Performing and Passing in the Gaming Industry
The fact that terms such as “girl gamer” and “lady gamer” exist already sets off warnings signals, informing one of the male-dominated gaming industry up ahead. Women are categorized as a separate gamer, implying that the template for a “regular” gamer is male. But why? According to the International Game Developers Association, women represent forty percent of all gamers, and the Entertainment Software Association claims that the average female gamer plays games 7.4 hours per week. Yet, gaming industries admit that they are failing to draw in a larger female population to match their male audience and that they are failing to entice women into buying a wider selection of games, thus losing out on billions of dollars. While this may stem from the fact that only 12 % of women make up the industry workforce itself, I argue that the gaming industry has not successfully expanded their market because it upholds the idea that a women needs to either pass as a man or perform a strictly constructed definition of “female” (or an uneven combination of both) to thrive (and spend their money) in the gaming industry.
In terms of passing as male, some women who play games online admitted to using gender neutral names in order to avoid harassment from the other male players. These women have noticed that the other players leave them in peace because they automatically take the neutral names to be male names. That such a precaution is even deemed necessary illustrates the male dominance in the gaming world for females are thought to be foreign and even unwelcomed. The technique also allows women to pass as males (even if their name is purposefully neutral) and thus they can “fit in” with the population of the gaming world.
Furthermore, the website Audio4Fun carries voice changer software that, according to Eurogamer, “[is] designed to stop female gamers from getting hassled by stinky old boys.” The software, titled AV Voice Changer, allows women the option of deepening their voices online. The company claims: “[This software] is…a unique product for female [gamers] who want to prove that playing online games is not a pastime for men only, and their talent can make male partners goggle.” I disagree. The software only strengthens the idea of a masculine identity firmly encasing the gaming industry. Even with spectacular gaming talent, a woman has to pass her voice off as male in order to receive credit.
On the other hand, if a woman does not want to pass as a male, the gaming industry gives her another option: she can perform her gender in an over-the-top manner to justify gaming. For example, Sony took the liberty of manufacturing a pink PS2 in hopes to reel women, especially young women, into gaming. Sony assumes that if these women do not want to partake in masculine games/consoles, then painfully “feminine” ones will snag them. Along with pink consoles, software companies such as Ubisoft (known for its violent games) now produces “female friendly” games such as “Babyz,” and “Fashion Designer.” A search for “Babyz” on Amazon spawns suggestions for purchasing a pink Nintendo DS and games such as “Cooking Mama” and “Imagine Babysitters.” Such games tell these girls that if they must play video games (and for the industry to acquire those missing billions—they must) then they need to flaunt that they are female gamers, as opposed to simply being “gamers.” Such efforts only divide male and female gamers even further.
In the gaming world, femininity can also end up a performance for the sake of the males in the industry. For example, the gaming & technology channel G4 has “Video Game Vixens:” an “awards” show for female video game characters with categories such as “dirtiest dancer,” “best booty,” and “most dangerous curves.” The female characters are hyper-sexualized for the pleasure of the channel’s male audience. On the other end of the spectrum, if a female character is not a “sexy, lethal, videogame babe,” then she can perform her gender by being a passive damsel in distress. I came across this problem when owning my first video game, Kingdom Hearts. I did not want to save the (adorable) main character’s best friend, Kairi, because she was asleep and helpless for most of the game, minus the rare times she awoke only to be a burden. Meanwhile, the main character’s, male best friend had all the fighting skills in the world. I admit that I still adore Kingdom Hearts, but the game helps illustrate the fact that if a main female character is not stunning and sexy, she can always be cute and useless.
Finally, some games attempt to crunch the idea of performing and passing together, which only results in an uneven mixture that once again glorifies a patriarchal gaming society. In particular, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Melee features 26 playable characters in total, 4 of which are female. If such a representation is not daunting enough, two of the four characters, Zelda and Peach illustrate the attempt to perform and pass within the game. For Zelda, her character has an alter ego, Sheik, which a player can switch to, in order to grant her an incredible speed boot and strong attacks. However, with this switch, Zelda’s appearance changes from being clearly female to a masculine ninja clad in armor and bandages and sporting a rather flat chest. Technically Sheik is still female, but this faster, more powerful version of Zelda can easily pass as male. One can even transform Zelda directly into Sheik before the round starts, making it easier to ignore her more feminine counterpart all together. Finally, Pink and ditzy princess Peach has her own arsenal of strong attacks making her competition for many of the other male characters, and yet her “femininity” is painfully exaggerated: from her high pitched voice, to her bright pink princess dress, to her shocked “Oh, did I win?” after she had clearly won the round. As if to balance the fact that she is a skilled fighter, Peach performs her stereotypes all too well.
