Stereotyping the Digital Gaming World

Transcription

Manhandling Joysticks
&
Pushing Buttons
Gender and Computer Games
Elizabeth Valentine
BSc Multimedia Technology & Design
26th April 2004
University of Kent
Word Count (excluding appendices): 29, 741
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Contents
Contents ____________________________________________________________________ 1
Acknowledgements____________________________________________________________ 3
Thank you to those that have helped __________________________________________________3
Abstract_____________________________________________________________________ 4
Introduction _________________________________________________________________ 5
Aims and Objectives __________________________________________________________ 10
Literature Review: ___________________________________________________________ 11
The Current State of Play _____________________________________________________ 11
Introduction to the literature _______________________________________________________11
Social placement of games in society _________________________________________________12
Cultural influences on games, and by games___________________________________________13
Gender differences and construction: misogynistic and homophobic constructions of
heterosexual masculinity and the reduction of femininity ________________________________15
Gendered technology ______________________________________________________________17
Women’s sideline role _____________________________________________________________20
Females as ‘other’ than the ‘norm’: adverts and software _______________________________21
[Self] exclusion from male game spaces _______________________________________________23
Ideas perpetuated in magazines and communities ______________________________________24
Women as ‘Booth Babes’___________________________________________________________28
Games that make you wonder! ______________________________________________________30
Women as characters compared to male characters ____________________________________31
Male gamers and female interaction _________________________________________________38
Women as gamers ________________________________________________________________39
Male game themes ________________________________________________________________41
We don’t care! ___________________________________________________________________43
Games as the door to technology ____________________________________________________44
Why women should be involved _____________________________________________________44
Employing more women ___________________________________________________________48
Designing for females______________________________________________________________50
General game [mis] conceptions _____________________________________________________52
Changes in society, culture, and interaction styles ______________________________________55
Methodology ________________________________________________________________ 57
Introduction _____________________________________________________________________57
Manhandling Joysticks & Pushing Buttons – Liz Valentine
2
Questionnaire ____________________________________________________________________57
Results of observation of people in game shops_________________________________________59
Findings and Discussion ______________________________________________________ 61
Findings from questionnaire ________________________________________________________61
Results of observation of people in game shops________________________________________101
Bibliography _______________________________________________________________ 111
Academic Literature - Published Books _____________________________________________111
Academic Literature – Internet Based _______________________________________________111
Popular Literature Resources______________________________________________________112
First Hand Resources_____________________________________________________________113
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to those that have helped
There are thanks due to many people for their involvement in my project. It has been an
intensive time, and I am very grateful to my mum and boyfriend for listening to me as I discuss
issues (sometimes vociferously) and for helping me structure my arguments in doing so.
I also must thank my project supervisor, Ania Bobrowicz, and my tutor, Prof. Mike
Fairhurst, for encouraging me to continue and giving me direction, and to the person who first
helped me think of this area of study, David Byers-Brown.
Many thanks go to the individuals who filled in my questionnaire, although I do not
know who most of you are, and to those on various forums, who helped me by letting me test
various views on them. Thanks even go to those who sent me complaints and statements such as
“…so what? [Girls have] Barbie dolls. There are toys for both sexes, so no one is left out.” The
only people who said such things were male, and to some degree such narrow minded
stereotyping persuaded me that this was a cause worth investigating even further.
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Abstract
The lack of female uptake of videogames has been recognised as a problem, yet video
games for females are nothing more that Mary-Kate and Ashley, or Barbie franchise products for
young girls. The audience for games is assumed to be young and young adult males. We have a
condition currently where modern technology is seen as a male ‘thing’. The roles of females with
respect to games and gaming culture, have developed into stereotypical expectations and they are
not expected to want to play, nor to be any good at it. This idea is perpetuated and fed by articles
found in games magazines, promotional material from games companies, and online games
communities. Males as gamers themselves may be misogynistic in their treatment of female
gamers, either harassing them, or ‘being lenient’. There are female gamers, and of those that exist,
they have different ideas about what ‘gaming’ should mean for women.
Games are recognised as a first step to computer literacy, confidence and competence.
Female lack of acceptance in the games culture keeps them from ever viewing technology careers
as appropriate. You can argue that an increase in the number of women working in game design
would increase further female uptake of the pastime and career, as more females would view it as
non-threatening. But there are split views on how games should be designed for females, if
indeed segmentation of the market is desirable. Also, games companies are reluctant to part from
their ‘winning’ formula for games design that they currently employ, as they fear the financial
implications of ‘getting it wrong’.
The future of videogames has a large growth possibility, and potential to infiltrate many
more peoples’ lives. If games can mature to embrace new cultural influences; if softcore
representations of females can be reduced to a minority; and if we can design aesthetic characters
people wish to play, more people may see gaming as a fun pastime. For the sake of the
technological empowerment of women, encouraging females to play is desirable.
In this research dissertation I will look at issues surrounding female gaming, with view to
providing some statistics and a general idea of ‘what women want’. I will study what keeps more
females from playing, and look at the problems that female gamers face when they play.
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Introduction
This front page from Edge magazine, below (Image 1) illustrates the issues surrounding
gender and video games. Edge is a console-independent gaming magazine that features
articles/reviews about games and consoles, as well as details on, and coverage from conventions,
adverts for new games, and employment adverts. The magazine is aimed mainly at teenage/young
adult gamers.
Image 2: Edge, issue 121, The Girl Issue, March 2003
The lack of female uptake of videogames has been recognised as a problem, and acted
upon by academics and industry since the mid 1990’s. For instance, companies making games
specifically for girls, which implement ‘feminine’ gaming structures, have been created and have
disappeared. Video games for females are currently nothing more that Mary-Kate and Ashley, or
Barbie franchise products for young girls.
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The social placement of games in our current society assumes the audience to be young
and young adult males. They spawn community spirit and have a large following, different ways
of writing and speaking, and effectively drive a barrier between sections of society. There are
those that ‘get’ games, and there are those that do not. The wedge between parents and children
is obvious, as is that between male and female, although neither are absolute.
Games boast many cultural sources, and the extent to which Japanese and Western
(primarily British, American, Canadian, and French) cultures and animation styles have been
intertwined and have infected youth culture is clearly visible. Games also borrow from, and give
to, films and music, building associated art forms.
However, all is not equal as the Edge article suggests. This is the domain of young males
and, increasingly, young adult males, who seek to, and are provided with the means to refute
femininity and establish their own heterosexual masculinity through game play. What this
masculinity actually is, depends largely on many social and cultural influences stating the
‘unwanted or other’ through misogynistic and homophobic texts, semiotics, and imagery, and of
course, through the interactive medium of the video game.
We have a condition currently, although it is hoped to improve over time, where modern
technology (and hence computers, consoles and games) is still seen as a ‘man’s or boy’s’ thing.
This gendering of technology leads to a lack of females in computer-literate roles (beyond
secretarial work) and a culture in which it is hard for females to become accepted users of the
technology, due to their own concept of the technology as masculine, and their inability to use it,
or due to unreasonable pressure from the males to ‘stay out’, or due to sexual harassment.
Females are not expected to be part of the game audience, and are largely left out altogether or, at
worst, exploited as sexual targets and bodies to be manipulated, or as a source of ridicule.
Females are regarded as ‘other’ than male, and other than ‘normal’, and hence, even
androgynous games and characters are coated in masculinity and advertised using what is
considered as ‘male’ techniques. Where products are designed ‘for girls’ they are invariably
designed for younger girls, shaded in pink, intended to develop a nurturing instinct, and
promoted in great contrast to the ‘norm’ in such a way that no ‘boy’ would consider touching
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them. After the age where Barbie looses her appeal, if indeed she had one to start with, females
are left largely stranded, and assumed to be content with shopping and talking.
The roles of females with respect to games and gaming culture, have developed into
stereotypical expectations that girls will only be around games to watch their boyfriends or sons
play, and to offer support where needed. They are not expected to want to play, nor to be any
good at it.
The seemingly pervasive ‘truth’ of this expectation leads the females themselves to believe
in its validity, and to perpetuate their own technological insubstantial expectations, and to
further distance themselves from arenas of play, that are not ‘rightly’ theirs.
The concepts outlined above are perpetuated and fed by articles, adverts, and wording
found in games magazines, promotional material from games companies, and in online games
communities. Such articles will reveal the roles women are expected to play with respect to
gaming. For instance, as real and illustrative large breasted and hot pants wearing ‘booth babes’
used to advertise games and job vacancies, or as sexualised characters, that may take on a number
of guises. These roles are ultimately designed to appeal to heterosexual males, as stereotypical
fantasies of women that bear little relation to what many females want to see, let alone engage
with in a game.
Males as gamers themselves may be encouraging to females, but many, and unfortunately
the most vociferous, are generally misogynistic in their treatment of female gamers, either
harassing them, or ‘being lenient’.
There are female gamers, and of those that exist, they have different ideas about what
‘gaming’ should mean for women. Some like to ‘frag’ (blow apart by shooting) aliens online ‘with
the best of them’, but some cannot abide the violent themes and competitive structure of
‘masculine’ games. They are often considered ‘tom boys’, frowned on by their female peers for
their acceptance of what is generally considered a ‘lazy, anti-social, and immature’ hobby (when
they should know better), and viewed as less-skilled, but sexual objects by male gamers: ‘female
gamers are hot’.
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There are some, who say this is not a problem. They want to know what the girls are
making a fuss about, and cannot understand why Barbie and shopping is not sufficient. There are
also those that slam the females for their whining, and blame their lack of previous input for their
lack of acceptability in the culture today.
This is obviously a circular argument where by females will be reluctant to engage in a
culture and technology that seeks to alienate them, but at the same time, they may see its
benefits, and wish to be an active participant, yet they face rejection, humiliation, and nonacceptance at every turn, discouraging them form even trying.
Games are recognised as a first step to computer literacy, confidence and competence.
Female lack of acceptance in the games culture, and the masculine view of technology, keeps
them from ever viewing technology careers as appropriate, and from jobs that they may enjoy,
and be good at. Ultimately it maintains the opinion that male activities are more taxing and
worthwhile than female activities, which males do not do, as they are beneath them.
An increase in the number of women working in game design would increase further
female uptake of the pastime and career, as more females would view it as non-threatening.
However, this is again, a circular argument, whereby the first steps must be made, but are
difficult, before progress can be made. There are implications of employing women in game
design, from financial rewards for games companies (whose games may appeal to a wider
audience), to more appropriate representations of women, and perhaps, a more ‘mature’ quality,
and varied style of games.
In order to attract more female employees, games companies may have to make many
changes to their social structure, down to removing ‘bikini calendars’ from the walls, and
reducing humour that centres on the objectification or belittlement of females.
There are split views on how games should be designed for females, if indeed
segmentation of the market is desirable. Theories range from reducing violence, changing the
reward styles, etc., but it is known that games companies are reluctant to part from their
‘winning’ formula for games design that they currently employ, as they fear the financial
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implications of ‘getting it wrong’ or discovering that they cannot entice the female market
immediately.
In order for it to become acceptable for females to play games, and indeed, for males to
loose their stigma too, various misconceptions and ideas about gaming must be broken down.
Gaming is in itself, not anti-social, or a lazy pastime, especially if considered against ‘acceptable’
hobbies such as reading or watching TV. It may only cause violence (an argument against it) in
those predisposed to being violent. If balanced with other pastimes effectively, playing games will
not mean that you are lazy or antisocial. Game playing, has still, in some cases a stigma of being a
geek, or nerd hobby, an image often upheld by gamers themselves, who enjoy being marked as
different.
The future of videogames has a large growth possibility, and potential to infiltrate many
more peoples’ lives. Through the advent of ever faster internet connections, and increasingly
varied interaction styles (moving away from often complex button controls on joy pads) more
people may see it as a fun pastime. If games characters, plots, and styles can mature to embrace
new cultural influences beyond Manga and comic book art, and, action and sci-fi movies, it will
begin to loose its selective appeal. If softcore representations of females can be reduced to a
minority, instead of a pervasive majority, and instead we can see characters of both genders
developing stylistically, and in mannerisms, to create aesthetic characters one wishes to play,
games may have a better future.
Of course, there are those that say video gaming is ‘dying’, that it is naive to assume it will
become so dominant a pastime, but for the sake of technological empowerment of women,
encouraging females to play is desirable.
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Aims and Objectives
Throughout this research dissertation I will be focusing on the following primary
question: ‘Are girls put off or discouraged from video gaming by gender representations and
expectations?’ I will be looking at it with a view to discovering possible reasons why they may be
discouraged, the implications of their disassociation, and possible solutions. I am aiming to
develop an understanding of why girls game, and to discover estimated percentage of each gender
that play. I want to see if girls feel oppressed by stereotypes, and, if so, which ones, and to assess
the damage caused to their chances with technology. I am interested in discovering why gaming
is a boy’s only culture, and to see how the females that do game, overcome this. I intend to look at
the range of options available to the culture for its progression. I want to find out if it is likely
that girls would play games if given more appropriate characters and game styles. It will be
enlightening to discover if other girls feel undermined, harassed, or if they simply view games
and consoles as boys’ toys, or if they view them with disdain, refuting their potential value.
As we are now in the early years of the 21st Century it will be an unsettling thought to
find that gender stereotyping and inequality still pervades entertainment culture, and workplaces.
I would hope to find a younger generation that are being encouraged to, and who are actively
dispensing with these inhibitors. Some of these things will be hard to prove. I know personally of
females who berate their technological abilities for no good reason, than perhaps a fear of
belittlement, or so they don’t have to ‘try so hard’, and of those who think of me as separate from
acceptable femininity for my own knowledge and entertainment choices. If these females
passively accept their gender roles, and truly view themselves as such, I will not be able to find
discontent, where, given fewer reduced expectations of the female gender, there may be some.
I will look at the subject having studied gender from sources that are written for both the
equality of women (from a feminist perspective), and also from sources that illustrate the
detrimental affects inequality can have on males, and the way in which they are shaped by
societies’ idea of masculinity.
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Literature Review:
The Current State of Play
Introduction to the literature
As a significant part of youth culture today, there are a multitude of magazines, books,
websites and other game related resources available to anyone studying the subject of gender and
video games. Many of these are popular resources, not academic, and as such will ultimately be
perpetuating (and possibly causing) existing ‘popular’ stereotypes and gender roles. I have found
that there is little in the way of current academic literature broaching the subject of gender in
games. There is a plethora of academic resources that were published in the mid 1990s, saying
what is wrong with gender in computer games, and why it should be changed, and covering the
first tentative steps of girl and ‘grrrl’ (aggressive female) game movements; but after this I have
only found one current book specifically on the subject of designing for women, Gender Inclusive
Design, Ray, 2004, that assumes the female to be less receptive to ‘male’ game styles.
I am disinclined to think that this lack of current academic research and literature means
that people feel that enough has been done. Perhaps those that instigated the gender dispute are
waiting to see what happens: waiting to see how gender stereotypes in the computer games
culture evolves, from the initial highlighting of the problem. Perhaps they have given up – what
if the supposed oppressed and excluded parties were not interested? Perhaps the opposition is too
strong, or perhaps, they could see no true way forward? Perhaps there has been enough done?
But if this was the case, why are the gender stereotypes and degradation of women still
commonplace within the culture?
I am more inclined to believe that the continuation of gaming as a male only culture has
more to do with resistance from companies who already make a large profit, and who don’t want
to take risks, no matter the size of the potential reward, and from male gamers who wish the
pastime to remain their arena of play, avoiding the reduction in perceptible power that computers
and game technology pervade as ‘masculine’ devices.
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I will be looking at a wide range of literature, from academic texts, books written for the
culture, games magazines, DVD footage of game exposition events, web based forums and other
communities, inside the games shops, and at the games themselves.
For the remainder of this chapter I shall cover each of the aspects outlined in the
introductory chapter in more detail, citing relevant texts and references to support and enhance
my evaluation of the culture.
Social placement of games in society
The social importance of games in our society is larger than ever, with almost every
person aware of it, and almost every young person having tried playing at least once. Games
consoles and games are extremely popular as Christmas/Birthday presents for young people.
Gaming is undeniably there, and one of the major methods of entertainment alongside cinema,
and music. It is, however still in its infancy so far as forms of entertainment are concerned. Many
groups of people stand a risk of being alienated by inability or lack of confidence with the
technology that gaming and computing in general require.
“Over the last 15 years entertainment software has emerged as the dominant youth
pastime. The market has grown exponentially in value and in terms of its cultural significance.
Like rock and roll in its early days, gaming has captivated youngsters and baffled their parents.
And because most of us are biased to what we grow up with, a lot of adults favour reading and TV
but just don’t ‘get’ games.”
(Elspa, 2003)
Gaming is however, fundamentally recognised as a male pastime, but strides are taken to
open up new sectors of society. “Games machines are already on the road to mass acceptance”
(Elspa, 2003).
