Game Studies Blog.
This area within video games is a rather sensitive area and generally sparks controversy; but that is within reason. This can be very distinct within some games, some others not as much. The reason to why gender is considered a sensitive subject is due to the fact that women can be over sexualised within video games and fall under the roll of being the 'damsel in distress'. However, this doesn't mean it's the case all the time.
While feminism is a good movement, sometimes the people that support it (feminists) can go over the top and blatantly throw around words such as 'sexist', 'misogynist ', etc. They can find that video games can be a great target due to the history of video games having cases of strong sexism towards women, whether it be in degrading roles as the role of a hooker in Grand Theft Auto, or even have lowered game play mechanic stats, or have provocative and questionable clothing which seems to serve as fan service. Personally I don't find this to be a common trait and a large focus as I see it as nothing more than a video game, but it's within basic decency to not degrade someone because of their gender. Sure it may follow a 'design' where the slimmer woman may have lower health and faster agility compared to the over dosed on steriods looking guy in a fighting game for example. But say if the woman is rather strong it her stats shouldn't be depleted because of this. Fan service however is very prominent within gaming as women are often placed in rather revealing clothing, where as men would have full armour most of the time in comparison. This may include Quiet in metal gear solid, some of the girls from street figther, etc. While it does make the character match their gender and make it clearly distinctive, designers shouldn't have to rely on sexuality so much due to the gender of gamers being close to equal of both boys and girls. Jake Carter - 17/08/2017 Comments are closed.
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AboutHere is where I'll be submitting my blog pieces for my Game Studies class in Tri 2. Archives
September 2017
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