I was a victim of believing this stereotype because I do not know many females who engage in video games often. Sheila Murphy noted that often games that are directed towards boys are adventurous and can be violent, whereas those games directed for girls usually revolve around secrets, puzzles, and juvenile activities that are generally more playful. I never noticed the difference until Sheila had said something because I never thought of electronic puzzles, such as tetris, or hello-kitty games as "video-games".
I, too, fell under the impression that all video games were adventurous, violent, and mainly for men. After listening to her lecture, I was able to have a broader and more detailed understanding of what video games were, and now know that they encompass much more than just the simulated war zones.
I was under the same sort of false impression. When I think about video games, no "girl" games come into mind; I cannot, off the top of my head, name a single "girl" videogame. However, I do have a good portion of girl friends that do play video games. When I hear the word gamer I do not automatically think of a guy. I think one of the interesting points from lecture was the fact that game companies tend to make more games geared at a boy audience because girls are likely to play them as well, which is why they are more popular. I could identify with this point because all of the girl friends that I have that play games do play these violent, adventurous games geared towards boys. However, I do not necessarily understand why this is true.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree; when I thought of gamers I always thought of nerdy guys. I guess this is due solely to the depiction from society because I have never really met a person like this and I do know a lot of people, including females, who play video games. Prior to this lecture, I did not even realize that there were games marketed specifically to girls. To be honest, all of the ones I have looked up do not even look like ones that I would be interested in playing. Maybe that it because they are focused toward a younger crowd but I do not think I would have played "Barbie: Jet, Set and Style" as a little girl; I was always interested in the video games my brother played. Regardless, this lecture made me open my eyes to the stereotype of gamers that society created and made me realize that I did not really agree with it.
ReplyDeleteThis is really an interesting topic, as I recently game across an article that discussed this. Besides the fact that games are completely gendered, there are even studies about how girls are over-represented in games like Tetris, or a category called "casual gaming". It is almost like video gaming is a magic circle for "boys only" and girls can have their own one with "casual gaming". Also- funny that only girls commented on this post and that a girl wrote this post: Boys just don't understand our frustration!
ReplyDeleteIn elementary school, my best friend Alexa and I were obsessed with Mario Kart. We played everyday after school and everyday the same argument arose. Who got to be Princess Peach today? While Princess Peach was appealing because she was pretty and a princess, she was also the only female character option. As fifth grade girls, getting stuck being Bowser or D.K was enough to ruin our day. When thinking about the nature of Mario Kart, it does not necessarily contain characteristics of video games that are directed at boys. While you can knock other drivers off the road temporarily, it's not particularly violent or adventurous. In fact, I know of a lot of girls who play Mario Kart. So, why was there only one female character in the game? Today, I would hope that the game makers have added more characters in order to ensure that girls feel more represented in the game. I think it's important that female players are present in all video games, especially ones that are as gender neutral as Mario Kart, so that females can feel that video games are as much their domain as they are males.
ReplyDelete-Paige Rowin
The Ninejas
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