On race and gender in videogames

This week's lectures have been on issues like race and gender in videogames. Some people did make questionable statements surrounding the issues in this blog. It is true that during normal gameplay, gamers would normally focus on the actual visual and audio appeal such as the slow-motion fighting aesthetics/techniques as shown in the lecture more than the somewhat deep down unnoticeable racial and gender representation. It is so easy for the game makers and gamers to overlook these issues, thinking 'well it is just a game after all' or 'there is no problem if we switch gender roles, and whether or not the figure/enemy is sexualised'.

We have seen various examples of games which have problematic race and gender representation, such as Hitman Resolution. I found that games made by Asian game companies also have similar kind of problems character design. In terms of skin colour, videogames such as Dynasty Warriors and The Legend of Sword and Fairy just to name a few, have adopted light skin colour or at least some kind of 'whiteness' for characters.

Here are some screenshots from Dynasty Warriors:

Diao Chan - hyper-sexualised

Closeup shot of the same character

Huang Yueying - who is supposed to have a darker skin, have a lighter and shiny skin here

Frankly in massive multiplayer online role-playing games like this, gamers often want a nice, pretty, good-looking character to represent themselves. Asian game companies also think that female characters with more whiteness, freshness and less clothing, exposing more of a streamlined body would appeal to male, particularly young teenage gamers.

Videogames which have a historical background based in the Three Kingdoms period in ancient china are exceptionally popular in Asia. It is also difficult to discuss issues surrounding 'race' in these games given the historical timeframe. It also depends on how the story is structured, which varies in different videogames. 

Generally, I think problems regarding race and gender arise when videogame makers try to make their games appealing to their potential male players while ignoring the fact that female players do have somewhat equal share in the gaming world. For marketing and game sales purposes, they have to make the graphics appealing, particularly women's femininity (light skin colour, skinny, body shape) and men's masculinity more noticeable to attract the gaze of the potential customer. Ultimately, revenue is the most important factor.

More Gender Representation

This weeks topics seem to provoke a lot more reaction than the first few weeks...

I feel like I'll be attacked by the females or feminists from our class after writing this because I am female and so people might think I shouldn't be thinking this way, or people might think I'm too neutral. 

I do not get offended by the representation of women in video games. I do not have a problem with them, even when they are sexual in nature, even when there is violence involved.

First of all the disproportionate figure (big boob, big bums, tiny waist, little clothing etc):

When I play characters like these all that comes to my mind is "wow, I'm really hot" and think "yea I picked a neat character". To me this isn't real, I do not feel like this is how society wants me to be or feel in any way objectified. I like the fact that I can dress skimpy yet be badass. I'm glad that I don't have to be macho on screen, I embrace that femininity.

Victimized women/ violence towards women in video games:

There is definitely a problem here if in the game the violence is especially targeted at women. I can understand women being offended by this especially with the amount of assaults and abuse in society today. I understand that if you've been personally affected by something like this, you'll be especially unhappy. However, (please don't shoot me) you can always choose not to play/watch these games, ban your family/friends from these games, take it up with the producers of the game. Because in an industry when there aren't yet really regulations regarding content, there really isn't much you can do. So before there is an organisation that has the power to actively take action/until you can create one, all you can do is filter it out from your life.

Some people might enjoy these games, some people might be sick enough, but perhaps for them, this form of game is relaxing, or exciting or therapeutic for them. It doesn't necessary mean that it will encourage them to go out and commit crimes against women. The companies created this and they paid for it, so it isn't entirely crazy for these players to be annoyed at people who try to change/get rid of their favourite past time. Take it up with people who can do something about it, rather than argue with people who are crazy who in this case is the majority.

Becoming Spyro.

Ever since our lecture on immersion in video games I have often reflected on how I have played video games in the past and I have taken extra caution in the way that I play games today. I remember clearly when my girl cousin and I played Gran Turismo on the PlayStation One when I was younger and my brother and boy cousin sat there laughing at us because as we turned around the corners within the space of the game our bodies literally turned outside the space of the game. This happened several times because, to us, to make the turn more effective, our physical bodies needed to also make the turn. Just the other day a friend that I live with bought the PlayStation One game Spyro and I needed to play this game - to bring back the memories from my childhood. I played this on her PS3 and the quality of the game was evidently different to what I am used to. The image was not clear and on the wide flat television screen the image came up in a square which cut off half off the screen. The image looked 2D and it felt like it was made in the 90s. I allowed myself only 30 minutes to play as much as I could but 30 minutes was not enough. When I started the game I ran around a large courtyard collecting diamonds and then I head butted some giants and blew some barrels up with fire. I'd saved the town and the mayor (which turned out to be some Teddy Bear) thanked me. Then I moved on to the next level. This consumed the majority of my time. It was a level in which I needed to use a skate board to collect 15 lizards. Half were in the air at the end of skate ramps and half were running around the courtyard. I thought "I could do this!" But that was not so. The stearing was hard on the controller and I kept bumping into things. I spent well over 30 minutes collecting about 13 lizards. But then there were the last few on the top of some roof that could only be accessed by using a ramp. I must've tried over 50 times to get onto the roof and I was determined to catch the last of the lizards. I clicked the 'x' button, I'd click it twice, I'd click it once and then hold it down on the second go. But I could not get onto the roof. I'd forgotten all about why I'd allowed myself only 30 minutes, I forgot that two other people were in the room with me, I was focused on this one task that seemed simple at first. Then it happened. I became Spyro. I pressed the buttons that would help me make the jump and then, outside the space of the game, I leaped in the air thinking that it would help me within the space of the game. But it didn't. And when it didn't I remembered that it was just a game. I wasn't a purple dragon riding around on a skate board trying to catch the last two lizards. It was just a game. At that thought I threw down the controller and left the room. And when I left the room I was fine. I complete forgot about the game and the hour that I spent playing it. But reflecting on that hour I realized that I'd forgotten about the world that I actually, physically exist in. Perhaps I was diegetically immersed in this videogame when I thought it couldn't happen to me. But it did, and it was weird. Because it was a fantasy game that really had no connection to the real life. And I still let myself get too involved in the game. Maybe I am more into videogames than I let myself realize. Weird.

