Video Game Industry Women

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.

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

“During the 1940s and the 1950s, computers took up entire rooms and were so expensive that only universities and large companies could afford them” (Behring 1). Being as that, computers were too expensive to obtain to be able to create a game, “students Steve Russell and his friends” used their school’s computer to create the “dueling game between two spaceships”, called “Spacewar”. (Behring 1) They game began to be used at other universities that also had computer programs. Ralph Baer who was an engineer, considered using the television to play video games on. Baer then created the first video games for the television in 1967(Behring2). Once the first games were created more games followed. Then what would be known as the gaming industry by a “Nolan Bushnell”, who wanted to use they games for retail. The industry would grow within a short span of time in which the sales declined until evolved games would once again rise sales and future advancements.

It is difficult to find a video game that does not depict females as a damsel in distress or a sex object. The target audience for video games has been males, and video game companies are marketing to males with stereotypes of females in video games. A surprising finding is that around 150 million Americans, or almost half of women play video games (Kelleher, 2015). Yet video games continue to depict females as old-fashioned stereotypes that leave a lasting affect on a female’s health.

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.

When playing a game against someone elsewhere in the world, have you ever wondered who exactly you are playing with? Most people might say yes, but people don’t always know the facts behind gaming. Approximately 45% of gamers are female, yet many of them choose not to reveal their gender due to negative stereotypes and harassment from male gamers. However, I am not part of those who choose to hide what they are passionate about due to fear and disrespect. I’m the type of person who continues to play for hours after my parents say lights out and still keep up with team practices and academics. My gaming tendencies have shaped who I am today and given me the confidence I never had before. I intend on using the skills and confidence I’ve earned from gaming to be a successful STEM student.

Since the dawn of new age media, its effects on society have been a subject of widespread debate. The American Psychological association has come to the conclusion that watching Bugs Bunny or The Three Stooges leads to a public which craves aggression. A public which has been exposed to blood and gore by means of gaming consoles such as Sega genesis, Nintendo 64, Mircosoft’s Xbox gaming systems, and the oh so dreaded Play Station. There is no doubt that these fantastic creations have shaped the world around us in many ways. Counter cultures arising around the world seemingly overnight. In the beginning of the video game universe, in November of nineteen seventy-two, there was the ground breaking new system supporting “Pong” from Atari incorporated. Which ushered in a new age of computer engineering revolving around a world of gamers hungry for more.

The video game industry has grown into a colossus of today’s business world over the past forty-three years. Constantly adapting to the changing market, in order to make a profit off of a popular form of entertainment, the video game industry is continually expanding. But, two very important questions, about the industry, exist: Why has the industry become so popular, and where will that popularity lead? By the trend that the industry has shown video game popularity is due in part to the industry’s humble origins and from that popularity video games will become the next art form.

Video games have become very prevalent in modern society, being regarded as a major form of entertainment. The video game industry is indeed one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. While the video game industry have become more socially acceptable since its inception in the 1970's, it had received much controversy and debate, especially in regards to video games considered too violent and/or sexist. Many people believe the influences in these sorts of videogames can affect the views and behaviors of the people who play these games (i.e. gamers). As a result of this link, gamers, for the most time of recent history, had been subjected to ridicule and condemnation. Gamers had been considered deviants.

Video games have long been known as a male dominated media, when it comes to the market audience, player base, and character representation in game. Research concerning gender representation in video games often focuses on a few key points of how men and women are viewed differently, things like physical abilities, role in the game, and physical attributes are just a few to point out (Zorrilla, 2011). Something that is used a lot in video games is the sexualized depiction of female characters, the overwhelming masculinity of the implied game player, and the recurring structure of male heroes or characters

It has long been a debate about whether or not females should be allowed and accepted into the gaming community. With more games coming out the debate isn't ending anytime soon. Within this community there are many stereotypes that surround females. Most of these stereotypes tend to fall on the negative side. We tend to see a bias towards females because they do not fit into what society sees as the normal gamer identity. As with all other communities there is a specific type of person that society feels gamers should fit into, and like these other communities very few fit the mold. This paper will explore how females are seen in the gaming community.

Over the years, the entertainment industry has emerged in many different mediums, ranging from new genres of music and television shows to the very creation of the internet. The newest form of electronic entertainment that has evolved is the videogame industry, truly growing in popularity around the 1970s with the creation of the game Pong. Though originally very popular with young boys and seen as being childish to play (a view adults still had when I was a video game playing child), video games have since become an enjoyable form of amusement for people of a diverse range of ages, and for males and females. However, in spite of the fact that the videogame industry is now much more open to women

The Video game crash of 1983 was a historical event that changed how society looked at games, and how they were handled. We chose this topic because, without this event most of the games that occurred after this event would never have existed thus changing the gaming industry and effect most male's lives (Demographic Gamers). Our research process inquired us to look at different sites accurate enough for the data we have acquired to use in our project. We chose the Documentary as our presentation category because, we decided to talk about events that took place during the event occurred and we have had experience with making videos.

In the following essay, it will first distinguish the difference between four conceptions of gender. Then, it followed by the illustration of the reality video gaming cultural in terms of the structure and characters, and the resistance from players and production, to see how critical analysis understand better in technology via gaming. Notably, throughout the essay, ‘sex’ means the actual male and female based on biological factors whereas ‘gender’ means man and woman based on social factors in general. (Cranny-Francis, A., Waring, W., Stavropoulos, P., & Kirkby, J., 2003) In between these concepts, the fundamental differences are their ways to see the relationship between sex and gender through people’s daily representation.

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.