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| Elizabeth from Bioshock:infinite, Her characteristics make her seem helpless and childlike. |
How often do you see video games featuring female
protagonists? How are they portrayed and characterized? Does it
influence how society should act?
Of course many of you are non-gamers; this link
will provide you an idea of what is happening in the virtual world.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-sexist-video-game-problems-even-bigger-than-breasts/
It’s no doubt that the virtual world is also
male dominated and females are treated similarly to reality. Let’s start
off by discussing the commonly used roles for female characters. First
of all, female characters play in the role of damsel
in distress (Women in trouble, in desperate need of help), they wait helplessly
as the male hero comes to defeat the villain and rescue her. For those
of you who don’t know, this method is commonly used in Mario games,
where princess Peach is constantly kidnapped
by Bowser the villain and Mario or Luigi are always inclined to save her.
Whether or not this is a marketing scheme, the company “Nintendo” portrays females as weak and defenseless in Mario games.
Another role would be the erotic female characters. In today's society , many companies attempt to promote their video games by presenting females in provocative clothing and or sexual attitudes. This technique has been in media for quite a long time that, it is ingrained in our minds to consider it the dominant discourse. It is for a fact that females are used as sex objects to catch teens' and adults' attention to the game, and as a result, it benefits the company. Therefore, it is guaranteed that you will encounter provocative females in free-to-play massive multiplayer online game advertisements(MMO, derived from the ability to maintain vast amount of players). It is also believed that female characters who are presented as sex objects, tend to look childlike, vulnerable, and weak. Although companies profit from this method of attention, it can impact how females in reality are judged by males and even worse, lead to a clash between gender.
Furthermore, an element that was thought to be brought to an end was rape. Of course, the majority of video games today do not depict rape scenes or sexual
assault, but still exists over the internet where developers create
perverted flash games illegally. There were a few videogames in the past that depicted elements of rape; these games are known as Custer's Revenge, RapeLay, and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong number. It raised major controversy and debates whether it was offensive in terms of racism or sexism. Fortunately, rape to a certain degree was legally abolished, but again, these types of games still remain on the internet and can provoke sexual assaults to occur in reality.
As you can see, most videogames contain provocative women for the purpose of attracting men because it is the dominant discourse. If the roles were to be reversed, where males presented sexually, topless, or half naked. Men would obviously see it as "wow, that's gay" as opposes to "wow, that's hot". In addition, there are certain games such as Tomb Raider(2013), Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil, and Beyond Two Souls that defy the dominant discourse in male protagonists. However, we should also consider how the females in these games are treated, the amount of brutality is more graphical and disturbing as opposed to a male getting ripped to shreds by a table saw or is eaten alive by a horde of zombies. The reason behind it, since most men see women as frail and helpless, they feel if a female protagonist goes through torture, it would be very disturbing and abnormal compared to a male. It just goes to show that representation of women can be very extreme depending on the condition.
*CONTAINS SCENES NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED*
- How do you feel about females currently represented in videogames?
- Do you think the current portrayals of females can impact today's society negatively?
- How would you consider a unbiased female character to be portrayed in videogames?
- To women, do you approve of how men are currently presenting females in videogames?
To answer you first question, i would say that i feel really ashamed of men who make these games present women in such a way. There are many ways a person can enjoy play video games, there can be a heavy load of things that can be done to enhance a better play of the game and make it more fun to play. Showing women as a weaker gender just brings down the male reputation in front of females. Unfortunately, video games do influence us and since they are addicting, it is hard for one to quit even playing games that condescendingly show women as a weaker gender. To answer the second question, i say that it is obvious to us that many young male teenagers are addictive to video games and will have an influence over them. As a result of that, the things they do in the video games, there is a huge possibility that they will do in real life. The sad part is that, young teenagers have nothing to say which would oppose the negative role of women that is being presented in today's video games.
ReplyDeleteI do not approve of the way men present female characters in videogames. I agree with what is said in this post about how most female characters are portrayed more provocatively than male characters. The reason for this would most likely be because game makers are targeting men to purchase the games. Although they use this method to increase sales, it can be very offensive to many women.