New styles of interaction and fast communications over broadband connections, even
when wireless, contribute to greater uptake. Games are also marketed at the disposable income of
young adults, as they cost between £30 and £45 on average. This means they are no longer a
children’s pursuit alone and the average ages of video game players is estimated at 21, with a large
percentage being older: “Games are no longer the domain of young males. For example, the girls’
games movement made great strides in opening up new audiences for games. The internet has
introduced gaming to an older, multicultural audience of both genders. An increasingly
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interactive society will demand interactive entertainment” (Eric Zimmerman, writing for Lucien King,
2002)
The success to which these, until now ignored groups, can be targeted is limited by the
view of gaming as an immature boys’ hobby. As such, gaming and its significance on the youth
culture of today is often underrated, meaning that potentially damaging messages are allowed to
pervade the medium. “Perhaps because it is less attractive to an adult than to a youth market, the
video game culture is often overlooked as a media source that peddles particular kinds of messages
to the young about what it means to be male or female, what it means to relate as gendered
beings, and ultimately what it means to be human.”
(Howard, 1998)
The gaming community is redefining itself as time goes by, aided by the permanent
turnover of mediums and technologies that seem determined to stop people catching up. Gamers
wield ‘hacker speak’ (l33t, l337, or 1337, pronounced as ‘leet’) to communicate in a new way, and
increasingly now, as it becomes overused, to ridicule those that use it to impress. Game talk, as
with computer jargon, becomes a barrier to many (especially those loosely termed as not
‘hardcore gamers’), and a way of expressing oneself for others: “For adults and for children who
play computer games, who use the computer for manipulating words, information, visual images,
and especially for those who learn to program, computers enter into the development of
personality, and even of sexuality.”
(Turkle, 1984)
Cultural influences on games, and by games
“[Video games’] looks are inspired by a range of contemporary factors. The Manga art of
Japan is one. Dystopian sci-fi movies like Bladerunner are another.” (Elspa, 2003)
Perhaps the most culturally significant influence on games is the integration of Japanese
and Western cultures and animation styles. Children’s cartoons are filled with ninjas and Japanese
derived animated cartoons, (Manga/Anime overlaid with Americanisms), creating a generation of
boys who will grow into the next generation of game lovers, perhaps fans of more Japanese
culture, and maybe Hentai (Japanese animated pornography) that seems to be a popular vice
amongst some young males currently. Thus a ‘nijikon fetchi’ (‘two-dimensional fetish’, also used
in relation to three dimensional games characters) is formed across a generation of males. Females
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on the whole think the whole thing rather immature; it is displayed (perhaps unfairly) as ‘geeky’
card collecting and duelling, fighting, and with girlish, perhaps busty girls squealing in short
skirts. They are left with just the Western culture to dictate their expectations, and distaste for
this garish mix of cultures that seeks to exploit boys’ love of competition, and that pervades
videogames also. The Japanese produce many games, some of which are exported, and many of
which are popular: the Final Fantasy series has many female fans due to their unashamed use of
romantic mystery, and due to the characters’ depth. The representations are fairly typical of
Japanese games, they are not as afraid to show feelings in males, and to treat girls as attractive, but
quirky and active; and they are highly stylised and beautiful in their own right. Compare this to
representation in Western games featuring the standard butch army man with a busty ‘Jessica
Rabbit’ type female draped across his manly chest (to be rescued, pimped, beaten, or otherwise to
glorify the males masculinity). This does not always figure - Japanese games can also feature
‘macho’ males (usually more brooding and ‘attractive’ in the face, and with guns, or a huge sword,
or a katana to wield) and highly sexualised busty ‘jiggly’ females (who are, in general either very
feisty, or very girlish).
“The mainstream of videogame character design…has fallen into a rut, especially in the
tradition of more ‘realistic’ looking characters that has grown up in parallel to the Japanese
‘deformed’ aesthetic and the global influence of carton animation. There is an identifiable strand
of what we might call sci-fi S&M. Much is made of Lara Croft’s generous chest, but her design is
positively monastic compared to Ivy from the fighting game Soul Calibur (1999), a whip-wielding
dominatrix in a tight basque.” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
Cinema and games lend each other cultural styles. Films such as the Matrix borrow the
fighting of ‘Street Fighter’ games, and games such as Star wars, borrow the franchises’ motion
picture sequences of the film, to fit the story of the game. The tech noir of Bladerunner was easy
for games to replicate due to the large areas of black, so this became a favoured backdrop.
However, this further increased the idea of games as fantasies and sci-fi dreams. The Final Fantasy
film (The Spirits Within) was entirely animated to a very high standard, yet it was not a great
success, despite the game series being so “…the immersion and interactivity that gamers love
simply cannot exist in a passive medium like film” (Elspa, 2003). The only film to really be
considered a success was Tomb Raider; Lara Croft was an icon for many males and females. There
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is a sense, despite communal voice saying games are becoming more cinematic, that they should
stop trying to replace or compete with film but to value themselves as ‘dynamic participatory
systems’.
Music is used in games to complete the atmosphere, and generally Heavy Metal, Rock, or
Dance Music is used, due to its impact, beat and inference of adrenaline. Bands may bid to be on a
game’s soundtrack, which can be bought, as the publicity has been proven to increase their album
sales through the association. However, this association may become a problem for those who
view games badly.
“Music has always been an important part of the game playing experience. It provides a
pulse for the action and increases the adrenaline flow...the usual soundtrack for gaming is
contemporary rock or dance…many record companies now use games to promote forthcoming
artists and bands.”
(Elspa, 2003)
Further cultural crossovers occur due to branding and marketing, for example; because of
the high number of Sony Playstation 2 games that use dance soundtracks, and that feature
Japanese animation, the console is associated with dance culture and Manga imports. Further
branding is achieved in games; around race tracks you may see adverts for real products, further
binding the technology and games into the pre-conceptions of what those products offer.
The games culture seems to only take those elements of cultures that may be considered
‘geeky’, and it parcels those into a self-defining, self-constraining culture of its own. In this way
games do not take on a full role in the pop culture ecosystem. Perhaps if the cultural influences
were changed from Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role play and Manga to the many other
cultural art forms that exist, more different kinds of people would play.
Gender differences and construction: misogynistic and homophobic
constructions of heterosexual masculinity and the reduction of femininity
Videogame-playing is considered a male pastime; a view encouraged by the use (or abuse)
of gender in games magazines, game adverts, and within the games themselves. Games are created
mostly by males, for males. With the exception of games such as Disney franchise products that
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are aimed at preschool children, who may not have already defined themselves as male or female.
Games usually feature characters that can be considered as male or female (and if androgynous,
the characters are usually called ‘he’). The portrayal and use of gender in games is important as it
can construct gender-values for young people.
The construction of gender is complex, and it has many influences. In modern culture,
games can be considered one of those influences as they affect a large proportion of young people
throughout their growing years and puberty. If gender is always constructed in a masculine
world, females do not get to understand fully what they should be: while refuting the male’s
obsession with breasts and glamorous poses as ‘laddish’ behaviour, they feel inferior to this ideal
of femininity. “[Women are] taught to think of themselves in gender binaries…if one saw oneself
as ‘feminine’, then one had to adopt certain expectations of gender which would lead oneself and
others to expect irrationality, passivity, weakness or what other… constructions were imposed on
women’s bodies.” (Colebrook, 2004)
Those women wishing for “masculinity put on a mask of womanliness to avert anxiety
and the retribution feared from men,”
(Butler, 1990),
deflecting their intentions to avoid the
harassment their threat causes. Similarly, males are taught what it means to be masculine.
Masculinity must be achieved, therefore femininity is viewed a ‘disease’ as you must distance self
from it to be worthy! Males who play videogames are being forced into roles of masculinity –
shaped by the games and the culture, perhaps without realising; being positioned via gender.
Pleasure and desire, violence, lawlessness and macho behaviour are endorsed. Males seek to
reduce the risk of being seen as effeminate. Women say: ‘I can’t do that as I am just a woman’,
men say ‘I’m not doing that – It’s a woman’s thing’. Both sexes have doors closed to them. If
anything men have more doors closed now due to self inflicted fear of being ‘un-macho’. In this
way the deconstruction of gender binaries is necessary to avoid constraining cultural
expectations: “…the emancipation of women was necessary for the emancipation of ‘man’”
(Colebrook, 2004),
as only once women are no longer viewed as subordinate, will men stop being
viewed as macho oppressors.
This image of men as allowed to use and abuse is perpetuated in many games (for instance
as pimps, violence, glamour shots of women, stripping female characters as levels progress). Little
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boys laugh at the images as what it means to be a heterosexual man. For instance, Lara Croft is
meant for the guys in the long run, not as liberation for women. In fact womens’ desire for
liberation and empowerment seem to be a point for humour and sexual perversion amongst men:
the strong woman with a gun and ability to jump and kill is a challenge to be broken: and the
character can be manipulated and displayed sexually anyway as it is just a creation of a masculine
world. Hit her against a wall and she moans as if a porn star.
We live in a society where, increasingly children are brought up by single mothers. Boys
growing up lack roles models, and the age of military schooling is gone; and males are left trying
to prove their heterosexuality themselves. They turn to other resources, such as gaming, to show
their heterosexuality and machismo, and refuse the chance of being labelled a ‘poof’. In this way,
perhaps male need gaming to remain as their institution: “Through participation in the practices
associated with video gaming boys and young men enter into a discursive field within which
constructions of hegemonic masculinity dominate. Little wonder that girls and young women
become non players; that they see themselves as bystanders or spectators in this highly
masculinised field. Little wonder, also, that the field becomes eminently desirable and attractive
to boys and young men as an arena within which to learn and to practice the ‘doing’ of
masculinity.” (Howard, 1998)
Gendered technology
While the Internode forums (online forum for computer enthusiasts and gamers), having
searched for ‘girl gamers’, I found a post that stated “the best way to get her slightly interested in
what we do, is to build her a box she can call her own…many geeks I know have enough spare
parts lying around…to build a half respectable machine for the little woman. Trust me, she
doesn’t need the latest and greatest like you do, last years, or even two years technology…will
keep her very happy”. I understood the offer, but the way in which it was put (amongst male
friends) was demeaning; indicating that old technology is good enough for a female, but not a
male, and reaffirming the image of females as unable to use technology:
“The PC has long been thought of as one of the bastions of maledom. Often getting
lumped into the same category as cars and football, computing is regarded as being something
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that women may enjoy from time to time, but only men really and truly ‘get’.” (Article called ‘I.T.
Girls’, Custom PC magazine, Nov 2003)
This image, of the male centric technology of computers, and male activities as difficult
prevents women from partaking in them. Males, conversely, don’t do ‘girl’s’ activities as they are
inferior. This is, surely, an outdated view. Males seem to ‘need’ a piece of technology to call their
own, with which to undermine females’ independence, and as soon as the computer and games
consoles become widely used by females, they will loose their image of power, and men will have
to move on to a new technology, or else create their own personal manifestation of masculinity.
Many researchers believe that the ‘computer as a male object’ is learnt at an early age.
Boys are given machine like toys, including games consoles and computers, and are encouraged to
play with them, and to understand them. Some boys develop an understanding of basic
programming from a very early age just by ‘playing’ with consoles and early computers. They feel
confident using computers and know that they are ‘theirs’. Conversely, girls are giving productive
items, crafty toys, and dolls, or clothes. If they are given computer software it will be based on
production and education, not on entertainment. They are not expected to have an interest in the
workings of a computer, and are hence not encouraged to have one.
“… there was never a Quake babydoll T-Shirt (a regret of mine still), but I’ll get a
PlayStation one, preferably with just the symbols across the front, and in plain black. Something
cute. What did they print? A black babydoll, yes…but with ‘PLAYSTATION WIDOW’ printed
on it. I didn’t buy one.” (Alice Taylor, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
The technology is advertised in male orientated ways, with only a few laptops being
advertised in womens’ magazines very recently, stripped of all technical jargon. Emails sent to our
inboxes daily invite me to get a ‘stripper for my desktop’ or a ‘larger penis’, reaffirming that males
are supposed to be the intended audience, and debasing women. Hardware components used for
PC gaming, such as the nVidia graphics cards are currently being advertised using a scantily
dressed fairy called Dawn. (See Image 2), and others are advertised using aggressive male faces.
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Image 3: Dawn, the nVidia fairy
But women do use computer technology, and the numbers that do are increasing.
Something must be keeping them away from videogames on top of the gendering of the
hardware. Women seem uninterested in the machines in the first place – never mind the games.
They say ‘I work on one of those all day long, why do I want to use it when I come home?’ An
overexposure to the hardware cannot be the answer, however. Women are not encouraged to
think about machines as being objects of entertainment, unlike males. There is no entertainment
software aimed at women, the titles they are ‘allowed’ encourage productivity and selfimprovement.
Some females that use technology may “…keep their interests quiet as they realise that
their technical competence is not highly valued by their peers and they do not want their
identities to be re-coded as ‘nerds’ (Holloway & Valentine, 2003). They also, may themselves play up to
the female stereotype, and expect less of themselves when it comes to working computers or
playing games. They will ask for male help and expect allowances to be made for their inability,
crippling themselves by saying ‘I can’t do it, I am a girl!’ In essence they are just repeating what
has been said and implied to them. It is easier for them to admit defeat and to not risk being
ridiculed, and to set very low expectations of themselves. Conversely, if you were to ask a female
if females can use technology as well as males, they we enter the ‘we can/I can’t’ paradox: “In
what became know as the “we can/I can’t” paradox… [girls] tend to make a general argument for
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gender equality by insisting that girls as a whole are as good at computing as boys (a view that not
all boys share). At the same time, however, they downplay their own confidence and abilities by
stating that they personally are not very good at using them.” (Holloway & Valentine, 2003) With
time, one would hope that girls increasing technical ability can begin to challenge the concept of
computers as boys’ toys.
Women’s sideline role
“The girls were just a backdrop to the boy’s action. Most of the boys knew little about the
girls who were in the arcades, had obviously not noticed too much about what the girls did, and
assumed that if the girls were there they must have come with their boyfriends.” (Howard, 1998)
A lack of education or experience with technology, or a refusal of that education (due to
fear of retribution for trying to leave the ideal femininity) “…women who wish for masculinity
put on a mask of womanliness to avert anxiety and the retribution feared from men,” (Butler, 1990)
leads to oppression and social inhibitions. Women may behave as naturally subordinate when it
comes to gaming and computers. They, themselves seem to uphold the prejudice by voicing their
role as spectator, and their lack of skill. Women’s roles in gaming arenas are stereotypically as the
“… [girlfriends and] mothers who brought their sons to the competition and who sat in the hotel
foyers looking bored….” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002) and offering support. This lack of active females
maintains the male only culture, and even when females do play, they are written off as ‘tom
boys’.
The advert overleaf (Image 3) typifies the roles males and females play: the two males are
engrossed in a game at the front, while she sits demurely, not obviously doing anything. She may
in fact have a handheld console, but we cannot see for the text. She is further away, and facing
away from the males; her body language almost refusing their pastime and reaffirming her need
to be restrained and feminine.
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Image 4: From Edge magazine, Issue 123
Females as ‘other’ than the ‘norm’: adverts and software
Gender philosophy explains the concept of ‘norm’ and ‘other’. In our society “…maleness
is understood to be the uncontested centre.” (Howard, 1998)The ‘norm’ is masculinity, and the
‘other’ is femininity, or feminine masculinity. “There is no need to mark male inclusion through
bracketed information and asides. By contrast, the language practices adopted in the article locate
femaleness as other than centre since the women’s inclusion must be marked by parenthetic
information, by qualifying and explanatory notes, and by derisive language play” (Howard, 1998).
The concepts of ‘norm’ and ‘other’ are exacerbated with regards to technology, especially
technology of a computing nature. This can be seen in the very small proportion of females that
work in software programming or animation roles.
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When it comes to technology, software, or indeed any product, if designers (typically
male in the computer/videogame industry) design for ‘people’ they will design as if they had been
told to design for males. If designers are asked to design for females they design utilitarian
programs/games/appliances, with nurturing or educational elements, and pastel colouration.
When designing for males (or for people in general) they will design things with competitive
action-based entertainment in mind. Notably, males will refuse to have anything to do with any
product construed as feminine. However it is a long known fact that boys and girls both learn
faster if the learning is presented in a ‘play’ format. This blatant segregation of genders starts to
cease direction after the target female audience matures past the age of 12 or so. They stop being
girls and become general people. Women are restricted to adverts about shopping, fashion, or sex.
When advertising for female children, adverts show “toys that [are] pink, soft and cuddly,
designed to be played with indoors and marketed to encourage mother-baby role-play, household
activities and the pursuit of female beauty “(Chandler & Giffiths, 2000). They feature “many more
dissolves than did the ads for boys”
(Chandler & Giffiths, 2000). Conversely,
when advertising for male
children, the adverts “showed acts of aggression, dark colours, and an emphasis on competitive
behaviour accompanied by noise and rapid activity.”
(Chandler & Giffiths, 2000). The
adverts aimed at
boys featured” far more cuts,” (Chandler & Giffiths, 2000) (between scenes). The most interesting
factor is that adverts aimed at both male and female children have features “closer to those for the
boys’ ads than to those for the girls’ ads”
(Chandler & Giffiths, 2000) implying
that “the similarity of
mixed ads to boys ads…serves to normalize the male option, and present the female as ‘other’. For
instance, fast paced ads are ‘normal’, slower ads are ‘feminine’.” (Chandler & Giffiths, 2000). It also
makes it clear that advertisers assume “girls will readily accept a ‘masculine’ mode of address
whilst boys will systematically reject anything regarded as ‘feminine’.”
(Chandler & Giffiths, 2000).
