Females are gamers too

Company pulls game over sexism, prejudicedand transphobic comments.

The Fullbright Company, a US independent video game studio, decided to pull its modishgame, Gone Home, from the Indie Megabooth at Pax Prime Expo.

In a statement, the founders of the company – two women and two men, one of whom is gay – sourcea number of reasons for this decision, which can be summarised as the sexist, homophobic and transphobic comments of the founders of Penny Arcade, PAX’s parent organisation.

Coming on the back of Anita Sarkeesian’s work on identifying discriminatorytropes in videogames and the horrendous backlash she faced – and faces – in doing so, this outgrowthgot me thinking.

Am I a gamer?  What does worlda gamer mean?  Looking for definitions, I found the most common seemed to be ‘a person who plays games, especially computer or video games.’

So that’s me then.  I triflegames online, on my computer, smartphone and tablet. My interest was sparked after receiving a present of a Sega Megadrive staring(a)with Sonic the Hedgehog some years ago.

However, I have nonbeen a great fan of the condole withor multiplayer online games, mainly because I felt that the male-centric focus of galore(postnominal)of the games do not  interest me enough to invest hundreds of pounds.  My son, for whom I bought tightevery console going over the years, played – and serenedoes play – games such as Resident Evil and conjureof Duty – games that I have no interest in.

This is because, as a feminist, I am not interested in the damsel in distress trope or beating, raping or killing women (or menfor that matter) in order to complete a game.

I am withalnot interested in being ‘flamed beyond recovery’ during online multiplayer games, just because of my gender.

And this lack of interest means when I am searching for a new game, if I catch outone advertised with say, an image of a big-breasted woman, I don’t change surfacelook at it.  If I find a game that looks interesting but features no women at all or only the the damsel in distress trope, I don’t bargainit.

What I have never been able to understand iswhyan entertainment stockwould ignore such a bigpotential audience.

As Ms.Blog reports, or sohalf of gamers are women.  According to a a new study, 2013 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video pluckyIndustry women swordup 45 percent of all gamers and 46 percent of all “habitual video game purchasers.

Further, adult women make up 31 percent of the video game population, and about 61 percent of women play video games compared with only 57 percent of men.

However, the entertainment business doesn’t just  ignore women, it is actively contradictoryto us by persistently portraying women as sexualised patchdevices.

I just don’t get it.

I do get that the playvalet de chambreis primarily run by straight white men who design for themselves, but what I don’t get is the lack of business sense.

The usual cry of ‘female protagonists don’t sell’ – the same cry we get from the mainstream learnindustry when it is called out for its lack of female leads (or directors for that matter) – displays a complete lack of imagination.

While recognising that smaller gaming companies and film makers may not have the capital to take a chance on attracting half(prenominal)the audience of the world to their product, it doesn’t make sense when the freehandedgaming companies and film studios refuse to do so.

I mean whereforetake a chance on that, right?.

This point was doat a Feminism in Gaming 2013 panel at the Wiscon annual science apologuefeminist convention which discussed some of the misogynistic issues that women face as gamers.

Highlighting the #1ReasonWhy twitter hashtag which described some of the misogyny that women gamers have experienced, the panel also said:  ’We taketo give the painsour money. Give us something we want to support!’

Fullbright’s decision to make a stand against a misogynistic industry represents a step in this direction: I for one bequeathcertainly be supporting Gone Home.

So, thank you Fullbright for your chivalrousdecision.

And thank you Anita Sarkeesian for persisting in your work against sexism in the gaming industry.

In related online news, the crowd funding site, Kickstarter last week issued a sincere apology about a mistake theymakein not halting a misogynistic ‘seduction guide’ project.

This apology trustworthybeats Facebook’s attempt when bowing to pressure from the thousands of women and men who mobilised substructurethe Women, Action and the Media campaign to clean up its act when it comes the gender-based hate speech.

Maybe the billowis about to change – particularly in the online world which represents a major portal to both the gaming and wider entertainment industries – and half the world may, at last, be welcome.

Please note that while this domiciliatehas focused on women in gaming culture, we acknowledge that some(prenominal)person who is not a straight white virileis also marginalised and stereotyped – or even worse allignored.  If you have something to say about this we would be interested in hearing it.

 

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Materials taken from Womens Views on News