Race with non-human characters

In video games, humans who represent certain races often follow a set of racial stereotypes. This includes characters like the philosphical Asian Mei Ling in Metal Gear Solid, the Hispanic and African-American gangsters in the Grand Theft Auto series or even the video game versions of African-American NFL players in NFL Street.

However, racial representation in video games isn't just limited to human characters. In many games such as those that are aimed at a younger demographic, there are a number of non-human characters who appear to be assigned a particular race. The default race in most games appears to be Caucasian-American, as shown by a number of video game heroes like Ratchet or Spyro, probably because that is where many of the games are developed.

Speaking of Spyro, the shift in race of the non-playable character Moneybags is an interesting case. In the first four games, he is portrayed as a pompous British bear who sells valuable, obligatory items. His British identity is reinforced by his accent and the suit that he wears. However in the fifth game, "A Hero's Tail", Moneybags is now portrayed as an Arab merchant, who sells various goods out of stalls, like those you'd see in movies set in the Middle East. His costume and his accent both change in order to display new cultural stereotypes. Clearly the creators of both games had different interpretations of the stereotypical greedy salesman. Before you have the wealthy British collector who only sells very valuable items. But then he becomes an almost racist representation of the Arab merchant, which, by my understanding through watching film, normally represents rip-off artists.

Other anthropomorphic characters in the series fit into other cultural stereotypes. Examples that I remember from Year of the Dragon include the Hawaiian Tiki, the Chinese pandas and the Japanese fireflies who only speak in Haiku. Some are more obvious than others. Many are identified just by their accents, others have some sort of stereotypical costume. These demonstrate that video game developers seem to have an understanding of various races and cultures based on their cultural stereotypes.

Representation in Resident Evil 5 Trailer

Okay, this week I want to talk about representation of black people in Resident Evil 5, the trailer Kevin should us in class last week Tuesday. So, it quite clear that the video is racist but what’s more interesting and problematic is that whoever edited the trailer thought it was a good idea to have Arabic prayers as the non diegetic music to help create the mood and atmosphere of the story. Well it certainly did. The trailer opens to shots of abandoned, isolated places. Black people are already beginning to be casted as the ‘other’, well before they have become zombies.

There is not logical or significant value of playing Arabic prayers. In the middles east these prayers are playing live on loud speaker, from the Mosque where local citizens can hear them. They may not be important to non Arab or Muslim people and may not understand them they certainly are quite important to other people, it’s quite disrespectful. I’m not Muslim myself but if someone had used Sikh prayers in a video game to help cast out black people, well I’d be quite insulted and pissed off.

From a non black and non Muslim perspective, the non diegetic music used in Resident Evil 5 trailer is ‘foreign’. Through specific framing by isolating the black people as ‘evil’ before they've even turned into zombies is reinforced by unfamiliar language. There is no reasonable explanation why indigenous people are framed this way or why only white people are framed ‘good’. It’s so typical watching this, it’s just like a ‘white saviour film’ where indigenous people just happen to be incapable of doing anything themselves and need to be rescued by the big, tall, buff, white man.

It’s just reinforcing discourse; white people presumably hold the power. And yet again it’s being practiced everyday unconsciously. My friend played this game and when we discussed this game he failed to realise this whole time that the game its self is so racist.

Furthermore, stereotypes are not bad; there are certain characters traits that people identify certain minorities and help categorise them. Stereotypes are certainly bad when a whole minority is shunned in bad light. In this case the black people portrayed in the trailer are stereotyped as criminals well before they actually are zombies. For example there is one low angle mid shot of black adolescent shot behind a barbwire fence. Portrays him as strong and dangerous and using symbolic key features such as a barbwire fence symbolising that’s where he presumably belongs; behind bars and locked up.

