Gender Roles in Videogames

Two boys enjoying the arcade

            The topic that I picked was on male and female portrayals within the videogame world. In order to do that, though, we have to first point out the audience of videogames. Big Download had a story in 2008 that focused on gender roles in videogames, so I decided to use it as a source. One point I would like to discuss is the assumption that “girls don’t play videogames.” If you believe that videogames are part of a “Men Only” club, I suggest that you grow up and move out of your mom’s basement because women (both young and old) have quickly learned that games are fun, and a lot of women have considered themselves gamers.

            Certainly, before games made it home, arcades were the only places that people could play games at in the 1980s. It’s not like women weren’t welcome in these arcades, but they were dark, smoky, and very loud, so girls just were not all that attracted to these sorts of places. By the time the game system made it to homes, girls who may be interested in the game would automatically be told to “go away” by a brother or another boy in the house.

Mario saves Peach

Zelda is held captive

            The rise in media also helped to perpetuate this stereotype as well, since advertisements for specific games showed women wearing nothing but fantasy clothing and violence. They were geared 100% to males in order to “bolster sales” solely on the model, not so much the game. I also believe that, sadly, the contents of a game followed suit. Just think about a narrative that has been used all too often in media: Man is content with woman. Antagonist takes woman. Man must save woman since she can’t fight back. The End. These games are telling the audience that the woman is simply an object of desire. A prize that must be possessed. A thing.

Tomb Raider: Enter the female hero

            Even female gamers never had an opportunity to play as a female protagonist until recently (10-15 years ago). Women in videogames were always “the girlfriend”, never wife or “equal”. Women games designers didn’t exist, therefore men designers only made stories about male heroes. Is this because they couldn’t relate to females? Perhaps, but I also think that there were some sorts of chauvinistic views that came into play. There were games, however, like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage that showed that women could hold their own within a game. Although, these women were just alternative characters that were no different from their male counterparts; but it can be said that this is an example of gender equality within a videogame. It wasn’t until the introduction of the Tomb Raider games that audiences were able to play as an actual female protagonist, Lara Croft.

            In my next blog, I will turn my attention to one of gaming’s most influential female hero, Ms. Lara Croft. Even though there is still a predominance of women in games as sex objects in modern games, I believe that we have very much improved and advanced in gender roles since the 80’s. More women are not only playing the games, but developing them as well. Both groups are vocally expressing their opinions in a way that has showed some heavy amounts of change in the way gender roles are perceived by both sexes. There are still some issues that have yet been addressed within this realm, so it’s a good thing I decided to pick this topic and high time I continue this research!