Ludology Paper 1 – ‘Females Shouldn’t Play Games’

fyi – I didn’t come up with the title..

I thought I’d post up my recent paper I did for a module at university ‘Ludology’ which is the study of play (games).  I chose to do this project in particular because there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding women and games (at least in the general media) and thought it would be interesting to shed some light in my own mind and anyone who reads it on gender roles in modern games.  Feel free to give any feedback and enjoy~

‘Females Shouldn’t Play Games’

Introduction

Research discourse suggests that the activity of computer gaming is still dominated by a solitary, male audience (Bryce & Rutter, 2002) despite the increasing figures of women especially in the US and UK buying and playing games (ESA, 2010).  In the mid 1990’s research within the computer game field was minimal with people viewing them simply as children’s toys.  Postmodern and feminist theorists ignored the increasing popularity of computer games, due to the lack of traditional academic activity within universities relating to computer games, the child-like view of games and the mounting idea that games were violent and addictive (Schleiner, 2001, p. 221).  Main characters (up to 1996 with the introduction and high popularity of Lara Croft) were almost exclusively male and their tasks were much like the traditional fantasy text structures that were outlined by Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth where the Hero has set masculine roles and meeting with various characteristically female characters along his journey (Campbell, 1949) – the Goddess, Temptress and Princess (the “battle trophy” (Schleiner, 2001)).  This argues that most games do not cater for the interests of women, and purely for the interests of men (Crawford, 2005) (Kinder, 1991).

Today, more and more women play games and involve themselves in the subcultures and communities surrounding games.  This report explores the theories surrounding gender roles and characteristics and just how relevant the statement “females shouldn’t play games” is in modern times.

Overview of Domain Issues

A study regarding German females’ dislikes within computer games showed violent content, gender stereotypes represented within games and competitive gameplay were what discouraged the girls from playing (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).  However, market sales in the US show that at least 46% of the players are female.  Regardless, it is still regarded as something of an anomaly when people find out a female is participating and as passionate about games as a male, despite the fact women aged 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game playing population than boys aged 17 and younger (ESA, 2010).  When an editor at a gaming magazine was asked why there are so few females reviewing games in their magazines, one editor responded, “Women don’t play games other than Tetris or Nintendogs” (Guy, 2007).

The increasing number of women buying and playing games contradicts what is being presented when people are intrigued to find a woman playing games – if it is becoming common (nearly taking up 50% of the market) for women to partake in gaming, then why does this issue still crop up in academic discourse and why are certain perspectives on female gamers still being stereotypical ‘casual gamers’.  Casual games cater to an older and more female audience by involving less complex game controls and less overall complexity in terms of gameplay or investment to get through the game (Wallace & Robbins, 2006).  If this is predominantly the characteristics that women prefer, then does that mean game developers must take this into account when creating games these days to increase gender inclusiveness?

There are several issues that are being presented.  First of all it seems clear that cultural background is an important factor in the social acceptance of women playing games.  Different cultures tend to impose role differences on different genders.  This provides separation between male and female activities and states the male and female characteristics which are expected in that particular culture.  In this context, there are games with certain characteristics that people associate playable by women and ones which are assumed to be played by men.  Those with set masculine and feminine themes.  Secondly, studies show that women are uninterested in games that present them in a stereotypical, sexist fashion such as the ‘helpless victim’ stereotype, as well as certain kinds of violence and masculine themes being portrayed (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006) which may push the gender divide further (Bryce & Rutter, 2002).

The issues of why women do (or do not) game are not going to be found at surface value.  Market percentages and social norms tell us what people are doing and thinking regarding games but the underlying influences are ultimately environmental, cultural and biological.  Historically speaking, the gender scale has always tilted towards the empowerment of the masculine within most games.  With the introduction of what is being called ‘pink software’ developed with purely stereotypical female roles and preferences in mind, it has allowed developers to easily fill the large gap in the electronics market by appealing wholly to one side of the gender scale.  For example, “Barbie Fashion Designer” a game where you could design clothes and dress up Barbie sold more than 500,000 copies (Cassell, 2002).   This enforces societal roles onto girls with a wider area of effect.  The fact is, the more a stereotype or role is expressed in a culture, the more that audience will accept or rebel against the role.  Children learn appropriate and rewarding behaviours by observation and reinforcement.  This means computer games could strengthen certain behaviours and norms (E. Dill & C. Dill, 1998) because of the punishment and reward aspects that games come with which other forms of media don’t.

Instead of indulging in these characteristically female stereotypes, should developers try to become more androgynous in their game development, ensuring gender-inclusiveness is apparent in their games to include both genders?  Or should we accept that in society there are women who won’t play certain developed games because of the masculine themes and gender split and accept that females just shouldn’t play games because it is affecting the way game development (particularly single player) is done.

Critical Reflection

Research appears to be torn regarding women in games.  Studies which are done in particular countries do not seem to be an effective way of finding out women’s opinions of play and their level of involvement.  When looking at market values it is apparent that different countries show different levels of women playing games and varying opinions.  For example, studies done in Germany showed the girls were not interested in games mostly due to their violent content and competitive play, contrasted with the obvious presence of women in games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Left4Dead, these being considerably violent and having modes of competitive play involved.  There are even teams (known as ‘clans’ in the competitive first-person shooter world) that are comprised completely of women which rate highly in leader boards and are well respected in the gaming communities such as Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers and FragDolls.

