how interesting are the logics of gaming?

first of all the word game can mean it's inclusive of everything from board games, to online games, computer, to psp/1/2/3, xbox/360, gameboy, nintendo...blahblahblah, but really if you think about it the implications to different genders are really diverse! If you put all these games under the same catergory then farmville,world of warcraft, halo, c.o.d, twister, chess, snakes and ladders and all different types of gamers would be treated the same, but thus it is not. After taking on The Culture of Video Games paper back in summer school my eyes have been opened to the different representations of gender within video games, specifically the objectifying role of women created by a man dominated area. Theres a few point to note here, 1. That the female gender have stepped up and are now a growing part of the online gaming world, and are just as talented. 2. The stereotyping of characters within video games are at an all time high, with there being two main stereotypes, one which leads to the sexual objectification, and two which gives women strength by having a strong female lead character, but with implications such as the game is highly unpopular, the female character needs you to help her, or the character is a sexual object a tthe same time. I'm going to touch on the the last two.

In a male dominated gaming world it is only natural for them to produce their own image of women as their spectacles. 90% of video games cater to their need for this spectacle therefore producing games like Beach Volley Ball Series, where the women are all unproportioned in small bikinis, or fighting games like Tekken or Street Fighter where the women are in tight outfits showing most areas of skin (midrift, breasts, thighs). I sometimes wonder what the point is to this unrealistic virtual image because not even Victoria Secret models dress like that. Although it is highly popular, because of the growing amount of female gamers, feminism and sensoring has become a more popular matter and battles change the sexualisation and objectification of women in video games.

Going into my second discussion, female characters having lead roles,this topic is a contradiction in itself. As most of the game creators are obviously male the female lead characters who have indiana jones type roles, who are seen discovering different lands. Contradiciton is, they either need your help to make the decision, they ask male characters for help, or they walk around in sexually objectifying clothing, as in the case of Tomb Raider. Who is an athletic angelina Jolie typed woman who beats up the bad guys in small shorts and an extra small singlet.

I think it is key that society has come to terms with the stereotyping of women as sexual objects within video games, they are aware, and that sensorship has come from it to reinforce a more positive female gender role. This is the reasoning for websites such as womengamers.com and womeningames.com, women can do what men do, and should be portrayed with the same desency as men do.