disparity: an environment which typically favors males, a hostile or “toxic” atmosphere, and repeated stereotypes all manifest certain behaviors of both genders that can cause a disparity to grow. Although some sources claim gender disparity is evident in gaming as a whole, others insist the novelty of female discrimination in video games is less prominent due to a more leveled percentage of male-to-females in gaming. However, both agreed that the competitive gaming community is a different story. Time and time again the competitive gaming community was mentioned for its exclusion of women due to biased and misogynistic members who sexualize and degrade females. These members believe women are inferiors that encroach on their territory with unskilled and seductive natures. Therefore, for the females in the gaming community, their actions will shape the future of women in the competitive gaming community. The change in female treatment is detrimental to gender disparity. Not only because

The portrayal of men and women in video games, as in other media, is a subject of research in gender studies. This topics is discuss in terms of sexism in video gaming. Especially, women are underrepresented or use as objectification in mainstream games. Women in video games are generally, as a rule of thumb, killed, raped, abused or rescued by the male heroes. This is extremely sad to see because the role of women in society is changing compare to ten years ago. Women has been proven themselves to be stronger and tough in different fields such as sports, politics, education but the representation hasn’t change.