Women in Gaming
Women in Gaming refers to the concept of women playing video games or the lack of women playing video games. Console and online video games have predominantly been a male recreational activity since their debut in the middle of the 20th century. While men have continuously been both the driving force and target audience behind the creation of video games, the female gamer population has seen significant growth over the years. Video games are increasingly encompassing characteristics that are of interest to the female population and the gaming environment is becoming a much more gender neutral playing field. [1]
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Emergence of Female Gaming Culture
- 3 Video Games with Female Main Characters
- 4 Current Preferences of Women Gamers
- 5 References
- 6 External Links
History
There are many arguments, developed by researchers, software developers and female citizens alike, that seek to explain why women have been absent from the gaming scene until recent years. The theories include:
- The difference in sociableness between Female and Males
- The appeal of game content to women
- How women are portrayed in gaming
Females Are More Social Than Males
One explanation for why women have not played a significant role in the history of gaming relates to the notion that females are inherently more sociable than men. Under this view, since gaming is likely to be viewed as an asocial behavior, it appeals to men more than women. Women are more affiliative than men [2] and have greater concern towards domestic and/or social activities in comparison to leisure activities such as gameplay. Therefore, due to other priorities and interests, women have not exerted a great deal of time and effort towards becoming active members of the gaming world, preferring social interaction in the physical world.
The social construction of women and video games
Today, women still live inside a patriarchal society. In the social hierarchy, white males have the highest power and privilege. As a result, men are socially constructed as "powerful", "aggressive" and "strong", while women are "passive" and "quiet"[3]. As a result, women tend to play less video games because it has traditionally been marketed as fit for the masculine, violent and aggressive - a true male activity.
Game Content
The content of games have not always been appealing to women, since the content mostly concerned activities deemed as "for males". However, game content is changing and more games either encourage women to play or are considered gender neutral. The 1980’s brought about drastic changes to the gaming environment, as it introduced several groundbreaking genres such as adventure, platform, racing and role-playing games. The varying styles of gameplay certainly encouraged a more diverse gamer population, catering to many different interests and skills, but many games today are still of violent nature and have dominated the game sales market throughout the decades. These games were, and still are, successful with male gamers, the violent and aggressive nature proved to be less appealing to women.
Gender Stereotyping Extremes
Many games have not been appealing to women because they portray women in a stereotypical manner. The extreme gender stereotyping found in many video games today consist of the absence of female characters, creating female characters that are seen as less than the male characters, aggression towards female characters, and eroticisation of female characters in video games. All three of these discriminatory tendencies have produced an environment where female representations fall victim to male supremacy. [4].
Absence of Female Characters
Many video games have a lack of female characters/players. Since the creation of video games, female characters were primarily included in story-lines as objects rather than actual players. Often portrayed as victims, such as a damsel in distress , females served as a target for male players to rescue via their heroic actions. [5] This brings to light the idea that with only male characters to choose from, it is possible that the video game environment began constructing male-only players from its very start.
Abilities of Female Characters
When female character were first introduced into the same game that had male characters, many of them were not given the same or equal abilities as males. These abilities include mostly skills, like the seed of the character, strength of the character, flexibility of the character, etc. An example of a game like this is Super Mario Party where the female character, Princess Peach, is not equipped with abilities that allow her to fairly and equally compete with her male counterparts.
Aggression Towards Female Characters
Similar to their false portrayal, actions that demonstrate aggression and violence towards females are highly common in video games today. Some games, such as Quake and Doom, have been accused of crossing a line with the inclusion of dialogue and actions that enable sexual harassment towards women. [4]
Eroticisation of Female Characters
A fairly new, yet very persistent, criticism of video games is the unrealistic representation and objectification of female characters. Such an argument likely began upon the creation of Lara Croft in 1996. Lara has unrealistic, and arguably impossible, body proportions and her character embodies the very argument that gender abuse in video games reaffirms sexist aesthetic. [4]
Access and Training
Due to certain social constructs there is a greater likelihood of the male population being introduced and granted access to games at an earlier age. Cultural ideals and norms, in regards to what activities are appropriate for males and females, carry over into the gaming world. According to the studies of Bryce & Rutter, males have traditionally had more access and control over leisure spaces such as video arcades and sports venues as a result of these very norms. [5] Upon having access, it has also been argued that males have a greater probability of learning through action, even though they may not necessarily comprehend all of the rules of a particular game [2]. This access and training has been used as justification for why there are more male, or less female, gamers.
Emergence of Female Gaming Culture
First Female Games
In 1997, Mattel released Barbie Fashion Designer, one of the first games designed particularly with girls in mind. Barbie Fashion Designer sold over 600 000 copies [2] and is considered to be the first entertainment software to capture a mass female market. The tremendous success of this game brought about a movement towards the development and production of games designed specifically for girls. Applications such as Barbie Fashion Designer, American Girl interactive software, and the Nancy Drew adventure games did remarkably well and their success is attributed to the high appeal of real life, everyday characters to the female population.
