Game Design Topic: An Introduction

My topic that I plan to write about throughout this semester involving games in general involves gender roles within video games. It strikes me as interesting because it’s such a broad topic that can be viewed in different ways by many people. Some questions that I look into include: Why do people play as different genders in a game? (E.g.: Why do some males play as females in MMOs?) Why are men and women often exaggeratedly stereotyped in games? What’s the big deal with the sexualized nature of video games today, and where will it be in 10 years? These are questions that I myself have been asking as of late, and I plan on answering them in the near future for this class.

Persona 3 allows the player to rethink who his/her character really is.

            One of the first references that I found was written by a female video game journalist named Leigh Alexander. She is the news director for Gamasutra, author of the Sexy Videogameland blog, and freelances reviews and criticism to a variety of outlets. Her article is titled “What I Discovered From Gaming Like a Girl”, and in the article, she discusses her interactions as a female character within the realm of Persona 3 portable (an adaption for the PlayStation Portable). She states how she originally played the game as a male, and decided to play as a female the second time around; she then goes on to explain how the game was an incredibly different experience just because she was a girl. For example, there were many dating options if one was to play as a male character, but once one was to switch genders, there were far less options. I personally haven’t played Persona 3, so I sort of got lost throughout this whole article, but I understand the whole “less options” thing once you change genders. The same situation is in the Mass Effect games, where male Shepard has many characters to choose from in order to start a romantic relationship (including 2 homosexual advances). The female Shepard is different, where she can only hook up with (maybe) 3 men and 1 woman, if I was to “guess-timate”. The article ends with Alexander claiming that playing as a female character made her rethink who she was as a character, which strayed her away from the team effort that the game is all about.

Female Shepard is just as powerful as male Shepard, but she has far less options.

            The second article impressed me more than the last one, mostly because it was a response to it. It’s a blog posted by username: Ted. Ted is a big fan of Leigh Alexander because she “is probably one of the more controversial video game journalists………she refuses to shelf her gender while writing about video games.” He goes on to explain how, in a male-dominated gamer culture, it’s difficult to get past the stereotypes and expectations as a gamer (males play as male characters, and females play as female characters). However, Ted shares with his audience that, despite our one-minded culture, he is not ashamed to play as a female in open-world games. His character in WOW is a female dwarf that is a warrior, engineer, and master chef. He goes on to explain that female characters are often more complex than the “bone-headed” male protagonist. Females allow the gamer to expand his persona. In literature, the woman is a far more complex creature than her male counter-part. She can be a virginal maiden or a femme fatal. She can heal or she can destroy. Females in the fantasy genre is often portrayed as a character who is capable of oftentimes anything. According to Ted, “the male persona in fantasy is generally hyper-masculine, the Campbell hero archetype inflated by a hundred-fold and infused with the dreams and desires of the alpha male in a fraternity.” They’re the all-muscular, rash warriors. Definitely not as complex.

Team Fortress 2's Heavy is the typical stereotype for the video game male.

            By choosing this topic, I hope to explore the world of gaming through the use of render role to help clarify the similarities and differences. By doing this, I plan to discuss and clear up any misdirection my audience has about the “typical” male or female character. I hope to show that there’s nothing wrong with playing as a different gender, or possibly being attracted to a game character (if you’re into that type of thing, that is), and also how video game designers are able t get a story or point across just by the looks of their characters. It’s quite a broad topic, as noted above, but I hope to better educate you in it.