Lingerie Is Not Effective Protection.

The objectification and sexualization of female characters in video games is horrendous. Originally women were portrayed as the overtly sexualized and objectified damsel-in-distress in constant need of rescuing from the heroic male protagonist. In modern games, such as the Tekken and Final Fantasy series women have begun to gain strength and power. However, these women continue to cater to the male gaze by being depicted wearing almost nothing and are always gorgeous. The newer versions of Tekken, for example, have recurring male characters that have naturally aged since the original versions. The female characters, however, were either not allowed to age or were replaced by their daughters. This is not equality. Games should at least be consistent across gender.

The majority of games feature women for sex appeal, even if it is inappropriate for the circumstances of the game. Many of the outfits that they are given are skanky and impractical. No one goes hiking cross-country in high heals or runs into a vicious battle in metallic lingerie. This again brings up equality as A. Lingerie is not effective protection; and B. I do not see the male characters dressed only in metallic boxers. Aren’t games concentrating on realism now? Rather than being primarily concerned with graphics the companies should take a long hard look at their characters.

The pictures (see below) that were discussed in the lecture actually offended me. I believe that I am the same size as the woman in the picture, and I did not for a second think that I am at the extreme end of the spectrum, even if it is a game. I felt very grateful towards the guys that were on my right commenting “What the fuck! She’s not fat at all!” A lot of media is, in my opinion rightly, blamed for indirectly causing self-esteem issues and in more severe cases depression and eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa in society, specifically amongst teenage girls. It is only since the lecture on gender and video games that I realized Video games belong to that category as well. As well as this, depicting women in this manner gives the male gamer (and the majority of media consumers) unrealistic expectations of what females should look like.

Wanda Hart

Lady Popular

I've decided to try playing Lady Popular. I registered, chosen my eye and lips shapes. I'm ready to go. At each of the levels, I have to pass a set of goals, to allow myself to get to the next level. Okay, teaching girls to set up goals and to achieve them, may be a positive thing. An outfit is chosen, doesn't matter how much the clothes cost, fashion is very important! As is the hairstyle, which must be updated and coloured with each passing trend. I have a lot of money to spend for someone who has a Carwasher for a boyfriend, who only gives me 50 bucks at a time. Yes, I have been to the clubs to flirt, with the intention of catching a guy. Guess I am only worth a carwasher for the moment, until I earn my status. How sad. Body image is equally important, so I got myself a gym membership. How often I'll go, I have no idea. Apparently 57kg is the ideal weight to maintain, either less or more, and I will be less happy with myself. Another good lesson taught by the game? Third lesson taught would be that I need to be of a certain IQ level. In the library now, to read for half an hour... Actually, to play mini games such as puzzles and connect the dots. Fun.... Very tedious, to be honest. I am at level three at the moment, and I am ready to give up because I can't get my IQ high enough... Sigh.. Got to read some more.. You actually have to stay online for the 15 or 30 minutes you are 'reading'. How annoying. Oh, by the way, on the other hand, I also have a new apartment which I am renting at the moment. I get to decorate it. How cool. Why is everything so expensive? Can't I buy second hand, so I can save my money for other things? So, I am still waiting for my IQ to go up to get up to the next level, and I only have 9 dollars left.

This game is boring...

Gender in play: boy & girl games

In considering the gender issue in games I found the discourse surrounding the issue quite fascinating.
In one of the studies conducted it found that given the choice between guns & cars and dolls & tea sets in a basket, both three year old boys and girls they unerringly choose gender-specific toys.  In other words the boys pulled out the guns and cars, the girls pulled out the dolls and tea sets.

This small demonstration shows off the social engineering of both boys and girls.  After this weeks hysterical tutorial I pondered on my blog entry & began to think;

Although there is great disparity between girls and boys games.  Is that the designers/maker/creators fault or are girls simply attracted to pink, airy fairy, dress up games and boys to shooting games.  The age old saying "boys will be boys" seems evident from these studies (although I admit I havn't exactly done any thorough research)

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/boys.htm

A Modern Example of Narratology.