This is colour blind racism; contemporary racial inequalities that are practiced very subtly. Colour blind racism still transmits the ideology of white supremacy and normativity but in subtle, symbolic and polite ways.

understanding gendered space in gaming. .

when people think about videogaming and videogames people often think of it as a male dominated activity. I believe this to be true in both eastern and western culture. This is because people labeled videogames as a male activity  This is quite a dangerous thought as due to the result of this thought many female gamers and game producers have to suffer discrimination and insult because they are 'invading' a male activity .

The such view point can be seen from this article: http://kotaku.com/sexism/ In this article the author talks about why according to Gabrielle Toledano, Electronic Arts' chief talent officer, says that Sexism is a cop out. This I think provides interesting viewpoint from the head of gaming industry in the reason why she thinks there aren't enough women in gaming industry. According to her she believes that this is because there aren't enough women because "... they believe sexism will limit them..." This of cause is quite different from what women themselves believe as seen in the websites such as onereasonwhy which says that women do not have say in the game making because they are discriminated in the work and their ideas would not be heard. In fact in onereasonwhy there are full of stories that points against the argument made by Gabrielle. I wounder why people like Gabrielle can not see the reason why there are not many women in the game industry. This in turn shows that games have strong masculinity that seems to have little space for women.

I think it is because of how the sexism re-enforces the stereotypes that people- including gamers themselves. In the article written by Jo Bryce and Jason Rutter, they tried to explain why gamers tend to be represented by male despite the fact that there are  quite a lot of female audiences. They say this tend to happen because most people tend associate gaming with male activity. This is quite similar to how some activities  like shopping and sewing are associated with female activity  This can be seen by this quote " This recurring discourse suggests that the consumption practices associated with computer gaming are solitary and male."  As such the videogames tend to be marked towards males and there has been lack of good games marked towards females. This means that due to this assumption females were not seen as a part of gaming community. This allows many gaming cooperation to target solely on men. Especially teenage and/or men in early 20's. Due to this large assumption made by people that videogaming industry is male activity and believe that women do not like videogaming, women tend to have very minimal voice in creation of gaming. This in turn has a negative effect of discriminating women in gaming society- whether as a gamer or creator of the game. This sort of understanding has been called gendered  spaces by Jo
Bryce and Jason Butter. " We appropriate them, move between them, and define the relationships between them."

Understanding the gendered space in gaming is quite important because I believe that it is main reason why their are conflicts between male and female gamers and why there are so few females represented correctly in gamming society. Due to people's thought about what and who shall play the game, those people who thought as not part of gendered spaces in gaming society tend to be ignored and not represented because they are not part of the bulk of the gamming society. I think understanding the gendered spaces in gaming is the key to see why there are so little female representation in games and gaming society.
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LGBT in Video Games: Star Wars leading the way?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57412796-235/ea-stirs-controversy-by-adding-gay-characters-to-star-wars-game/#!
EA and Bioware made an announcement nearly a year ago of downloadable content [DLC] for The Old Republic that would allow for player-characters to play same gender romances [SGR]. By igniting controversy in the gaming world, and the popular media sphere at large, this announcement has brought together unlikely allies and broadened the fight for LGBTQI representation in society.

The gaming world isn't exactly a renowned proponent of queer society, but it is known for battling conservative efforts to censor gaming content. In this discursive intersection, however, gaming pundits have sided with conservative groups that oppose the DLC proposal.

I find this situation interesting in relation to the high/low culture concept we covered in class. The high/low culture dichotomy has kept gaming out of relevant discussion in arts and academic circles. And so too has it been used within the gaming world as a tool to exclude women and minorities from gaining influence. Thus we have evidence that industry pundits are propagating the same problematic attitude that has been working against them for decades.

Industry influencers have adopted their own brand of dogmatic exclusion, assumedly because the hetero-dominated gaming world is/may be uncomfortable with SGR in games. They are effectively aligning themselves with the regressive attitudes of those who oppose freedom of content, which makes all the sense in the world.

From where I stand, the gaming community should be welcoming such developments. As a microcosm for society in general, the gaming world would do well to embrace new, unusual, subversive elements of gameplay. Internal and external benefits would follow. On the one hand, sexual minorities [or minorities in general] would be more encouraged to participate in and celebrate their leisure gaming. On the other hand, perceptions of the gaming community would change for the better [seeing as how popular culture is moving in the same liberal direction].

Also: this may highlight my ignorance of DLC and gaming, but by definition isn't DLC subject to each gamer's choice to download? So the whole of TOR players have a choice whether to engage with this SGR element, no? Sounds like quite a bit of panic over something that is clear a choice. A willingly made choice, I might add, unlike sexual orientation.

However I also find issue with this story. The Fox News version of this report [http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/14/star-wars-game-segregates-gay-characters-on-gay-planet/] says SGR characters and plot lines will be confined to one planet, Makeb. Granted, Bioware and EA wouldn't want to make SGR a distracting focus of The Old Republic. But secluding SGR to just one planet sounds like virtual exile to me. So Bioware is advocating progress, just not too much just to be safe.

