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by Tumescent on 08:09 PM May 20th, 2005 EST (#1)
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Sexism is blamed for there not being enough video games? For crying out loud, it's not sexism, its supply and demand.
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by B_Riddick on 11:18 PM May 20th, 2005 EST (#3)
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It figures they'd take that line. Feminists and their lackeys often seem to do so when the truth is, they're being shown more and more favoritism even in fields such as this one. It's like they feel the need to head the truth off at the pass.
Speaking as an avid and experienced game player, I can honestly say that there are a disproportionate amount of games coming out with a lot of focus on "girls who kick ass", etc. When I say disproportionate, I mean skewed in their favor, having a female main character, etc. Given the low amount of girls who play these games, by their own choices, it generally means they're relying on male consumers who don't mind playing female characters. Fortunately for them, there seem to be many such guys out there...a trend I've noticed among some male gamers is that they even favor female characters in many cases over males. (and the game developers often make these characters more powerful than the males, in games where you have a choice of characters.)
Dialogue and storylines have become more hackneyed, politically correct, and feminized as well. Many would not agree with me, but the recent Bioware games are a good example of that. They always insert some feministic , morally superior postergirl as the most important NPC, and force her presence upon you whether you play a male or female character (The names Aribeth, Bastila, and Dawn Star will seem familiar to some I'm sure) . Male characters get the lion's share of evil and comic-relief roles, while females kept popping up in positions of power, or as innocents who have been wronged by evil males, etc. (Noticed that while playing Jade Empire in particular). When they presented the player with a moral choice which involved siding with a female character or a male, if your character was trying to be a good guy it was generally a safe bet to side with the female regardless of circumstances, she always turned out to be the morally correct choice.
I was trying out a recent game called Dungeon Lords (which I actually like, but I have a problem with the writing in some parts) which falls prey to these things as well. It also has female-only classes/character types which seem rather overpowered, but females can choose from any other class as well...males have nothing exclusive in the way of class options there.
In terms of opportunies and education in the games industry, I noticed a while back they were offering girl-only "game design camps" where they introduce kids to the world of game design, etc. No male-exclusive stuff here,sorry. Males also face a huge amount of competition from other males in the field, since it's one that mainly appeals to guys in any case, but of course game companies and magazines desperately hire their quotas of token chicks who don't seem to need actual talent or anything, they just want to show the public they have women working there too. I've read some really clueless articles and reviews by female "staff" of gaming websites and magazines, and in most cases even a simple fan of gaming like myself knows more about what they're writing about than they do themselves, despite having access to industry info which I don't possess (E3 is a big example, press and industry only event). They're not all bad, and there are some excellent female gamers out there with a love of the hobby as strong as anyone else's, but they are the exception, not the rule.
It's not like it's so horrible for them, guys treat them like celebrities, suck up to them constantly, viciously defend them in many cases (I've seen some gaming forums where it got pretty ugly when a guy disagreed in some way with the local "grrl gamer" of the boards).
That doesn't stop them from expecting special treatment in this and every other field, of course. If women in a given field aren't present in great numbers, they say they lack "representation", and need favoritism to "even things out." If women dominate a field, hey, that's as it should be....sorry guys, try something else.
Sorry to get so long-winded about it, it's something of a pet peeve with me, and an industry that I care about, and hope to get into someday...while knowing that if I were female, I wouldn't even have to worry about whether or not I could get my foot in the door. It'd be guaranteed as soon as I expressed interest.
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by Tumescent on 12:11 AM May 21st, 2005 EST (#4)
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Your comments are interesting and thanks for including them here. I had no idea that video games were subject to the same feminist indoctrination that other aspects of life have now days. I only play historical flight simulator shoot em ups...not much the feminists can do with that. There weren't too many female P-47 pilots in WWII.
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by Tirryb on 01:46 AM May 21st, 2005 EST (#6)
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I fully agree.
I have three kids, all of game playing age (6 through to 11), one girl and two boys. Just this week I sorted out their games, as all the cd's were getting lost and scratched. I was pretty surprised by how many more games my daughter had than the two boys. This was NOT favouratism here - when I sat and thought about it, I realised that on each trip to the gameshop, my daughter was far more likely to find a game she wanted than the boys were.
In terms of choice, she has action games that are (as you say) girl-centric, strong female characters battling the odds. Then there are non-voilence games, which again seem (to my eye at least) to have a female-centric approach - games like Zoo Tycoon, Catz, Dogz, etc. She's constantly trying to get me to buy the Sims range of games, again this seems to be a franchise that aims equally at the sexes or maybe slightly more at girls (my opinion - the boys have shown zero interest).