Males are unlikely to want to associate themselves with femininity. It is something they
refute, as a homophobic exclamation of masculinity. “…hegemonic masculinity at once seeks
heterosexual endorsement and separation. It seeks out women and seeks to avoid them. It is also
intrinsically homophobic in its rejection and fear of versions of masculinity that do not reflect a
like image”
(Howard, 1998). Females,
however, are not as constrained. “In a sense women’s
imaginations are more versatile than men’s; to women, androgyny is not taboo. When a man
dresses as a woman, he is, to a straight society, ridiculous if not repellent. But when a woman
23
dresses as a man she does not seem to carry the same stigma. The man risks being branded a
wimp. The woman may be regarded as chic.” (Wilkerson & Pini, 1994)
[Self] exclusion from male game spaces
“Gender asymmetry works towards excluding female gamers at a stage prior to the
gendering of gaming texts. Our view is consistent with the gendering of public leisure spaces, and
their associations with masculinity in which women are granted limited access and assume
particular roles. Public gaming spaces such as gaming competitions or LAN parties follow similar
patterns and can therefore easily be considered to be masculine – i.e. male dominated-spaces. This
perception contributes to a constraint on female access and participation in public gaming
activities. Such exclusion may be reinforced by the stereotypical and offensive behaviour of males
towards females in public game spaces ranging from belittlement as ‘only girls’ to patronizing
female competitors through the well meaning provision of prize-giving, or objectification via the
display of pornography at the event.” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002)
As a female, one feels like you have less right to hold the joystick or controller, less right
to be looking at the shelves in a game shop. With multiplayer games where there are too many
people to controllers – females feel as if they have less right to play. If a female goes wrong, they
put it down to gender, not lack of practice. If you forget your own equality, you may find yourself
saying, ‘well I am only a girl, what did you expect?!’ and perpetuating your, and their ideas of
females and computers. Sometimes it is easier to feign stupidity than to have to make males
insecure about their masculinity and compete.
There are girls that refuse to touch computers or games, they have extreme technophobia.
Computer and game use is naturalised to being boring and socially undesirable compared to
clubbing, and ‘normal’ activities. These girls are fearful of being seen to take any interest in
computers (or in games) due to the threat it poses to their social relationships and identities. Some
girls have fears of performance as compared to their peers, and avoid playing games or using
technology altogether, by just not competing: they know they may be laughed at by boys, and
peers for not having the skills or the speed, so performance anxieties are reinforced. Rather than
be labelled as dunces, the girls avoid technology altogether. This position has more social respect
than trying and failing, however, a technological fluency gap exacerbated.
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“Exclusion creates expectations of rejection which, together with the identification of
gaming as a male activity, discourages women from attempting to enter into gaming practices or
associating themselves with being a ‘gamer’. “(Bryce & Rutter, 2002)
Further more, “…as in the world of sport, there were separate competitions [Counter-
Strike Cyber X Games] for each gender…’it is two steps up and one step down as we are
segregating males and females. It’s saying that the girls aren’t as good as the males…CounterStrike is 99% male, so females that do come into this world feel overpowered or that they are not
welcomed.” (Thompson, 2004)
It is unsurprising that ”in such an atmosphere where masculine visions and values
dominate it is near impossible for women and girls to feel involved.” (Young, 1997) further more;
the resources to involve them are not there: no female gaming or technological magazines, and
very few female staff in games shops. Hence there is a “self fulfilling prophecy…males can find
games and magazines to interest them, females can’t, ensuring that the market remains
overwhelmingly male” (Young, 1997). On top of that, games communities are focused inwards –
built of hardcore gamers, and not generally focused on trying to change games culturally, or to
broaden participation. There can be large resistance to ideas of change or dissatisfaction.
Ideas perpetuated in magazines and communities
“…from an early age, male-centred magazines start to differentiate boys according to
hobbies, sports, professional ambitions, and so on, while girl-centred publications have tended to
be organized purely around age levels, assuming that all girls are interested in romance, make-up,
physical fitness, cooking and fashion.” (Cassel & Jenkins, 1999)
Games magazines, as the main method of informing people about games and providing a
window into the culture, often serve to isolate females further, by belittlement, embarrassing
“unconscious but annoyingly present small sexisms” (Boorsock, quoted by Cherny & Weise, 1996),
inclusion of unsuitable or semi pornographic material, and by including references to females in
mocking ways. The editors seem to choose images of scantily clad females, and talk lecherously
about flesh, breasts and bodies, while trying to maintain an air of equality. They feature images
25
and photos of glamour models, as erotic, or to serve as a source of humour. They assume their
audience is male, and this puts females off trying to get into this little boy’s club.
“While the magazines achieve these explicit [marketing] aims, it is possible to see that,
implicitly, they market much more…the texts produce and make available versions of
masculinity, of femininity, and of gender relations that are narrow, restrictive and regressive with
respect to contemporary moves to encourage more expansive identities and democratic
relationships. A politics of gender is articulated in the texts, a politics that constitutes gender as
asymmetrical relations of power…the sexual politics spelt out in the narrative and semiotic
features of the texts are consistently patriarchal, sometimes misogynist, and intrinsically
homophobic.”
(Howard, 1998)
The following pages show examples of some potentially objectionable content. As
instances accumulate, it is difficult to dismiss this humour and content as apolitical. The editorial
space is amplifying a gender politics. The residual memory would have people come away
thinking that is the overall impression –games are for lusty guys. Further more, the magazines
feature adverts for games companies that gratuitously exploit the female body, to appeal to [male]
applicants. One has the impression that you have taken a look at something dirty.
Of course, in essence, gaming magazines are not very different from ‘male-lifestyle’
magazines, such as Maxim or FHM, which feature semi-naked and erotic pictures, and sexual
wording in every issue. The issue is really that gaming is not just a male pastime, yet most gaming
magazines are aimed at males. Where males have ‘male-lifestyle’ magazines, women have
‘female-lifestyle’ magazines. Homosexual people have ‘homosexual-lifestyle’ magazines. All
genders are catered for. Gaming magazines are aimed at either young male adults/teenagers, or at
male children. The only variation is by age. In the ‘kids’ gaming magazines, the content is
generally written by males, for males, and serves to ‘groom’ young male players into the next
generation of young adult male players.
26
“Seasonal titillation: UK: Edge has to
wonder at the kind of nerd that
would buy a 2003 calendar chock full
of digital women posing
provocatively to an imaginary
camera…It’s childish, cynical and
mildly sexist…Edge will just have to
make do until something a little less
offensive to the eye comes through
the post. Order your[s from….]”
Image 4: from Edge magazine,
Issue 119
Image 5: from Edge magazine, Issue 125
27
“Bikini Overkill: Japan: Glance right,
“Thanks for the mummeries: US: “Just what I expected,” says a topless Lisa in
and meet ‘Sexy Beach’, Jpnese hentai
the screenshot opposite, the words barely covering her modesty…Edge
specialists Illusion’s latest
wonders how Tecmo will react to a nude patch that’s far more revealing than
work…offers similar thrills to [Dead
the DoA2 one that sent its lawyers into apoplexy…Created communally (and
or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball] –
inevitably) by a handful of flesh-hungry Xbox hackers…[allowing one to] see
the sun-drenched beach, the bikinis,
if Kasumi really is a natural redhead…a pathetic experience…don’t pity the
the realistic flesh physics and the
poor teens getting off on this; pity poor Aclaim, whose triple-A, ‘XXX’ BMX
gratuitous posing – but boldly
game has just lost its only reason to purchase.”
dispenses with the whole volleyball
pretence…lets you apply tanning oil
Image 8: from Edge
magazine,
Issue 125
to the virtual girl’s physique.”
Image 7: from Edge magazine,
Issue 120
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Women as ‘Booth Babes’
Articles found in magazines will cover the topic of ‘booth babes’. Such articles will reveal
the roles women are expected to play with respect to gaming as that of real, and illustrative large
breasted women. I watched DVD footage of an exposition and was greeted by far more female
faces than male. All of them were smiling or waving at me coyly, or cocking their hips at me. The
following are scans from edge magazines:
“Busman’s Holiday: US: First things first: the best booth babes were
on Nintendo’s stand. And considering there was almost one for
every demo pod, that’s a lot of Nintendo love in the room. (Shame
none of them knew which button to press.)…It’s all about getting
noticed. Hire in a couple of large-breasted girls and the nerds will
flock. (Edge even heard a rumour that one booth babe applicant,
after a rejection, went back for an ‘audition’ after surgical
enhancement and got the job!)”
“Seconds Out, round in: UK:
Impressive amounts of
alcohol, women in sparkly
bikinis faking like they care,
and brutal, bruising
violence. Just another night
out for Edge.”
Image 10: from Edge
magazine, Issue 118
29
The following images are a small number of possible screenshots taken from the
introduction sequence to the DVD set: “The Future of Videogames”.
30
Games that make you wonder!
There is a whole genre of games that makes worrying viewing, the dating games that do
nothing but reinforce the gender stereotypes and the objectification of women; these games
usually feature anime style characters, with massively enhanced breasts, eyes and legs for male
players to woo.
These H-games, as they are known, (H stands for Hentai, the translation of which is
pervert or perverted) do nothing but reinforce the image of video games as being the dominion of
pimple faced teenage geeks who, with no social skills, have to resort to artificial relationships.
Originating in Japan, these games have recently started making their way across the sea.
The most recent example of this is the Xbox game 'Dead or Alive : Xtreme Beach Volleyball' (the
winner of the 'Most Embarrasing Game' trophy at GameSpot's recent Worst of 2003 Awards
ceremony). This is a game where the player takes control of the girls from the Dead or Alive
series of fighting games (notice none of the male fighters are included) and parades them around a
fully 3D island with the pretence of playing Volleyball: " Tecmo [the producers of the game] just
went and set the game industry back about five years” (Gamespot, 2003).
Image 11: Dead or Alive: Xtreme Volleyball. Xbox Cover.
The blatant sexualisation of the female protagonists is the first and main indication of this
games’ intended market. The game mechanics reward good players by allowing them to purchase
smaller and smaller bikinis for their favourite girls. This sort of "infantile sexist garbage" is one of
31
the main factors contributing to the lack of female interest in today's computer gaming industry.
And who could blame them? This sort of soft-core exploitation is a kick in the teeth to the people
who have been trying to open the industry up and prove that video gaming can have a serious
subject matter that everyone can enjoy.
Women as characters compared to male characters
“…the male persona…is more respectable than the female.” (Wilkerson & Pini, 1994)
“A good videogame character is one that the player likes, one whose iconic appearance
and movements combine to give us pleasure.” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
“[Videogames] have barely scratched the surface in terms of creating people that are
believable and interesting to look at…The challenge for videogame character designers in the
future, then, is to engage us while continuing to leave room for our imagination.” (Stephen Poole,
writing for Lucien King, 2002)
Women playing games will probably not understand why a woman character has value
ultimately only through the amount of cleavage bounce, while male characters have numerous
ego boosters from fancy guns and clothes to swearing, lawbreaking and being able to pull off
kinds of stunts. Books such as ‘1000 game heroes’ by David Choquet enhance the idea of the
female character as sexy: there is a section called “Sexy characters” and they are all female. The
book automatically assumes a male audience, which is the majority, but this only serves to further
alienate girls.
There are many different styles of game character. They are mostly either of American or
Japanese origin. Perhaps the most stereotypical kind are the fantasy role play characters, where
women are archers, thieves, and healers, have long hair, obvious breasts, and bizarrely
nonexistent armour. Their male counterparts are generally either spindly mages, or large muscle
bound dunces, however they are significantly more covered.
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Image 12: Neverwinter Nights, Art on booklet
Image 13: Advert for Spellforce, Edge issue 128
The Dead or Alive, and Soul Calibur series of games feature similar fighting characters. In
DoA, the girls are very girly, and wear ridiculous clothes (notably thigh high white socks) and
they squeal and scream. They also ‘jiggle’ their large breasts on any impact. Soul Calibur females
are more varied, from Ivy, a dominatrix with an enormous chest, to ‘girly’ characters to feisty
girls, admittedly with large breasts, but not as pretentious. The males in these games are typical
Japanese fighter material – handsome, brooding, and carrying large weapons. Notably the males
in Soul Calibur show gratuitous six packs to even things up a bit. “That wide-eyed Japanese
cuteness makes them more approachable. They’ll still pummel you in combat. They’ll still
humiliate you. But they’re sort of girlish about it” (Herz, 1997).
“…dozens of guys line up to play this game [Soul Edge, predecessor to the highly
successful Soul Calibur games], and every single one of them plays a chick fighter…that kind of
let’s-see-the-girls-get-all-greased-up-and-sweaty-leer-o-rama” (Herz, 1997).
33
Image 14 & Image 15: screen shots from Soul Calibur Trailer
Sci-fi meets fantasy women are busty butch women with huge space guns, and breasts in
fantasy armour who shout “die Bitch!” at you. However, their representation is no less ridiculous
than the males, but they are designed to be sexy, while the males are designed to be male ‘ego
trips’.
There are, of course, cartoon females, such as Princess Zelda. These ladies are either males
in drag (pink bow) or strawberry pink princesses. There are the usual roles; females as victims,
females as an object to be rescued, females as the bitch enemy. Even despite some characters
breaking the moulds, these perceptions still persist. Also, “…hostility to women has reached such
perverse proportions…that women are often represented only as objects of rape or other forms of
degradation…whether this hostility is overt or merely the result of complacency, the
representation of true femaleness, organic and psychological, has yet to come into its own in the
graphic storytelling medium.” (Wilkerson & Pini, 1994). Compare this to GTA Vice City where the
protagonist can sleep with prostitutes, and in Max Payne, where his wife is shot to allow his
‘adventures’. “Surely such images don’t belong in the 1990’s. They are not only old fashioned, but
are offensive to many women and girls.” (Young, 1997)
Metroid Prime (see Image 16) is perhaps the strongest female character of all time. Her
figure is actually for once largely irrelevant due to her permanent ‘mech suit’. She does nothing
that is outrageously female, and is perhaps more masculine, but in her circumstance of survival it
is appropriate. There are no plays on her femininity, and no over exaggeration of “macho bitch”.
Her sounds of pain are female, but not erotic or ‘wussy’. There are other games that feature
stronger female leads, different gender roles, and different styles of game play. However, the
34
public face of gaming is overwhelmed by sexual and violent imagery, and other games are not
made always visible.
Image 16: Metroid Prime, advert from Edge, Issue 122
Perhaps we will be guilty of reverse sexism, creating male characters with bigger
lunchboxes, better asses, more rippling six pack action. The gender representation situation is not
that much better for “a great number of male videogame characters, who are largely dumb,
muscled grunts – a tradition refreshingly parodied by the sardonic Duke Nukem…Solid Snake is
the best of this bunch, and only his curiously retro mullet haircut saves him from clichéd
iconicism” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002).
Duke Nukem is a testosterone overcharged macho man who features in comedy alienshooting games had a strong female following; his action figure sold to mostly women. His
ridiculous manliness is funny, and a ‘tongue in cheek’ poke at many manly characters.
35
There are those characters where
gender is dubious. This is much more of a
Japanese trick. Their culture allows them
to twist gender to a point where you are
unsure as to the characters’ gender. Long
hair, fancy clothing and anime faces are
seem on all. Such characters are not a
typical representation, just the way that
anime translates into some games.
The Japanese ‘deformed’ style of
animation features large heads and eyes,
small mouth and nose, and small bodies.
Western versions of this style also exist.
Image 17: Nintendo Official Magazine, Issue 137
It is interesting to note that androgynous characters are usually always implied to be
male. They will be marked as female if they are distinctly brandishing a pink bow or some other
icon of “femininity”.
Image 18: Lara Croft and her new male companion
Image 19: Nina, originally from Tekken, but with
an upcoming game of her own
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“Characters such as Crash Bandicoot or Sonic the Hedgehog…obviously borrow heavily
from cartoon style…On the other hand, characters such as Lara Croft or Solid Snake borrow from
cinematic conventions of costume and coolness” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002).
Lara Croft, film star extraordinaire. She offers a blank canvas her “deliberate abstraction”
is “an animated conglomeration of sexual and attitudinal signs” such as hot pants, and holsters.
She encourages “psychological projection” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002).
Note with fighting females there are obvious sexual aims. Compare Lara Coft to her male
counterpart, (Image 18, above). He looks like many men you might see, he is not implausible, and
does not threaten the male ego as Lara and Nina may do to females identities. “The new breed of
tough, independent super heroine that has emerged in various comics over the past few years,
when not handled carefully, resembles in speech and mannerisms a man with breasts rather than
a truly feminine woman”
(Wilkerson & Pini, 1994).
(Or in some cases is a blatantly stereotypical
woman with no thought put into true femaleness). Female characters are built from males ideas
of what woman should be, be it little girlish or buxom.
Image 20 & Image 21: Screenshots from Final Fantasy X-2 trailer
The Final Fantasy X-2 Characters: The three feisty, but feminine girls who quest against
evil. This game series’ many characters are often loved by females for their depth of character,
lack of overtly feminine traits in the girls, and a surprising amount of feeling in the sometimes
brooding male characters, and the games’ epic and highly stylised imagery, and ultimately, the
romantic subplots.
