Genderspace

Kurt: I'm glad you decided to re-post this entry as it raises questions that are certainly worth discussing.

Let me start with the obvious. Given that the majority of games are created by men for men, it isn't surprising that the women characters depicted in them are going to model the attitudes of a highly sexist culture. This just furthers the author's point, and I agree, of how immature game culture is. Given the demographics of both the players and creators, what do we expect? Furthermore, are we still surprised that women fail to take pleasure in these games that continue to depict us as prostitutes and princesses?

The harsher reality is that even though some creators think they are revolutionizing the gaming industry by creating action-hero women, the truth is that their efforts are totally lost because of their often sexist views of women. (Let me stress that I am not limiting my critique to the gaming industry. Misogyny manifests itself in a plethora of conscious and unconscious ways, thus marginalizing women politically, socially and economically.) Having said that, I often wonder how many gamers are avid porno-watchers. I wonder this because the women in both pornograhic films as well as games have the same look. Just look at the pictures of the women that the author posts within her article - all are beautiful, big-breasted, smiling and posed perfectly for the male pornographic gaze.

I can't say that if game companies started paying attention to this sad reality, thus creating believable female characters, that I would be any more inclined to play games. The truth is that I lost interest in gaming years ago ... sometime shortly after Mario Bros. for the Super Nintendo. While it's hard to determine exactly why I lost interest, I feel confident in saying that, like most women, games simply don't appeal to us like they do to men. This is decently obvious given the unfeminine goals of games: shooting people, raping prostitutes, racing cars, making tons of money, conquering the world, etc. Personally, it all seems like a waste of my brain power to sit in front of a TV, push buttons, and get upset, for no meaningful reason.

The good news, as I see it, is that this illustrates the potential for artists/game developers to create material that non-gamers can feel an emotional attachment to. From what I have heard, this is something that game companies are aware of and are certainly trying to implement into their products. I certainly don't think that game creators are sitting around saying, "We don't know how many women play our games, but we really don't care." I'm sure they are wondering how they can make their products appeal to an even larger demographic. While I give them the benefit of the doubt, I find it hard to believe that their priorities lie in developing material that is entertaining for women. In order to accomplish that feat, they would first have to hire women. We know how difficult this concept is for Hollywood.