Last zinger: the article above suggests that, should this DLC prospect go ahead, many may leave the game. What a shame it would be if bigots left The Old Republic for players with more accepting outlooks...

Racism and Cybertyping

Game developers are constantly exploring new ways in which they can enthrall their sales market. Whether it is through ground breaking graphics, high budget cinematics, or through captivating and complex storyline, developers are constantly having to evolve as their market becomes too spoilt, and thus more critical.

On the topic of racism within the gaming format; we are constantly being exposed to the stereotyping and "cybertyping" of minority ethnic groups. In no way do I consider myself a racist; sure, I have adopted discriminative traits from generations of imperialistic European settler conditioning, but not to the point where I actively sort to repress any one particular ethnicity, hell I'm as centre-left as they come. However in the business of gaming, from a marketing point of view (the business/money-making point of view), I can understand why developers continue to push the already blurry boundaries of "subliminal" cyber racism.

Most of us are oblivious to it as it has become ingrained into our everyday lives through exposure to various platforms of media who exaggerate different cultural traits. While this may appear to be too small and insignificant, it is the "casual othering" that produces this rasist psyche, the blasé dehumanization, the casual mindless slaughter of archetypical characters because they are 'different' to you and therefore you are unable to create a emotional affiliation with them. We find it easier to kill characters that aren't white - we do not have as stronger feelings associated to "baddies" who are of black or Arabic decent. Even when they're not "baddies", developers are restricted when trying to customize black characters to the confines of stereotypical black styles. Obvious examples of this are Sazh Katzroy from Final Fantasy XIII, a wise-cracking black character who talks in African American slang and dons a large afro. Sheva Alomar from Resident Evil 5, the highly sexualized female African American who also offers a large deal of sarcastic wit in-amongst her hyperaggressive, violent, "unladylike" manner. Dee Jay from Street Fighter, the professional Jamaican kick boxer, cocky, violent, huge set of shiny white teeth underneath big red lips and surrounded by either dreadlocks or corn braids - typical.

Mario's Dad.

I have just read an article (Master of Play, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s man behind Mario, New Yorker - December 2010) which sweeps across a several of the key concepts we’ve been reviewed over the last few weeks.

Beyond profiling Miyamoto, claiming him to be a video games auteur, the article explores the idea of play. Nintendo was founded in 1889. Long before it created it’s first video game it had been in the business of creating analog tools of play… “karuta”  or playing cards. In 1949 Nintendo, under license, produced Disney character cards that became hugely successful. Understanding the dynamics of play have been part of Nintendo’s culture for over 120 years.

Talking of his game development experience, Miyamoto explains the need for “kyokan”…”Kyo is the sharing and Kan is the emotional feeling”. I found this relevant to the course discussion on high/low culture in finding a balance in a experience that will appeal to a wider range of gamers.

In reference to lowering barriers to immersion Miyamoto says “I always remind myself, when it comes to a game I’m developing, that I am the perfect, skilful player. I can manipulate all this controller stuff. So sometimes I ask the younger game creators to try playing the games they are making by switching their left and right hands. In that way, they can understand how inexperienced the first timer is.”

He gives compares game development to writing a detective novel, giving the player just the right amount of information at the right time.

Explaining agency Miyamoto says “The difficulty with video games, unlike movies or novels, where authors themselves can lead the audience to the end, is that in games it’s the players who have to find their own road to the end.”

The article is useful in reviewing applying some of the concepts covered so far in the context of one the industry's creative leaders and the contribution of Nintendo.

Another Post about Gender.. yay.

This week's lecture and content has dealt with some pretty serious issues. Without trying to sound too hot with rage, I am going to explain just how ridiculous some of the representations of women are. 

Lets take a look at Eddy,

You may know him, he's that break-dancing guy from the Tekken series. (which in himself could have some racial stereotypes, noting the dreads.) Yet is pretty normal. His outfit covers most parts of his body, leaving his arms and a small part of his torso bare, probably for practical reasons, so his clothes won't limit his break-dance fighting moves.

Let's take a look at his woman counterpart, Christie:

Yes. My eyes are automatically drawn to 'there' too. Can someone please tell me how this outfit is fit for fighting condition? It's like they took the leftover piece of fabric from eddy's torso and slapped it onto her chest. Eddy and Christie are almost identical in fighting style, yet Christie is portrayed as a highly sexualised female figure. Not to mention her stance in this photo doesn't look like any fighting move I've seen, but seems to accentuate her upper torso exceptionally. Compared to Eddie, this visual is beyond ridiculous.

Christie is labelled by GameDaily as 2nd on the "Top 25 Hottest games babes", #20 on Heavy.com's "The 20 Hottest Video Game Girls" and on Complex' list she is #12 on "The 50 Hottest women in video games." So what has this got to do with the game!??! It doesn't. She isn't recognized for her fighting role in the game, just for her extreme sexual appeal and  lack of clothing. 

