Women and sexism in gaming
by Rubes · in General Discussion · 12/07/2005 (12:28 pm) · 27 replies
Ran across this tidbit from another site and thought it would be of interest here:
The web site that has the student papers is here. The report on the top row, in the middle, is on "Sexism in World of Warcraft" and I found it very interesting.
A couple of good excerpts:
20 to 30 percent? I didn't realize it was that high.
A non-random sampling, but interesting nonetheless.
Some pretty good discussion as well. I wonder if those numbers with regard to women players would alter anyone here's approach to their game.
Quote:As part of an undergraduate ethnography class at San Antonio's Trinity University, students were required to write term papers based on observation and analysis of interactions in Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG World of Warcraft. The class, titled Games for the Web: Ethnography of Massively Multiplayer On-line Games, produced a wide range of papers including discussions of sexism, customer service, gaming addiction, and colonialism.
The web site that has the student papers is here. The report on the top row, in the middle, is on "Sexism in World of Warcraft" and I found it very interesting.
A couple of good excerpts:
Quote:The world of any Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game is often an intimidating one for women. The gaming industry is still viewed as a primarily 'male' environment, and women are thought by many to be out of placeand even unwelcome in a MMO game. While the numbers of online gamers who are women are growing significantly, many players feel that the mindset of the industry as a whole has not caught up to the statistics, being that games are still designed and marketed almost entirely to men. Slightly over half of online gamers are women, and 20-30 percent of those gamers that play MMOs are women.
20 to 30 percent? I didn't realize it was that high.
Quote:every single female player interviewed chose a female character as their main character in the game, while male players were split evenly between playing a female character and playing a male character.
A non-random sampling, but interesting nonetheless.
Some pretty good discussion as well. I wonder if those numbers with regard to women players would alter anyone here's approach to their game.
#22
12/19/2005 (7:29 pm)
MMOs are where guys play girls so they can finally stare at a girls ass for as long as they want without getting their own ass kicked.
#23
12/19/2005 (7:43 pm)
Did you catch the Larry Summers flap Mr. Blake? If so, what are your thoughts? 
#24
But I found his comments surrprising in that he had been innundated within academia, and had to know that his comments would be taken askew by his colleagues and scholastic brethren. I wasn't surprised by the attitude or the comments any more than I am by political theorists on any side of an issue. I was surprised that he made them. He could not afford the same allowances that tenured professors have.
12/19/2005 (10:28 pm)
I thought it was a rather typical attitude. One mirroed biological extremes which characterize the bioethics of rape and the problematics in linear evolution which lead to scientific design arguments among biologists; without a social schematic or a meme evolution of how the idea of "will" has changed socially. It seemed tiredly typical, and brought out polarities on both sides of the issue, which is a function of minority politics. Comparing genetic biology to social and economic statistics can serve to justify racism as well as gender discrimination. Biology and economics have been used to justify everything from decorum to eugenics.But I found his comments surrprising in that he had been innundated within academia, and had to know that his comments would be taken askew by his colleagues and scholastic brethren. I wasn't surprised by the attitude or the comments any more than I am by political theorists on any side of an issue. I was surprised that he made them. He could not afford the same allowances that tenured professors have.
#25
Ok, let's just close eyes, put aside all this "Sims" series and presume that games ARE sexist. Horribly. Hairy, booby and what not.
Are they something that is mandatory for a human being to live ? No, I do not think so. Can playing games be controled by parents ? Yes, it can. So- if you do not like your kids to play all this dirty sexist stuff- just do your job as a parent. If it's about fully grown adult people- they either like it/ do not regard it important enough (otherwise they would not play) or nor (then- I presume- unless subjects of heavy mental disorder- they are not playing something they do not like). QED
If females would not buy and play all this horrible and unacceptable sexist games market would collapse- yet they still buy them (of course, majority of players are male teenagers but it's not like girls in games are just a fraction), they play them and - because games are not something that's enforced agains somebody's will- I presume they either do not think sexism in games is that important to make any fuss about it OR as opressive as all "liberators" tend to picture it.
Another approach- games are made to earn money to their creators. That's main purpose of making them. If people do not like them- they obviously do not sell and make creators search for new designs/products. You know where I am heading, right ? Playboy IS made of sexist stuff, so is Cosmopolitan. Still they sell quite well.
Just some random toughts in my poor english...
12/20/2005 (9:46 am)
Hmmm... i guess it's another variation of old "games are violent and spoil youth". Ok, let's just close eyes, put aside all this "Sims" series and presume that games ARE sexist. Horribly. Hairy, booby and what not.
Are they something that is mandatory for a human being to live ? No, I do not think so. Can playing games be controled by parents ? Yes, it can. So- if you do not like your kids to play all this dirty sexist stuff- just do your job as a parent. If it's about fully grown adult people- they either like it/ do not regard it important enough (otherwise they would not play) or nor (then- I presume- unless subjects of heavy mental disorder- they are not playing something they do not like). QED
If females would not buy and play all this horrible and unacceptable sexist games market would collapse- yet they still buy them (of course, majority of players are male teenagers but it's not like girls in games are just a fraction), they play them and - because games are not something that's enforced agains somebody's will- I presume they either do not think sexism in games is that important to make any fuss about it OR as opressive as all "liberators" tend to picture it.
Another approach- games are made to earn money to their creators. That's main purpose of making them. If people do not like them- they obviously do not sell and make creators search for new designs/products. You know where I am heading, right ? Playboy IS made of sexist stuff, so is Cosmopolitan. Still they sell quite well.
Just some random toughts in my poor english...
#26
12/22/2005 (5:35 pm)
Might he have done what he did full well knowing the likely outcome (i.e., counting on it)?
#27
12/23/2005 (10:38 am)
He's a very intelligent man, and his comments show that he did not go into it in ignorance. However, his responses to the overwhelming response (and who couldn't see it coming in academia?) seemed a bit taken aback. And unlike Ward Churchill, who is an instigator, Summers ended up admitting that he was out of his depth regarding gender research. And that his statements, meant to be provocative rather than normative, ended up well outside of his reductionist strategy. His interest was well-placed, yet his lack of research (as opposed to the field research upon which he generalized his comments) and the platform he chose to expound upon his ideas were misplaced.
Ben Jones
Damn, that rocks.
Anyway. Sexism is lame, it doesn't really exist in video games, and girls aren't really singled out in video games, except when they get hit on, but that happens to guys probbly more than girls.