Women in video games

1) How have women traditionally been represented in videogames?

The way that women are traditionally represented in videogames are that they are objectified such as Lara Croft. Most female characters in videogames are their for male pleasure or in terms of story lines they are kidnapped which shows the sexism, heteronormativity, and misrepresentation

2) What percentage of the video game audience is female?
The percentage of the video game audience that is female is 42%. This is showing that the times have changed and the video game industry cannot survive with just targeting male gamers.


3) What recent games have signalled a change in the industry and what qualities do the female protagonists offer?
The recent games that have signalled a change in the industry is Tomb Raider, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, The Last of Us, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and The Walking Dead. All of these games have a female protagonist who have different qualities. Some of the qualities that they possess are strong, independent, intelligent, willful and compassionate.


4) Do you agree with the idea that audiences reject media products if they feel they are misrepresented within them?
I would agree that the audiences are rejecting media products if they feel they are misinterpreted within them because they don't want to play games where their gender is represented badly and wrongly. They dont want to be seen as sex objects. They want to be seen as having positive representations of their gender which means they will enjoy playing the game and the gaming industry wont loose sales.

5) What does the writer suggest has changed regarding recent versions of Lara Croft and who does she credit for this development?
The writer suggests the things that have changed regarding recent versions of Lara Croft are that they are trying to create a protagonist that the players can identify with compared to looking at her stereotypes such as having less flesh revealed. The person that she credits for this development is a person called Rhianna Pratchett who studies women in video games and their representations who taken over of creating the news Lara Croft.

Tropes vs Women in Video Games – further analysis


Visit Anita Sarkeesian’s ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games Series 2’ YouTube playlist and watch ONE other video in the series (your choice - and feel free to choose a video from season 1 if you prefer). Write a 100 word summary of the video you watch:

Title of video: Body Language and The Male Gaze

100 word summary:
This video is about movement and how they generate stereotypes such as sitting walking. Such as in Destiny when the women sits down in a crouch position. The camera angles, costume and poses are used to sexualise the female characters. The way they are walking doesn't really represent the part that the female character is playing. This is all for the male gaze and the pleasure for the males when they are interacting with the character or playing the game.

Anita Sarkeesian Gamespot interview

Finally, read this Gamespot interview with Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency and answer the following questions:

1) What reaction did Anita Sarkeesian receive when she published her videos on women in videogames? You can find more information on this on Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter fundraising page.
Some of the reactions that she received when she published her videos online about women in videogames is that she got a lot of harassment when discussing gender issues online, this time it's a more extreme and sustained torrent of sexism, hate, and threats. 

2) How does Sarkeesian summarise feminism?
The way that Sarkeesian summarise feminism is, she says that Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings. It's about working towards the equal treatment of women socially, culturally, institutionally, and economically.

3) Why do stories matter?
Stories matter because narratives have always been a core way human beings learn about, make sense of, and understand the world we live in. Stories have embedded myths and messages and can be carriers of positive, heroic, or subversive values, but they can also propagate or reinforce negative stereotypes and oppressive social norms. "The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms."


4) How does Sarkeesian view Samus Aran and Lara Croft (the two protagonists from our upcoming CSPs)?
Sarkeesian views Samus Aran and Lara Croft as postive characters and negative characters. She likes them because they are both protagonists in their respective games and are taking the lead which is a very encouraging thing to see. But, on the other hand the negatives are that they are represented negatively and are being sexualised and objectified for the pleasure for the male audience. 


5) How has the videogame landscape changed with regards to the representation of women?
The videogame landscape has changed with regards to the representations of women and hit has improved over the years as there are more females who are protagonists. But there are negatives because gaming developers have gone back to their old ways by producing games from the past with the same themes of harassment on women and them being objectified and sexualised and the female representations are at the expense of male pleasure and the representations are quite negative.


6) Why are Mirror’s Edge and Portal held up as examples of more progressive representations of women?
Mirror's Edge and Portal are held up as examples of more progressive representations of women because both characters are women of colour, and both serve as the protagonists of their own games without being overly sexualised or objectified, which may be partially due to the first-person perspective.

7) What are the qualities that Sarkeesian lists for developers to work on creating more positive female characters?
The qualities that Sarkeesian lists for developers to work on creating more positive female characters are: protagonists with agency not tied directly to their sex appeal; transformative story arcs where characters are struggling with or overcoming personal flaws; and some emotional depth and expression.

8) What is the impact of the videogames industry being male-dominated?
The impact of the videogames industry being male-dominated is huge because there are not that many women so when narratives, male and female characters are created it is coming from the male perspective, so that is why they are being sexualised. So thy need to get more females in the gaming industry so that the female representations change and when female characters are created, a female perspective is taken so that a positive representation is formed.

9) What did Sarkeesian hope to achieve through her ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’ series?
The things that Sarkeesian hopes to achieve through her ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’ series is she wants to promote media literacy and give people some tools to look critically at the games we play. She wants to  clearly present the issues surrounding women's representations as a systemic problem by identifying reoccuring patterns. She wants complex female characters because it will make games and gaming better overall, more diverse, and more innovative. Finally she wants this series to serve as a piece of the larger ongoing conversation already happening elsewhere about women in games.

10) What media debates did Sarkeesian hope to spark with her video series?
Some of the media debates that Sarkeesian hoped to spark with her video series is the reoccurring patterns of the representations of women in videogames, why people refuse to use certain media products because they are represented in it badly which effects there sales and how more females should work in the gaming industry to solve this problem.