Many men may say that they wouldn't have a problem with having this sort of representation reversed onto them. Well people from 'The Hawkeye Initiative' have done just that, where they have taking common provocative images of female comic book characters and have placed Hawkeye in the poses instead to show how utterly ridiculous and impractical some of these sexist images really are. Here's one to give you a little taste:

I think that these sexualised images have become so normal and ubiquitous, that only in the reversal do we see the problem with the framing of women in video games. (Yes, that example was a comic, but it could so easily be the same for games)

There seems to be a mindset that men dominate the video gaming world, and despite the stats that show proof of an equal involvement from both genders, women continue to be treating as a minority, and are framed in hyper-sexualised ways. There is enough evidence shown in the lecture that video games are considered a masculine thing, being made and advertised specifically to men. This mindset needs to change if women are ever taken seriously in the gaming world. If this happens, then everything else should fall into place.

...

And what the hell, I'll post one more:

Happy Studying.

Racism

The readings and lecture this week were actually a real eye opener for me when it came to prejudice in video games. I know prejudice is everywhere in society, but I didn’t realize how blatant it was in video games.  As previously noted, I am the definition of a casual gamer, so in a sense the readings and lecture opened up a can of worms to a world that I had no real clue about.
 I guess deep down I have always known masculinity existed in games. The protaganist has always been a male in games. And yes, I did notice that Lara croft was some big sex symbol with her boobs emphasized and her but enlarged. I think what threw me was the racism that occurred in games, something that I had no idea about.

I found this article about the prejudices that exist in Games to be fair and interesting.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19922_5-prejudices-that-video-games-cant-seem-to-get-over.html I am not going to lie. I am disturbed by the racism in games that we were shown in the lecture, and the ignorance surrounding racism. “How is it racist?” and “I didn’t even notice,” Or “But of course the zombies are black they cant be white!” are some of the statements that I have heard regarding racism in games- in the lecture and from people I have talked to about it.

These are also some of the statements from the above site that are quite shocking.

Why is an event that occurred almost 150 years ago still a touchy “topic”?”

“Either the entire colour spectrum (as in humanity) is wrong to kill, and we should use aliens/dogs instead, or NO ONE is wrong to kill.”

“your views of the civil war are what’s [expletive]”

“Do you also get offended when you see a box of Count Chocula?”

“SHOOTING BLACK PEOPLE IN AFRICA IS WRONG, LETS FILL AFRICA WITH WHITE PEOPLE INSTEAD  ”

“i have to say when someone writes about killing African Americans in video games is wrong that is really stupid.”

“You have no problems killing the Japs”

“who is mystified that Mr. Jackson”  People shut down this discussion a lot because it reflects on them It is called Gas lighting. Anyone who argues for a change gets policed. It is easier in a sense to turn a blind eye, but when it is quite blatant, and you would still rather find an excuse for it is very sad and demeaning.   I read about the game “Left 4 Dead 2” and decided to look it up. The game, released in 2009, is about "survivors  who must fight their way through five campaigns, interspersed with safe houses that act as checkpoints with the goal of escape at each campaign's finale”It caused a lot of controversy on its release and I could see why. Most of the zombies are of course, black or african american. The setting is also similar to hurricane Katrina, a city of dead, floating bodies. As mentioned in the lecture, if you are going to incorporate history and real life events, then you need to be very very careful. I think this was definitely a bad call and I wouldn’t even touch the game when it is so similar to a horrific event that has happened in history, and not done in a nice way either.  I also looked up Ethnic Cleansing after the name of the game was mentioned in the lecture. Obviously by the name itself, the racism is blatant. So, if you actually buy the game then you are probably racist.  It was released in 2002, and developed by Resistance Records and the game lets you play as a Klansman or skinhead in the quest to kill Latinos, Blacks, and Jews. That pretty much speaks for itself. My question is how on earth something like this got released? I can’t imagine a film like that ever being released for the sake of killing ethic minorities. 

Here is racism at its worst, a site I came across: http://www.alwaysblack.com/?p=10  I believe as a whole, Video games need to be extremely careful when it comes to privilege and deserve to be scrutinized for the obvious prejudice. Agency allows the player to be involved in the game, and make his or her own decisions, so it’s a very dangerous territory.  Even more so then film and literature. Will there ever be change though?            

Minecraft Hunger Games

I was stumped as to what my next blog would be about so asked some family friends who consider themselves gamers. The father looked to his son and laughed as he told me I would probably like a game called Bejewelled Blitz and have lots to write about it. Luckily I knew what that is as I have spent many hours wasted on it as I am meant to be writing essays. The son gave me a better suggestion that I should check out some of the Minecraft hacking videos on YouTube as there is so many. I came across this one and thought it was worth sharing. It probably helps that I am a big Hunger Games fan.

