Sexuality in the Video Game Industry
During the activity and presentation on Wednesday, I think it really affected the males of the class when the women started speaking over them. They were quite confused as to what was going on. After the activity was over, the presenters asked the men how they felt. The men said they didn’t feel good or confident about themselves anymore. I think that really made an impact for people to see the other side. Most people can say they understand how one feels about a situation without actually experiencing it. Once they experience it, it makes a huge difference. The men can finally understand how the women feel in the video game industry, or workplace in general.
In the one article written by Ryan Perez, The Misconception of Masculinity in Games, he talks about how the industry makes up characters that can’t be manipulated in real life. The muscles, body look, or powers just aren’t achievable.
“While the media is oh-so-heavily occupied on entertainment’s negative influence on women and how they view their bodies, here is an interactive medium predominantly aimed towards males that features a more unrealistic and unattainable view of the male physique than that of any supermodel.” (Perez, P5)
In the presentation, one of the presenters talked about how in one video game people thought a male character was “too sexy” because he showed too much skin and thought it was too attractive for females or gay men. So, the creators decided to add more clothes for him because of all the comments they were receiving. Unfortunately, female characters go unchanged when it comes to body image in games, they all look the same. Each female character has a body that is highly unachievable without plastic surgery.
There is a huge problem with body image all over, not just in video games. Both men and women struggle with body image due to highly photoshopped photos on the internet, magazines, and tv shows/movies. People try hard to achieve the same look and go into depressions or have mental health problems, like we talked about last class period. I think video game creators should realize this and start making more realistic characters too make a difference, they would get an increase in sales most likely.
In the one other article written by Khee Hoon Chan, Why I’m Afraid Video Games will Continue to “Bury it’s Gays”, I thought was an interesting read. He talks about how creators always kill the gay characters, even in movies and television shows.
“Thankfully, video game developers are taking more care when it comes to depicting minorities accurately and positively.” (Chan, P11).
He mentions how creators are taking more time to be accurate when it comes to minorities without having gay characters die at any point in the game. I think it is good the video game creators are noticing this problem and are trying to change they way they make games such that they aren’t being offensive to a group of people.
Overall, I enjoyed learning about this topic. It was kind of upsetting to know that top companies only have men in their offices with women being only 5%. If they looked at the people playing the games, need to listen to audience and find a way to connect to all people that are playing. Yes, some companies have made realistic looking women in a game, but other designers/artists have to use their imaginations and switch the look too make it sexual. I feel like if all these men on the executive boards went through an activity such as ours we had in class, it would make a huge difference. It isn’t a fun feeling defeated or hopeless. Women shouldn’t give up, they need to continue fighting for those positions in the industry.
References
Chan, K. H. (2017, August 04). Why I’m afraid video games will continue to ‘bury its gays’. Retrieved November 17, 2017, from https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/4/16090980/life-is-strange-death-lgbtq-characters
Perez, R. (2011, March 17). The Misconception of Masculinity in Games. Retrieved November 17, 2017, from https://venturebeat.com/community/2011/03/17/the-misconception-of-masculinity-in-games/