Here's a good example of the kind of dismissiveness that was associated with narratological arguments in Ye Olden Dayes.

Of course, this is a specifically Literary Magazine, and presumably not in a framework where they take the study of games seriously at all, so the context is relevant.

- Kevin

Inequality in Video Games

This abundance of inequality and stereotypes within video games is a subject that personally does not get a lot of attention. What I don’t understand is why is this allowed to happen. Yes in the past this inequality was throughout all media and most part of society. However here we are in the 21^st century and video games, which are being played by the young generation, portray the ideologies of such a small-minded society. I know that media is a powerful tool and they know that these imageries are what sell. However all it takes is a little bit of change to allow the consumer to adapt to these new ideas. When looking at modern games it becomes obvious as to what is being portrayed. A macho masculine identity along side a feministic, submissive sidekick. Men are still dominant and woman still seem to be the lower equivalent in these virtual worlds. How does this make sense when we are supposed to be living in an equal modern society? This push towards gender equality is prevalent through the examples shown in tutorials, but for some reason they are still associating themselves towards the sexualized image.

Also through the concept of ethnic portrayal, why is it that the characters still reflect this white supremacy. When today’s world is actually predominantly interracial and is a combination of so many ethnicities. Shouldn’t the gaming companies try to adapt the games to the consumers, thus creating relatable circumstances? I know the industry is set in its ways but a shift in focus and equality I hope is just around the corner. Where all we can hope for is just a little more equality to such a thriving industries that hopefully will be around for generations to come.

Blogger on phone testing

Found this game on App store. Will come back to this game with details very soon.

stereotypes vs cybertypes

Stereotypes have infiltrated the internet, turning into cybertypes which are stereotypes framed through the systems of the game. This allows players to accept and understand reassuring versions of race that they are used to see in books and movies. In a way, I think this represents real society as it brings prejudices from society into the virtual online world.

I will discuss asian cybertypes vs stereotypes in this blog post.

Edward Said has a theory called "orientalism" which means that the world is seen through the eyes of the white man. According to Said, "The Orient was almost a European invention," a space of romance, exoticism, of "haunting memories and landscape," a cultural landscape upon which the West painted its Other." Therefore, the "other" is everything that the white man is not. This can be seen through binary opposites:

white black

dirty clean

rich poor

light dark

This can also be applied to cybertypes where characters are based on stereotypes and are built upon white characters. For example, in Lineage II, there are a selection of a playable race from human, dark elf, elf, orc, dwarf and Kamael. Once race has been selected, the player can customise the appearance. However, each of these characters have limited hair color/styles. Such as the Orcs, they are the only race allowed to have braids and dreadlocks suggesting a stronger link between the fictional race and real-life ethnicities associated with these hairstyles.Also, the minimal number of facial feature options total lack of skin tone modification lead to social exclusion. Humans, elves and dwarves are white as opposed to dark elves and Kamal who both have a pale gothic complexion. Orcs have dark and green skin.

Therefore stereotypes and cybertypes are effectively the same thing, except cybertypes are displayed through the medium of cyberspace.

Persuasion and Games

I’m sure we’d all like to think that we can remain immune to being persuaded by a game. At the end of the day, it’s just a game...Right?

I think it’s interesting to think about this in relation to some of the games that exist.

There’s a game I played a while ago on ps2 called ‘Burnout: Crash’ (I think?) where you essentially earn points for crashing into cars. You are rewarded for crashing. I was pretty amused and simultaneously shocked by the idea really.

I mean, I had played ‘Gran Turismo’ as a child and quite enjoyed it. Thinking back, it was a game which rewarded you for something you would actually be rewarded for in real life – your car racing skills. Obviously, in the real world you have car racing champions. So, ‘Gran Turismo’ is a pretty “normal” game in that sense.

However, ‘Burnout: Crash’ rewards you for the exact opposite. Well maybe not exact opposite (because it does still involve skill), but it’s something that seems absolutely absurd when you think about it. And I would hate to think that a game like this is teaching people that this kind of activity is worthy of reward and praise. Because it’s not!! (Well not in the real world anyway).

