Describe how you would “redesign” women in a video game of your own creation so that they are not trapped by sexist stereotypes.
I think a great, neutral presentation of a woman in a video game could be done in one of two ways. The first way would be a sort of detective game, where the lead character has to fight her way through levels, finding clues, etc. to solve some sort of mystery. The only video game I play is a football game from 1996, so I have no idea how well this would be accepted or if people would like it. However, it is a subject that is very gender neutral, but I think people would still enjoy playing.
The second way would be an adventure style game, where the lead character would be a lot like Indiana Jones or Laura Croft from Tomb Raider, only again, gender neutral. I don’t feel like these adventure games have to have a strong alpha male, or a dominating female. A simple, strong character, male or female would be just as strong.
With video games in general however, I think that the reason why video game makers create characters that are, “trapped my sexist stereotypes,” is because they know that they are catering to, for the most part, a young male audience. These males love seeing those types of women, and so they will buy the games. On the whole, not many adolescent boys can relate to an average woman, much less the average boy. They want to play as a character that is strong with machismo–not a gender neutral female.
While this is not at all how it should be, the young males that play these games drive how the games are created, and until we can change their perspective, the video games wont change.. and if they do, they wont sell.
Tags: sexism, video games