Feminine Evil: Sarah and The Saints

Alright, let's play a game! Guess who the villain is in each of these three sets of characters:

Sasha and Trish (InFAMOUS)

Caterina and Lucrezia (Assassin's Creed II)

Claire and Alexia (Resident Evil Code: Veronica X)

If you guessed Sasha, Lucrezia and Alexia, you'd be right. Now, aside from the admittedly murkier palettes of Alexia and Sasha, what could have clued you in? Well, it might be a precedent that's been set-- not just in games, but in music, movies, and every other form of media-- where a woman who flaunts her sexuality is considered evil or amoral, while a conservative woman is considered comparatively heroic and pure.

Let's take a look at a couple more examples of this concept in play:

Jill Valentine (Resident Evil 5)

Mary Sunderland and Maria (Silent Hill 2)

On the left, we have the 'good' version of these two women, and on the right, the 'evil' version. Jill and Mary in becoming villainous or morally ambiguous characters both become more sexual, as an extension of this concept. If a female character turns from heroic to evil, it's an unfortunate trend to do this. Sexual promiscuity in women is associated with villainy, as part of the values society teaches us-- women who are good are supposed to be virginal and conservative; they're supposed to keep their bodies covered and avoid flaunting their sexuality.

But, despite what fiction might tell us, this doesn't carry over to reality. A woman isn't suddenly 'evil' or 'inhuman' because she chooses to wear less clothing-- and the idea that she is can cause trouble for her. Many women in reality are victimised or vilified for what they wear or their sexual history, due to the connotations fiction and language give to these choices. A woman who dresses in little clothing is called 'provocative'-- a word that means she is 'provoking' people with her clothes. A man who does the same won't be called the same words, and if he is victimised in some way, generally won't be told it was because of his clothing.

And this is where we come to The Saints and Sarah Kerrigan.

Sarah, before and after

Saints, before and after

In this particular discussion, it's not the fact they're sexualised that's an issue, it's that their sexuality is tied into them becoming or revealing that they are antagonistic and evil. Sarah was-- from what I've read-- a good girl, until she turned evil, lost her jumpsuit, and started walking around in nothing but her own skin. The Saints are just a group of nuns, until they pull off their robes and pull out their guns. These women are all depicted as heroic or morally ambiguous until their breasts are on show; and while these implications would be okay in isolated places, it's not an isolated phenomenon. It's a common part of female representation across all forms of media, and it contributes to a culture that repeatedly and consistently demonises women who choose to flaunt themselves.

Women don't suddenly stop being good people when they start showing off their bodies, and the repeated fictional implications that they do aren't helping real women in the world. So that's my issue with these clips.

For consideration

Hi everybody, here's the original video that I took the Starcraft 2 stills from for yesterday's powerpoint.  I don't think they were taken out of context in a way that changes their meaning, but it's a valid point and I could be wrong.  This way you can check it out for yourselves.

The character doesn't turn up until 1 minute 50 seconds or so into the video.  The first shot of shoes appears at about 2 minutes on the dot.

- Kevin

Barbie To Mortal Kombat

I found this article on Google scholar called Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games written by Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins (published in 1999) which has relevant valid questions that have still not been solved today. One part I found interesting was when they explain that there is an “assumption that computer games are boys’ own games” which could result in the disparaging of girls’ interest” (page 33). Clearly this is a little outdated because many girls do play games, however it is continually dominated by men. I can’t comprehend the abuse that that women from Ted talks in the lecture endured from those men and why it would matter if she wanted to research about the tropes of women. Interestingly in the article, the authors refer to games such as Quake and Tomb Raider as “boy games” which seems to be going against what their argument is. This is possibly because of the time it was published however I am unsure.

 

The article continues, and says “in every domain in life, men are considered the normal human beings, and women are ab-normal” (page 34). I think the representation of race and minorities could also easily be contributed to this statement.

http://www.ted.com/talks/brenda_laurel_on_making_games_for_girls.html

I also found this on Ted Talks (significantly filmed in 1998). I think it is interesting that they have been addressing and questioning why video games are dominantly marketed to males. It’s a long video so I only watched the beginning, but they are questioning why it is an untapped market. Parts of the argument are outdated and I wonder if she was attacked for having these opinions and conducting her research.

 

http://ftvms212-328-2013.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/lady-saviours.html

 

This previous blog post describes the progress with women heroines however these strong women are the exception rather than the rule. The games she has mentioned seem popular so I can’t understand why there are not more of them, other than the fact that men want to keep it as a “boy’s only club”.

 

Here's something interesting

Here's a wonderful site to take a few moments of your life away from doing anything really productive. It's a good waste though, really, you'll be amused.

Zero-punctuation is a comedy video game review show run by a very sarcastic British man named Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. He reviewed most major games as well as minor games in the last half decade, and if you are able to see past all the rude critical analysis he is funny as hell and has a wonderful collection of good points.

His discourse on genre is actually worth listening to.

Also he's funny.

Yay :)

- Georgia Cob.