But is that really what ‘Burnout: Crash’ is teaching people?

Or is it simply a game... which is there as a source of entertainment and joy?

It’s hard to say. But in the end I don’t really think games should be seen as educational tools, rather, they are educational messengers. They are not used FOR education, but for fun. However, in the process they do remain responsible for educating people in some way – through implication or the like. So, with that being said, they do have to remain accountable for whatever they may educate.

Game creators must know that they are changing people’s views of the world and so must be responsible for this...whether they like it or not!

Mr Jenkins Goes To Washington

I mentioned this to one of my tutorial groups the other day, but I think it's useful for everyone.

Prof Henry Jenkins, who has come up once or twice in this paper, and probably in others, was asked to speak before Congress about violence in videogames in the aftermath of the Columbine shooting.

This piece has been published elsewhere, but is luckily available free online:
http://www.mit.edu/people/cshiley/Content/NotMine/jenkins.html

It's a fascinating piece, both on the way that the US political system works, and also in the way he constructs his argument. Well worth the read.

Gears of War. Representations and junk.

So I am slightly conflicted when it comes to the Gears of War series and the structure of the character and whether they are positive or not.
since Gears of War is a MANLY GAME FOR MANLY MEN! it is pretty obvious if I were to talk about the masculinity of the characters, having necks the size of elephant feet, biceps bigger than a 13 year old, and voices of gravel in a wood chipper.

Just to clarify, I love Gears of War, but I haven't finished the third game yet, I do know of all the spoilers since all the people I follow on Tumblr are ass-buckets.

So I am talking bout Female and Race representations.



Ladies first: The leading lady Anya, basically the brains behind most operations within the game, Delta squad will also ask Anya for advice and help, she is a good support role, In the third game she continues this except she is then a playable character, Within the game characters question why she is so dedicated to the military, Dom answers is because she cannot have children. So in one way you can think of her as a helpful strong and competent woman, but on the other hand its almost as if the game is saying "if woman can't have kids, what else are they good for?" To be honest I don't find her overly sexualised, she has the same uniform as the other characters, not looking like a chainmail bra.

Also the 'Doms Beard' easter egg applys to her and every other character in the game, not just the men.

I could keep going on about female characters in Gears, But lets move to Race.

So Gears of War has a wide variety of ethnic characters.
Domonic Santiago - Hispanic
Marcus Fenix - White/ Caucasian
Mihn Young Kin - Asian (Korean I believe)
Tai Kaliso - Samoan / Pacifika
Augustus (The Train) Cole - Black / African decent.
even an Australian woman, Samantha.

Of coarse the focus is around Marcus Fenix, being the main protagonist, but to be honest, he isn't the most likable character compared to the other three main support roles on Delta Squad being Dom, Cole and Baird. Dom, brings a lot of emotion and depth to the story, while Cole and Baird go hand in hand as both a comic relief pair, and real partners, almost like an opposites attract kind of way (seriously, its weird, search them in goodle images and the partner comes up as a suggested search).

to be honest, if the characters were consistant to their race, and had only white characters, the game would be extremely worse. the writing would be terrible, it would be this big serious gruff game. While character like Cole Train bring a lot more colour to the game.
wow, what a terrible joke.
What I find is unique about the Cole Train is that he may have certain stereotypes written with him. but in all honesty, he is one of my favourite characters in all shooter games, he is hilarious and loveable. If I play with friends, its always a race to see who can play as Cole Train.

It's almost as if, his blackness.. isn't a bad thing! fancy that! a black character people love, because he's the ironic kind of black. He's not the 'token black guy of the series' No, that would be Jace, that character brings nothing to the table.

CAN'T STOP THE TRAIN BABY!

