sexism in the video gaming world

 sexism in the video gaming world

A majority would argue for the longest time that the male has dominated video games, having guns and car games.  However, as the real world is encouraging gender equality, the gaming world has not been left behind as the representation of women in the gaming world has increased over the past few years.  For example, in Great Britain, they have discovered that 40% of the game players are female across all platforms. Also, in the developing world, the numbers are skyrocketing, recording a total of 22% of the game’s developers in the world being women.  However, sexism is still alive in the video gaming world.

Stereotypes and clichés involving female characters. Most often, video games depict females characters are often being sexualized, which are portrayed with exaggerated figures and who are always wearing minimal clothing. In other games, women are still victims who are ever requiring someone to save them from the violation of games such as GTA.  The non-human characters are also hit with “female “sexism in the gaming world. A redesign of a Sheila, a female character in the Spyro trilogy games, the figure is given a nipped waist fancy eyelashes and a hairdo. This raised a lot of anger among people because people are wondering if it was necessary to redesign a kangaroo character to become “sexy.” Video games having characters who are in a certain way shows how the rest of society depicts the other gender. It is important to showcase all genders respectfully and positively, which the players can know that there is more to women than just wearing skimpy clothes and having perfect bodies.

Female characters in leading roles. Although there have been some positive changes in the leading positions in the video games, the number of female leads is still lagging behind.  Most children from the late 1990s played the Pokémon blue, yellow, and red, and the game was dominated by a man lead. However, the games have improved, and now gamers are given the option to choose either a male or a female as the lead role. The video game has the reputation of underrepresenting women which due to the culture that is deeply rooted in the industry. Video games can be an excellent platform to address issues such as sexism by depicting equality in both genders. Personally, it would be interested in supporting work by women and about them, which does not show any signs of sexism in the representation.

A study that investigated the representation of race in the video games stated that African Americans excluded the descriptions of the characters of the game resembled the game developers; white people. However, the black men were represented in games that real-life sports leagues. Aside from being in sports games, African Americans are underrepresented, and the ones they are featured as gangsters and street people. Kishonna Gray states that other non-black people always create black characters who portray black people as aggressive, dangerous, and have tremendous physical power. Also, there have been cases where black players are bullied for their identities; this happens whether or not they are playing black characters or not.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is about an African American Carl Johnson, this character, although they lead they have stereotypical racial tendencies. One, almost all black actors, Hispanic and non-white characters are represented in a gang banger. This game displays the African Americans as violent, causing people who can only mend their behaviors if they are threatened to lose their money. The racial stereotype is also viewed in the food available. In the game, the black characters have limited food choices where they have to choose from a range of fast food outlets. Even the CJ manages to own a large portion of California; he is still limited to three different fast-food restaurants. According to this game, CJ will always love food, and they will always go for the fast-food joints. This representation of black people has minimal facts about actual African Americans. Instead, this shows the gamer’s misconception about the African American people.

The change will begin from the game creators; the developers can make sure they provide a wide range of characters where one can choose from. They can go the extra mile by developing characters with different skin tones, black hairstyles that are more than cornrows and afros, and also effects that don’t make eyes slant. They can avoid creating characters from a fantasy race that takes on the stereotypes from the real life of an ethnicity. It is not wrong to play in character from a different race. However, people should be aware of the context they exist in, and it doesn’t help them understand what it truly feels having to live in that body. So if the game developers are determined to end racism, they should start with their creations. In this modern era, It is high time that the video game industry rips the traditional gender roles a powerful man and a scantily dressed sexy. It is also the same issue facing music videos nowadays, does that even matter? Some people ask. It significantly matters as it has an impact on the real world, especially on young people’s aspirations and self-esteem.