This document discusses representation in video games. It addresses how genres can represent certain ideologies through main characters and influence audience impressions. It questions how and why representations are constructed, what messages they send, and who constructs them. Stereotypes and gender representation are discussed, as well as what viewpoints may be left out. Examples given include criticisms of how some games depict women as well as character analyses considering attributes like costume, expression, values and genre.

1. Representation in Video Games

2. • A video game genre will have its own identity which
can be through a set of beliefs and values (ideologies)
or even its appearance or look.
• Genres can be represented through the main
character(s) which create certain impressions and
ideologies for the core audience.
• How and why has representation been constructed?
• What messages are given to the audience?
• Who has constructed the representations?
• How and why are stereotypes used?
• How is gender represented?
• What isn’t being represented?
• What effect do the representations have on the
audience?

3. Representation – each game is associated
with a ‘look’ , a set of behaviours and
ideologies, a particular kind of experience
shred and expected by a particular fan
base.
Gamers don’t just buy the game, but the
shared cultural experience.
The gamer is an active participant and can
be represented in the game world
themselves.

5. • “Women in the game are either bit-part
players or set dressing: strippers to throw
money at, prostitutes to pick up….Truth is I
don’t. I couldn’t. But what I do know is how
wretched I felt as the game often coerced me
into actions that degraded women. I felt dirty
driving around that paparazzo; the idea of a
mini-game that effectively asks you to grope a
stripper repels me, I began to feel suffocated
by a testosterone-addled life of deviancy.” –
Tom Hoggins, Daily Telegraph, October 2013.

6. • The issue of gender stereotyping often raises
its head, especially in games like Tomb Raider
of Grand Theft Auto, which have been
criticised for their representation of women,
but there’s also the helpless Princess Peach in
the early Mario series as helpless and the
good-looking males and females in bright
clothing in Just Dance. What world/lifestyle
are they selling?

7. Warrior from Divine Souls
• Costume/Hair/
Make-up
• Facial
Expression/
Body language
• Values/Ideology
• Genre
• Anything else

8. • John Marston from
Red Dead
Redemption
• Costume/Hair/Make-
up
• Facial Expression/
Body language
• Values/Ideology
• Genre
• Anything else

9. • Lara Croft
• Tomb Raider
• Costume/Hair/Make-
up
• Facial Expression/
Body language
• Values/Ideology
• Genre
• Anything else

10. • Dan Marshall
• Costume/Hair/
Make-up
• Facial Expression/
Body language
• Values/Ideology
• Genre
• Anything else