Women in Gaming Today
While all studies confirm that men still dominate the virtual gaming world [6] women are becoming a more active part of the community and have even dispersed into their own subgroups. According to the Entertainment Software Association, roughly 40% of all video game players are female. [7] In addition, the female population represents over 43% of online players and are the fastest growing demographic in the gaming industry. Such distinctions among the female population have been made based on different reasons for gaming, varying interests and preferable gaming genres [6]. These subclasses of female gamers can be defined as Power-gamers, Moderate-gamers and Non-gamers. [6]
Women in Professional Gaming
The PMS (Pandora's Mighty Soldiers) clan was formed in 2002 by twin sisters Amber Dalton and Amy Brady. The PMS clan has an international roster of over 500 ladies, and is one of several professional female gaming organizations.
In August of 2004, a team of professional female gamers around the United States formed a group named, The Frag Dolls. They had been recruited by Ubisoft to promote their games and represent the presence of women in the game industry. They have participated in gaming events and tournaments. Their popularity grew after they won the Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow tournament in 2004. The genres of games that they play range from shooters (Halo 3) to music (Guitar Hero 2). In 2007, they ranked 11th place overall in the Major League Gaming season in Rainbow Six Vegas making them the first all-female team to make Semi-Professional status in Major League Gaming history.[8]
Significance of Emergence
Apart from attempts and incremental successes by developers and marketing teams to seek out and create a market for female gamers, there are other significant implications for this emerging group of gamers. The Information Society that exists today has brought about a vast increase in computer use and knowledge share throughout the world. Where as literacy used to be defined in terms of possessing the ability to read and write, there now exists a requirement to be knowledgable about emerging technologies as well - computer literacy.
Computer games are commonly the first and dominant form of interaction children have with technology. These games are likely to promote an interest in technology, among both males and females, and can serve as a direct lead-in to computer literacy. [2]. However, there is some concern as to whether this apparent correlation between gaming and computer literacy will place females at a disadvantage, not only in their educational experience but in their future career endeavors.
Past trends indicate that boys adopt gaming habits early in their adolescence, where as females, for the most part, do not latch on to games until young adulthood; some females ceasing to find an interest in video games at any point in life. This delayed emergence into the gaming environment could extend the time and/or education required for a female to become proficient with computers and technology. In addition, lack of video game use among females could have even greater implications on career interests and choices. If the desire to better understand technology does not emerge early on in females, it is highly probable that the IT Industry will continue to be dominated by men.
Controversy of Emergence
Example
On June 14, 2011, the professional StarCraft II team SlayerS Clan added Eve, the first female professional gamer, to their roster. [9] Many SlayerS and StarCraft II fans were outraged by the new addition to the team roster as they felt Eve was under qualified compared to the other members of SlayerS, and was simply recruited due to her gender. The drama surrounding the situation grew very quickly and Eve began receiving numerous inappropriate and abusive tweets and letters from anti-fans. Eventually Jessica, the SlayerS team manager, decided to resort to legal action against many of the anti-fans who harassed Eve.
Video Games with Female Main Characters
Examples of female characters in video games:
| Name | Video Game | Name | Video Game | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ayumi | X-Blades | 
|
Madison Paige | Heavy Rain |
|
Bayonetta | Bayonetta | 
|
Nariko | Heavenly Sword |
|
Claire Redfield | Resident Evil Code: Veronica | 
|
Princess Peach | Mario Series |
|
Ellen | Folklore | 
|
Rayne | BloodRayne Series |
|
Faith | Mirror's Edge | 
|
Samus Aran | Metroid Series |
|
Lara Croft | Tomb Raider Series | 
|
Sarah Kerrigan | Starcraft |
|
Lightning | Final Fantasy XIII | 
|
Yuna | Final Fantasy X-2 |
Current Preferences of Women Gamers
Various studies of female preferences in game design, conducted by various research groups such as the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender and Teacher Education, reveal that game preferences of women consist of, but are not limited to:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Positive action
- Challenge
- Use of strategies and skills
- Ability to design and create
- Adventure
While there are many similarities among female gaming preferences, the most prominent are communication, collaboration and positive representation. Games, especially those online, are beginning to adopt these characteristics, in an attempt to draw in greater female participation. For example, EverQuest (EQ) provides appropriate levels of challenge, collaboration, communication, self-selection roles, and exploration; all of which appeal to a female audience. [1] such elements as narratives, ability to self-select roles, interactive challenges, collaboration and community are all drawing in a higher percentage of female players. [1]
In addition to focus groups and observational studies, a good amount of research has gone into evaluating television and reading preferences among females. [2] Common themes that are of interest to females are those involving romance, family relationships, and realistic settings. With emphasis on the drama of human relationships, video games have the potential to be even more successful by allowing women to apply their social and emotional revelations from the game to their actual lives. [2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Taylor, T.L. (2003). “Multiple Pleasures: Women and Online Gaming,” Convergence, v.9, n.1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cassell, J and Jenkins, H. (eds) (1998). "From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games". Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
- ↑ http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth200/gender.html
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dickey, M.D. (2006). Girl gamers: The controversy and relevance of female-oriented design for instructional design. British Journal of Educational Technology. 37(5). 785-793.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bryce, J. & Rutter, J. (2002). “Killing Like a Girl: Gendered Gaming and Girl Gamers’ Visibility” in CGDC Conference Proceedings, F. Mayra (ed.). Tampere: Tampere University Press.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Royse, Pam. (2007). "Women and games: technologies of the gendered self". Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore. SAGE Productions.
- ↑ The Entertainment Software Association homepage
- ↑ http://www.fragdolls.com/index.php/gamer-girls
- ↑ New SlayerS Team Member
