Gender in Gaming Culture

Gender in gaming culture refers to the dynamics of inclusion, representation, and participation of different genders within the video game community. Historically, gaming emerged from a male-dominated subculture, often showcasing narratives that emphasize heroism and violence, frequently objectifying female characters. While the gap between male and female gamers has narrowed as the industry evolves, disparities in preferences and experiences endure. Women tend to favor less time-intensive and socially engaging games, like puzzle-solving genres, while men gravitate towards immersive role-playing and action games.

The gaming industry has faced criticism for its treatment of women both as players and creators, with reports of hostile work environments and pervasive misogyny, exemplified by the phenomenon of "brogramming." Organizations like Women in Games International actively promote better representation and support for women in the industry. Additionally, as gaming technology advances, online platforms have fostered social interaction among players, revealing both opportunities for collaboration and challenges as gender biases persist in virtual spaces. Overall, the intersection of gender and gaming culture is a complex landscape that continues to evolve, reflecting broader societal attitudes and challenges related to gender equity.

Published in: 2021

By: Scott Zimmer, JD

Subject Terms

Gender in Gaming Culture

Abstract

Video and computer gaming grew out of a primarily male subculture whose fiction narratives drew heavily on hero fantasy. Themes of violence are frequently punctuated with female "prizes" and hypersexualized female characters. Women interested in game design have met with hostile work environments. The initially large disparity between men and women gamers has narrowed as the industry matures. Men continue to favor immersive role-playing games, whereas women show a greater inclination for less time-intensive problem solving games. Many women who do play massively multiplayer online games, however, report a higher level of engagement than male players.

Overview

"Gaming culture" is a broad term. In most cases, it is used to describe the culture around video games, including the people who play them, the stories the games tell, and also the people who create the games. Some discussions also include under the umbrella of gaming culture those who play tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons, since there is a large amount of overlap between the video gaming community and tabletop gamers, and many of the story lines of video games take their inspiration from much older tabletop games (Sundén & Sveningsson, 2011). The demographics of the video game industry have been a matter of controversy for years. For most of the history of the industry, males have far outnumbered females as both players and as game designers. Critics are divided as to whether women are less interested because the games as designed are unappealing to them or because women are less interested in gaming generally.

Video game executives have expressed frustration with how difficult it is to convince women to play video games. Many women, however, who have worked in the industry agree with critics of what has been called the video game industry’s persistent problem with misogyny. "Brogramming" and "brogrammers" are seen as representative of the problems the technology industry has with including and supporting women. Technology has long been seen as an interest area appealing primarily to males, and this view has led women who enter the field to experience harassment and other, more severe forms of abuse in the workplace and in their private lives. Women in Games International is an organization whose membership consists of men and women who work in the field of programming and video game development. The organization is dedicated to improving the portrayal of women in video games and to encourage more women to enter the video game industry.

In one 2009 study of undergraduates, women reported having less free time overall and considerably fewer large blocks of free time compared with their male fellow students. Amount of time spent gaming was much higher among men, and women who did play, generally played sporadically throughout the day rather than committing to sustained play (Winn & Heeter, 2009). As mobile devices such as tablets and cell phones have become the gaming platform of choice, rather than personal computers or gaming consoles such as the PlayStation, XBox, and Wii, gender demographics have begun to approach parity, although each gender continues to prefer certain genres of games. Women have higher participation rates than men when it comes to games that involve solving puzzles, navigating mazes, and applying creative thinking, such as Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) games. Men, on the other hand, outnumber women in their preference for role-playing games, action and adventure games, and first person shooter games (Gajjala & Oh, 2012).

Further Insights

Game addiction effects both males and females, though given the greater representation of boys and men in gaming, males tend to have more problems with problematically excessive game playing. In a study of children and adolescents, parental restrictions appear to have little effect in preventing excessive gaming. A more powerful factor was the strength of the parent-child bond, especially among boys (Choo et al., 2015).

The protagonist of a video or computer game is the main character of the story and the character with whom the reader or player is intended to most closely identify. The majority of protagonists in video games are male, and it is often argued that this contributes to the alienation of women, as it can be more difficult for female players to identify with male protagonists.