P.s. I'd suggest them all but of the few I recently watched and enjoyed, take a look at his videos about Mass Effect, DayZ, Far Cry 3 and Call of Duty.

Warning, he swears a lot and uses a variety of well constructed explanations for gameplay.

Gender and Sexuality – I Disagree

During the lecture on Thursday about gender and sexuality I had a few issues with some of the content and ideas expressed, from the point of view that I did not agree with some of what was said. Sure I agree that women in most forms of media, especially video games are sexualised and used to sell products. However I do not agree with the section on violence towards women in video games.

The clip that was shown in class about the Hitman trailer where the nuns turn into stripper like killers and are then slaughtered was one that jumped out at me in particular. I believe Kevin said that it was purposefully and deliberately expressing violence toward women in a negative way (not verbatim). They were using slow motion and high graphics to display hateful behaviour toward women. I also took away from the lecture that clips like this are something that should offend women in particular. However I strongly disagree with this.

Sure the women in the trailer are being sexualised and that is why they are there. The fact that the hitman kills them is just because that is part of the game. I don’t think that women should be offended by this. Would we expect men to get offended if he was killing a whole group of males in the same fashion? (which is often the case). If anything this video is placing them on the same level as males because they are deemed worthy enough to be in the game. Now I am no sexist or misogynist however I do think sometime we do take it a bit too far which it comes to analyzing elements sometimes.  As I said before I do believe they are being used as sex symbols (that is a given) however it just happens to be that their role in the add was to get killed, and the killings themselves or way they were killed had nothing to do with them being females. I know that I would not have gotten offended if they had sexualised males and killed them in the same style, yet for some reason women should be? It is almost like we are trying to tell women how they should think and feel, which is something I am sure most would object to.

Race in video games.

I felt it was appropriate to discuss the all-important issue of race in video games. One of my favourite video game series of all time is Pokémon which was available on the Gameboy. One disturbing characteristic about this series is perhaps the issue of subtle racism in this popular video game series. I don't want to ruin any childhoods here but there is one particular character that is most disturbingly a clear racial stereotype. I am of course talking about the character 'Jynx'. 'Jynx' is clearly a degrading stereotype of African Americans and all black people in general, the character has an incredibly dark complexion along with the all too familiar puffy red lips that are associated with African Americans. It gets even worse, 'Jynx' has magical hypnotic powers which is clearly another stereotype of African Americans which is called the "Magic negro".Now you've probably heard of this or seen the articles and news covers criticising the depiction of this character but I thought it was important to note that this depiction of Jynx was only changed to a purple complexion after an outcry of protest. What does this say about the creators? While I can only speculate, the creators of the Pokémon games in Japan were clearly looking at Western expectations when drawing up characters both Pokémon and non-Pokémon within this video game series. The main protagonist in the game and within the series ‘Ash Ketchum’ is a white protagonist, while many of the other characters in the series are also white. This could be due to the fact that Japanese creators would primarily see the white audience in America as their core Western demographic whilst ignoring any positive African American depictions. This is the key point in that white people are presumed to be the only ones playing video games in the Western world while their African American counterparts are not. The stereotypical depiction of African Americans through Jynx is a good indicator that not only is white people the main demographic, but also that the Western world in large amounts still has negative views of minorities. This is a shameful character in an otherwise good video game series but it’s still a good indicator of the racism in the game industry.

Imaginary worlds: beyond the game

When I was younger, and the Sims 2 first came out, I have to say, I was obsessed. The Sims 2 was the only game I played (though to be fair, it was the only game I tried playing really, other than the occasional game of Age of Empires). Yet my obsessive interest wasn’t so much with the game itself, though I did play it a lot. My immersion went deeper than that. The Sims 2 provided the foundation for the greater narratives that went on in my head. I would create backstories for my Sims, conjure up distinct and detailed personalities. Not only as I was playing, but in my time outside of the game also, I would try to imagine what it would be like to actually be them. In fact, I think this was why after awhile I got bored of the Sims- my own little fantasies about my characters never matched up when I played the game, my Sims confined by the rather mundane set of options programmed. Yet for awhile, it was a good kickstart for my imagination.

I mention this because I think it poses an interesting challenge to the notion that games aren’t intellectual, or valuable to kids (or anyone, really). Games like the Sims with an expansive game world, but little plot direction, can actually provide an incredibly good base for one’s own imaginative storytelling. Often all that is needed for a story to take off is a bit of a headstart, a structure- a setting and a semblance of a character that can be built upon. Games provide this. I remember my mum used to complain about how often I was on the Sims, and “why didn’t I do anything useful with my time”. Little did she know that the hours I spent directing various little virtual people around were also hours spent cultivating my creativity and exploring my sense of empathy (even if it was for people that weren’t technically ‘real’).