When it comes to the games itself, I agree that there is a strong gender bias in terms of characters. The bad guys and goons are always male - I can't think of a single game I've played where the bad guys are girls. If there's a dumn character, it's male. Gruff boss, male. Smart scientist, woman.
I've noticed exactly the same on tv, particularly with channels like Nickelodean. The majority of new programs seem to be aimed at girls, or to have strong(er) female characters. Stupid sidekicks are always boys. Clever spies are always girls.
What a world...
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by Anonymous User on 12:58 PM May 23rd, 2005 EST (#9)
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Also note that these games featureing female main characters that the female is almost always beating up males. I.M.O. this also incourages female violence against males.
It's the same on T.V.
I can't count the number of times I have been flipping through the channels and seen a 5'2'' 99 pound girl kicking the s**t out of a 6'7'' 200 pound man. The FOX T.V. show "24" is really big on this whole female beats the hell out of a male then ties him up and gags him, dominates and humiliates him, etc, etc.
The ABC show "ALIAS" operates similarly.
Every where you look in "entertainment" this theme is PREVILANT.
In the movies, TV, Novels, magazines and video games.
And NO ONE is asking the obvious question: "What effect does this have on males?" Especialy young boys.
Already I can see the effects on society. When I was younger you didn't see this preponderance of wussie-poopie males that liked being hurt by females, hated their own gender to a fault, or turn Uncle Tom against their own gender. An anonymous poster, here, once remarked that "men are sexualy masochistic..." I think she(?) had a point. Even when I was a teen I do not recall male TV and movie producers that wrote so MANY anti-male scripts. Scripts where men are routinely kicked in the groin, beaten up, tied up, dominated and humiliated by females.
No. This is a RECENT phenomenon. It began in the last 10 or so years. In 10 years LOOK at the damage it has caused.
Remember; We are what we consume.
If we are fed a steady diet of images of wussie-poopie, submissive, self-loathing males then that is what we will, and are now becomeing...,
Thundercloud.
"Hoka hey!"
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by B_Riddick on 01:43 PM May 25th, 2005 EST (#11)
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Here's a link to a recent article on this topic:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gender/story/0,11812,147 9782,00.html
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by cnewbyuk on 01:22 AM May 21st, 2005 EST (#5)
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In Japan, there are many females team leaders and developers of games. The fact of the matter is this. Games developers are dubbed as geeks by society. Women mainly want roles that are "trendy". This is one of the reasons why many of these "get more females games developers" type of drives fail.
You can take a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink. So what is going to happen, the water is going to be changed.
We are all forgetting the how to llok at this. Look at children. A child will bang on about wanting some expensive toy. Once the child gets the toy, the chances are that they will 1) play with the box, 2) get bored of the toy in seconds, 3) swap it with some other toy of less value. In this situation women will be the same.
cnewbyuk - British black dude who wants to become a dad, not a modern day slave
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by Anonymous User on 02:06 AM May 21st, 2005 EST (#7)
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Since video game addition is likely a contributor to the reduction in male college graduation rates, it's time the industry came up with something as addictive for girls. Personally,
I'm all for it.
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Men's shoes come in Black & Brown . . no, no, wait and some Grey . . . whilst women can any and every colour. Same with men's knickers, Black & White, sometimes Grey . . then they wonder why men do not buy as many pairs as women ?
Oh, yes, and they accuse men of being dull and lacking adventure . . but trying to find something different is a hard job.
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by Anonymous User on 01:28 PM May 23rd, 2005 EST (#10)
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Try shopping at GOODWILL.
No, I'm sirious!
I find alot of neat, brightly colored shirts when I shop there.
As far a dress shoes are conserned, though, I'm afraid they don't have alot of selection, either.
But to be honest I don't think I would want to own a pair of hot pink dress shoes, anyway. :-)
Thundercloud.
"Hoka hey!"
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by jabes1966 on 09:56 PM May 22nd, 2005 EST (#8)
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This is idiotic. This is the same kind of hoodwinking the feminist do regarding women in the military.
They force all of the armed forces to reduce the physical fitness tests stating:"women are being denied the opportunity to serve their country"
The armed services aren't there to give opportunities!
They exist for protecting our way of life!
It's a simple market decision.
#1 girls/women don't even own game consoles in nearly the same numbers.
#2 if a girl game was released, it would have to be fiercely marketed just to get marginal sales.
#3 I get screwed by the same marketing decisions.
I'm still waiting for a good Role playing game, or strategy game to come out. But companies figure they would rather have the 5,6,or 7th basketball/football/racing game in 2005 because of the size of the market of sports games players vs sci-fi/fantasy players. I'm not whining about it.
What.a.bunsh.of.drivel.
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