In a paper written by Tracy L. Dietz, a student at the University of Central Florida, the impact of video games on people, most notably children and teenagers, is discussed. Are games influencing gender roles as we know them today?Tracy and her friend, Michael D. Ware, used 33 popular video games at the time it was written, in 1998, to conduct the study. The top 10 Nintendo and Sega Genesis games were used for their experiment. They would play the games, paying close attention to subject matter and the role of females in the games. Out of all the games tested, Dietz says, "Only 15% portrayed women as heroes or action heroes. However, one might note that in many instances these heroes were dressed in stereotypical female colors and/or clothing." So women are displayed as typical stereotypical women, even in the world of video gaming. In other cases, Dietz found that women "are shown wearing skimpy clothing," or are "frequently presented as sex objects or were depicted as contributing less than men." It seems like video games are showing women to be less than men overall.
Looking just at the largest numbers, women would be appalled, but there is little reason to be. In many cases, women turn out to be fan favorites, or become a goal for the player. For example, in the series "The Legend of Zelda," created by Shigeru Miyamoto, the trend of including the playable character's name in the title was thrown out in favor of adding the name of Zelda, the "damsel in distress", the main character's final goal, and, as seen by many fans, his love interest. In an article written by Nicholas Zacharewicz, Miyamoto stated that he "makes playable characters not to placate female gamers but to better fit game mechanics." So, therefore they use females to create a reason to play, as a tool to enhance your experience. But they do not do this in a way that is insulting, rather in a way that makes you wonder who came up with this, who had the bright idea. Creating games that make bad on the roles of women in society, it seems, is not something Miyamoto does for a living.
In conclusion, video games do have an impact on gender roles, but only because people over think the reason for the main character to be who s/he is. If the people who play these games and think "Hey, that's how I need to be," would understand that it's just a game, this wouldn't even be an issue. But, to each their own, I suppose.
Works Cited:
Zacharewicz, Nicholas. "Shigeru Miyamoto on Women in Nintendo Games." Examiner.com. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Dietz, Tracy L. "An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games:
Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior." Sex Roles, Vol. 38 (1998):
425-42. Print.
