The Gaming world continues to rise as a cultural phenomenon. Over 40 million people in the UK play video games, with over 53% of women and 51% of men considering themselves gamers. Gaming has been found to foster a sense of community, as well as serving to develop a wide range of skills, from logic and decision-making to creativity, the ability to multitasking and improved hand-eye coordination. Around 70% of UK gamers say that playing games makes them helps them to feel happier and 58% say that it allows them to deal with difficult periods in their lives.
For many years, gaming was a predominantly masculine space, created by and for heteronormative men. Games were largely violent, depicting women almost exclusively as hypersexualised, fragile characters who were either abused or rescued by hypermasculine, aggressive men. Whilst these negative tropes may no longer be as prevalent as they once were, there is still a way to go to ensure inclusivity and unproblematic representation. This applies to both game creation and the portrayal of women and other minority groups in-game characters.
It is crucial to understand that, as with any other media, video games can shape society and influence our behaviours. So, I invite you to join me in critically discussing both the ongoing issues in the gaming world and the positive changes that are making gaming a more inclusive environment for everyone.
There has been a long-held stereotype that gaming is only for boys. The stereotypical gamer boy is often Probably the socially excluded boy hidden away in his room, most likely with a raging vitamin D deficiency. Whilst the statistics above demonstrate that this is simply not true, women and girls are still made to feel like outsiders in the gaming world. Many face regular sexist comments and harassment simply due to their sex. A 2022 UK report revealed that over two-thirds of female gamers reported being harassed by male gamers and a third noted thatsaid they don’t turn on their microphone for fear of being harassed by male gamers.
In a recent interview, Australian Twitch streamer Paladin Amber told ABC News that she and her female friends would play under aliases to avoid being harassed online for their gender. She shared that she frequently faces doxing threats (the release of personal information online) and death threats from male gamers. In 2023 she took part in a small experiment where two well-known male gamers had their voices altered to sound more high-pitched while gaming. As a result, they experienced threats, sexual slurs, and harassment from other male gamers, as well as a higher rate of people leaving the game early- something they were not at all used to. This experiment shows the extent to which women can be excluded simply due to their gender - it has nothing to do with their gaming skills. Of course, men also experience harassment whilst gaming - , a 2019 study by Savanta found that 11% of men such as being have experienced negative bullying or behaviour on gaming sites - but women are often subject to more severe harassment such as stalking and sexual harassment. A 2024 survey by the research agency Bryter found that 59% of women and girls have experienced some form of online harassment from male gamers with 28% saying this is a regular occurrence. As a result, women report higher levels of psychological distress with nearly a fifth of women saying gaming has had a negative effect on their mental health.
The exclusionary nature of video games is further reflected in the presentation of characters. Whilst progress is being made to better represent women and other marginalised groups in video games, there is still work to do. Britney Lin’s 2023 study examined over 100 games from the 10 highest-selling video game franchises released between 2017 and 2021. The study revealed that 79.2% of main protagonists in games are male compared to 20.8% being female. They also found that a shockingly large percentage of characters (61%) are white. Almost all the female characters are non-playable (NPCs), relegated to “secondary” or “decorative” roles. This reinforces the idea that women are less important and less capable than their male counterparts. The traditional gender norms are therefore reinforced, where men are the strong heroes and women the passive figures serving as objects of the male gaze. Ultimately, this sends a clear message: gaming is for predominantly white men and boys and not for women or people from minority groups.
This lack of representation is often combined with a hyper-sexualisation of the women present in video games. As feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian points out in her YouTube series Tropes vs Women, the recurring trope of slender female body with exaggerated features reflects the industry’s historical catering to a heteronormative male audience. This trope objectifies women and reduces their value to their physical appearance. Whilst one can identify tropes of male bodies being hypermasculine and muscular, they benefit from a larger range of body types- there is a lack of an equivalent ‘default’ male character. Moreover, the hyper-sexualisation of women also intersects with how they are treated. For example, in games such as Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, female characters are often only used for sex, health boosts or other gameplay rewards rather than being integral to the storyline; they are merely decorative and/ or disposable. For young people playing these games, these depictions of women can contribute to their understanding of gender roles and relationships and reinforce harmful stereotypes.
A significant debate surrounds the question of whether playing violent video games, with depictions of harmful stereotypes can normalise violent or sexist behaviour. Several studies, such as Brenick et al. (2007), argue that people who play video games the most are more likely to accept negatively stereotyped representations of characters. In addition, research by Engelhardt et al., (2011) indicates that playing violent video games leads to increases in physiological arousal, aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviours as well as a decrease in prosocial behaviours and empathy. This links to desensitisation theory which proposes that exposure to violence increases tolerance to potentially violent and sexist attitudes.
However, a 2019 study carried out by the Oxford Internet Institute debunks this previous research as “biased” and finds there to be no correlation between playing violent video games and aggressive behaviour in players. This conflicting research emphasises the need to be wary of what we consume and to be aware of our responses to this. We can still enjoy gaming, but we must remain mindful of the messages and stereotypes we may encounter.
Although there is still significant progress to be made, the gaming industry has come on in leaps and bounds in the last decade in terms of improving female representation, diversity and inclusivity. Lara Croft, the protagonist of the Rise of the Tomb Raider, can be seen to symbolises the shift toward empowered women in lead roles - characters whose sole purpose is no longer defined by the need to be saved by a male counterpart. When Lara Croft first debuted in 1996, at a time when 30% of games showed women as damsels in distress in need of saving or as sexual objects, she was depicted in a hypersexualised female body, catering to the male gaze. However, in the 2013 reboot, Lara’s character design was more practical with a more realistic body type. Today, we notice more and more women headlining games like Call of Duty, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us in a range of body types and colours. This is great news for everyone. It allows girls and women of all shapes, sizes and colours to feel represented in the gaming world and empowers them through strong female characters who reject traditional gender norms. It also exposes boys and men to healthier portrayals of gender dynamics.
For the gaming world to continue becoming to become more inclusive, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives must be implemented, enforced and celebrated. This means ensuring that women and people from marginalised groups have equal access to jobs in the gaming industry,, are represented by characters shown in video games and feel more welcome to participate and engage in gaming. It is the role of those working in the gaming industry to implement these initiatives, as demonstrated by the G2A Capital Group (a large digital marketplace operating in the resale of gaming offers) which has set up workshops to involve employees in DEI goals and strategies helping to demystify DEI efforts and incorporate a diversity of perspectives into the creation of video games. However, it is also up to anyone who participates in gaming to question their behaviour online. We must examine the comments we make whilst gaming, the comments others make, how characters are portrayed, and how we can contribute to a more inclusive and positive gaming atmosphere. Together, we can create a gaming world that is truly better for everyone.
- F. Coull
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