The topic of greatest concern pertaining to issues of gender and gaming culture is the discussion about the extent to which gamer culture and the games themselves may be injurious to women. Some contend that the themes, imagery, and storylines of video games are all too often responsible for reinforcing and perpetuating gender stereotypes of women as weak, powerless, vulnerable, hypersexualized, and incapable of making their own choices or defining themselves using any standard other than outward appearance. This may produce undesirable results.

Through prolonged and repeated exposure to messages like this embedded in video games, women can start to internalize these messages and think of themselves as "the reward" or "part of the scenery" (Fox, 2015). Many video game scenarios completely exclude women except those who are the prize to be won at the end of the game, or those whose scantily clad figures are used in the game and the game’s advertising and packaging, as a way of capturing the attention of male consumers and enticing them into purchasing the game in order to look at pictures of attractive women.

Another potential negative effect of the way women are portrayed in gaming culture is that the males to whom these images of women are being sold may become conditioned to believe that women in the real world possess these characteristics and that they can and should be treated the way they are treated in video game scenarios. This has been linked to numerous social ills, from difficulty with romantic relationships and increasing incivility to full blown domestic violence, gender discrimination, and other forms of criminal behavior (Embrick, Wright & Lukács, 2012).

Viewpoints

Since video games first began to emerge in the 1980s, they have developed within a male-dominated subculture devoted to fantasy and science fiction, comic books, and other forms of entertainment that are often referred to as escapist. This subculture was traditionally not comfortable having mature ideas about women or mutually satisfactory relationships with women. Women tended to be portrayed as either unattainable objects of sexualized fantasy, supportive nurturers such as mothers, or authority figures such as teachers. The subculture that created videogames, critics argued, only included representations of women in the games if those representations were in agreement with their experiences (Gray, 2014). These games then had a natural appeal for those with similarly superficial or negative experiences of women. Even as the gaming culture began to grow and develop from its more humble beginnings, it continued to reinforce its own stereotypes about women, and continued to attract more adherents with similar ideas about women. The result, argue many critics, is that video gaming is a huge industry which earns billions of dollars each year, but which has not yet come to terms with its own misogyny, much less taken significant steps to correct it.

The evolution of gaming technology is an important factor in the analysis of gaming culture and gender. When video games first became available, the technology used to play them was quite primitive, not just in terms of the graphics and the performance of the hardware running the game, but more fundamentally in how games were designed and played (Brookey & Oates, 2015). When video games were invented, it was not possible to connect computers to each other, because there was not yet anything like the Internet or local area networks available for consumers. Because of this, computer games could only be played on the computer on with they were installed, and usually by only one person at a time, although some games had provisions for multiple players taking turns using the same computer. Gaming, then, was primarily a solitary activity which did not foster social activity and which had special appeal for shy or introverted people.

Computer games have come a long way since these early days, due primarily to the connectivity now made possible by the Internet. The Internet allows people to play games as a social activity rather than as a means of escaping social contact, though it allows for a degree of anonymity. Players can share with their online friends their progress through various levels of mastery in games, so that others know how well (or how poorly) they are doing. What is more, players can play games with one another online, even when participants are physically separated by vast distances. For example, many traditional board games, word searches, and puzzles can be played online in this way, creating new opportunities for interaction (Shaw, 2014).

At the furthest end of the spectrum, gamers can play collaborative games, either with their friends or with members of huge gaming communities spread all over the world. Some of these games are called massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs. In collaborative games like MMOs players each adopt an avatar, or the persona of a character in a virtual world, and then work together to accomplish objectives, overcome enemies, and solve problems. While this opens up amazing possibilities for people to learn skills like collaboration and appreciation of diverse cultures and backgrounds, there is also a dark side to the social nature of modern gaming. Virtual worlds are now so full featured that the players who inhabit them are able to reproduce most, if not all, of the social ills that people already face in the real world, including gender bias and discrimination.

Much has been made of the way that people can reinvent themselves online, taking on entirely different personas and transcending the discrimination that they might face if they were meeting others face to face. Research has shown, however, that some types of interpersonal difference are more easily overcome in online gaming than others. Differences in religion, race, and culture seem to be relatively straightforward for gamers to cope with in their multiplayer interactions, but the same has not proven to be true for issues of gender and sexual preference. Many of the same gender dynamics that occur in the real world are replicated in the virtual worlds of online gaming communities (Thornham, 2011).