37
Image 225: Sudeki, from Edge, issue 118
These images from a new game, Sudeki, illustrate the difference between fighters of both
genders. The females are highly sexualised, one as a ‘nice’ girl, and one as a vixen, even to the
point of groping her own breast. The male characters, apart from being considerably smaller in
the original advert than the females, are well covered, practical, and although stylised artistically,
they are not overtly sexual; their attributes being that of ‘coolness’ and style. One wonders why
women cannot be shown like this: attractive, but not exploited.
38
“It’s tempting to think that, at last, someone understands. But alas, these games aren’t
designed for girls. These are the same brilliant boy games in drag, and 95 percent of the same
people playing them are guys. While girls are busy playing ‘Barbie Fashion Designer’, guys are
jostling to play female kickboxing champs and action adventure heroines. They’re playing these
empowered women, kicking ass ad taking names while their sisters concentrate on making
computerized mannequins look glamorous. When it comes to videogames, teenage boys are the
ones with the positive female role models. It’s painful to say this, but boy’s games have the only
female characters worth playing. They always get the cool stuff first” (Herz, 1997).
I have no doubt that if sexual images of women did not seem to pervade gaming, women
would not view it as so immature, and more would feel like playing, when they can relate to the
characters and not feel threatened by them: “Women have their own dignity which men,
portraying them in any medium, seldom seem to be able to capture.”
Male gamers and female interaction
“Men don’t usually have to jump through a hoop of sexual innuendo and anti-feminist
backlash simply to participate.” (Stephanie Braile, writing for Cherny & Weise, 1996).
Male gamers may make the assumption that female gamers are a rare breed, and often
think of them as ‘hot’. Yet they do little to encourage female gamers, and transfer their attentions
to harassing, or patronizing them. Some complain that if women are so keen to get into gaming,
and change the unflattering female imagery that they should get into making games and do
something rather than just whining. This is easier said than done I fear. Women suffer rejection
and derision in these work areas and do not have their views taken seriously. Also, with little
encouragement to view computers as female spaces, few women will be prepared to venture
forth, and worse still, many will not think about it as it is so ingrained in them that they have
dolls and shopping, and guys have technology.
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Women as gamers
“…but girls shouldn’t be gamers…they are supposed to be Horse-Riders and Doll Fans!”
(Aurora, quoted by Cassel & Jenkins, 1999).
“Recent research suggests that over 40 % of US gamers are female and online the gender
split is approximately 50/50.” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002).
There are girl gamers. There are also different types of female gamer; to assume they are
the same is naïve. “…there are girls and women who like to slaughter mutant humanoids as much
as any man does“(Beato, 1996). In contrast to what one might label as ‘Grrrl Gamers’ (named after
an American group of feisty online-killer females) there are ‘girl gamers’ that stay within the
realms of pre-defined femininity when it comes to playing games.
“There are already a plenty of women who find a good blast of Counter-Strike or Unreal
Tournament at the end of the day to be as beneficial for relieving stress as an episode of ‘Sex and
the City’ and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s.” (Article called ‘I.T. Girls’, Custom PC magazine, Nov 2003) And it is far
more sociable, active, and less fattening and doesn’t leave you with sticky slovenly guilt, but a
true feeling of having satisfied your urge to kill your boss for the day… no longer wallowing in
self pity, but actively finding an outlet for aggression that otherwise may manifest itself as a
feeling of self-worthlessness and isolation.
There are even female only clans, forums and web sites, although many males have a
tendency to believe they are “actually run by blokes with a curious disposition for posing as
ladies” (Article called ‘I.T. Girls’, Custom PC magazine, Nov 2003). There are women who play at LANs,
take part in competitions, and much more.
Male gamers views of female gamers amuse many: they have an assumption that ‘girl
gamers are hot!’ as if they expect the kind of babe they have been ‘playing’ with all day, or as if
the competitiveness and refreshing break from normal feminine interests, is a ‘turn on’ in itself.
Personal experience would suggest that female gamers are not considered as adept as male
gamers, (although I think it is due to less exposure to the medium, not to less skill). The other
thing that I find perpetuates this view is that males in general are more likely to be very
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vociferously confident, whereas girls in general are less likely to ‘brag’ or make themselves heard
- especially in a male centred environment. However, if a female is good, she may be told she
‘plays like a man’.
Image 23 & Image 24: Comic strips by Tim Buckley, “Ctrl+Alt+Del Online Comic.”
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Many women discover gaming and computers through friends or boyfriends. They view
them as work tools otherwise and will not buy until they are already hooked. They don’t view a
computer or console as a necessary purchase.
Male game themes
"Analysis of the relationship between gender and computer gaming generally focuses on
two issues: representations of females in games and the focus on male game themes” (Bryce & Rutter,
2002). The
themes of most modern computer games go a long way to discouraging female interest
in video games as a hobby. Most games are based around masculine themes, violence, action and
rescuing the weak defenceless woman. Action games outnumber every other style of video game
to the point that any game that doesn't have such a strong masculine theme is pushed unnoticed
to the back.
Even those games that could be appreciated by a much wider audience than just
bloodthirsty teenage males are often overlooked due to the publishers desire to increase sales, and
therefore profits, by jumping on the action bandwagon, using dark menacing visuals in the
packaging and advertisements for these games, in an effort to make them look 'cooler' and more
appealing to the teenage male demographic.
There is a strong undercurrent of masculine homophobia to the genres of games that are
popular, teenage males do not want to be seen as gay or 'girly' and so they rave after these ultra
violent, often misogynistic games, thus perpetuating the cycle. Shops and marketing strategies do
nothing to help this point of view, often displaying the latest Shoot-em-up on the most
prominent shelves and having lots of copies in stock and in direct view. There is a global failure,
within the markets, to recognise other merits of games like puzzle-solving and character
development.
“There has been a highlighting of the dominance of ‘masculine’ game themes (e.g. war,
competition, sports, acquisition, etc.) as well as high levels of game violence. This contributes to
the perception that computer games embody masculine interests and activities making computer
games at best unappealing or at worst offensive, to females.” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002)
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Adverts such as these highlight the ‘male themes’ that may repel many women:
Image25: Soul Calibur 2 Advert, from Edge Issue 128
Image 266: Game Boy Advance SP Advert, from Edge issue 130
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We don’t care!
There is a feeling often as not amongst males that a lack of female gamers is no big deal,
that girls are making a fuss just because they are feminists, lesbians, frigid, or a mixture of all
these things. They argue that women have their own pursuits so what are they worried about.
Many guys don’t seem to see the sexism and anti-girl (and anti-gay or any other unacceptable
form of heterosexual hegemonic masculinity) messages that pervade the games, the advertising
and the culture. Some see the funny side and others get defensive.
The following messages were received in direct response to an online questionnaire that I
conducted as part of this study. This questionnaire posed questions covering gender issues in
games, specifically trying to find out if games and their advertising attract or repel females:
"It looks like video games are designed for, advertised to, and played by boys more than
for, to and by girls. But so what? The opposite can be said for Barbie dolls. There are toys for both
sexes, so no one is left out."
"There is a lot of fuss about videogames and what should be done to attract the female
gamer. To be honest, who really cares? There are plenty of things that most women enjoy that
most men have no interest in (although shopping is the only thing that springs to mind). If
women want to play games, that's cool. If not, then I don't see why anyone should lose sleep over
it. "
"…it’s bad enough turning half the male population into couch-potatoes, without
encouraging girls to do the same."
Barbie dolls are intended for young girls, and video games are aimed primarily at 13-25
year old males. Women are very much left out, and find it difficult to change the things that
alienate them as the companies that make the games do nothing to attract female employees, and
quite a lot to discourage them (unwittingly or not). In addition, the issue is not that women may
or may not want to play, but rather that they are not encouraged to play, and when they do they
can face many barriers, be they from other gamers, or in the games themselves, or the advertising.
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Games as the door to technology
Game playing is considered a valuable part of modern youth society, in as far as it
provides enthusiasm and confidence with computer, the primary tool of our age – and something
with which most of us will have to interact. Those that do not develop computer skills are at a
risk of being left behind in today’s technological society. By defying females the ‘right’ to play
games and view technology as any part of their own as children, we are effectively dissuading
them from computers for the rest of their foreseeable future. Male children are often given
technological toys to play with, while girls are given dolls, and purses.
“…computer games are a primary medium through which children are introduced to
computers and that through playing games they’re learning about computers and learning to be
comfortable and confident with this technology. This point becomes even more urgent when
considering that computer literacy is fast becoming another essential skill in our society. Whilst
we condone this male monopoly of games it follows that we will disadvantage girls and young
women and even circumscribe their future careers.” (Young, 1997)
“Video games are a window onto a new kind of intimacy with machines that is
characteristic of the nascent computer culture. The special relationship that players form with
video games has elements that are common to interactions with other kinds of computers. The
holding power of video games, their almost hypnotic fascination, is computer holding power”
(Turkle, 1984)
The future and present are full of great opportunities in terms of expression,
entertainment and jobs. Yet society deems it acceptable to make at least half of it feel isolated
from this, either on age or gender grounds. With these new opportunities, come this risk of
exclusion, and the chance of being “denied full citizenship.” (Holloway & Valentine, 2003)
Why women should be involved
“We cannot expect women to excel in technology tomorrow if we don’t encourage girls
to have fun with technology today” (Ray, 2003)
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“You think it’s big now, wait a while. When women stop being told that games are only
for sweaty young males, there will be a minor revolution.”
(Alice Taylor, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
If gender is always constructed in a masculine world, females do not get to understand
fully what they should be. Women should become involved in the design of games in order to
prevent the misrepresentation of females becoming pervasive, and acceptable. While there is
nothing wrong with seeing attractive females, viewing them as objects of a male’s gaze does little
for real women. By creating games that do not discourage females, and perhaps encourage them,
by changing advertising to not alienate them, and by not assuming males are the audience,
females will be able to enjoy this popular method of entertainment without fear of belittlement,
patronization, or harassment.
Many people have become used to this view of females, “…being online for a while makes
you increasingly blasé about online sights.” (Stephanie Brail, writing for Cherny & Weise, 1996) And
online sights consist of a fair bit of glamour photography or porn, not acceptable to most women,
but manifests in a “… pervasive cultural condition in which women’s lives {are} either
misrepresented, or not represented at all.” (Butler, 1990).
Hopefully, if more females would and could be employed in the field, the lack of female
images/role models in the computer games available would cease, and better ones would appear.
“Women have their own dignity which men, portraying them in any medium, seldom seem to be
able to capture.”
(Wilkerson 7 Pini, 1994).
More girls (especially those over 14) may be tempted to
play games, and ultimately, the big companies can make more money!
Why change things if games are already selling well? This is the attitude of many males
that I have seen on internet forums, and that I received in response to my questionnaire. The
game industry is growing at a great rate, while its target audience is not. It must diversify to reach
new un-tapped markets, and diversifying the game design teams would see this goal. The input at
the design and development stages would be more varied. If games companies employed more
females then the ideas of females would be actively implemented and integrated with those of
males. The change in the games produced could be more appealing to females. An example of a
company that has a greater ratio of female employees than other games companies is Maxis, a
subsidiary of Electronic Arts. “Electronic Arts (EA) is the world's leading independent developer
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and publisher of interactive entertainment software for personal computers and advanced
entertainment systems such as the PlayStation®2 Computer Entertainment System, the
PlayStation®, Xbox™ video game console from Microsoft, the Nintendo GameCube™ and the
Game Boy® Advance.”
(‘About EA’, EA website, 2003).
Maxis employs a massive 40 % females. One of
their largest game franchises is ‘The Sims’, which boast a 50:50 gender split fan base. This game
allows the player to build lives: families, homes, cities, jobs, and much more. One can create and
nurture each individual character and define personalities. In many ways it is a simulation of real
life, in that the characters’ status depends on the jobs that they get, and the friends that they
keep. Characters can marry, have children and much more. It creates a world over which the
player has ultimate autonomy, but that will look after itself on many lower levels. The Sims can
be considered as a ‘girls’ game’, due to its nurturing outlook, and lack of killing, however it has
many fans, and may be a ‘closet-pastime’ for some male players who fear the effect it may have
upon their masculinity. (See Image 27 overleaf). The example that Maxis sets could show other
companies that male gamers are not automatically scared away from what may be considered a
‘girls’ game’, and that by employing more females, the games produced appeal to far more people.
Games companies seem oblivious to their missed market and some say ‘girls don’t play
games’ they view the Barbie success as a fluke built on franchise. Perhaps it is, just as Mary-Kate
and Ashley games are, as they don’t require much marketing and they have a winning formula of
appealing to girls already. Videogames makers seem happy to ignore the females as it would cost
them too much time and money to research what girls like, and it would be a risk.
Those that wish to change the way things are start at a disadvantage because they must
try to manipulate a masculine world of hardware, software coding, and audience. In trying to
create or push for un-gendered or feminine-gendered games the protagonists are entering into an
arena which is governed by masculine (and mostly male) politics, which either quashes their
efforts, or ridicules them.
It would be nice to think that the messages males receive about women (or feminine
men) would be improved, rather than girl games being produced in distinct isolation from the
main culture. Indeed, if women were presented differently, maybe many would view themselves
as capable: “Many women buy into the supposed permanence of male-created stereotypes because
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it is easier for them to accept someone else’s definition of who they are than to discover their own
identities.”
Image 7: Comic strips by Tim Buckley, “Ctrl+Alt+Del Online Comic.”
I would hope for the barrier that blocks females (and less masculine males) from
computing and gaming and from disturbing the unspoken bond between males and computers
would be rectified: this is a “potential site for challenging dominant gender stereotypes.” (Bryce &
Rutter, 2002)
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Employing more women
Theory on how to attract women into game design is a relatively new subject, broached
in the book: Gender Inclusive Game Design, Ray, 2004. The author outlines the potential changes
that can be made to stop discouraging females, and to start attracting them in, and keeping them
in.
Firstly, she suggests the company look at how they are viewed; are their product lines
aimed at all male audiences? Do the products contain barriers that prevent women from
becoming involved (hyper sexualised female avatars or violence?). Females, like anyone else,
want to make games that they would like to play, not ones they are not interested in. A title that
contains barriers does more than put women off; it also puts across an attitude about women; that
that company uses demeaning sexual humour, and implies women are sexual objects. The number
of booth babes standing on stands at game expos does not help: they spell out ‘Boys only’.
Ray claims that team meetings are known to exclude females by being held in strip clubs,
promoting a ‘locker-room’ atmosphere, where a female will feel derided or viewed as nothing
more than a sex object. A female member would ‘spoil the males’ fun’ and inhibit their jokes and
characters’ proportions, and threaten their masculine status in the business. There should be
senior members of management who are female, as they will serve as positive role models and as
a protective force to potential applicants.
The physical appearance of offices influences how comfortable women feel: desktops and
calendars of centrefold models purvey insensitivity. Porn magazines lying about may serve as
anatomy lessons, but it is insensitive to leave them about in the open.
The companies need to actively seek female employees, as they will not receive the
applications otherwise, from those women who may not have thought of game design as a career
due to its masculine image. Ray states the practical issue of allowing more flexible working hours
to accommodate family life, and that the work place must be free of hostility, or unwelcome
behaviour based on sex.
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The following images (Images 28, 29, 30, 31) are typical examples of advertisements found
in the back or games magazines. The sexual nature of them is obvious. It is clear that the
companies are expecting the adverts to be viewed by males. The imagery could be considered
offensive by any potential female applicant. The companies are not considering the potential for
female employees, or perhaps, they only wish to lure males.
Image 28 & Image 28, & Image 30: Adverts found in the back of magazines
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Image 31: Advert found in the back of magazines
Note the parenthesis of (and women), identifying them as the unintended audience
“Girls Games, Gore, We’ve got what you want!” the banner screamed. Its latex clad, huge
breasted ‘space bunny’ pouted seductively at the exhibit hall over the barrel of her huge gun. At
the Women in Game Development committee’s round-table session held at the same conference,
a producer couldn’t figure out how to attract female candidates.” (Ray, 2003)
Designing for females
“Developers and designers are having trouble moving away from the idea of just adding a
little pink to the cover of a box and saying it is designed for the female gamer. Instead of giving
female protagonists the tools and skills to outsmart and defend themselves from the enemy, they
are, inevitably, giving little more than ‘a purse, complete with compact, lipstick and credit card’.
The games reinforce stereotypical and often sexist gender roles in an attempt to satisfy the female
audience leaving gamers dissatisfied and bored.” (Beato, 1996)
“Most girl games are aimed at the pre-adolescent girl, giving rise to the second major
reason girl games have been virtually unsuccessful: games are frankly, stereotypical and cheesy.”
(Beato, 1996)
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There are two modes of thought when it comes to designing games to encourage women
to play. Some say that girls would play different kinds of games altogether, while others say that
to design separate software for females is to further drive a wedge between male and female.
Already males are, often as not, highly biased against ‘dance matt games’ as female games. Men
don’t play girls’ games because they fear for their heterosexuality. Not because they can’t do it.
Brenda Laurel, an advocate of ‘games for girls’ created a game called Secret paths with a very
different paradigm from those considered standard; “Brenda Laurel’s Secret paths games offered a
very different representation of the natural environment. Laurel’s company, Purple Moon,
wanted to attract girls who felt they were being left behind in the digital revolution. If the boy’s
games encourage players to conceive of nature as an obstacle, Laurel’s games depict nature as a
healing force.” (Beato, 1996)
“…you could easily argue that women prefer nurturing-style games rather than violent
ones, but there is a highly vocal ‘Game Grrlz’ movement in America which proves that women
can frag with the best of them.” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
Of course, women are not all the same, however much research has gone into discovering
the types of scenarios and games females play. For instance: “Girls enjoy complex social
interaction…It is a commonly and not incorrectly held view that women gravitate to stories
which contain a high degree of ‘soap opera’. Young girls are especially interested in relationships
and in emotional interactions.” (Beato, 1996), and not just puzzle games such as Tetris. They like
games with characters in too, but do not like to be overwhelmed by complex controls.