The Arkh Project -- "People of colour" and "Queer people"

I found this link online tonight of a game (Arkh) that aims to become a major, “quality RPG” released for Windows and Mac (and possibly xbox live) and is currently raising money for production that aims to break the precincts of races, gender and sexuality. It’s aim is to market to a demographic of “queer people” and “people of colour”. It rejects the cybertype in as many ways as possible by constructing the game around two female characters, one black, the other white (both fully armoured and clothed), capable, intellectual and, from what I can gather, are already romantically involved, or have the potential to become romantically involved within the game.
Taken from the website, the head of the project and coordinator, Riley, stated that “This game is to help normalize the millions of other people who play video games!”

All in all; I found it interesting =)

Game's underlying implication and race

Persuasive games and the concept of 'procedural rhetoric' was so hard to understand. While being in the lecture room yesterday, I thought 'Wow....Videogames..so many theories.. there are so many things to learn!' Honestly I was so lost.. couldn't get the grip on this concept.

Then today's tutorial was a great help in some sense. We talked about GTA: San Andreas and how the game depicts 'socio-economic representation' through fast-food/salad binary and a black protagonist in the game. Moreover through such example I understood the concept as a game having an 'underlying implication that persuades or convinces the gamer.'

Though I was quiet uncertain how the concept operates. Subsequently one of my classroom colleague asked 'Then does it mean that a game is to underlie a some sense of ideological (in a broader sense) meaning in order be persuasive? or enable the player's engagement with procedural rhetoric?' I also asked 'Does a game necessarily need to have a narrative for it to convey its underlying implication?'

Mark (our tutor), being aware that I am a huge soccer game fan, thankfully provided examples of my favourite game genre to make my understanding much easier. He said for example one of the earliest FIFA soccer game series had around 5 'white' players' facial templates' while in contrast only contained 1 'black' soccer player's facial templates- which the game may have had underlying implication of 'racial minorities' perhaps because 'blacks look all the same?'(no offence)

That's my understanding of persuasive games. I think that 'race' possess a prodigious sector in the games' underlying implications. On the other hand please do correct me if my understandings are wrong. Please,.. so then I can get the thing right with you guys' help.

Rhetorics of Play

Games clearly have an adverse effect on those who play them. Whether viewed ethically or not death, robbery and prostitution are all aspects of gaming today, perhaps because those who play them would never conceive of taking part in such pursuits in reality. The primary game that comes to mind is undoubtedly Grand theft auto which is produced by rockstar games. This is arguably one of the most violent and immersive games in the market.

Cybertypes and Maplestory

I was reading the about the cybertypes and it really reminded me of this example in this children friendly game, Maplestory by Nexon. Maplestory is a side-scrolling MMO and like most RPGs you get to choose a class. In most classes like warrior or mage you can choose any skin colour during character creation but when the Aran was introduced, the default skin was tan and to change it you had to pay cash. Nakamura describes the cybertype as having,

"generated a form of pervasive blackness

in video games that honors a hypermasculine, material, anti-intellectual, and

violent cybertype."

This definitely applies to the Aran as the class prides itself in being the strongest warrior class with high damage through weapons. The racial juxtaposition of tan skin and brute strength is not so subtle in this case. However Nexon did change this upon releasing it in the global server but the lack of criticism before the change is quite disturbing in my opinion.

-Jacob Hui

Complexity and Developmental Decision-making

We've been talking a lot about the societal and ideological implications of games. One point which I feel perhaps needs to be taken more strongly into consideration is the technological framework within which game developers must work.

Consider the Mass Effect / Dragon Age example from Wednesday’s lecture. (Note I’m not familiar with these games in any depth, I’m just going off of what Kevin described). The point was raised about Mass Effect only allowing romances with specific NPCs, and not others. Every NPC adds complexity. If there is to be any branching or variable possibilities in their conversational options whatsoever, this complexity begins increasing. It is simply infeasible to write and program in every possible level of interaction the player may want into every NPC. Thus a game designer may very well break characters down by function: side quest, main plotline, enemy, ally, romance option, etc. To me, it’s important to remember the distinction between what things would, and would not, be of equal difficulty to implement. Thus the relevant element of that example is where one game makes sex the important part of a romantic relationship, and the other intimacy and emotional connection. These, I would say, are roughly the same level of complexity, but show a difference in ideology and perceptions of their target market. Similarly, Sim City, as a simulation, was never going to be able to perfectly model the nuances of a real city (and arguably, nor should it aim to); what’s interesting is how they solved the simplification problem.

