Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Week 11: Tutorial Presentation
Greetings! My tutorial presentation is on Henry Jenkins and Justine Cassell's article (2008) 'From Quake Grrls to Desperate Houswives: a decade of gender and computer games'.
Jenkins and Cassell’s short and informative article explores the relation between gender and gaming over the past decade. In particular the article explores the types of games being targeted towards the growing number of girl gamers.
Although progress has been made the gaming industry it is still catering for a stereotypical image of girl gamers. The stereotypical girl gamer, for instance, isn’t interested in the latest action release. It is a stereotype which suggests girls need to be taught how to cook, care for pets and play virtual dress ups. Girl gamers are being conditioned into games which perpetuate images of the perfect housewife and mother. It made me wonder how many racing car games had a majority of female characters to select from. So whilst this stereotype continues to be perpetuated by the gaming industry, games haven’t become a gender free zone.
The gaming industry is a growing field. A decade ago, Jenkins and Cassell point out, a feminist conference about gaming was controversial. A lot has changed over the past decade and the article reflects the authors continued interest in this field. Jenkins and Cassell were particularly interested in what games were being made and targeted towards girls. Despite the developments made in the past decade women are still the minority in the field of digital design technology and the implications of this cannot be ignored. If women are the minority working on developing games, men must make up the difference. How profitable are girl games? What kind of benefits do these companies receive for tailoring towards a gendered consumer?
Consider Desperate Housewives verus The Sims. I haven’t played either of these games but I suspect that The Sims is kind of never ending game. Desperate Housewives on the other hand places the gamer into the community. What happens once the gamer has solved the puzzles and fitted into the community? Restarting the game won’t be like creating another sim. The game, I imagine, would simply repeat the same formula over and over again. The end result: a new game must be brought to satisfy the gamers thirst for challenges and change. It suggests the constant need for girl gamers to purchase new games, thus becoming a target audience. Is it any wonder there aren’t many girly games available or variations of existing games for the millions of girl gamers? What kind of computer or video games do we engage in? Does gender affect your choices or attitude towards the idea of gaming itself?
The article also highlighted a diverse range of opinions. The ideas presented stemmed from a feminist understanding of gaming as ‘site to right all kinds of wrongs’ (303). An idea which didn’t really seem compatible with the gaming industry catering towards established gender roles. The games for girls tended to have a softer selection of background colours (how many car rallies take place with a pale lilac track?) and interface designs which were more ‘friendly’ for the user. The smaller, newer companies on the market which could offer a potential alternative to stifling gendered games currently on the market are under strong pressure to acquiesce to the major companies. Sadly these larger companies aren’t pushing for feminist games.
I feel like the article didn’t really reach a conclusion. It felt like one long discussion. Although it did get me thinking, is it common to hear or see girls buying or playing videogames? Every time I’ve stepped into a computer store, women have been the minority. Scanning the latest games available, the gender gap seems enormous. My local target catalogue, for instance, devoted an entire page to ‘girly’ games and in a small box on the opposite page were the ‘serious’ games. All the games were from large electronics companies. The girly type games included Hannah Montana, pet animals and fashion advice. Although it appeared games geared towards a female market received more attention, the intention of the games certainly weren’t screaming pro-feminism. These are hardly the kind of games which transgress the gender divide.
The relationship between gender and technology needs to be explored further. Is the seemly large focus on girly type games in target catalogues a form of feminist backlash? The majority of games aimed at girls today seem to propagate the stereotypical image of the girl gamer. So, do you think we should be critical of the games available? Is the relationship between gender and technology something that needs more attention?
Jenkins and Cassell’s short and informative article explores the relation between gender and gaming over the past decade. In particular the article explores the types of games being targeted towards the growing number of girl gamers.
Although progress has been made the gaming industry it is still catering for a stereotypical image of girl gamers. The stereotypical girl gamer, for instance, isn’t interested in the latest action release. It is a stereotype which suggests girls need to be taught how to cook, care for pets and play virtual dress ups. Girl gamers are being conditioned into games which perpetuate images of the perfect housewife and mother. It made me wonder how many racing car games had a majority of female characters to select from. So whilst this stereotype continues to be perpetuated by the gaming industry, games haven’t become a gender free zone.
The gaming industry is a growing field. A decade ago, Jenkins and Cassell point out, a feminist conference about gaming was controversial. A lot has changed over the past decade and the article reflects the authors continued interest in this field. Jenkins and Cassell were particularly interested in what games were being made and targeted towards girls. Despite the developments made in the past decade women are still the minority in the field of digital design technology and the implications of this cannot be ignored. If women are the minority working on developing games, men must make up the difference. How profitable are girl games? What kind of benefits do these companies receive for tailoring towards a gendered consumer?
Consider Desperate Housewives verus The Sims. I haven’t played either of these games but I suspect that The Sims is kind of never ending game. Desperate Housewives on the other hand places the gamer into the community. What happens once the gamer has solved the puzzles and fitted into the community? Restarting the game won’t be like creating another sim. The game, I imagine, would simply repeat the same formula over and over again. The end result: a new game must be brought to satisfy the gamers thirst for challenges and change. It suggests the constant need for girl gamers to purchase new games, thus becoming a target audience. Is it any wonder there aren’t many girly games available or variations of existing games for the millions of girl gamers? What kind of computer or video games do we engage in? Does gender affect your choices or attitude towards the idea of gaming itself?
The article also highlighted a diverse range of opinions. The ideas presented stemmed from a feminist understanding of gaming as ‘site to right all kinds of wrongs’ (303). An idea which didn’t really seem compatible with the gaming industry catering towards established gender roles. The games for girls tended to have a softer selection of background colours (how many car rallies take place with a pale lilac track?) and interface designs which were more ‘friendly’ for the user. The smaller, newer companies on the market which could offer a potential alternative to stifling gendered games currently on the market are under strong pressure to acquiesce to the major companies. Sadly these larger companies aren’t pushing for feminist games.
I feel like the article didn’t really reach a conclusion. It felt like one long discussion. Although it did get me thinking, is it common to hear or see girls buying or playing videogames? Every time I’ve stepped into a computer store, women have been the minority. Scanning the latest games available, the gender gap seems enormous. My local target catalogue, for instance, devoted an entire page to ‘girly’ games and in a small box on the opposite page were the ‘serious’ games. All the games were from large electronics companies. The girly type games included Hannah Montana, pet animals and fashion advice. Although it appeared games geared towards a female market received more attention, the intention of the games certainly weren’t screaming pro-feminism. These are hardly the kind of games which transgress the gender divide.
The relationship between gender and technology needs to be explored further. Is the seemly large focus on girly type games in target catalogues a form of feminist backlash? The majority of games aimed at girls today seem to propagate the stereotypical image of the girl gamer. So, do you think we should be critical of the games available? Is the relationship between gender and technology something that needs more attention?
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