It seems that studying particular countries does not always bring out an effective answer to the level of women playing games, also because individuals tend to have different playing habits and the extensive variety of game texts, subgenres and themes within games in modern times makes it difficult for market reports to portray exactly what people are playing.  These answers may lie in the study of cultures and subcultures and the study of individual game texts.  For example more women choose to play a simulation game such as The Sims (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006) over a first-person shooter, but comparing two games in the Simulation genre such as The Sims and Train Simulator proves that individual games have their own masculine and feminine themes[1]

The women playing the ‘unexpected’ competitive and more ‘masculine’ games have been grouped into a subculture known as ‘girl gamers’.  This subculture is regarded by culture study researchers to have ideologies that resist gender societal roles and conceptions of masculinity and femininity (Bryce & Rutter, 2002, p. 246).  Societal roles typically state that women are restricted in their leisure choices and opportunities due to economic constraints, social expectations and domestic and caring responsibilities (Crawford, 2005).  This points out one reason as to why gaming was originally a male dominated arena (Crawford, 2005).

In terms of representation of violence in games, it is clear there is a gender divide on this issue.  Girls actually prefer fantasy violence compared to boys who prefer human violence (E. Dill & C. Dill, 1998) which corresponds with the increased female population in online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft compared to online first-person shooter games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  In fact, MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft attract a wider cone of demographic audience than other genres of games (Sullivan, 2009) due to it’s variety of portrayed archetypes and roles that players can fulfil in their class systems.  The exploration of different play styles across different classes allows researchers to see the potential of gender-inclusiveness design.  For example, the warrior class in fantasy games tends to be combat-central, whereas the mage class, often described as a ‘glass cannon’ must deal as much damage as possible whilst utilising defence tactics to get away from enemies making that class a more tactical and decision-based play style.  The most played classes by women in World of Warcraft are druid, priest and hunter (Daedalus, 2005).  These classes have several characteristics in common; in particular the term ‘nurturing’ comes to mind.  Each of these classes can heal their allies and show characteristics of motherly archetypes by giving positive magical effects to their team mates.  Though Hunters do primarily engage in combat they can obtain pets which do more damage for them the more care they give to the pet.  This follows the design of a typical feminine trait which is to care and nurture for those around her, rather than physically engage in combat herself, something females prefer not to do to resolve their conflicts (Bussey & Bandura, 1999).

It seems that gender-inclusive design would require an exploration of different play styles within the game to make sure roles for both genders are provided, something which online games can cater for (Sullivan, 2009).

Discussion

“There are games now for pretty much every age, every demographic. More and more women are going online. It comes down to everybody is playing games. Games are just evolving like

Species in order to fit into every little niche of our lives.”- Jesse Schell, instructor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University (ESA, 2010)

Thanks to the increase in accessible and usable mainstream technology the game market can now reach a larger audience without the audience being intimidated by the barrier of entry.  This is the usability barrier which people suffer between tangible interfaces and on-screen actions, once something that prevented some demographics even considering products in this market (Smith, 2011).  Now software and hardware designers take usability very seriously because they are able to tap into new audiences by providing easy to use interfaces.  To encourage more women to play digital games not only provides more profit for the industry but a wider understanding of audiences.  However, the influx of pink software designed especially for young girls may support and further previous stereotypes about women and gender roles.

It is not just the themes within the game which can be gendered and are of interest to certain genders, but it is also play styles (Sullivan, 2009).  Whereas men tend to prefer physical combat, women prefer puzzle-based and story driven objectives which mean if designers want to create gender-inclusive games, they need to consider these male and female play style characteristics.  In retrospect, these male and female characteristics (in particular female characteristics which can be often viewed in a negative light) are not derogatory because if developers start to take gender inclusiveness more seriously and develop games with more gender awareness it can potentially not only move the medium forward but reach out to a wider audience and put the stereotypical gender divide to a halt.

Social role theory states that the social structure is the underlying force for gender differences.  It states that the division of labor is what drives sex-differentiated behavior which creates gender roles, therefore gendered social behavior which is then to be expected by that society (Gilbert T & Malone S, 1995).  Men and women strive to belong by conforming to these social and gender roles which are also known as ‘sex-typed social behavior’ (Hendrickson-Eagley, 1987).  This theory can be applied to computer games, especially as the study taken in Germany also showed that a large factor of the girls did not want to play games because it went against social norms (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).  It can also be perceived by certain subcultures of women – ‘girl gamers’ that the realm of digital games are a neutral, androgynous ground, regardless of what can be considered ‘typical gender themes’ the designer portrays in the game.  These subcultures seek to challenge and ignore societal gender roles in games and by doing so allow acceptance of cross-gender roles in games and presence of women in previously male dominated arenas.

