This paper represents the culmination of all of the building blocks that have been posted throughout the last 16 or so weeks. While this paper will ultimately be removed from this post (in March), I felt I should post it here for a while to see if anyone had anything to say about. When thinking about this paper, keep in mind that this version is written to fulfill the requirements of a seminar in qualitative sociological methods.
If there are any questions, feel free to email me at: nick.lalone@gmail.com
Representation of Women in Popular Video Games: Rediscovery Through Cultural Proximity
ABSTRACT: Despite their popularity, there is a dearth of sociological research about gendered depictions in video games. In 1984, several companies from Japan consciously took control of the failing video game industry. For the first time since video games had been created, both hardware and software were manufactured in Japan, for Japanese consumers, and then translated for American markets. In America, computer gaming became a small subculture associated with a derogatory, socially isolated, “nerd” culture. With the success of the Xbox 360, the American computer gaming and console gaming markets have converged. The cultural proximity of these video games has lead to a new age of relevant American cultural references. This research, recognizing this new cultural proximity, analyzes the content of 9 of the best selling, non-sport, non-related video games. Specifically, this research tries to answer what messages about gender, particularly women and femininity, are being communicated by these games. In video games, different characters are programmed to act in different ways according to the genre and context of their environment. Overall, I found that female characters are programmed to reflect stereotypical roles in American culture and often as characters who need to be rescued. However, this research also finds that there are several unique female roles for female characters in video games. As an example, in the First-Person Shooter type of game, a female is often the voice of command or information. In these games, an Anglo male is the default, or only, character a player may choose to be.
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