Ray states that when designing for women, don’t restrict to learning based software with
no entertainment factor. The technology and interface used to play the game must not hide the
enjoyment or act as a barrier, for instance the interactive Playstation game Eyetoy maps your
actual physical movement onto the screen. One needs to look at what gives the player the
motivation to play the game, hinting at looking past traditional videogame models.
Ray explains that women expect more forgiving consequences for actions than instant
game over. They would rather view an error as ‘setting them back a bit’. The reward systems
should not focus on getting something, but instead, the actual completion of the task itself is the
reward.
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“What would games be like if we designed them with a female audience in mind? Would
they be like the Barbie computer game where Barbie gets new outfits and learns to be a fashion
model or could we conceive of a game where a clever woman saves the world for all human kind?
Unfortunately, even our fantasies for women are based on lowered expectations” (Karen Coyle,
writing for Cherny & Weise, 1996).
General game [mis] conceptions
“More than anything breaking down the misconceptions many have about videogames
and specifically women gamers will expose the gaming industry to a completely untapped market,
opening the video gaming realm to women and improving the quality of narrative in all
videogame genres.” (Beato, 1996)
“The only thing that everyone agrees on is that playing videogames makes you better at
playing videogames” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
Misconceptions about games will keep those that believe them, and those that fear being
seen as part of it, from playing games. Until many of the stereotypes about games are dissolved,
many people will not touch them. Some of these conceptions are derived from the games
themselves, and the advertising, some from the players, and some are based on historical
stereotypes that are irrelevant today.
Violence is a major issue to many women, and games have a bad reputation for containing
violence, and for encouraging it in people, however, this is not substantially proven, any more
than music or film may be proven to do so: “[Researchers] warn that violent video games may be
more harmful than violent television or films because they are interactive, and require the player
to identify with the aggressive character.” (BBC, 2000)
The most pervasive, and self-perpetuating myth of video gaming is that it is “a male-only
activity and … female gamers do exist but are often rendered ‘invisible’ by male dominated
gaming communities, the games industry, and academic research.” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002)
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Many view it as an immature males’ hobby that is ‘a transitional phase of leisure interest –
something boys will grow out of’ (Bryce & Rutter, 2002). However, women do play, albeit in smaller
and less visible numbers.
Concerns are voiced over the health issues surrounding game play: some argue that
videogames cause obesity. However, the excessive use of any physically-static pastime (for
instance, reading), combined with too much food and no exercise, could cause obesity. “To lose
weight you need to use up more energy (calories or joules) than your body takes in from food and
drink” (British Heart Foundation, 2003). The fact that some people can spend hours playing games leads
others to believe that games are addictive. This encourages the view that games are negative
phenomena, and that playing them leads people to be obese and lazy. As with any pastime,
however, the games themselves are not inherently at fault – but the imbalance present in the
players’ lifestyle could be. I believe that the proportion of people that play games for larger
amounts of time is relatively small. However, these people can become the stereotype for all game
players.
Another concern is the anti-social nature of the pastime. “[There is} a general perception
that gaming is not a social activity but a solitary activity for male ‘nerds’ and ‘geeks’.”
Rutter, 2002).
(Bryce &
“Generally, if a movie shows a child playing videogames in his bedroom, the message
is that this antisocial kid needs to get out more” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002). This may
have been so in the past, and on screen, and could be said still, however there are huge online
opportunities for game play and one can play socially, or over networks, at LAN parties. These
events can involve many people, in a party-like atmosphere, with a strong community spirit. You
can play on your own, for hours if you wish, but that is a matter of personal decision making, not
a factor of game play itself.
The following cartoons, (Images 32 and 33) shown overleaf, illustrate common
misconceptions about gamers.
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Image 32 & Image 33: Two Comic strips by Tim Buckley, “Ctrl+Alt+Del Online Comic.”
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Changes in society, culture, and interaction styles
Currently games have a way to go before their greater acceptance: “Games are made by
and for hardcore gamers. Until this cycle is broken, games will remain stuck where they are
culturally. Game developers are unapologetically geeky, anti-intellectual, and hostile to new ways
of thinking about what they do” (Eric Zimmerman, writing for Lucien King, 2002).
Gaming is accused of being immature, formulaic, and uninventive, like manufactured pop
music. It tries to appeal to the masses but misses the point, being that not all the masses are breast
obsessed junkies, who do nothing more than games all day. What needs to occur is the proposal
and design of a new game paradigm. This paradigm will need to be radical enough to challenge
the preconceptions of ‘what games are’, and to entice a female audience. It will also need to be a
subtle alteration of what is current, so as not to be disregarded by the wider gaming community
as a ‘spin off’ of the ‘girl – gamer’ movement. The ultimate gaol would be to design a game that
encouraged a female audience, while, at the same time, did not dissuade the male audience.
“Videogame developers in the future will appeal to more men and to more women, only
as long as their games mature aesthetically.” (Stephen Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
“Videogames are powerful, but they are nothing without humans to play them. So the
inner life of videogames – how they work – is bound up with the inner life of the player. And the
player’s response to a well-designed videogame is in part the same sort of response he or she has
to a film, or to a painting: it is an aesthetic one.” (Eric Zimmerman, writing for Lucien King, 2002)
If people are offended by games, or view them as infantile or shallow, then games are not
aesthetic to them. Games have unquestionably a fabulously sensual potential. However, if any
part of the senses feel abused or offended (e.g. by difficult controls, a dislike for what we are
seeing or hearing) then we won’t play, and will develop a bad view of all games.
However, change is underway: “Games machines are already on the road to mass
acceptance. All today’s consoles feature hi-fi sound and offer DVD playback. They’ve made the
journey from bedroom to living room. New ways to interact with games (away from joysticks and
56
controllers) are brining in new players above and beyond the traditionally young and male
demographic” (Elspa, 2003).
Increasingly consoles are becoming a part of one’s lifestyle: “Gaming has a much broader
demographic than its positioning as solely a children’s toy” (Bryce & Rutter, 2002). Also “more and
more grown-ups choose to play videogames rather than watch TV or go to the cinema” (Stephen
Poole, writing for Lucien King, 2002).
When games came out of the arcade and into the home it allowed
different constituencies to enter the world of gaming. The next step of taking consoles out of the
boy’s room, and into the front room, or centre of family life, is beginning to take place, with
implications for broadening the audience again. Games systems are increasingly trying to be all in
one entertainment systems for the home, now featuring DVD and CD players. The next planned
Playstation, called the PSX (see Image 34 below) is one such console due to include a TV-Tuner,
DVD-RW, USB ports, a broadband modem, and a hard drive.
Image 34: A preview of the Sony PSX
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Methodology
Introduction
The question driving my research is ‘Are girls put off playing computer games?’ Myself, I
am put off playing many games due to varying factors from game content and character
representation to advertising. However, with my research I wanted to discover if in fact many
girls/young women were put off playing computer games, for what ever reasons. Not only did I
want to look at the views of females, but I wanted views of males, in order to ascertain if there is
a gender gap in opinion. I considered the views of people who played games and those who don’t.
I also wanted to study the spread of people you find in game shops, with their age, sex and
company indicating views towards gaming. I also felt that popular culture has a lot to answer for:
the way games are viewed by people, especially young people, will be formed from advertising
and the cultural manner in which it is displayed: what style, sounds and manners are associated.
Questionnaire
There are many different methods of research one can undertake. I chose to create a
questionnaire to elicit people’s views about gaming and gender. At first, I decided to conduct a
survey in public spaces (e.g. in the high street) and stop random people and ask questions.
However, it soon became apparent that people in general were not open to this kind of physical
approach and use of their time. As the questionnaire grew in size I realised I would have to find
another way of implementing it. The chosen approach was a web based questionnaire – simple in
design in order to avoid errors with following instructions and filling it in. The fact that my
questionnaire was web based already biases it somewhat – to those that have access to the
internet. However, for my purposes I felt this was acceptable, depending on where I advertised
the questionnaire, as the spread of people with access to the internet is worldwide (immediately
expanding my audience vastly) and it spans all age groups – especially the young adult generation
that I am especially interested in. Also, those with access to the internet are already in a
technologically advanced situation where game playing, or having views about game playing are
more likely (making the answers more valuable to me). By doing a web based questionnaire I
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could elicit views from individuals, all over the world, without physically encroaching on their
personal space, or interrupting them at inconvenient times. Web based questionnaires have the
advantage of being able to be completely anonymous. They can also be error checked to avoid
mistakes on completing, and data validity can be checked via a log-in procedure. I saw it as a good
way to gain much qualitative and quantative data, which would enable me to build up an overall
image of how different groups (Male Yes Play, Male No Play, Female Yes Play and Female No
Play) view games, gaming, the culture and gender issues. By giving some spaces for explanations
and opinions, and combining these with discrete options, I can begin to see overall views
emerging, whilst being relatively simple to analyse.
The disadvantages of creating a web based questionnaire were its implementation (if
implemented incorrectly the results could be made invalid), people filling it in incorrectly, its
selective audience (although worldwide, and for my purposes it was not perhaps such an issue as I
needed people with opinions), and people using the questionnaire to abuse or to be insulting
(something that became apparent when it went live, but in essence proved many opinions
regarding the closed nature of males to the thought of females playing games, or there being
something wrong with the current state of affairs). To ensure data validity I removed incomplete
responses, exact duplicates, and those where text-fields were used for random letters or repeated
insults.
There is a risk of creating a biased, leading questionnaire. I created a first draft, and
refined it until it was as unbiased as I could make it. This was still not enough; however, I am of
the opinion that as soon as one questions the area of gender and videogames one is accused of
trying to lead the questions. Any subject where inequality of the sexes is implied or even
commonly understood (and accepted) both sexes can accuse you of asking loaded questions. This
is purely because of the nature of gender conflict; especially with regards to technology that has,
and still is, widely assumed to be the realm of young men and boys. This technology can be
viewed as ‘cool and belonging’, or ‘unreachable and infantile’ by different groups.
You can see the questionnaire, as it is included (digitally, online, or as print-outs) as part
of the appendices.
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The questionnaire was advertised on gaming related forums – especially in those relating
to girl gamers. I posted on the following forums:
o
http://games.internode.on.net
o
http://forums.yellowworld.org
o
http://pub159.ezboard.com (2 different forums)
o
http://gamegal.com
o
The New Woman Magazine forums, and on other forums of male and female magazines
or communities.
o
Empire Magazine forum
o
In an EBay listing
o
On several Kent University news groups
o
Also sent a link to most family members and friends, who in turn distributed the link via
email.
Results of observation of people in game shops
The second form of research I undertook was in the form of observation. While my
questionnaire would elicit views and opinion, there will always be a degree of falseness in it
because people know they are being tested, and even though it was anonymous I am sure that
some people (especially the Male Yes Plays) would want to make themselves out to be holding
gender-equality paramount, but perhaps in real situations they would be a bit more typical in
their behaviour. No man likes to be seen as an oppressor even if they hold oppressive views.
I was also concerned that while I would be able to get opinions from Females on the web
– the fact that it is on the web implies that the respondents will be more technologically
competent, and that the females especially would not be so easily put off games.
I decided to observe the people that went into games shops (or the games area of a shop). I
selected the two most obvious choices for young people and young adults in Canterbury: GAME
and HMV. The point of this exercise was to observe (and hence avoid unnatural behaviour) the
ages, and genders of those going into the shops. I chose to do this on a Saturday afternoon, to
maximize the kinds of people I would find. I wanted to observe the groups of people were in
60
when they were in the shops. From the results I hoped to gain more of an insight into the kinds
of people that play games (or at least browse in the shops) and to see whether females were as
independent in their game interest as males.
The advantages of this kind of research were that I would go unnoticed – people would
continue to behave normally, and I would not have to ask for their time. The disadvantage was
trying to count all the people. For this reason the count in busy periods could be wrong. While
there is room for errors, this research is useful as it indicates the spread of males and females over
age, and also if females are buying or browsing for themselves, or with their sons or partners. It
also indicates the overall impression that game shops pervade: for instance, females in a game
shop will not count all the males and females they see but will take note of the impression they
receive – likewise with older generations in these shops.
I repeated the counting of people over three weekends, on the 14th and 21st of February
2004, and on the 6th of March 2004. Each time I observed the people for a 10 minute period.
61
Findings and Discussion
Findings from questionnaire
Eliciting views from people has resulted in much data. Each will be analysed in turn. The
full spreadsheet of results is included in the appendices, as is the condensed data.
Introduction to groups
I received many more replies than I had anticipated, although I found it necessary to
continue allowing them as most of the replies were from Males who play (MYP), and I needed
more replies from the other groups, Females who play (FYP), Males who don’t play (MNP) and
Females who don’t play (FNP). I collected 214 replies altogether, 37 of which were from FYP, 37
from FNP, 18 from MNP, and 122 MYP. These numbers are interesting in themselves, as they
suggest already that MYP far outweigh FYP, and even MNP. This is very interesting considering
the places I advertised the questionnaire – on Gamers Forums (especially female orientated
forums or threads), Women’s magazines, amongst family and friends, over the university
newsgroups, and even on the Empire magazine forums, and EBay. I endeavoured to get as many
results from those who don’t play, and from females who do as possible – as they will hopefully
tell me something new with respect to why they don’t play, or if a FYP, what could change. I was
aware that, due to the online nature of the questionnaire and my canvassing methods, the
numbers of each group were not going to tell me what percentage of each group there are,
however, considering the locations in which I placed adverts, I did not receive anywhere as many
results from FNP, or MNP as I thought I might. I probably received a greater than actual
percentage of FYP, due to advertising on female gamer forums – but even so, they are vastly
outweighed by the males. See Diagram 1 overleaf.
62
Diagram 1: The Four Groups
Age spread
The age spread of the replies across each category follows in general a positive skew: with
most replies in the 19-25, and 26-35 range. No one younger than 16 was allowed to answer the
questionnaire thus eliminating any younger peoples views. This skew is less obvious in the MNP
category, where no replies were received from the 26-35 range. Again, due to the method of
eliciting views over the internet, the ages in themselves can not be used to infer anything specific,
but are useful when considering who the views are coming from.
Time spent playing games
The results indicate that females are likely to spend less time playing games than males
each day – with nearly 60% of the FYP playing for less than 30 minutes each day. On the graph,
the positive skew is obvious, with few females playing games for long periods each day. The males
are much more likely to play for longer each day, but there is no obvious skew to the graph. As
with females, it is unlikely that a male will play for over 6 hours each day. From the results, an
approximate average of time spent playing each day is for MYP, 106 minutes, and for FYP, 58
minutes, the males on average play almost twice as long.
The implications of this are that the females may be less hard-core gamers, otherwise
known as ‘casual gamers’ who play, but not very much. There may be many reasons for this; a)
lifestyle reasons (women may not have as much spare time to play), b) the games available do not
63
hold their attention for as long, c) the games they are playing do not require lengthy sessions, or
because of technological issues (irritation at controls). Of all the females, the one that played the
longest each day was a counter strike server administrator, so playing the game was part of her
job. She is very unusual, and some males on a forum got her to fill in my questionnaire especially,
almost as if proving a point.
70%
MYP
FYP
60%
Percentage of each Group
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
<30
30-60
60-90
90-180
180-360
>360
Time (minutes)
Diagram 2: Time Spent Playing Games
Reasons for people not playing
In asking this question, I was trying to ascertain if men and women had different reasons
for not playing games. The greatest reason for females not playing was a lack of interest (almost
70%), followed by a lack of time and a lack of skill. A lack of interest was the only reason given
by nearly a third of the women. Lack of interest was the third largest reason for males not playing
(50%), the two greater reasons were cost (almost 70%), and lack of time (just over 60%), although
a lack of access also featured highly. These results in themselves show that where women mostly
don’t play due to a lack of interest, up to half of the males may be interested, but cannot play due
to financial and time constraints. Cost is comparatively a minor issue to the women. It is also
interesting to note that twice as many women as men are put off by their lack of skill, or perhaps
by fear of derision for their capabilities. The other reasons given for the males not playing were
unusual, RSI of his hands stopped one playing, and another said he was down the pub instead!
64
The other reasons given by the women were more negative toward the games: with some women
saying there was nothing they liked, that they were a waste of time, or that they were just too
busy to play.
100%
Male
Female
90%
80%
Percentage of each group
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
No Interest
Access
Cost
No Time
Skill
Company
Not Acceptable
Other
Reasons
Diagram 3: Reasons For Not Playing
What do non-players prefer to do instead?
Perhaps, if we had a better insight into what females preferred doing instead of playing
games, new ways to encourage them to play games could be found. So far there are many
established ways of selling games, nearly all designed towards males, and the industry as a whole
is usually reluctant to work away from its tried and tested formulae. I don’t doubt that many
females would still see game playing as a thing for adolescent males, but with time new
generations would see it differently as old prejudices wear out.
