This document discusses representations of gender and race in video games. It notes that early game development was dominated by white males, leading to stereotypical portrayals of women and minorities. While games have increasingly featured female characters, they are often depicted in sexualized or subordinate ways. The document outlines some positive changes in recent games that appeal more to female audiences but argues the industry remains conservative and further progress is still needed to make games more inclusive.

1. Video games &Representation MAC129 - Cyberculture

2. Economic success: GTA IVReleased April 2008Day 1 sales: 3.6 million ($310m)Week 1 sales: 6 million (£500m)August 2008Sales: 10 millionJune 2009Sales: 13.2 millionSource: http://www.vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=grand+theft+auto+IV

4. Historical businessA struggle to define a place for early games (see Marvin, 1988; Poole, 2004)Historical accounts tend to be lists of names and dates

5. First game?5Tennis For Two 1958 (William Higginbotham)Spacewar! 1962(Steven Russell)

6. Cold War kids1950s….Emerged during a period of intense socio-economic and geo-political changes:Space Race (USSR)Cold War paranoia (nuclear anxiety)Decline of heavy industryMajor changes in life styleAdvent of domestic mass communicationConsumer confidence

7. Game development…Largely due to“university computing departments, the military, the interest of the first game developers, the first games and the subsequent development of game playing as an activity embraced largely by young males” (Kerr, 2006: 14; see also Haddon, 1988; 1993)

8. The console warshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars

9. The console wars today

10. Popular claims about video gamesNegative associations – health and violencehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCuKQIMg0I4Columbine shooting: Doomhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1295920.stmCar-jacking: Grand Theft Autohttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3680481.stmStabbings: Manhunthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3936237.stm

11. (Un)popular claims about video gamesPositive claims?Surgeons who played games for at least 3 hours a week made ‘37% fewer errors, were 27% faster’ than surgeons who did not play games. (Hall, 2007)Safe environment to enact fantasyCreativity of ‘modders’

12. Games emerge from a cultural contextUS military funding?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHLJ_hZt2ds

13. Always a ‘politics’ in every representationRepresentations are never innocent. Representations are always a ‘construction’ in accordance with the producer’s politics.

14. Representation and raceBlack culture as animalistic, subservient, sexual, violent and dangerous

15. Resident Evil 5 Race Row

17. Representations of gender1950sWomen as domestic, maternal, naïve, consumers, etc

19. http://www.feministgamers.com/?p=466http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-write-letters.htmlhttp://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/07/23/well-that-was-bound-to-happen/

20. Representation of genderFeminist critics have argued that many media texts represent women as:Sex objectsDutiful housewives / virginal daughtersMad, bad, dangerous women who need punishmentAre video games any different?Jiggle physics?http://archive.gamespy.com/fargo/january02/jiggle/See also:‘Top 10 Boobies in Video Games’‘Sexy Video Game Babes’

21. Game designStudies of digital games have noted a ‘consistent pattern of male technocratic privilege’ Williams, cited in Kerr, 2006: 19 Game development & design, production, marketing & construction, dominated by heterosexual masculine fantasiesGansmoet al, 2003

22. Gender in gamesTraditional stereotype of femininity evokedRelationshipsRomanceEmotionsRole-playGansmo (2003): little understanding within the industry about how game design might be linked to gender socialisation

23. Consequences of stereotypes…Games are a ‘prime example of the social construction of gender’ (Cassell and Jenkins, 1998: 37) and they may significantly influence people’s attitudes towards the use of computers in school or later career choices

24. Women do play games!?Funk (1993): 75% of females play games at home (90% males)Colwell and Payne (2000): 88% of females aged 12-14 play games regularlyESA (2004): 39% of US gamers are female and females account for 40% of online players.Krotoski (2004): approx 25% of gamers are female in Europe, compared to 70% in KoreaCrawford & Gosling (2005): Women much less likely to play the older they getAlexanda (2009):Female console gamers grew from 23 to 28 percent in 2009

