Females in Video Games: Misrepresented or Misinterpreted?

The entertainment industry of today’s world is moving more and more towards a digital platform. Children of all ages, as well as some adults, are taking part in the digital entertainment revolution, where video games and fictional worlds reign supreme. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about violence in video games. In it, the violence in games is described, as well as the possible outcomes of the violence (i.e. corruption of younger minds that play them). Sometime later, I wrote another article about gender bias and how the media generally classifies women as inferior to men. It was not until now that I realize that the two articles could overlap to bring one major problem to light: gender bias in video games.

                As my professor stated in lecture, the classification of females is prominent in many aspects of video games. For example, in the “Grand Theft Auto (GTA)” franchise, women are portrayed as objects. They exist only to attract the gamer’s attention, and provide no actual sustenance to the game. The gamer is, thus, inclined to perform deplorable acts, such as murdering them or soliciting sex from them, simply because they can. I've thought in a similar manner when playing video games. I would never be able to do the majority of the things possible in that game in real life. Hence, when given the option to try it without hurting anyone or any consequence, I don’t really hesitate. It’s fun and entertaining to watch a “what if” scenario that would be otherwise impossible to witness. However, those too young to view these scenes (anyone under the age of 16 in my opinion) may not realize the distinction between reality and fiction.

In my video game article, I described a similar concept, where young minds don’t realize the difference between the real and the fictional. One must consider, though, what happens when something less obvious occurs. When children play games that portray women in a stereotypically degrading fashion, they are more likely to view them in that light. Similar to how one may not distinguish reality from fiction in violent games, younger individuals may not notice the difference between women in games and women in the world today. Obviously, women have equivalent rights in the world today. Portraying women as they once were seen (as objects) to younger minds will inevitably lead to biased views of women as inferiors.

In the textbook “Media and Culture”, a specific example of bias is used: a game known as “Red Dead Redemption”. The game follows a cowboy during the old western era in the US, taking place on the Mexican border. The article tends to describe the game as having no redeeming social value, and being on-par with GTA in its treatment/perspective on women. The game, though it does indeed tend to portray them in a negative manner, does so in an acceptable fashion. To elaborate, the game is highly consistent with the views and opinions of the world at that time. Women are seen as objects, but as most historians know, women were viewed as inferiors to men at that time. The game does not directly force you to kill a woman for fun. The book is incorrect in its description of forcing the player to “tie a woman to train tracks and wait for an oncoming train to kill her”. That instance is optional: something that the player can do of their own accord. They can still progress to the end of the story without doing it. The only motivation for completing this action is an achievement (something that Xbox players are familiar with), ironically titled “Dastardly”. As a side note, the achievement is reminiscent of the “dastardly” fiends in older western cartoons who do the same, and aren’t nearly as highly criticized.

If History had Achievements...

As stated above, the game takes place in an accurate western setting. The game itself has many redeeming social values. For example, the player is able to assist the sheriff of a town in capturing criminals, some of whom are based off of actual criminals known in that time. There are no Native Americans present in the game, but the main reason for this is that the game primarily takes place in Mexico, not America. Perhaps one of the most unique concepts is its take on the buffalo extinction in the area. The game actually has an achievement for killing every Buffalo in the “Great Plain” region, titled “Manifest Destiny”.

From the rating system, to other games, to countless cases of sexual harassment, the list of topics which can be reviewed to fuel the discussion on “underage gaming” is ever-expanding. The argument here is simple enough. Although the concept of women portrayed as objects in video games is obviously negative, historical games which do so cannot possibly be considered inappropriate. The only reason a game such as Red Dead would be inappropriate would be if it were sold to minors: an audience that the game wasn’t even designed for. When minors obtain games like these, they end up developing biased opinions. This is clearly seen in the recent NY Times article, where a gamer girl was harassed by her peers. While inappropriate games exist, the media should switch their focus from bashing the games themselves to bashing the stores that sell those games to minors. Simply regulating the flow of information, something which our government has been actively doing in other areas, would solve this issue in its entirety.