Stereotypes In Video Games Analysis

In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.

A more in-depth study may look at video games from a Marxist point of view, characterizing the games as a modern day “opiate of the masses” with multi-billion dollar corporations publishing the games to keep the proletariat occupied and oblivious to their plights. A feminist may cite the standard role of female video game characters as being the “damsel in distress” and even strong female characters usually being relegated to sex symbol status.

Kimmel looks at both sides of the argument that video games and other media influence violence in young men in real life, but focuses on the perception that violent video games influence violent young men. In my third informal writing assignment reflecting on that chapter, I stated “I can see the side where it does have an impact of young kids, and I see it in my younger cousins when they can recite the cutscenes in the games they play, and see it when they play fight and pretend they are their favorite game heroes”, concluding with “Today’s violent games weren’t made to teach children how to kill, they’re only made for entertainment” (Brinkman-Sull). Before I took this class, and even at the beginning of the semester, I was extremely defensive of the criticism on violence in gaming, but after reading more into it, I realized just how deep in the industry the problem is– highly sexist notions in a lot of popular games. Many of them portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. The male characters are also idealised in a similar way– typically portrayed as muscular, brawny men, with basic levels of thinking and reasoning. These brawny men are typically focused on one thing– complete the mission in whatever means possible. This kind of violent thinking is widely reflected throughout many other typically male-dominated organizations, including the

Video games are prevalent among impressionable children and teenagers. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the violent themes used in video games. Teenage shootings in schools have led society to question the relationship between video violence and criminal activity. After considerable research, expert opinions, and research findings, the American Psychological Association found that there is no link between gaming and criminal behavior (Casey). With this, the pursuit of video violent games continues to grow in our society. With games that show execution style murders, blood oozing from gunshot wounds, and victims moaning from wounds, it certainly is gratifying for the indulgent player. The ongoing concern about aggression and violence has once again been proven to be non-existent (Alert). My thoughts are that this cartoon like violence is appeals to the need for violence in an artificially designed environment. In this manner, violence is contained within the boundaries of fantasy. This is unlike “The Crucible” which occurs in with real people, events, and situations. Thus, directing violence in the realm of societal dysfunction that has endured with

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.

Researchers regularly research the media’s influence on race perception, but rarely examine one specific form: video games. Unlike formats such as television and newspapers, video games provide an interactive platform for users to live in an alternative world and perform acts considered socially wrong in real societies (Burgess et al). This form of virtual simulation can reinforce how one perceives stereotypes at higher rates. Not only do the majority of these games feature white protagonists, but also task them to defeat ethnically-ambiguous enemies. Currently, the most popular genre is shooter games set in the Middle East, where the

According to several sources around 42% of the American population plays video games, and around 1.2 billion people worldwide play video games today. Gaming has become an increasingly more popular hobby since its creation. As such the medium has obviously attracted a multitude of different people and groups, all consisting of diverse backgrounds, body types, sexes, races, nationalities and the like. However, contrary to the numerous demographics video games have come to attract, it is very evident the vast majority of them do not seem to be marketed toward many of them via game characters, and their importance, if any, in a game. Video games show an overwhelming amount of white male characters, despite the many demographics they reach. Of the characters that are not white, or male, that are represented, are often represented poorly. For example, many black characters represented in video games are often characterized as vulgar, and violent. Women represented in games are often characterized as support characters, or objects of sexual desire. Considering forms of sexism, racism, and other such types of prejudices are still prominent in modern society, and these representations obviously do not help how people see these marginalized groups. Ultimately, these representations, or lack thereof, affect people in society in a number of ways, by perpetuating prejudice and harmful stereotypes.

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

Traditional views of gamers have been often related with the negative stereotypes as males who are lazy, nerd, geek, fat, socially awkward and time wasters. Even though these stereotypes have been improving with the growing population of eSports athletes and its recognition as a collegiate sport in many campuses, participants shared their thoughts on the stigmas of gaming that are still present in our society and how they respond to these stigmas. Jeffrey, 5th year, majoring in music, shared his story of the stigmas of gaming he heard from his father, They had Street Fighter finals on ESPN 2 this past summer. I was watching it with my dad who knows nothing about the game and competitive play then he’s watching and he is constantly interrupting saying like.. When the winner was announced, this guy is a person who plays video games all day and night so he is kind of odd and dumb and does not know it better.

Every story has a hero, no matter their motive, background, or even their gender. Yes for those who don’t know, there are women in video games. Most are in the background or running around as an ally or enemy, but what most people don’t realize is that there are a lot of games where the lead is a female. For people who pay more attention to the gaming world, this is more common knowledge, but there seems to be a misconception. Most think females are nothing but eye candy for male gamers, but this is simply not true.

The way one presents oneself is usually an ample enough reason to be judged positively or negatively. This factor is usually amplified by the surrounding and setting set for the subject, and it usually determines whether the subject’s self-presentation is fitting or being completely inappropriate to his or her surroundings. In video games, the issue of women being misrepresented by her role as a sex object and over-sexualized aesthetic design had always been an unsolved floating problem. While this dilemma continue to exist as a negativity in the modern video games is often overlooked as a meaningless eye candy for the male gaze, sometimes the subject of sex and sexuality in video game exists for a reason much deeper than simply objectifying women for the sake of sales or male gaze. Although not always, sex and sexuality exists to add a certain of immersion of realism to the game as the subject is a natural part of our biology as human beings.

Video games have long been a medium that belonged to the sectors of the population that felt as if they did not belong in their society. They are enticing games, from the arcade games of the 80’s and 90’s, to the PC and console games of the 2000’s, to hand held games and mobile apps that have become so popular in the past decade. Everyone from children to grandparents, and stay-at-home mothers to business men play video games or have played video games in their life times. They have been used as a form of empowerment and escapism for their audiences from their inception. The audience for video games is larger now than it’s ever been. As more and more women are getting involved with gaming, both in their creation and consumption, video games are not only becoming more diverse but are becoming an ideal conduit for feminist discourse. Because video games have such a broad audience, representation matters to the consumers; seeing and playing characters both like oneself and unlike oneself help individuals better understand their society. If feminism aims to create equality among genders, video games are the best forum for doing so because video games can allow gender to be see through difference lenses (i.e. race, class, ethnicity) while being accepted in all of its varied forms.

Over time video games have drastically changed its contents and through the use of media it has become very popular among the people of all ages. The article, “An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior” by Tracy L. Dietz portrays the impact of video-games in gender roles in our society. Through the usage of samples in the experiment shows that the video games tend to have more male characters rather than female characters. In this article Dietz illustrates that the video games that are being played by today’s youth present an overwhelmingly traditional and negative portrayal of women and that the development of gender identities and expectations among youngsters may be affected by these portrayals. The article also goes to demonstrate that boys and girls rely upon expectations about both masculinity and femininity to interpret interaction and to develop expectations for themselves and others. The author argues that there exists a correlation between the portrayal of women and the use of violence in the video games, and I agree with his claim, because I have been raised in a culture, where female character’s role in the gaming community have been completely overshadowed by the dominant male figure.

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.