So, what’s the solution? I believe a good place to start is by granting women more freedom in character designs. In “Star War Galaxies,” an online role-playing game a player may choose via the “torso slider” how small (or large) a bust size their avatar has. The feature was made at a female players request illustrating that females players can desire to look “sexy,” (however they define the term) yet, problems arise when the gaming industry demands them constantly looking a certain way— be it overly sexy, or overly cute .With more freedom in character design from RPG’s to shoot-em-up games, women can have a firmer footing in the gaming industry as gamers, and as software developers in order to ensure the quality of the designs. No longer, should the “female” portion of “gamer” be necessary.
Works Cited
Gibson, Ellie. “Lady gamers get voice changer.” Eurogamer. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news070706voicechanger>
Herndon, Matt. “Female video gamers need more options.” The Signal Urbanite. 2 Mar. 2009. <http://media.www.gsusignal.com/media/storage/paper924/news/2009/02/03/Perspectives/Female.Video.Gamers.Need.More.Options-3610302.shtml>
Reisinger, Don. “Just stop it already: Women do play video games.” CNET News. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-9986327-17.html>
Soukup, Charles. “Mastering the Game: Gender and the Entelechial Motivational System of Video Games. ” Women’s Studies in Communication 30.2 (2007): 157.
Wakefield, Jane. “All women gamers, please stand up.” BBC News. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5407490.stm>
Winegarner, Beth. “Video games—a girl thing?” CNET News. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://news.cnet.com/Video-games–a-girl-thing/2008-1043_3-5618256.html>
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Sherella/Mista Jay–
(Do you not have the original marked copy of your last paper? That’s what belongs in the archive you are assembling here.)
Your last paper, on “achieving a market”
http://gandt.blogs.brynmawr.edu/web-papers/writing-groups/achieving-a-market/
made the very striking claim that the marketing of feminine appearance is something women themselves choose to engage in for their own purposes and self-esteem, rather than an act that is imposed on us by others, such as employers, or husbands.
So it surprises me that in this paper, which is also about marketing—this time, the very specific marketing of video games to women—you pay less attention to women as agents, and more to the developers who script particular roles for them. What role do “female gamers” themselves play in the bi-directional activity that is buying and selling, producing and consuming product? You show them using gender neutral names and voice changers to disguise their gender online, in response to a hostile climate there, but otherwise, we don’t do much, except–@ the very end—request the option to adjust the bust size of our avatars.
Your claim that the gaming industry has not expanded its market to include more women because it upholds conventional gender stereotypes is a description, not really an explanation. It’s tautological—describes what’s happening in terms of what’s happening, not in terms of cause and effect.
So: where might the “more freedom” you say you desire come from? Sugar Spice has just written an essay about how the internet has changed the genre of romance fiction. She argues that gender roles in this genre have changed because of the increased practice of online blogging about the fiction: publishers are attending to what readers say they like (and don’t), and making adjustments accordingly. If her report is accurate, why do you think the same phenomenon is not happening in the gaming world?
Mista Jay–
Your last paper, on “achieving a market” made the very striking claim that the marketing of feminine appearance is something women themselves choose to engage in for their own purposes and self-esteem, rather than an act that is imposed on us by others, such as employers, or husbands.
So it surprises me that in this paper, which is also about marketing—this time, the very specific marketing of video games to women—you pay less attention to women as agents, and more to the developers who script particular roles for them. What role do “female gamers” themselves play in the bi-directional activity that is buying and selling, producing and consuming product? You show them using gender neutral names and voice changers to disguise their gender online, in response to a hostile climate there, but otherwise, we don’t do much, except–@ the very end—request the option to adjust the bust size of our avatars.
Your claim that the gaming industry has not expanded its market to include more women because it upholds conventional gender stereotypes is a description, not really an explanation. It’s tautological—describes what’s happening in terms of what’s happening, not in terms of cause and effect.
So: where might the “more freedom” you say you desire come from? Sugar Spice has just written an essay about how the internet has changed the genre of romance fiction. She argues that gender roles in this genre have changed because of the increased practice of online blogging about the fiction: publishers are attending to what readers say they like (and don’t), and making adjustments accordingly. If her report is accurate, why do you think the same phenomenon is not happening in the gaming world?