25. Krotoski, 2004: 1025

26. The Wii and women?‘Nintendo's Wii console captures new game market’ John Sterlicchi, Oct 2007http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/10/usnews.internationalnews

27. Domestic accessAccess to gadgets in home is not gender neutralHighly masculine and potentially hostile to femalesIs this changing?www.girlzclan.comwww.everground.comwww.girlgamer.comhttp://female-gamer.com/

29. Domestic contextSpace a greater percentage of girls’ play has been centred in or around the homeTimefemales still spend more time engaged in domestic labour than males (typically 1.5 hours per day more than males in the UK)

30. Gaming spaces outside the homePredominantly masculine environmentsarcades, pubs, motorway service stationsWomen at LAN parties tend to be in a supportive roleWhen they do compete the media portrays them as:ExoticSexualised

31. Game contentRelatively low number of playable female charactersAbundance of stereotypesMasculine themesThe damsel in distress?

32. Positive moves?1991: Nintendo release Barbie Game Girl for Game Boy1996: Mattel release Barbie Fashion Designer2000: The Sims 2003: Linden Research launches Second Life2004: The Sims 22004: SCEEurope release karaoke title SingStar on PS2 2006: Sony launches pink PS2 and PSP2006: Cooking Mama released2008: Wii Fit released

33. Children Now study (2000)92% games have a male lead (54% female)50% women portrayed in a stereotypical way.38% displayed women with significant body exposure (23% breasts; 31% thighs; 15% backsides; 31% stomachs/midriffs)Female characters defined by ‘disproportionately large’ breasts (38%) and ‘excessively tiny’ waists (46%)33

34. See: http://www.remedialthoughts.com/2008/11/can-women-in-games-ever-be-more-than.html

36. Positive figures?

37. ConclusionHistory of games has been male dominatedIndustry can be conservative and not welcome change (can be risky)Women increasingly more important to the industryPositive changes ahead?

38. Sources and further readingLeigh Alexander, 2009, ‘NPD: Female Gamer Population Increasing On Consoles’, Gamasutra, http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24245Jo Bryce & Jason Rutter, 2003, ‘Gender dynamics and the social and spatial organisation of computer gaming’, Leisure Studies, 22: 1-15Jo Bryce, Jason Rutter and Cath Sullivan, 2006, ‘Digital games and gender’, in Jason Rutter & Jo Bryce (eds.), Understanding Digital Games, London: Sage.Judith Butler, 1990, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, London: Routledge.Children Now, 2000, Girls and Gaming: A Console Video Game Content Analysis, Oakland, CA: Children NowJ. Colwell & J. Payne, 2000, ‘Negative correlates of computer game play in adolescents’, British Journal of Psychology, 91: 295-310.G. Crawford & V. Gosling, 2005, ‘Toys for boys? Women’s marginalization and participation as digital gamers’, Sociological Research Online, 10, (1), http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/1/crawford.htmlT.L. Dietz, 1998, ‘An Examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games’, Sex Roles, 38 (5-6): 425-42J. B. Funk, 1993, ‘Re-evaluating the impact of computer games’, Clinical Paediatrics, 32: 86-90AleksKrotoski, 2004, ‘Chicks and joysticks: an exploration of women and gaming’, ELSPA white paper, http://www.elspa.com/assets/files/c/chicksandjoysticksanexplorationofwomenandgaming_176.pdfCarolyn Marvin, 1988, When Old Technologies Were New. Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century, New York: Oxford University PressSteven Poole, 2000, Trigger Happy: the inner life of videogames, London: Fourth EstateSteven Poole, 2004, Trigger Happy: videogames and the entertainment revolution, New York: Arcade PublishingG. R. Schott & K.R. Horrell, 2000, ‘Girl gamers and their relationship with the gaming culture’ Convergence, 6: 36-53