It has been pointed out in Mark J.P Wolf and Bernard Perron’s (ed) The Video Game Theory Reader of 2003, that images of women and girls in computer games emphasize stereotypes, paralleling more traditional media (2003, p.172). How would you account for this?
Computer games often come under scrutiny for what appears to be the persistent sexualization of female characters as Wolf and Perron said ‘Feminist researchers have started to systematically explore images of women in mainstream video games’ (2003, p.172), these images showed the emphasizing of stereotypes that are not only seen in video games however it is also something that can be seen in more traditional media. The purpose of this essay is to research the role of female characters within the gaming industry and to link this to more traditional media such as film and television, as well as give specific examples of how stereotypes of females are shown within video games as a result of the recent shift in stereotypes that have occurred, especially in more traditional media given the recent rise of feminism.
Traditionally in video games, stereotypes surrounding the role of a female character have always existed. For example, one of the stereotypes commonly used by video game creators is how a female character is often portrayed to be the damsel in distress who is awaiting a strong male lead character to come and rescue them from danger. Often these ‘damsels in distress’ are perceived to be weak and powerless (hence why they are reliant on a male savior). Females within video games often take the role of a secondary character in the plot of a game, for example in the popular platform game Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, 1987), not only does Princess Peach play the role of the helpless damsel who needs to be saved by the knight in shining armor (Mario), but she also presents herself as a background character who only features in specific parts of the storyline. This is very different however from the role of ‘Luigi’ in the Super Mario games, who features as the sidekick to Mario. Why was it not Luigi’s role to be abducted and then rescued by Mario? It could be that because of his gender he was automatically the sidekick rather than the one in danger. Another role that females take in video games according to Wolf and Perron is that of a love interest ‘One way it has been normalized is through media representations of the ideal heterosexual romance, shown as “the great female adventure, duty, and fulfillment”’ (2003, p.174). Not only in Mario but also in games such as Grand Theft Auto: Five (Rockstar, 2013) in which the roles of females are that of stripper, prostitute, or simply a bystander in the background of the game. Grand Theft Auto is the greatest example of how a stereotype for women is being emphasized within video games.
The persistent sexualization of females within video games is not something that is new and has been prevalent within video games since their creation. A modern example of this is the presence of the strippers in Grand Theft Auto who embody this completely. In the video game that was released in September 2013, players can visit a strip club and receive lap dances and shows of a sexual nature. According to Rutter and Bryce, 'Of course, just as media coverage of gaming shows differences in the way the different sexes are represented, so too there is the apparent encoding of gender in digital games themselves’ (2006, p.196). From this game one could assume that the role of women is simply to fulfill a man’s needs, this could be very influential on the audience's actions as Behm-Morawitz and Mastro suggest ‘More specifically, we argue that exposure to sexualized female video games characters may promote more traditional, less egalitarian beliefs about women in the real world’ (2009, p. 811), this does not come as a surprise however as many people assume that the majority of gamers would be males due to the nature and themes of some games, however as Behm-Morawitz and Mastro state, ‘40% of gamers (i.e. game players) are female, meaning that digital games are played almost equally by both men and women.’ (2009, p. 808). Therefore, why is the constant sexualization of females still seen so frequently in video games? Well quite simply it is a way of selling video games: ‘Overall sex does sell in gaming. It brings loyalty, sparks interest when there is none, and it brings word of mouth to the table. People told others how hot this character is or there is a cheat code to see a character do that’ (Ecock, 2009). So, if this strategy has worked for video game producers and attracted a largely male audience in the past, then they will be reluctant to change a strategy that has worked for them thus far. It may not even be that the attractive female character has been a
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