On the other hand, the fact that games are increasing in complexity makes me wonder about structural incoherence and the future of games. Level of world detail is becoming a selling point (e.g. Skyrim…). The amount of effort going towards stuff which is merely meant to be incidental is staggering. And yet, it’s kind of bizarre, that this is the books in Oblivion, and yet all the guards in Skyrim apparently took an arrow to the knee, or so I hear. But in games which aren’t making this kind of detail a main feature, the developer is always going to have to prioritise, weighing up time and effort vs. how much of a difference this will make to the final product, and/or, the final profit.

To Persuade or Not To Persuade

Todays lecture was something I'd like to think about as frustrating. And not because it was difficult to follow (it was definitely not) but because of one of the ideas that came across. Kevin mentioned 'Procedural rhetoric' - games follow a procedure and figuring out these procedures leads to being able to understand the game. The idea that the player is in control and that agency is highly depended on. All I'm thinking about the whole entire time is Angry Birds. I will shamelessly admit, I am a fan of the game and it made me realise not just how frustrated and ironically angry while playing it I get but it also made me realise just how much agency is used during the game. I've watched my friends playing the game and seeing them sitting around for hours on end finding any possible action or way to be able to squash every single one of those annoying little green pigs in as little moves as possible fascinated me. And not because by the end of my amusing little live show that they would be ripping their own hair out in frustration at these little green pigs who sit there on the screen, not moving a muscle, slowly tormenting these players. But because todays lecture finally made me realise that even in a minuscule game such as Angry Birds, procedural rhetoric is valid. And its valid without players even realising they sit for hours on end, getting the perfect angle in order to shoot these fat little birds across a screen to squash a couple of pigs. Huh, sounds a lot less frustrating in words than it actually does to play it.

Jenni M.

Resident Evil 5, or "How to insult a continent"

When I saw the trailer for Resident Evil 5 in the last lecture, it reminded me of the awkward impression it first left on me a few years back. At the time, I was a huge fan of the previous and fourth installment, which took place in rural Spain. The storylines of these two games are remarkably similar; White alphamale dude enters some remote exotic area, witnesses an outbreak and deducts that the appropriate solution is to massacre hordes of infected people (rather than, I don’t know, escaping and contacting authorities).

Even so, having the latest game set in Africa felt really shady in my opinion. I won’t go into historical exploitation or try to guilt-trip every white person reading this. That’s not the point. But there are some painfully stereotypical portrayals of blacks throughout the game, even before the outbreak. As Chris strolls down the streets flexing his massive chest and Arnoldesque biceps, the locals already act hostile and threatening as if to signal a clash between civilization and barbarism. I still remember one of the trailers, where Chris laments “There is no humanity here”, while a shot of ORDINARY Africans pans over the screen. Christ, so much for subtlety.

Not to mention, the virus causing the outbreak is not really making them zombies, just altering their behavior and cell structure. Which makes the hordes of enemies look more like a regular mass of blacks in all-out lynch mode.

Oh man. I love Capcom and Resident Evil, but this game was cringeworthy on a massive scale. It’s like the developers were happily unaware that some might see this bipolar divide between Western and African cultures as a wee-bit orientalist. Do I even need to mention Edward Said here? He always warned against creating polarities and exotic stereotypes of non-Western cultures, and here we are, letting it slide in a modern video game. But oh, wait. It gets even worse. In Resident Evil 5, you reach a point where Chris finds himself in the middle of a swamp-area. And, wouldn’t you know it, tribal and primitive natives come running out half-naked with wooden spears. They even yell the oh-so familiar “OOGA BOOGA”-kind of language. Oh god. The previous enemies were hard to accept, but this?

I don’t really care if anyone thinks I’m overreacting or pulling the racism card too eagerly. It’s just that the picture of some white guy ‘cleansing’ the helpless, violent natives by murdering every single one brings some very awkward connotations of a white man’s burden. C’mon, Capcom, this is some murky territory you should get out of while your dignity still hasn’t drowned.

