In the first article I read “Perils of a Princess” by Sharon R Sherman, it mainly talks about the differences between what type of games males and females are most likely to play. For example, in the article it states that most male would go for violent games such as Quake or Doom. While females would go for more of the puzzle games such as Tetris. I, for one do not agree with this statement at all. I have met many girls online that say that they would much prefer chain sawing locust(Gears of War1 & 2 picture on top) than be playing a game that requires putting blocks together(very ironic when compared to the article). However, later on in the article It talks about how in Super Mario bros 2, males and females picked their characters based on the gender of the character( ex guys picking Luigi and girls picking peach). I must say that I have actually seen this happen quite many times. One example of this is when I went to a Super Smash Bros melee ( a very fun game cube game in which it is a 4 player fighting game having some of
Nintendo’s most popular characters) tournament at a friends house. As it came time to pick the characters, Most of the guys would pick the “masculine” characters such as Fox(yes he is considered male),Link, Mario, Bowser etc. While some of the girls that were present were choosing characters like Peach, Samus, and Zelda. To me it was very interesting as how this came up on this article because I never realized that gender in characters were so important in games.Up till today, I have never really noticed the sexism in video games. Wait let me rephrase that. I have noticed the sexism in video games, but I just never really thought of it as a problem. Yet when I read the article “Playing with Fire: Trouble in Super Macho World?” by Gonzalo Frasca, it made me see things a little differently. In the article it talks about a Nintendo DS game which involves peach trying to save Mario instead of the other way around.
Yet the catch to the game is that instead of jumping, throwing fireballs, and flying using a raccoon tail(like Mario), peach gets to use her…emotions? WTF!! I don’t know if Nintendo knew this but this literally shouts out “Sexist!”. I mean not only is this stereotypical, but it is dumb how Peach is not able to do the same thing as Mario because she is a girl. I mean even though I am a male, it still shocks me to see how Nintendo uses this to their advantage. Although this is not “fair” to many female gamers, they must realize that this is not the first time sexism has been used. It is basically everywhere especially in the media( movies, tv etc.). Perhaps is the reason why even though this article brought out some awareness, it will probably still not be composed to a be a big problem to me. I have become adapted to this as well as other factors in life(racism, sexism). This means that I will still play games that have a lot of sexism( such as GTA IV) since I have become accustomed to it.
I agree with your quote "I have noticed sexism in video games but I didn't really think of it as a problem." Do we address sexism in video games as a problem? I think not enough research has been done into looking if women play these "men geared" games. I believe that the statistics would show that women like to play these video games and that the stereotype might be broken a bit.
ReplyDeleteI think sexism is actually a fact of life. It has a lot of causes. While some are cultural, political, economic, etc.; I think there is actually a core basis in the genetic/hormonal basis of human behavior. We always tend to put down the people we don't quit understand. I think it is part of inherent "pack behavior." At least now we can notice it and try to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that "in the article it states that most male would go for violent games such as Quake or Doom. While females would go for more of the puzzle games such as Tetris," and how it is not how it really is. I for one do not play that many video games, but when I do, I like to play Halo or something like that, not just cards on the computer. I think that these statistics should be looked upon again, but base it more so on age. I know for a fact that my mom plays card games on the computer about ten times a day, and I would think it would be interesting to find out if there any similarities to the younger generation, or that of her own.
ReplyDelete1) Watch the grammar errors (ie sentence fragments) -- these are mini-essays and need to be appropriately proofed before posting.
ReplyDelete2) So why do the females you know find the puzzle games less interesting? Surely the info that we're provided in this article is not WRONG, since it is a subjective choice, but what might account for the females you know enjoying more violent games?
3) You seem to have a stronger reaction to the use of Peach, and I wonder if your female gaming friends would have the same reaction, or if they'd say "More fighting, less talking!"?