“In this theoretical perspective, gender roles and conceptions are the product of a broad network of social influences operating interdependently in a variety of societal subsystems. Human evolution provides bodily structures and biological potentialities that permit a range of possibilities rather than dictate a fixed type of gender differentiation” (Bussey & Bandura, 1999, p. 676)

This ideal, neutral, androgynous field for games means that current designers don’t need to take gender roles into account and can keep developing games with the themes and representations that they want.  However this will still mostly appeal to male interests and only a small minority of women who perceive these games a challenge to dominant stereotypes.

Representation of women in games is also something to discuss.  The character roles they tend to get portrayed in traditionally were similar to those within Joseph Campbell’s monomyth – the magical Goddess, Temptress and Princess.  This representation is a double edged sword because they do not appeal to female interests, meaning fewer women will play.  It then enforces the stereotypes with men because men still take up more than half the gaming audience (Bryce & Rutter, 2002) pushing women even further away.  The feminine absence of strong main characters was noticed by Gillian Skirrow who created Lara Croft.  Lara Croft was something of a ‘female Frankenstein monster’ (Schleiner, 2001).  Though she was created to represent a strong, independent female role, the third person view of the game indicated she was something to be gazed at, particularly by male audiences.  This was disturbing for feminists of the time as they realized computer games were a space where men could develop unrealistic ideals of females and their bodies (Schleiner, 2001).  However it could be argued that Lara Croft is a better role model for girls than Barbie or Ms Pacman as she challenges societal roles by engaging in combat and adept problem solving techniques and holds upper class values.

Conclusion

The aim of this research was to discover what gender roles were and how they made themselves apparent in modern games.  It was then important to see how this might affect the way women play games and their preferences.  Societal roles and stereotypes do make themselves apparent within modern games, with themes and play styles in games being predominantly male which means women either reject games or choose to challenge those roles by actively becoming involved in them.  However stated social norms in a society means it will always be regarded something of an anomaly to see a woman participating in video games that portray male characteristics.  These include violence and stereotypical female archetypes.  However despite the increasing number of female protagonists represented in game narratives, the popularity of games with the female population still remains low (M. Grimes, 2003).

It was also interesting to explore the idea that games might be asexual, or androgynous.  However, because all themes and play styles ultimately can be gendered and do certainly attract and repel different genders.  Rather than being androgynous, certain subcultures simply choose to reject and ignore gendered roles within modern games but that does not mean they don’t exist and repel other groups in that gender.

Developers should be careful when developing games for women.  If they pander to pure feminine characteristics in order to attract young girls to fill a gap in the market where they can make a profit (such as Barbie Fashion Designer), then it simply enforces these typical societal roles onto girls from a new medium.  Also if developers were required to start developing gender-inclusiveness in all games then it may ruin the way games are played.  However, games are changing and the gender gap in them is closing and future games may provide us with insight into how developers can incorporate more women into their games without having to consider stereotypical societal roles.  In order to do this, women do need to play games and not reject them or their themes because of what they think they already know about computer games.  A larger female audience means profit for the industry and development of the industry itself.

References

Bryce, J., & Rutter, J. (2002). Killing like a girl: Gendered gaming and girl gamers’ visibility. CGDC (pp. 243-255). Manchester: CGDC.

Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation. Psychological Review , 676-713.

Campbell, J. (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Bollingen Foundation.

Cassell, J. (2002). Genderizing HCI. The Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction , 402-411.

Crawford, G. (2005). Digital Gaming, Sport and Gender. Leisure Studies , 259-270.

Daedalus. (2005, July 28). WoW Character Class Demographics . Retrieved April 5, 2011, from The Daedalus Project: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001367.php?page=1

E. Dill, K., & C. Dill, J. (1998). Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Aggression and Violent Behaviour , 407-428.

ESA. (2010). Essential Facts about the Computer Game Industry 2010. Entertainment Software Association.

Gilbert T, D., & Malone S, P. (1995). The Corrospondence Bias . Psychological Bulletin , 21-38.

Guy, H. (2007, March 12). Women Video Gamers: Not just Solitaire. Retrieved April 01, 2011, from AsianCanadian.net: http://www.asiancanadian.net/2007/03/women-video-gamers-not-just-solitaire.html

Hartmann, T., & Klimmt, C. (2006). Gender and Computer Games: Exploring Females’ Dislikes. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication .

Hendrickson-Eagley, A. (1987). Sex Differences in Social Behaviour: A Social Role Interpretation. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishers.

Kinder, M. (1991). Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley: University of Berkeley Press.

M. Grimes, S. (2003). You Shoot Like a Girl – The Female Protagonist in Action-Adventure Video Games. Level Up Conference Proceedings (p. 1). Utrecht: DiGRA.

Schleiner, A.-M. (2001). Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender Role Subversion in Adventure Computer Games. Leonardo , 221-226.

Smith, D. (2011, April 5). Barrier of Entry. (E. Haley, Interviewer)

Sullivan, A. (2009). Gender Inclusive Quest Design in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. University of California, Santa Cruz: Expressive Intelligence Studio.

Wallace, M., & Robbins, B. (2006). Casual Games Whitepaper. IDGA.

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[1] A point to make is that Sims focuses heavily on social interaction and development between characters, a trait which is commonly associated with being feminine

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