A couple of weeks ago the internet was heating up with the accusations that video games are sexist. I didn’t really feel the need to write about it until I saw a friend on my facebook feed posting about it with a comment about how horrible nerd culture can be. Since video games is a hobby I put a lot of time and energy into, I figured that I should probably give some sort of comment.
I guess my biggest problem with the recent accusations that “video games are sexist” is that the claim is mostly based on two trailers that Square Enix put out (one for the new Tomb Raider game, and the other for Hitman Absolution). Perhaps this is mostly a semantic argument, but condemning the entirety of video games because of two trailers seems really off to me. They are not even trailers for games that are released to the public yet. If people want to argue that the Square Enix marketing branch is sexist, they may have a case, but no matter how offensive a commercial for a product is, I think people should at least wait to play the finished product before passing judgment.
Though, that is not to say that some video games aren’t sexist. Maybe that is part of the reason why all these websites calling out video games as sexist now is so frustrating. There have been things in video games that have been sexist for years. Take for example, often times, fighting games often have their female characters weaker but faster, mostly justified because women aren’t as strong as men in real life. That may be true, but then why are these women barely wearing any clothes, not even a bra? Since it is completely unrealistic and counter-intuitive to how actual women would fight, it is hard not to conclude that the only reason women are designed like they are in many fighting games is due to trying to sell and identify to males by way of female objectification.
Despite these developments happening for years, it is not until the sexism is packaged and shown in a way that everybody can understand can people actually talk about the content in a video game. Actual meaningful conversation about video games is rather rare in the mainstream, and is even sometimes hard to find on dedicated video game web sites and forums. This could be because the interactive nature of video games makes it harder to have a conversation (especially if the game is open enough to allow for many sorts of play styles), but it just feels like video games are not taken seriously until they are doing something wrong.
Take a game like Trauma for example. It is a PC game about a woman who goes through her dreams and interprets them in order to deal with her parents’ death. The game is narrated from a first person perspective, and trying to solve the dream logic in an almost photo essay form allows for the player to understand who she is better. Or how about games like Saira, Swords and Sworcery, or Noitu Love 2 Evolution who have protagonists that are female, but do not focus on their gender? Does the fact that they aren’t sexualized in any way make them not sexist? Or how about a game like Blackwell Legacy where one of the characters uses sexist vocabulary to the female main character in order to seem anachronistic and out of touch?
To be honest, these questions are never raised probably because no one plays these games. The sad fact of the matter is that there are insensitive, violent, sexist games out there, but there are also games that try to be different and don’t take the easy road in order to sell on sexism. This is similar to movies, books, etc. Video games are in this weird place that many people have enjoyed them, but they haven’t become essential enough that people still generalize and make broad assumptions about interactive entertainment. Sure, I could go on and on about how popular games like Angry Birds, Tetris, The Sims, Animal Crossing, and other video games are completely contradictory to the sort of blanket statement that all video games are violent and sexist, but for some reason, people tend to let the worst color their perceptions. Imagine if people listened to Eminem’s “Kim” and decided that all music, not just Eminem’s music, or even rap music in general, was violent and disturbing. Video games just have not reached that place in people’s heads where they are a subjective medium and not just a toy for adolescent boys.
Though in the end, perhaps the better question if video games deserve to be taken seriously by the mainstream. It becomes a bit of a “chicken and egg” problem, for if no one is willing to buy video games that don’t just pander to the lowest denominator, then who can even afford to make those games in the first place? The only answer I can come up with is that if people really feel strong about making games that are not sexist, then people will make these games even if it doesn’t make a profit or not. Maybe one day we will have the video game equivalent of Bridesmaids and it will make waves and smash the ideas that female focused games can’t sell. But until then, I urge people who play video games to stop playing the games that offend you and to start talking about games that challenge your perception of what video games are and can be in the future.
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