The second reason I mention this, is because I think it relates quite well to the representation lecture. In games like the Sims you are obviously afforded a lot of your own interpretation with the characters that you create. In other games, there’s less left to your imagination- in fact, as this week’s lectures show us, sometimes they’ll hand you a stereotype on a plate. For impressionable kids especially, that take the characters out of the game world and into their own imagination, there is particular danger of such stereotypes being perpetuated and reinforced in wider society and culture. Just as the Higgin reading noted that MMORPGS often use texts like The Lord of the Rings as points of cultural reference, games will also be a point of inspiration and borrowing for the next generation of storytellers. Characters are rarely just characters- even if players don’t use them for inspiration as such, they inevitably spill out of the fantasy world and into the framework of our own. Just like books, games can be important breeding grounds for imagination and social understanding. It’s important this power is respected, rather than abused.

Race theory and Videogames

Throughout our Tuesday lecture on representation of race and nationality in Videogames, I found myself relating much of the content back to theory I'd learnt in other FTVMS papers. The concept of the 'White eye', originating in the work of social theorist Stuart Hall, is used to describe how dominant media outlets of the western world have a tendency to be 'framed' by white perspectives. While elaborating on this concept, which is undoubtedly one that requires some wrestling with, I'm interested in exploring if, and how it can be used in regard to representations of race in videogames.

As a starting point, the white eye is according to Hall, "always outside the frame - but seeing and positioning everything within it" (1981). By this Hall means that media texts, can involve the representation of groups of people, events and actualities in ways that are subjective, a very important point when considering any form of mediation. However Hall takes this a step further in claiming that dominant media outlets tend to produce texts conveying the subjectivity of a particular group - that of white people. While the above quote seems to be referring specifically to the mise en scene of a media text, the 'white eye' is argued to be an influence present in

- the narrative framing of texts; who's story or perspective is being told
- the moral framing of textual details; who is deemed to be 'good' and 'bad', (and defined by who's values system?)
- and of course in the literal framing within a text.

The white eye can therefore extend to non-visual and motionless texts in different ways from that of Film, TV etc. However concerning videogames, what lies within the frame of the (virtual) camera is of much interest.

I say that this concept is a contentious one possibly requiring some internal wrestling because, for white people at least, it requires the recognition that this racial group, in NZ and many other countries, experience a largely unmentioned consumer/reader benefit in that dominant media outlets of national scale are run with the assumption of largely white auidences. This dominance of perspective is hegemonic and therefore largely unquestioned. This lends some explanation as to the existance and purpose of culturally alternative outlets such as Maori Television here in NZ, which has the job of providing visual media from a pan-Maori perspective.

The place of the white eye is naturalised and heavily defended as being objective in the production and delivery of texts, however sometimes cases arise in which it's influence is undeniable, such as this recent and infamous example,

http://o-dub.com/images/looter.jpg

Here the discursive construction of black deviance during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath constitutes the practice of 'Othering', mentioned briefly in Kevin's lecture. In both instances the subjects have stolen food in order to survive, yet the framing of the parralleled texts judges the subjects in completely contrasting ways, empathising with the white couple while criminalising the black man. It should however be noted that this is an extreme and obvious example in which the presence of the white eye is easily indentifiable.

So I'm left wondering to what extent this concept can be applied to the field videogame studies. Instantly a flaw comes to mind; with the framing or directed POV of many videogames largely being dictated by the player, can it really be said that the production and consumption of games are influenced by a biased white perpsective? Given the amount of agency extended to the player in being able to construct his/her own points of view within a game, claiming that the white eye acts upon the literal framing of 'in-game play' just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The virtual camera is often at the will of the player. However it could be agrued that a specifically white perspective can be involved in the production of cut/story scenes, the indentity of protagonists/antagonists, and in the use of racially specific narrative conventions such as the 'white saviour' trope or the exoticized Other. While most of these examples are closely linked to the presence of the white eye in other visual media, videogames are unique in the sense that mise en scene is entirely constructed rather than 'captured'. There is far more room for the representation of racial groups by, and according to the subjective experiences of racial outsiders due to the amount of visual design taking place in videogame production. However this isn't to say that a biased white perspective is garunteed to occur in the production of videogames, a range of factors such as the intentions and unconscious biases of videogame producers, directors, writers, designers and voice-actors will all have an effect on the forms of representation that result.

As a final note, the concept of the white eye does not infer intentional and outright racism on behalf of white people. Its theorising and application should not be seen as placing blame on white people collectively. Instead it is mostly effectively used to describe how the experiences, attitudes and values of this racial group are naturalised in the production and consumption of media. At the same time it is a concept that proves useful in showing how other races (and ethnicities) often lack the chances to self-represent, to deploy their own group specific experiences, attitudes and values particularly in the realm of mainstream media where reader/viewer exposure is great.

Comments very much welcome!

reference:
Hall, S. "The White of Their Eyes", in Gender Race & Class in Media. P. 81
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=VkuM0JdHwhYC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=the+white+of+their+eyes+Hall,+Stuart&source=bl&ots=uoKS5IJ6DM&sig=HuNmu4Qw2SiDAjcm2FIl5dSPsds&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FR3_UJLjBNDPiwL_yIDQDA&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#