The
stereotype that only boys play video games is far from the truth. According to the Entertainment Software
Association, 45% of all gamers are women.
With women making up so much of the gamer society, I wanted to discuss how
marketing and gender are represented in video games. Advertisers and game companies tend to work
with stereotypes when trying to appeal to the general public, rather than speaking
to women who identify themselves as gamers.
Games marketed towards young men usually involve lots of aggression,
explosions, blood, gore, guns, justifiable violence and domination. The task of saving the damsel in
distress is the key objective in most games.
These are seen as masculine aims.
There are few games that have a female protagonist, and far less that
have the entire game based on a female character. Marketing to women on the other hand is quite
different. Due to the age old stereotype
that girls like the color pink, companies have created pink controllers, consoles,
etc. to entice more women to get gaming.
Another
marketing strategy used by companies is placing popular female celebrities in
their advertisements. Below is an ad of Beyoncé
playing a Nintendo DS with a child. This could represent the stereotype of women caring for and raising children. Also, there are numerous games that involve cooking and physical fitness, more stereotypes that are linked to women. I believe this is a way for companies to say
that female gamers can still be feminine even in the masculine world of gaming.
I agree with your assessment that depictions of gender in video games are incredibly problematic. It's incredibly strange that an entire industry mostly ignores 45 percent of it's consumers.
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