The Real Battlefield: Women Representation in Gaming
When I was young, playing games was a way for me to escape into a fantasy world and become someone else. In The Sims, you could create a character and make it do whatever you wanted. I knew games like Call of Duty and Halo were “for boys,” but it never discouraged me from playing. I think this is because of the stereotype that guns were for boys, and when I played these games, I experienced a boy-only world were women characters were rare. I don’t play games anymore, and I wonder if it is because of the poor representation women have in games.
George Gerbner and Larry Gross said in 1976 that representation in the fictional world signifies social existence. For years society has been begging for an on-screen image that mirrors society and still, things haven’t improved, especially in games. On television and in games systematically there’s an over-representation of males and not enough females. A report from Feminist Frequency looked at the gender breakdown of protagonists in video games, and this year has been the worst since 2015. Game developers created characters that appeal to their largest audience, which was predominantly male; however, in this era, women are now making up half of the gaming population. The industry needs to start considering women as an essential market to target.
Don’t get me wrong; the gaming industry has tried to include women characters in dominantly male-gendered games, but wait for it. There was a backlash with the release of Battlefield V. Players were outraged using the #NotMyBattlefield to voice their opinion because a woman was the main character in the trailer for the release. The main argument was because it was “historically inaccurate.” This character appeared to be a woman; the only challenge she posed to mainstream game representation was her job description. Sound the alarms women did not go to war!
If these gamers care that much about “authenticity,” maybe look at representations of women in games. Gaming developers are slowly moving away from the overly enlarged breasts disproportionate to body size and finally putting clothes on characters that are appropriate for battle. Even my favourite character Abigail “Misty” Briarton had a makeover from the original game COD: Black Ops 2 Zombies. This is a step forward but more needs to be done to present women accurately. Professor Susan Douglas says that inadequate representation conforms to the idea that women are unidimensional and reinforces women as the object of the male gaze. I played Misty because she was the only character I could closely relate to in the game.
Women in games need to improve because maintaining distorted stereotypes in games have an impact on social progress in real life. A literature review found that representation with avatars, being exaggerated and hypersexualised can prompt social comparisons, which lead to depression, low self-esteem and overall impact of well being. Kishonna L Gray and David J Leonard discuss in their book Woke Gaming that inaccurate representation in games creates reasoning between virtual space and everyday life. How women are treated and viewed on-screen can impact how people see women in real life.
Online games could potentially be a way to educate or present an alternative narrative that challenges ideologies of hate, violent injustice and inequalities. Games can inform others of different lived experiences other than the typical white male view. Professor Adrienne Shaw said that different representation remains important because it shapes what types of worlds we can imagine. They could be a tool to create social change, and it all starts with prioritising accurate representation of women in games.
There is good news, a lot of the example I used came from mainstream publishers. Many independent creators are creating many sophisticated, positive and exciting depiction of women in games. This discussion has sparked my interest in games again and has motivated me to dust off my PS4 and to support games with active females roles.
I am looking forward to 2020 for the gaming industry and the release of The Last of Us Part II. This game is a sequel to the original The Last of Us where it follows a strong female character, Ellie, as she embraces on a journey for vengeance.