ReplyDeleteJust too add to your statements, majority of the employees in game companies are male artist and programmers. Most females in those companies are usually secretaries or producer. We should consider these possibilities because it is proven to be true.
DeleteGreat post Philip. To start off, i would like to say that presenting females provocative in video games is a marketing scheme. Since produced and developers know that they target audience are males, they normally go out of their way to make games that will attract concupiscent men. Is this right? No, it isn't but sadly this is how it works. In most fighters, Mortal Kombat for example, the females are seen with barely any clothes on. However, what you will notice is that they are not weaker than the men and it depends on the player to excel with the chosen character. (just something i thought i should point out. In regards to question 1, i find it pretty sad that most females are presented negatively in many video games. However, in games like L.A Noire, BF4 and Assassin's Creed, you won't find these stereotypes. Finally, to answer question 4 i would say that the way to present an unbiased female character is to look at reality (that is life) and base a character upon a normal female (don't make her disproportionate, don't make her pitch higher, don't reduce the amount of clothes she has on ect.)
ReplyDeleteWhere i said "question 4", i meant to say question 3. Sorry for my mistake.
DeleteI'd just like to say that I don't think that there is anything wrong with portraying attractive females or even attractive males in video games. What I DO think is a problem is that the images portrayed in video games are not realistic and that's what makes them offensive. The fact that our idea of an attractive female is one who looks childish and sexy at the same time is very offensive to me because that's not what real women look like. Then suddenly this is what is expected of us real women. It puts pressure on us to live up to unrealistic expectations.
ReplyDeleteThis also makes male look bad. These designers are seen as twisted and perverted and then this image is put on the male who end up playing these video games, sometimes wrongly.
Yes! A post on gaming!! Quite the post here you have, Philip. To start off with question 1, I think it's a very effective marketing tool, to use women to attract men into buying/playing games. And while that exists, fan service also exists somewhere on the internet - and this increases publicity and popularity for the games. Although the game designers could have been more forgiving about the stereotypes they are imposing towards society, it does draw a little controversy with say, male characters. Why can't male characters be put in the situation as the female characters, and have those games targeted toward female gamers? Even though women aren't exactly represented the way they should be, I just like to think of it as "it's just a game", and I wouldn't expect girls to follow any norms of a video game.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Philip! Now answering your questions:
ReplyDeleteI personally think it's fine to have women portrayed in videogames as attractive. It draws a lot of people to buy the videogames. It is a great marketing idea. It would most definitely affect many portrayals of women, which is unfortunate. If a game is good and has a great female protagonist, many men can and will compare the women of today to the game. Of course, its not just men that will think this but even females. They might just start comparing themselves and try to change as they think this is the ideal woman a man or woman would want. Many men today compare us women to fictional characters which pretty much sucks because those fictional female characters were most likely created by a male. By this, many men will agree that this is how they want their wife or girlfriend to be. It would be hard to live up to expectations of a fictional character.
I personally do not have a problem with the way females are represented in videogames, like the previous comments said, if it gets them the sale then why not. The problem I do have though is gamers stepping out of their viral world and into reality expecting women to look like characters in videogames. What they need to realize is what they are experiencing and seeing in their virtual world is not a true representation of what reality is and therefore they need to switch lenses when transitioning between worlds.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I believe that females are being represented in a inappropriate manner in video games. For example, video games now days usually contain females who are either shown half naked or rape victims. This is becoming a problem in the gaming industry since many new upcoming games usually contain explicit material. Also, the majority of gamers are males who view this explicit material, and since there are not as many females gamers, this problem has not become a big issue. However if females realized how they are being portrayed in games I believe that the gaming industry would limit on what to show in games.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post Philip! To start off I'd like to answer your first question. I think that femaled currently represented in video games are being represented unfairly. Females are being discriminated through video games. I often see women being stereotyped as dumb in many anime video games. It is not at all right for women to be represented this way. I feel that females not only in video gamed but in real life deserve much better.
ReplyDeleteI see your point Phillip, you don't really see female protagonists in video games very often, and when you do they are almost always represented as strong independent, attractive women. I see it all in the name of business, sex sells as some say, with the video game industry primarily dominated by males, it's easy to catch their attention with scantily dressed women.
ReplyDelete