Fair Play: Gender

The section of the article Fair Play discussed in class was gender. Quite often impressions are made of video games, but it was startling to see the actual statistics displayed so prominently. Although this article was written several years ago, the information is still relevant in today's video game world. The most startling statistic shows that in a sampling of "Male & Female Characters", males account for 64%, non-human for 19% and 17% for females. While discussing Player-Controlled Characters, males account for 73%, non-human for 15% and 12% for females (10). It's amazing that even non-human characters beat out female representation! The article continues to reveal more startling numbers, but what the character roles showcase are interesting as well. Fair Play states that "half of all female characters were props or bystanders while male characters were predominantly competitors [and] female player controlled characters were less likely than males to be competitors and more likely to participate" (12). These character roles speak volumes about the stereotypes that are portrayed by video games, especially with the sexualization of women. The article stipulates that "one out of every ten female characters (11%) had a very voluptuous body (i.e. very large breasts and a very small waist) [and] another 7% of female characters had either very thin or extremely disproportionate bodies, meaning that nearly 20% of female characters modeled unhealthy or unrealistic body sizes" (13).

I have focused on the female aspect of gender because it directly correlates to the video game of choice, Lara Croft Tomb Raider. The article marks Lara Croft as a distinct female representation because only two games of the hundreds studied featured exclusively female choices (13). These two games were the two Tomb Raider titles that had appeared until the article's publication. Another relevant connection between the Fair Play article and Tomb Raider is the sexualization of Lara Croft. The author states, "Lara Croft's short shorts and extremely large breasts never keep her from accomplishing her mission" (15). Such is the way of females in video games, and it begs to question what sort of affect this has on the players. It is not only males that digest this female body type as the ideal woman, but females can also interpret this stereotype.

It is important that this type of study be continuously updated as video games are changing constantly. I would like to see they study completed once again, to truly see if video games are adapting to their environment, or if they will continue to be invaded by old stereotypes of gender conventions.