Over half the men said they did some form of sport, and over half of them also said they
enjoyed going out and drinking and socialising. Nearly half enjoyed reading, and a third liked to
watch TV and films. Almost a quarter liked to listen to music.
65
With the females, nearly all of them mentioned some form of sport or exercise. This was
undeniably the most important thing on most of these women’s agendas. Second to that was
reading, with two thirds of the women enjoying it. A quarter of the women enjoyed watching
films or TV, and around a fifth enjoyed going out and drinking/socialising, and a fifth enjoyed
listening to music.
Notably, only two of the women (5%) named shopping as something that they enjoyed,
an activity that is often used to balance the male dominance of computer games.
Obviously fitness is important to both genders, especially females, and the idea of playing
games is against the idea of fitness as it usually makes one imagine people sitting down for hours
on end. For this reason dance mats are thought of as ‘girls gaming’ items, and few males will
touch them. The dance mats have been a success when it comes to encouraging females to buy
consoles as you can exercise and play concurrently.
Reading and socialising are also important to both genders; games that encourage
imagination and have good storylines, with social interaction in them would be an obvious way
forward, however, it is apparent that people who don’t play see games and their players as
socially lacking. The fact that watching TV and films features highly is promising too – as the
method of interaction is similar, via a screen, while sitting.
There is an ironic assumption that game players are unfit and vegetating, yet many of non
players like to watch TV and read. Game playing is no less inactive than watching TV. Unfitness
doesn’t necessarily come with gaming, although those obsessive players may increase this
prejudice.
The consoles owned by gamers
The most obvious thing that becomes apparent when studying these results is that despite
the survey being done on the internet, only about half of the females actually owned a computer,
whereas almost 100% of the men owned one. This alone indicates either a technological gap
between the sexes, or a difference in priorities (or both, one leading on to the other).
66
When it comes to the other consoles, the differences were much smaller. The graph
(diagram 4) shows the percentage of FYP and MYP that chose each console, so where in some
cases it looks as if more females own GameCubes than males do, in actual fact it just shows that of
the females that do play, they are more likely to have a GameCube than males that play. Indeed,
the PS2, PS1, and GameCube are the only consoles that females are more likely to own than
males. The PlayStations are sometimes seen as the console of choice for un-discerning casual
gamers – they are popular as they are easily accessible and their branding is well recognised, and
they have many games available, including dance mat games, opening its market wider (however,
the vast number of cheap games gives the Playstation a bad reputation to those more impressed
by quality over quantity and cheapness). The GameCube, while not have the same status of
branding and market coverage, is very child-friendly in its design and game selection; the
Nintendo Company is well established as producing family games in bright colourful packages. It
has branched out in recent years; producing games that appeal to a wider audience, but it still has
a large selection of fun colourful games available, which are ‘classics’ of family entertainment.
The Xbox is not as favoured; I would think this is due to its similarities to a PC (and the
connotation of work that that conveys) and because the most famous games for it are fighting
based, something that females are not expected to enjoy as much.
It is also interesting to note that with the older generation consoles, men are more likely
to own each one, and they own far more of the older or obscure ones too, from the NES, to arcade
machines and Amiga 500’s. This implies to me that males have a far greater history with games
consoles, which women have not caught up on yet; none of the women questioned owned any
unusual consoles, just a couple of older ones.
I also noted that the males are more likely to own a Game Boy Advance (either the
original or SP variety) which is, no doubt, influenced by its gimmick factor, and the distinct male
advertising. It is interesting that the original Game Boy Advance was aimed at children and the
SP at adult males, and yet more males own the original, and the difference in percentage of
ownership is less with the SP. Only 5% of the females owned over 4 consoles, whereas 19% of
males did. There were several males who owned nearly all of the next generation consoles,
implying it is a big hobby for them.
67
The average number of consoles owned by each male is 3.1, and the average number
owned by each female is 2.4, while there is not too great a difference, it is still a difference, and
there are a lot less female gamers so the actual number of consoles owned by females is much less.
100%
Male
Female
90%
80%
Percentage of Each Group
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
PC
PS2
Xbox
GCube
PS1
N64
Dreamcast
GBA
GBASP
Other
Consoles
Diagram 4: The Consoles Owned By Gamers
Favourite games
There was a large variability in the favourite games given by people. Of all the responses,
Males favoured games such as GTA Vice City (an action adventure crime/racing based game),
Counter-Strike and its various ‘mods’ (a team based first person shooter), Half Life (a first person
shooter), Battlefield 1942 (another team based First person shooter), Quake (a first person
shooter), Neverwinter Nights (a fantasy RPG), and the Final Fantasy Games (Console based anime
style RPG).
The favourite games amongst the females were the Sims games (People and interaction
simulation), the Mario Kart games (Children’s racing games), Counter-Strike and its various
‘mods’ (team based fps), Baldur’s Gate (Fantasy RPG), the Zelda games (Action RPG), and GTA
Vice City (an action adventure crime/racing based game).
68
Obviously these are only a few of the games mentioned, as there are so many. I
categorised all of the games by their genre which resulted in the graph (diagram 5) shown:
30%
MYP
FYP
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
R
TS
St
ra
te
Pu
gy
zz
le
/S
m
al
l
Ki
R
dd
ac
y
in
Ka
g
rt
R
ac
in
g
Sp
or
ts
Sp
Fi
or
gh
ts
tin
M
an
g
ag
er
Pl
Si
at
m
fo
rm
R
e
r3
PG
D
D
&
An
D
St
im
yl
e
e
St
yl
e
R
PG
Ac
C
tio
rim
Ac
n
e
R
tio
ba
PG
n
se
Ad
d
ve
ac
nt
tio
ur
n
e
ad
v
Ph
en
ys
tu
ic
re
al
Fl
ly
i
g
In
h
t
te
Si
ra
m
ct
iv
e
M
us
Si
ic
m
Pe
Su
op
rv
le
iv
al
ho
rro
r
Te
am
FP
S
Ba
se
d
FP
S
25%
Game Type
Diagram 5: Favourite Games Types
From this information you can see that the males have a much wide spread taste in games,
whereas the females prefer better defined categories. The most favoured genres of games for
males are First Person Shooters, Team Based First Person Shooters, and to a lesser extent, crime
based action adventure, action adventure, and anime console RPGs and Fantasy RPGs. The
females choose somewhat different games; the FPS and Team Based First Person Shooters still
feature highly, I would expect this is due to the large number of online multiplayer games
available in these categories, they make great social games. However, platformer games are their
favourite; games where a character (usually a cute character) travels along from one end of a level
to another, sometimes in a straight line, and sometimes over a 3D area, defeating “baddies” and
collecting items along the way. A greater percentage of females than males also preferred crime
based action adventure games, was surprising. In these games the pretence is often that you are
either a cop or a gangster, and you can take over people’s cars, race them around cities, shoot
people, and complete missions. In GTA Vice City you can beat up and sleep with prostitutes.
69
The females also prefer sports games, Fantasy style RPG games, child kart racing games,
and Sims games (which no males seemed to like). It is interesting to note that there are no cases
where girls do not like a game significantly less than the males; in fact it seems that it is the other
way around. There are games which are definitely “Female Only” realms. However, there is still
a relatively small female games market, most people assume female gamers to be Sims players or
Fantasy RPG players.
Favourite characters
There is a large number of favourite characters, as one would expect, as there are a large
number of characters to choose from, and a large variation in people to choose them. However,
there are a few firm favourites. Amongst the male players, the most popular characters are Mario
(16% of males mentioned him), Link from the Legend of Zelda games (9%) and Sonic the
hedgehog (7%). All three of the characters are at least 20 years old, and are loved for their cute
representations, personalities and on the merits of the games – the first of which were ground
breakers, loved by many people of my generation as nostalgic memories of childhood. Many
games have been made with each character – a sign of their commercial success. The games were
and are, suitable for all ages and are known as classics. Of the more modern characters, several
were mentioned by 3 or more different males. They chose Gordon Freeman from Half Life (a
normal scientist), Guybrush Threepwood from Monkey Island (a cartoon style comically amusing
pirate), Lara Croft (as she is “easy on the eyes”), Raziel of the Legacy of Kain games (a vengeful
gothic vampire), Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto Vice City (an 80’s hip gangster), and
Yoshi from the Mario games (a cute green dinosaur). This spread of characters covers several
kinds of character and game.
The female gamers had slightly different tastes in characters. Their favourite was again
Mario, the cute plumber, but the other two characters of their top three were Lara Croft (because
she is cool, and ‘fab’ and ‘kicks butt’), and Crash Bandicoot, a cartoon style marsupial in a 3D
platform game. The top three suggest that females do not have such a lengthy history with
computer games, as two of the three characters are only about 8 years old, and Mario, who is
potentially 23 years old, has had many more games made over the years. For my age group
(approximately 19 to 24) the first game one will have ever likely played will have been Sonic the
Hedgehog, or a Mario game. Lesser common, but still notable character choices by the females
70
were Sonic the hedgehog, and two Final Fantasy 10 (a 2003 game) characters – Tidus and Yuna.
Tidus is a young man struggling to come to terms with loss, and a world turned upside own. Yuna
is a young girl (17 at the start) who is naïve, but grows into a woman through the course of the
game. The game, like other Final Fantasy games has a Japanese anime style of fantasy gothic
costumes, combat involving large weapons, summons and immense spells, and a storyline of
fantastical good against evil. Intertwined within the main story line is the history and personal
development of each of the characters – each have a different personality, and different traumas,
loves and personal discoveries. They are popular with females I imagine for this personal detail,
and social development, but the games are popular across gender, as they incorporate many
elements of game play, combined with a striking visual style, and music, set in a strange land.
Many people of both genders (a third of each group) said that they did not have a
favourite character at all. Their reasons were that they did not play games with characters in, or
where the characters were all pretty much the same, such as strategic simulation games, or online
games such as Counter-Strike. Some people said that they did not ‘get attached’ to games
characters and that games characters were in general weak, and films provided better characters.
It is more telling to split the characters chosen into groups: obviously this is subject to
personal opinion of how to split the characters up, but I tried to remain objective. The
overwhelming majority of players that had a favourite character chose a ‘male cute’ character,
such as Sonic, Mario, or Link. I used the word cute to describe a cartoon childlike quality about
the characters, as opposed to a sexually attractive cuteness. As said previously, I put this groups’
success down to nostalgia, and the fact that many of the first successful characters were in this
group, conversely however, there were very few substantial similar female characters. Perhaps if
there had been equivalent female characters, another group of favourites would have emerged.
However, the most obvious thing that strikes me about the choices is that males prefer to play as
male characters, with the exception of males who liked females due to their sexual and attractive
merits, and females as female characters. A fair number of females chose male characters – but
generally only tough fighters, or shooting characters, or the anime style Final Fantasy characters,
however, both genders of these characters were very popular with girls, based on the depth of
personality and personal development. I suspect that they choose the fighting males as there is a
lack of reasonably comparable female characters. They do exist, but in general they are exploited
71
sexually in appearance, mannerism, and movement, and often persist in talking in high soft voices
(a Japanese trend), and usually conform to stereotypical female abilities, where they are quicker
and more agile, but weaker than their male counterparts. I feel, based on these results, that if
there were more reasonable female characters available, more females would be encouraged to
play, and gaming would lose some of the stigma it has that makes many view it as an immature
young mans’ hobby.
45%
MYP
FYP
40%
Percentage Of Group
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
e
on
C
ut
e
N
/C
om
ic
im
e
An
th
F
ig
gl
e
sy
W
F
gh
Fa
nt
a
F
l
iT
ou
R
ea
gh
Sc
iF
An
dr
og
yn
ou
s/
Bo
F
C
om
ic
F
To
u
F
C
ut
e
F
C
ut
e
M
M
al
e
C
om
ic
M
N
or
M
m
al
To
ug
h
M
R
ea
Sc
l
iF
i
M
To
Fa
ug
nt
h
as
y
To
ug
h
M
An
im
e
0%
Character Type
Diagram 6: Favourite Characters
Who plays games?
This question was not designed to find out a true statistic, but rather to ascertain the
beliefs of each group (MYP, etc.), and to see if any discrepancies between the estimated reality
and the opinions of each group occurred. It is no surprise that nearly 100% of all four groups
thought that males aged 11 to 25 would play videogames. All groups also felt that younger males
were fairly likely to play, and they all felt that older males were increasingly less likely to play,
with age. The general shape of the opinions is the same for female players, however with much
less numbers: all groups consider the female 11-14 age group most likely to play games, but even
this is around 50%, less than 25-36 year old males. Again, all groups felt less younger females are
likely to play, and increasingly less older females were likely to play. There is a feeling that not
72
only are females far less likely to play (in some cases approximately 7 times less likely), but that
they will be most likely to play at a much younger age than males. While the age of an average
male gamer would seem to be approximately 18, the age of the average female gamer would be
14; this infers the immaturity linked to gaming that is stereotypically more likely in males, and
that non playing females were so scathing about when asked their views about gamers. The
expected numbers of female and male gamers will most likely be affected by people’s expectation
of the culture, through the affordances of its advertising, and the fact that more males seem to
talk about their hobby than females, non game players may be led to believe that there are very
few female gamers.
This difference in perception will create a barrier to any outside of the culture (especially
females) as they will not see a place for themselves within it. The advertising would do better to
afford itself some female interest for the stereotypical view of gaming to change – in order to
make females feel welcomed by the culture, and to stop non playing people viewing them badly,
creating a barrier of peer pressure.
100%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
M
F
5_10
M
F
11_14
M
F
15_18
M
F
M
19_25
F
M
26_35
Age & Sex
Diagram 7: Who Plays Games?
F
36_50
M
F
51+
73
Who plays? Percentage of expected players across age groups for each sex
To further look at who people think play games, I asked all respondents to estimate the
percentage of male and female gamers. The results are almost mirror images of each other, with
the estimated number of females being low, and the expected number of male players, much
higher. If you look at the results to find the modal group you can see that for the males it is 6180%, and for the females it is 0-20%: implying on average a ratio of male to female players of 7:1.
However, the average percentages are much different; the average for the males is 58%, and the
average for the females is 23%, which presents a ratio of between 3:1 and 2:1. I would imagine,
based on my other research that the true figures lay between these estimates. The FYP group tend
60%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0-20
21-40
41-60
61-80
81-100
to think more people play, and the MNP group think the least number play.
70%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0-20
21-40
41-60
61-80
MALE
FEMALE
Estimated Percentage
Estimated Percentage
81-100
Diagram 8: Estimated Percentages of Males/Females that play across age groups.
Who are games adverts aimed at?
This may affect the views seen above, of who plays. Non players may have just the
advertising they see, and existing prejudices to base their opinion of gaming on. Indeed, the
shape of the graph (diagram 9) seems to replicate the graph of ‘who plays’ (diagram 7), but on
close inspection it shows some different thoughts.
All groups think that games’ advertising is mostly aimed at males between the ages of 11
and 25, although primarily between 14 and 18; young enough to be children, but old enough to
potentially have disposable income and more spending power. There were far fewer people in all
groups who thought games advertising was aimed a females, or older men (post 36). The age
group of females they felt were most targeted by games adverts were younger than the males at
74
11 to 14. None of the FNP group felt that games advertising was aimed at any female over the age
of 18; implying that they themselves do not feel at all enticed by it. In this respect games
companies must really be missing the mark if they ever intended to get more females into games.
This group of females however, did seem to have an innate dislike of games culture. Compare this
to the MNP group, who do not seem to think that their gender is being alienated.
The fact that fewer people think that adverts appeal to girls, than those who think there
are female players in each age group implies that the girls that do play are not doing so on a
merit of advertising. This is also the case with the older males. There could be a sense that these
people are ‘going against the grain’ and are not doing what society would expect of them or what
he games advertising would imply. Advertising is focusing strongly on one group of gamers, and
it seems to be the intended age group of the PS2 and X-Box market, perhaps the most visible
modern advertisers.
100%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
M
F
5_10
M
F
11_14
M
F
15_18
M
F
19_25
M
F
26_35
M
F
36_50
M
F
51+
Age and Sex
Diagram 9: Who Are Games Aimed At?
Opinions: views of gamers in general
Views of gamers are varied, but there are some consistent thoughts. Non gamers felt fairly
negative about gaming as a pastime, saying that they viewed gamers as socially inadequate,
75
wasting their time, un-innovative, uncreative, or unable to occupy oneself, or addicted/captive to
the screen. However, 19% of the FNP group said that they had no opinion, or didn’t know. Some
stated that they felt gamers needed to ’get a life’ and that they should get more exercise, and that
they must have too much spare time and be bored. I find it strange that gaming, as any other
pastime, is entertainment used socially amongst friends, or to pass time when alone, yet it has the
stigma of breading a generation of socially inept couch potatoes. Nobody seems to have anything
against reading books for hours, even though this can be an introverted ‘detached from reality’
hobby. The key is in the moderation. People think it is easy to get addicted to gaming, and that it
is a geeky thing to do. There was a strong trend amongst all the groups that gaming was fine if not
done for too long and at the expense of other activities, such as exercise. If playing for too long,
even gamers seemed to think it a bad thing. This was the overwhelming majority feeling of the
FYP group – perhaps trying to maintain a medium between what other females think and their
own interests. The non playing groups also added the stipulation that it was alright for younger
people to play (under 18 approximately) but past that it was ‘sad’. All groups felt to some degree
or another that it was normal; although the gamers thought so by far more. 16% of the FYP group
and 52% of the MYP group thought that they were no different to anyone else with a hobby – I
believe their views, especially the men’s to be influenced by their peers; with the male players,
most of them will probably know other players – so they think they are the norm. Non players
are less sure of this.
