When I think of video games, I think of either my12 year old male cousin or my 21 year old boyfriend shooting people within their games for countless hours. Both of these images include white males. The typical stereotype of video gamers is that they are only for hardcore, male, white players. Because of this stereotype, video games have created a status quo to ignore the female population in the gaming community. This is not a smart marketing strategy because women do make up a large portion of the gaming community.
Surprisingly, women above the age of 40 make up 38 percent of video gamers today. However, only men hardcore gamers are considered in the creation of new video games. Therefore, games are only incorporated with values and interests of that target market and ignore every other race and gender. In order for women to feel equal within society and within the virtual world, their interests and needs must be considered. Also, there will be more profits for game creators if they cater to women's needs because they make up such a large portion of gamers.
The power elite of the game industry is white males and secondarily Asian males, therefore, women are excluded. More specifically, 88 percent of all gamers are male, 83 percent are white, and 92 percent are heterosexual. This power elite determines which technology will be used and which will not, which games are made by which designers, which players are important to design, and which play styles are important. It essentially drives what is a game and what is not a game. Research on video games is even done on all male players. Evidently, the video game culture is exclusionary and alienating. If one is not a white male associated with hardcore games that include violence, guns, and explosions, that person essentially does not matter in the gaming world. The size of the controller for video games is even at a disadvantage to women and children. Because of the typical stereotype, women do not like to admit to being video gamers. Women feel ashamed to admit that they are gamers because they are treated with hostility, are not taken seriously, and do not fee like they belong.
Women partake in different types of games than men do. Women like casual games involving social farming, puzzles, strategies, quizzes, finding hidden objects, social slots, and role-playing games. Women do not see the point in shooting games, rescuing games, or violence. Women want to express themselves through creation and development. Women are also focused on relationships with people because their empathy and intuition are better developed. Unfortunately, video game creators and video gamers do not consider women's casual games to be real video games. These games are labeled as lesser by the rest of the gaming community. Therefore, marketing fails to address most women players by not creating games that relate to their interests.
Women feel uncomfortable playing certain games due to sexism and sexual objectification of women in games. Women in video games are displayed as sexual objects and not humans. This sexism makes women feel uncomfortable within the gaming world because they do not want to be represented in that way. They want to be represented as smart, real individuals and not as a man's sexual property. Overall, women just want to know that they are accepted and heard within the gaming community, and currently, they are not. If we do accept them within the community, the profits will be well worth it and so will the equality. Also, video games will allow women to gain the valuable skills that men have and games will help them relax and escape the stresses of life as well.
#MoreGamesForGirls #WomenAreNotMinorityGamers #VideoGames #CasualGames #SocialFarmingGames #PuzzleGames
Fron, J. et all. The Hegemony of Play. In Mendes, K. (Ed.) in Gender and media: Critical concepts in media and cultural studies.
Salter, A. & Blodgett, B. Hypermasculinity and Dickwolves: The Contentious Role of Women in the New Gaming Public. In Mendes, K. (Ed.) in Gender and media: Critical concepts in media and cultural studies.
Stargame, A. (2018, November 06). What do female gamers want? Retrieved from https://medium.com/@alexstargame/what-do-female-gamers-want-8850169d7be4
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