Lars Hermans

Representations in San Andreas

Alot of fellow students have defended San Andreas, arguing that it does not harm or impact how we live out our 'real' lives. San Andreas is indeed harmful to society, in particular Afro-American culture.

The concept of playing a black street gangsta must not be ignored when looking at the effects the game has on us. It represents a particular segment of society and as such changes our understanding of this particular segment of society through representing it in the manner it does. San Andreas is definitely not the sole element in this representation but belongs to a larger discourse in popular culture of Afro-American representation. As we learned in stage one this representation is neither fully absorbed or completely denied and is instead negotiated into our understanding. Although there may be an element of 'truth' to this representation of ganglands in America (nobody can deny the existence of street gangs in urban America), the decision to portray this to a global audience can dominate our perception of what is to be black in America.

Furthermore the idea of creating a game with an anti-social, violent Afro-American protagonist, in conjunction with the lack of other Afro-American protagonists represented in popular culture is very irresponsible. In much the same way hip-hop culture can be argued as harmful to black culture, San Andreas perpetuates a character (CJ) that those which he represents aspire to be. In this regard a white middle class male may not be affected in the same way, as representation of him in popular media would be different, thus not feel the desire to aspire to be like CJ.

The argument of San Andreas brainwashing us on a unifrom level to shoot prostitutes and jack cars may be wrong but it doesn't make the game any less harmless.

Africa...Resident Evil (lecture Theory and Culture)

Interesting lecture on Theory and Culture last week Friday as it began to heat up at the end of the lecture. The lecture on theory and culture made an impact to my understanding and how how video games are created and perceived by it's creators. The avatar of the characters created on resident evil that was shown in the lecture with a white muscular man and skinny scary African zombies attacking him, this is an offensive game as I stand by the South African from South Africa who found it offensive. If you are from New Zealand where racism is not really an issue, it really comes down to where you are from and where you stand in this world. I am not South African but I stayed in South Africa for two years as a student in Johannesburg and I know where this young lady is coming from. Coming from a culture where some people were not bought up with apartheid and these creators probably do not even know how it feels to live in a country such as Africa. Not all places in the African contienent is bad but it is how the media perceive these places. Like in the film Blood Diamond with Leonardo Dicarprio violence speaks for itself but it does not mean ALL places are like this in Africa. If a place has been exploited like this in Resident Evil then the creators do not know how it does offend some people.Especially how it "they"were depicted in the game. It does not mean if there are hungry people out there, they are violent. There needs to be respect in some ethnicities. Going back to it depends where you are from,if you are from New Zealand you will have a totally different view in playing this game. But if you have an African background, then you will either burn this game or not even play it all. I interviewed my friend Jessica Fourie from South Africa and Nigeria,she finds it very offensive but her brothers do play Resident Evil 5:The dangers of Africa, but they find it weird and still like to play it, they are just playing it for the sake of the game not thinking that it is offending them somehow, then I asked they know the title is the dangers of Africa but they still want to play it?then she said no it is because they want to have a laugh and just disagree with it's context. But it does not matter at all only just as long as it ain't real! glory to God! so yes Kevin's lecture was really good and yes it made many gamers out there think that don't play the game because it's just a game, play it and know how "other" people feel and the discrimination between others ethinicities. I am Samoan and the only game I know that have pacific islanders in is Rugby 08 where Tana Umaga and Cricket 2010 with Ross Luteru Taylor in it. I know people do not want to know but just something interesting.

The King of Kong- A must see doco!

A couple of years ago this doco screened in the Auckland film festival. It is one of my favorite documentaries, maybe even films, and I would thoroughly recommend it as a useful case-study of a particular subculture of the gaming community (the retro arcade games community). The film features some larger than life people!

The trailer really speaks for itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJZ-_bJKdI

Here is an excellent review of the movie also atJoystiq:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/02/joystiq-review-the-king-of-kong-film/

If anyone does see this or has seen it tell me what you think!