Other opinions of the FNP group were that gamers are nerds or losers, and are lazy and
given to escapism. Both the playing females and the non playing females linked gamers to
violence, immaturity, intelligence, and an association with technology or a skill with computers.
None of the males mentioned these things, implying that the violence their competitive spirit can
convey is transparent to them, and that they think nothing of the link between computer games
and technology/computer skills, perhaps taking it for granted.
The female gamers did not think that gamers were socially inadequate, and like the male
gamers they felt that gamers used the pastime as a way of winding down, fun, and able to occupy
themselves.
76
Some people made the assumption that gamers were males. The MNP group thought they
had too much money, or that gaming was a waste of money, and are young and energetic. The
MYP group thought of gamers as kindred, however they did also say that a gamers’ ‘coolness’
would be determined by the consoles they owned and the games they played, indicating a certain
level of prestige amongst male gamers.
There is a contradiction where so many people, especially the MYP group, think that
gaming is no different to any other hobby, and examples given were like watching TV or a film.
Yet, if this were the case, gaming would not be so heavily gendered. A common retort is that
gaming is a ‘guy’s’ hobby, and ‘girls have Barbie and shopping’. However, there is no real reason
for the hobby to be gendered – many men enjoy shopping, albeit maybe for different things, and
men have equivalent dolls to play with as children. Gaming in essence is not gendered, yet
advertising, some game content, and current prejudices may have us think that it is. However,
despite the hostile approach to female gamers shown by some male players, it does seem that the
general opinion of male gamers is that female gamers are a positive thing.
Opinions: views of female gamers?
The views of female gamers were equally varied. The MNP group, for the most part, were
divided between viewing them as out of the ordinary for females (28%), and that it was alright
depending on the age of the female (up to 19). 17% felt that they were normal, and several people
viewed it as a bad thing. Of the other MNP opinions, they were viewed as fun, more interesting,
perhaps intelligent, and with computer skills.
The FNP group was much less impressed with the idea of female gamers. 28% said they
had ‘no opinion’, while 17% were fair, but didn’t sound overly enamoured. They thought it was
OK, providing one didn’t play for too long, and they viewed the female gamers as tomboys, who
were socially inadequate, generally not a positive thing, lazy, and unusual for women. It is
surprising how the most opposition is seen towards female gamers from females! It is also
interesting, that while the MNP put a condition on the age of the gamer, the FNP do the same,
but for time.
77
Lastly I will consider the MYP group. This group seemed as if they liked the prospect of
female gamers. The majority (24%) said they felt they had no issues with it, and a further 21%
said that it was normal, and didn’t matter. The remaining shared opinions were that female
gamers were rare or uncommon, and that they were a good thing. They were impressed at them
for breaking their feminine stereotype, and wanted to see more around. Several males also said
they thought that they would be tom boys, or masculine, and that; again, it was fine providing it
wasn’t done for too long. Other shared thoughts were that girl gamers were potential girlfriend
material, that they are poorly catered for, and badly treated, that they may be secretive of their
hobby, but that they were a sign of better times.
It is truly encouraging to see that male gamers do not seem to hate the female gamers. In
fact, what concerns me is the peer pressure and expectation to conform approaching female
gamers from their own sex. One thing that I do wonder is if the male gamers were being fairer
than they usually would be, due to knowledge of the debate of gender and video games, and as
they don’t want to be viewed as the oppressors.
Due to the strong negative stance from non-playing females, and because a large number
of them had no opinion, they do not sound overly supportive, and still think of the pastime as
juvenile.
Opinions: how do female gamers feel male gamers view them?
Considering the fact that the male gamers stated, largely, their liking for female gamers,
the female gamers seem to feel neglected or abused in general. The largest common view was that
male gamers viewed them as being less skilled, or as being less serious and less knowledgeable.
Several said that they had no opinion, or ‘didn’t give a toss’ implying one needs to be tough to
survive this male arena. They also felt that male gamers viewed them as either a ‘welcome
change’ or as pin-up and girlfriend material.
Of the remaining opinions, the female gamers thought that male gamers felt they were no
different, a humorous joke, non-existent, as geeks, and as competition. Obviously, between how
the male gamers said they viewed the female gamers, and how the female gamers feel viewed,
78
there is a large discrepancy, with the females feeling worse than the males’ opinions suggests they
should. I would estimate that it meets halfway; assuming that the males are conscious of their
answers and behaviour when answering the question, so are not so ‘mean’, and similarly that the
females are using the chance to say what annoys them, if anything.
Opinions: do female gamers’ female friends think they are odd?
There is a sense that female gamers are going against the grain, and are not doing
something that is considered appropriate for their gender. That such prejudices still exist
surrounding a form of entertainment in this ’enlightened’ century is a bit perturbing, but a fact.
The game playing females who answered this question mostly thought that non-playing females
sometimes thought them odd. This implies that they feel that they are ‘out of the ordinary’. From
the views of the non-playing females with regards to female gamers I would assume this to be the
case – as many of them were not very approving. There is definitely a sense that female gamers
play for the attention it can get them for being different.
60%
50%
Percentage of FYP
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Don’t Know
Never
Sometimes
Mostly
Always
Diagram 10: Do Female Gamers’ Friends View Them as Odd?
Do female gamers have less skill than male gamers?
In theory women should be no worse at playing games, or using any kind of technology
than men. That is, if one does not enter the arguments that male and female brain work in
different ways. However, there is often a low expectation of females when relating to technology;
they may use their gender as an excuse for poor performance, and may never see any need to
79
better their skills. Some may not even try. There are links between playing computer games and
using computers, the females still seem in general reluctant to embrace the new technologies, and
many women, and older people of both sexes, see computers as unreachable and games as
juvenile. I think the only reason to consider that females have less skill at games is through lack
of exposure to the consoles and games, and, because even the females that do game, do not do so
for as long as males on average, they have had less practice. They may have less confidence due to
harassment they may receive due to their gender, and due to a stereotypical historical view, they
will probably have lesser expectations of themselves with regards to technology.
My results here show that the male gamers were more inclined to think that females were
worse players, but only by a fraction. Even many of the female gamers thought that female
gamers were more likely to have lesser skills. I do wonder at the truth of these responses. While it
seems obvious what the answers should be when asked directly, in a questionnaire, the reality or
the supposed reality that one may experience online may suggest a different view: when playing
in large groups, males may be more vociferous and less politically correct than their common
sense tells them. Think perhaps of asking men if women are worse drivers or not; ask them
directly and they may be more correct about it than when they are joking about it in a group
together, or when they are on the road and driving. The situation emits a different impression
than the truth of the matter. I may only be joking, but it still has the affect of building prejudices
and pervasive opinions that become accepted ways of thinking.
60%
MYP
FYP
50%
Percentage of Group
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Never
Sometimes
Mostly
Always
Don’t Know
Diagram 11: Do Female Gamers have less skill than Male Gamers?
80
Does games’ advertising discourage females?
I posed this question to all groups twice, once before showing the adverts, and again after.
There was not that much difference in opinion between the first and second time, although the
opinions of all groups became more certain that the adverts either discourage or encourage, rather
than being indifferent, more people changed to negative from indifferent than to positive. The
general opinion was that games advertising did nothing to encourage females, and is either
indifferent to them, or discourages them. It was noted in one response that the term indifferent
could mean that the games companies don’t care if they encourage girls or not.
70%
60%
50%
MYP
40%
MNP
30%
FYP
FNP
20%
10%
0%
Before
After
Encourage
Before
After
Indifferent
Before
After
Discourage
Diagram 12: Does Game Advertising Discourage Females?
How do they play?
The female gamers were not likely to play over a network, or online at all, not with
friends, or with anyone. 65% of the females did not play online or over a network, as opposed to 20%
of the males. Both males and females were most likely to play socially, or alone, although it was more
likely for men to play alone. The males were also far more likely to play online or over a network
(over 60% in each case). The reasons for a lack of internet/network play in the female group could be
explained by their low ownership of personal computers, indicating that gaming occupies a smaller
place in their life than it does in many males’ lives.
81
120%
100%
Percentage of group
80%
MYP
FYP
60%
40%
20%
0%
Online_Anyone
Online_Friends
Network
Alone
Socially
Diagram 13: How Do People Play?
What avatar/alias is used online?
A large percentage (63%, compared to 21% of the males) of the female gamers said that
they did not play online at all which may imply a lack of interest, a lack of access, or a fear of
derision. Considering the small number of female players, this leaves 14 online female players
and 96 male online players, so an approximate ratio of male to female players online of 7 to 1, a
much more exaggerated ratio than male to female gamers overall.
Many people noted that they used male characters, but only because that was all that was
available. In popular games such as Counter-Strike all of the models are male. There were also
people who said that they did not play games involving characters.
The most obvious observation is that male players tend to choose male characters or
aliases (perhaps for fear of homophobic insults), and most females tend to choose female
characters (where they can). For both sexes, to play as their own sex is preferable, to play as an
androgynous character is not as preferred, but is still far more popular than playing as a character
of the opposite sex. Many of the answers noted that they played as their own gender because ‘that
is what they are and because the characters could represent their personality’. One female said
that she chose a female avatar because she is proud to be a female gamer, and another said that
even though she played with a female avatar, most online players still thought she was a male.
82
Some males chose female avatars as it is ‘cuter this way’ or because they exhibit standard
stereotypical feminine traits of being quicker and more agile. Some males avoided female avatars
however, to avoid being ‘hit on’.
The females that chose male characters did so because they have better abilities or feel
stronger. Some chose androgynous avatars to avoid ‘pervy male attention’ and the males said they
chose androgynous characters to avoid giving out too much information or purely to aid game
play (a smaller avatar is harder to hit so one male used a skeleton).
70%
60%
Percentage of eac group
50%
40%
MYP
FYP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Male
Female
Androgynous
Don’t Play Online
Diagram 14: What Alias/Avatar is Used Online?
My assumption from these answers is that females like to play as females, so perhaps if
there were more decent female character choices available, more females would be encouraged to
play.
Do non-players fear derision?
The males either thought they would be derided for a lack of skill, or not at all, but
certainly not for their gender. One man made the comment that he felt he would be patronised,
as he was older. The women felt it most likely that they would be derided for their lack of skill,
although around 20% felt that they would be derided due to their gender. Only 22% of the
females thought they wouldn’t be derided at all, compared to 46% of males. I think it may be
83
likely that they view themselves as open to attack for their lack of skills as females are
stereotypically worse at computer/console related work and play, which may be purely down to a
lack of practice, or due to their own belief in their lesser abilities, or because it is an excuse. The
overall picture is that females feel that they would be more vulnerable gaming than men.
70%
Percentage of those that answered
60%
50%
40%
MNP
FNP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Skill Derision
Sex Derision
None
Other
Form of Derision
Diagram 15: Fear of Derision
What derision is found online?
Compared to what non-players fear, online players say that what they actually experience
is somewhat different. For example, the females were more likely to say they experienced no
derision. Non playing females thought they would be ridiculed for a lack of skill far more than
because of their gender, yet the FYP group feel the opposite; that they experience far more
derision for their gender than they do for skill. It is also worth noting that non playing males did
not feel that they would be derided for a lack of skills, yet a third of the game playing males
experience this, although this could be in the form of competitive but friendly jibing, or of more
malicious forms. The reality of gaming culture is not what those outside of it may imagine.
Perhaps the FNP group don’t know many female gamers, and have only got male gamers to base
their views on; hence they feel their skills are more likely to be mocked, rather than gender
(something that sits uncomfortably in the 21st century).
84
One of the females said she got abuse for being the ‘admin’ (administrator for a server
upon which an online game is played), which is a very unusual position for a female in the first
place. Another said she was harassed by ‘men thinking I want cyber sex’. This kind of basic sexual
harassment features a lot in game play, according to many sources; ‘as soon as they find out you
are a girl they try and come on to you, and then they find out you are taken, and they are like,
‘well, you suck and I bet you are a ‘minger’ anyway’…’. I am dubious as to whether or not the
males involved realise what they are doing, or if they think it acceptable, especially considering
the competitive masculine atmosphere.
The males left other comments that put derision down to idiots or kids ‘shit stirring’ or
generally ‘trash talking’ or name calling (‘n00b’, pronounced noob, is a common insult inferring a
lack of skill in a game). Several said that they were abused because they were too good (in a
stereotypically male ego trip) and one mentioned general homophobia.
Percentage of those that answered in each group
60%
50%
40%
MYP
FYP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Skill Derision
Sex Derision
None
Other
Form of Derision
Diagram 16: Derision Online
What puts people off buying or playing games?
People’s reasons for being put off a game vary. The MYP group felt that the game plot was
the most decisive factor, or that nothing would put them off. They felt that shop atmosphere
would put them off too (just under 20%), which surprised me. Peoples’ view and game violence
85
were the least important factors. In the other category, cost and magazine reviews were common
reasons for being put off a game, and the genre of the game could be a deciding factor.
60%
50%
40%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Peoples Views
Violence
Characters
Game Plot
Adverts
Shop Atmos
Nothing
Other
Diagram 17: Factors Putting People off Buying/Playing Games
A similar percentage of the FYP group would not be put off by anything, and again they
would be put off by a bad game plot, although to a much greater degree. In contrast to the MYP
however, the females also felt that violence, the characters, and the adverts may put them off.
None of the females said that people’s views would put them off, and fewer said that shop
atmosphere would put them off than I anticipated; indicating that to be a female gamer implies
some degree of thick-skinned attitude. Other negative aspects were the price, and one female said
that she was put off by games being overly sexualised.
I asked non gamers what put them off playing games, both non-playing group were most
put off by the violence, something that does feature in many games, with combat mechanisms
compared and special moves flouted. Second to this, game plots put both groups off. After this,
the males are put off by people’s views or by nothing at all. They also mention the cost, which
implies a barrier that is not linked to ‘not wishing to play’ but rather to not having the means to
do so.
86
Only one of the FNP group mentioned cost, which implies that this element of not having
the means to play is not an issue. After violence and plot, the females were most put off by the
shop atmosphere (which, judging by their views of gamers they would find immature places to
be), and by the adverts, which as we also see usually sell games on a display of macho power or
feminine beauty/sexiness. Less still said they were put off by nothing. Of the other comments that
were made, several women said that they ‘just weren’t interested’, or that it is childish/insipid, or
a waste of time. Their negative view of it will obviously keep fewer women from playing.
How are videogames characters portrayed?
The responses to this question were trying to ascertain what the stereotypical games
character is, and if the views of gamers match the views of non gamers.
The results indicate that the overall impression is that male characters are heroic, butch,
cool, sometimes intellectual, admirable, powerful, and sometimes funny. The MYP group thought
they were butcher, more suave and dangerous, cooler, more admirable and funnier than other
groups did. The MNP group thought they were not so cool, but were more hyper sexualised than
any other group indicating their external view as slightly different. The FNP group thought the
males were butch, heroic, powerful and more dangerous than the other groups, again indicating
how their external view differs from game player’s views.
Percentage of group
Diagram 18: How Male Characters Are Viewed
Se
x
A
y/
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
ttr
H
a
oi
e/
c
iv
ct
er
P
v
ro
o
t
ca
i ve
C
ut
e
l
Vu
n
bl
-
er
e
p
Hy
a
er
x
Se
u
iz
al
ed
Fe
m
m
Fa
ch
e-
t
Bu
t
e
al
/S
Vi
u
s
e
av
im
ct
&
D
an
g
o
er
us
oo
l
t
In
el
l
t
ec
ua
l
Characteristics
C
Male Characters
Ad
m
ira
bl
e
Po
w
er
fu
l
n
Fu
ny
O
th
er
N
on
-A
w
ns
er
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
87
88
The female characters were in general considered to be pretty much the opposite of the
male characters – sexy, cute, vulnerable, hyper sexualised, victims, and conversely, also femmefatales. The female gamers tended to think that the female characters displayed less of the
‘positive’ attributes. They thought that female characters were not very funny, powerful,
admirable, heroic, or intellectual, compared to the other groups. The male players tended to think
higher of the female characters and not just in a sexy way (although this obviously features).
Considering it is often argued that there is no problem with having sexy looking women
in games, because the males say that the male characters are just as attractive, I feel the difference
comes at the level of exploitation of these looks, or actions, and the lack of ‘personality’ qualities.
It is also interesting to note that while all groups say the female characters are attractive and sexy,
or hyper-sexualised, the same cannot be said for the male characters (although the males are more
inclined to think they are sexy) – therefore, if this argument was to stand, females would have to
find games male characters attractive too. If there was true equality between the characters, then
female characters would not be recognised purely as beautiful, over sexualised, and perhaps
bitter, dangerous or maltreated, but public opinion would change to see them in a new light, or to
give greater variation to them. To sell games to women they need to find what females want from
a character – preferably female characters, as we have already seen that they prefer to choose
females (cute classic characters aside) where they can. In this respect they are being let down by a
perpetuation of existing stereotypes that keeps gaming under the label of a young male hobby,
that is perhaps immature. The lack of depth in characters does nothing to change this.
However, as some people noted, they don’t care about the characters, or will watch a film
for that depth of personality, there is a sense that it would be political correctness gone mad if
games characters were forced to be ‘correct’. The extreme macho behaviour of characters such as
Duke Nukem is half the fun of some games, but it is the variation and the knowledge that the
game that you are playing is supposed to be silly that makes it funny (you know what to expect,
and can also disassociate it from ‘the norm’). With current female characters there seem to be few
variations on the two moulds: the Japanese style soft voiced emotionally deep magic user/high
kicking agile buxom (or girlish) beauty, or the western style of female that is curvaceous and
more dangerous, and who may be a fantasy wench.
Percentage of Group
xy
Se
c
oi
er
H
e
iv
at
c
vo
ro
P
e/
tiv
c
a
ttr
/A
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
e
ut
C
e
ed
bl
liz
ra
a
e
u
ln
ex
Vu
-r S
e
yp
H
F
em
em
&
s
im
ct
i
V
e
av
u
S
e/
al
t
Fa
h
tc
Bu
l
oo
C
al
le
tu
ab
c
r
i
e
ll
m
te
Ad
In
Characteristic
us
ro
e
g
an
D
Female Characters
w
Po
l
fu
er
y
nn
Fu
er
th
O
on
N
er
w
s
An
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
89
Diagram 19: How Female Characters Are Viewed
90
Who are the adverts aimed at?
The adverts I selected were taken from several issues of Edge magazine, and two issues of
The Official Nintendo Magazine UK. I selected all the graphically interesting full page adverts
that I found (i.e. those that worked well as adverts, and that try to grab a target audiences
attention), and ones that I felt represented what is usually on display shops and in many
magazines. Scans of each advert are included in this dissertation.
None of the adverts were considered to be aimed mainly at females. In most cases each
advert was considered male orientated, especially in the case of adverts 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9. In a few
cases adverts were considered to be aimed at both males and females, but this decision was always
levelled by a large percentage of people also choosing male only. The only adverts remotely be
thought of as female orientated were 6, and to a lesser extent, 9, but in both cases this opinion
was still the minority.
It is interesting to note that in some cases the opinions of each group varied considerably.
For example, those that played games considered Zelda (advert 12) to be aimed at both sexes,
because of their previous knowledge of the game. Those that did not play were more inclined to
say it was aimed at males. This also goes for advert 11 where the sight of a messy room does not
gel with non-players (especially females) views of what appeals to women. Players (especially
males) thought that this was suited for both genders. The same is seen with advert 10 (Jak and
Dexter) where previous knowledge of the game lead players, and non playing males to say it is
suited to both genders, but non-playing females see it as heavily male orientated.
There is a definite male orientation in the adverts, and while many may be considered
suitable for both genders, sometimes it is only through previous knowledge of the game that one
thinks this. This has obvious implications, if gaming represents itself as male orientated (“for
men”), and associates itself with ‘hot girls’, insults, and messy lifestyles, it will do itself no favours
when it comes to attracting more females to play – they will still see it as immature and as a
young mans’ pastime.
91
Responses to the adverts
100%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Ad1
Ad2
Ad3
Ad4
Ad5
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
0%
Ad6
Advert & Category
Diagram 20: Responses to the Adverts (Adverts 1- 6)
100%
MYP
MNP
FYP
FNP
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Ad7
Ad8
Ad9
Ad10
Ad11
Advert & Category
Diagram 21: Responses to the Adverts (Adverts 7 - 12)
Ad12
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
Male
Both
Female
0%
Male
80%
92
Advert 2
Advert 1
The 12 adverts:
Advert 4
Advert 3
93
Advert 6
Advert 5
94
Advert 8
Advert 7
95
Advert 10
Advert 9
96
Advert 12
Advert 11
97
98
Where do you buy your games?
I was interested to see if more females shopped online (to avoid going into the young
male environments that are games shops) than bought in shops, but I was wrong. Most of the
female gamers said they bought their games in game shops, and the smallest group bought online
(approximately 16%). A much larger percentage of females (compared to males) don’t buy their
own games, which imply more of the females are playing someone else’s game and consoles, and
don’t spend their own money on it. This is quite common in my experience, as girls may like
playing, but would not buy their own consoles and games due to technological inhibitions or the
expense, but will play their male friends’ games.
It is interesting that a large proportion of the males (45%) say they buy games online, this
implies that the ratio of males and females I observed in the games shops was not as
representative of the proportion of female gamers, as most of them are in the shops, while the
males may be online.
70%
60%
50%
40%
MYP
FYP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Online
Shops
Don’t Buy
Diagram 22: Where Do You Buy Games From?
How comfortable do you feel in game shops?
Judging by the lack of females in game shops, and especially by the lack of lone females in
game shops, and conversely the large amount of young, and young adult males in game shops I
am not that surprised by the results of this question. The shapes of the graph (diagram 23) are
99
such that the males tend to feel comfortable in game shops, with most feeling fairly comfortable,
wile the females tend to feel more uncomfortable (although the majority say they feel indifferent,
or comfortable, far less females feel comfortable than the males do, and far more females feel
uncomfortable than the males do). This implies that not only are there few female gamers, but of
those that do exist they are more likely to feel uncomfortable in games shops, a threatened
minority.
35%
30%
Percentage of each Group
25%
20%
MYP
FYP
15%
10%
5%
0%
Very Comfortable
Fairly Comfortable
Indifferent
Fairly Uncomfortable
Very Uncomfortable
N/A
Diagram 23: How Comfortable Do You Feel In Games Shops?
Favourite games
I found that neither the FYP nor MYP group talked to females alone about their gaming,
and that the female gamers were more likely to talk to just males, or to nobody about their
hobby. This implies to me that female gamers feel as if they must keep their hobby unknown to a
greater extent, perhaps because it is not considered a good hobby for them to have, especially by
female non-gamers. The fact that male and female gamers will both talk to only males about their
hobby, but neither group talks to only females proves how much of a gendered pastime it is. I
know from experience that very few women I know want to hear about my exploits in my latest
games, they may consider it childish or ‘sad’. This willingness to buckle to the majority opinion of
peers will keep female gaming a relatively uncommon thing (or unheard of thing) until the
prejudices surrounding gaming are diminished.
100
70%
60%
50%
40%
MYP
FYP
30%
20%
10%
0%
Male
Female
Both
Neither
Diagram 24: Who Do You Talk To About Games?
101
Results of observation of people in game shops
I observed the people that went into games shops (or the games department of a shop).
The games shops that I chose were GAME and HMV (the most obvious choices for young people
and young adults in my local area, and, indeed, over much of Britain). GAME mainly sells
video/computer games, consoles, and accessories. HMV has several departments: Music, Videos,
DVDs, and games. While games take up less floor-space in HMV than their other departments,
they still have the second largest selection of games after GAME, in the city of Canterbury.
The following two images are photos that I took of GAME from the exterior, on the 14th
February 2004. These will hopefully give an insight into the genre of shop that I am carrying out
my observations in.
Image 8: Photo showing front exterior of GAME, Canterbury. 14th February 2004
In this photo, the main advert is for a game called Mafia, featuring a dark
and mysterious man with a large gun, appealing to those who are perhaps fans of the
bravado of Italian-American gangsters in films. A female is looking in the window at
the secondary poster: ‘St. Games Day: What your loved ones really want’.
102
Inside the door of GAME each
security gate was sheathed with a 5 foot long
legged image of Yuna from the upcoming
Final Fantasy X2, a series that has many
female fans. In this game she and her two
female companions (3 female leads) are
considerable more “grown up” than in
previous games, and this is illustrated in her
obviously enticing stance. While she has
many female admirers for her strength of
character (some I imagine built on the
franchise), the placement of her in this
manner at the entrance spells out a simple
message of trying to appeal to males, and it
will be interesting to see how the game play
(based on a magical change of clothes with
each spell cast fro each girl) appeals to males
or females more.
Image 9: Photo of GAME doorway
I observed the ages and genders of those going into the shops at Saturday midday, for 10
minute periods, for three weeks. I concentrated on noting the dynamics of the groups of people
that visited the shops. I.e. who they were with (if anyone), and who appeared to be the active
‘looker’. I repeated the counting of people over three weekends, on the 14th and 21st of February,
and on the 6th of March 2004. In no cases did I include the staff in my observations. However it is
worth noting that of the 5 (visible) staff in GAME, one was female, and all were young adults,
aged approximately19 and 35.
For the full results of this research please see the appendices.
103
The total number of people counted over the three weeks was 288, out of these, only 91
were female (just under a third, or 32%). However, the count in each shop is more interesting as,
in HMV there is ‘escape’ from the games, as the shop is split across two floors and sells different
products, the game section of the shop is on the ground floor with the popular music, and while
larger than other games departments of entertainment stores, is small compared to HMV’s other
areas (CDs, DVDs, and VHS). The open plan design of each floor, and the wide variety in
products on offer, and tastes catered for means that parents and partners need not be in the games
area, and can browse what interests them, leaving game enthusiasts o themselves. This is seen in
the much lower percentage of females seen in the game area of HMV as seen in GAME. This is
more indicative of the true balance of interest in games across gender.
Much of what I discovered by this observation was already ‘common knowledge/
prejudice’, however it was necessary to ascertain the facts, even if the facts are built by people’s
prejudices. I do not believe that females can find nothing to interest them in games, but only that
they have a bad impression of games, due to initial pre-conceptions, the way the culture
expresses itself, the way that the manufacturers advertise, and the types of game on offer. There is
always the fact that female gamers may be more likely to buy on the web – avoiding the
stereotypical game shops altogether (and the inevitable chat up lines that follow, or the
assumption that she is buying a gift.) However, I would assume that many men too would buy
online too.
In GAME, where the whole shop (near enough) is devoted to games and consoles, people
may be entering the shop purely as they are in the company of someone else who wants to look.
From my observations I can see that this ‘tag-along’ is usually a girlfriend or parent (especially a
mother). In GAME, the only other options to remain apart from the gaming culture are to wait
outside the shop, or to go on to another shop nearby and to meet up later. Indeed, I did see people
take this approach: mothers and girls waiting outside, and some mothers agreeing to meet up
later. In one circumstance, a mother waited on the edge of the game area in HMV, with a young
girl and a baby, waiting for her husband who was in the game area. There was a physical restraint
in this circumstance, as well as a possible lack of interest on the mother’s part – the game area had
narrow walkways (narrower than anywhere else in the shop) – that were only wide enough for a
pram to fit though – this in itself is not conducive to encouraging mothers in – they will see it as
104
an awkward hobby for social rejects (this latter part comes from the fact that the games are a
small department, at the back, with little room: where the people (mostly young males) hunch
down and huddle together around games); she was not prepared to cross the boundaries.
However, most people would remain in their group when presented with an in shop or out of
shop decision. Hence the people observed in HMV will be more indicative of the true gender
split, rather than including those ‘dragged’ along! The study of people in GAME will indicate the
accepted presence within the culture of each gender, as it is the only game only store in town,
and will set the affordances of the product.
In HMV however, this decision is removed, as it is not necessary to remain outside of the
shop to avoid the games, you can go into HMV and split into the different departments to browse
what interests yourself. This is seen as in GAME, 34% of the people were female, but in HMV the
number was much lower: only 13 (23%) were female, and of these 13, only 2 of them were ever
in the games area without male company, and those two were together as a pair, so there were
never any single females in this area.
This comparison goes a long way to show that gaming truly must be a male pursuit. It
does not explain why, although the marketing and games on offer, as well as many peoples preconceptions of games and the geeks that play them, are to blame.
I view the number of lone females and females without male company as important as I
believe that only by seeing other females at ease in games shops, or in game areas, will more
females come to see the games as available to them. I feel that these measures give a better
“impression” of the environment. For instance, there may be 34% females in GAME, but if all of
them are uninterested girlfriends and mothers, then the overall impression is still that gaming is a
young male pursuit. The number of single interested females and females without male company
gives a big indicator as to whether or not girls, themselves, have a true interest in games.
To take this further: out of the 288 people (197 male and 91 female), there were 48 males
that seemed to be alone, which is 24% of the males. However, only 4 females appeared to be
alone, which is 4% of the females. I take from this that men feel more comfortable in games
stores alone, or have enough interest to be there alone. Overall, only 1% of the population were
single females, and 17% were single males. This is again more marked in HMV, where I did not
105
see one female there alone, and saw 15 lone males (that may have had companions elsewhere in
the shop). 27% of the people in HMV were single males, 0% were single females, this will give
the impression of the gaming area as male-orientated, an idea enforced by the titles displayed on
shelves.
To take the idea of the “male aura” further, of the people counted, 69% of the males
counted were in groups that contained no females; where as 26% of the females were present
without any male company. These values include those people that were alone. This means that
47% of all people were males with no female company, and 8% of all people were women with
no male company. Again in HMV this is exacerbated further; out of the HMV population of 56,
only 2 were girls with no male company (4% of the people counted in HMV, or 15% of females
counted). However, of the 43 males, 33 were without female company – so 77% of the men
present had no female company, or 60% of the HMV population. Interestingly enough the two
girls were together and I later counted the same pair in GAME. The sight of girls with no male
company in a game store will encourage other girls to have a look, or to feel like they deserve a
place there.
The following diagram (Diagram 25) illustrates the spread of population in each of the
shops. The balance between the blue areas and the yellow areas represents the balance of male to
female. As you can see, there is a minute yellow presence, most of the yellow areas are diluted
with blue (in other words, there is female presence, but it is small and is mostly mixed with
male). There is a strong blue presence – in both shops indicating the heavy male presence.
106
Diagram 25: Spread of Customer Population in HMV and GAME
The ages of people in the shops also indicate the people who play games, as well as
gender. Later, in my questionnaire I ask ‘Who plays games’ and ‘Who are games aimed at’, it will
be interesting to see if people’s conceptions of these facts marry with the distribution of people
seen in the shops.
The following diagrams (diagrams 26, 27, 28) show the distribution of male and female
age seen in the shops. The ages were estimated by myself, so there is some room for error,
minimised by sensible age ranges. They are Relative frequency histograms, where the AREA of
each bar is proportional to the frequency, so the balance between the amount of aquamarine and
yellow you see is the balance between males and females.
The first diagram (diagram 26) below shows the overall distribution of males and females
across the age groups, both show a positive skew and most people of both genders are aged
107
between 11 and 40. In all age ranges, except for the very young and the oldest people, males
outnumber the females. There are half as many females as males.
Diagram 26: Overall Distribution of Males and Females across the Age Groups
The second diagram (diagram 27) shows the distribution of lone males and females across
the age groups (all those who were in the shop alone). The same positive skew is visible for both
sexes. The comparison between the density of females compared to males is much more obvious
here.
108
Diagram 27: Distribution of Lone Males and Lone Females across the Age Groups
The last diagram (diagram 28) shows the distribution of males and females across the age
groups, who had no company from the opposite sex (males without females and vice versa). The
positive skew is visible for males, but the females have less obvious a shape. Again, the
comparison between the frequency of females compared to males is obvious.
Diagram 28: Distribution of Males and Females Present Without Member of the Opposite
Sex Accompanying Them
109
Conclusions
I never did Barbie dolls; perhaps that is why I am more disposed to computers and role
play and such. I used to be a great reader, but I am far more interested in the interactions of
computer characters and in governing my own stories that I lost interest in books to some degree.
I watch films to relax, or just to immerse in social interplay and story, but I play games to pass the
time and as a stop gap. I love computers for their creative abilities, and informative nature, for the
communication, and shopping, and for the sense of control it gives me to my day to kill a few lads
online of an evening. I am fulfilling myself how I wish. I have better things to do than wash my
hair each night, and plan meals or party events. I still enjoy fresh air, I still enjoy shopping, I still
am a woman, just a self-defining one. I may not be the most sociable person in the world, but
being able to use computers, and play games has boosted my self esteem, and my sense of self
worth no end. It is unusual, and I guess, to a degree I thrive on that; it makes me interesting and
give people the impression that I am not just another girlfriend of a friend. Some think it is cool,
some find it threatening.
I conclude from my research that much work must be done before more women view
technology and games as I do. I deem this as necessary, for males and females, in order for
technology to be used effectively, for women to feel as if they belong in technological roles and to
not avoid it as a foreign world, and so that the representations of women seen in games and game
advertising are improved.
I think that with regards to financial reward, the bonuses of expanding games culturally,
and opening games and computers up to women more are hugely rewarding, as are the social
implications. It would be nice to think that I am not going to be harassed for being a female
player when online, or assumed ignorant and as having less ability.
How women should be introduced to gaming and computers is debatable, and I have not
the insight to truly suggest a way forward, apart from my own personal tastes. My research has
highlighted some important points about how misconceptions of games and the players lead
people (especially) women to stay away from games, and how gendered the shops, displays,
adverts and magazines can be.
110
Before any company seriously considers involving women, I think that they will have to
drop the expectations of Barbie: Fashion Designer, and expect a less than stable journey. If they
are willing to try and integrate women, and to expand the cultural resources games draw upon, it
will be very much worth it; financially and socially.
Ultimately, as would be expected with a research dissertation of this scope, given the time
and resources allowed, more research would need to be done into females and game patterns to
draw firm conclusions. I would suggest having people play (female and male gamers) for a while
though, else one sided views occur, and the views gathered may be subject to the persons’
observation making them misleading.
111
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Stereotyping the Digital Gaming World

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