Research has attempted to test whether or not some traditional assumptions about gender roles and sex-based stereotypes are consistent with the behavior of online gamers. In particular, researchers have hypothesized that because women tend to be more relational and more interested in social interaction, they will have a stronger preference for games that have a social component, like MMOs. Others have been skeptical of this, calling it an oversimplification and a modern continuation of longstanding stereotypes about women loving gossip.

Interestingly, the research confirmed some expectations and also contradicted others, providing some surprises and grounds for further study. While the expectation that female gamers online would be outnumbered by male gamers was confirmed, the results also showed that those women who do play online games report higher levels of personal commitment and investment in the gaming experience, as well as more hours played per week than the male respondents to the survey. The motivations for playing were different for either gender, with male respondents indicating that they were primarily interested in attaining new achievements and demonstrating their mastery to others, while female respondents reported that the main thing they enjoyed about their gaming was the opportunity to interact with others socially (Nardi, 2010).

Research of this sort has also begun to lead game developers and game software companies in new directions. A number of studies are now exploring the intersection of two potentially important trends. First, there is an increasing tendency for educators to attempt to use gaming as a supplement to or a modality for learning, particularly in the realm of online instruction. This so-called "gamification" of learning tries to take the pain out of traditional instruction methods by providing a built-in learning incentive. Students progress through a game by learning the material that they otherwise would have acquired through lecture and reading.

In the twenty-first century, the trend in higher education enrollment has been for women to outnumber men. Educational researchers are now trying to determine how this development may converge with increased online instruction, with instructors taking advantage of larger proportions of female students who are more familiar with gaming, to achieve more effective learning outcomes. Ironically, one impediment to this line of inquiry has been the reluctance of higher education curriculum development teams to endorse an instructional approach that appears to provide students with too much of an opportunity for having fun rather than struggling to learn course material in a traditional fashion (Quandt, 2014).

Terms & Concepts

Avatar: A fictional representation of the player using a pseudonym and image, usually a cartoon or illustration. Avatars can be quite sophisticated in game culture, involving animation and personality.

Brogramming: Brogramming is a facetious term describing "bro" (i.e. stereotypically male and frequently sexist) programming of video games and other computer applications.

First Person Shooter: A first person shooter, or FPS, is a type of game in which the player has the perspective of an armed person aiming a gun or similar weapon. The purpose of the game is to shoot enemies as they enter the player’s field of vision. FPS games are generally less appealing to female players, and it is thought that part of the reason for the comparatively small number of women who play video games is due to the proliferation of FPS games in the marketplace.

Gamification: The adaptation of computer or video games as a medium of instruction.

HOPA: HOPA is an acronym which stands for Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure. According to analysts in the video gaming industry, HOPA games tend to be more appealing to women than traditional games based on the use of weapons to fight against and slay enemies. HOPA games involve exploring unknown areas and solving problems in order to progress through the story.

Massively Multiplayer Online game: Internet based games that allow many players on individual devices to engage in a single game regardless of physical distance.

Video Game: Any game in which the player interacts with a screen display, such as a game console or computer monitor.

Women in Games International: Women in Games International is an organization whose membership consists of men and women who work in the field of programming and video game development. The organization is dedicated to improving the portrayal of women in video games and to encourage more women to enter the video game industry.

Bibliography

Brookey, R. A., & Oates, T. P. (2015). Playing to win: Sports, video games, and the culture of play. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Choo, H., Sim, T., Liau, A., Gentile, D., & Khoo, A. (2015). Parental influences on pathological symptoms of video-gaming among children and adolescents: A prospective study. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 24(5), 1429–1441. Retrieved January 3, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=102043844&site=ehost-live

Embrick, D. G., Wright, J. T., & Lukács, A. (2012). Social exclusion, power, and video game play: New research in digital media and technology. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Fox, J., Ralston, R. A., Cooper, C. K., & Jones, K. A. (2015). Sexualized avatars lead to women’s self-objectification and acceptance of rape myths. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(3), 349–362. Retrieved January 3, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=108751991&site=ehost-live

Gajjala, R., & Oh, Y. J. (2012). Cyberfeminism 2.0. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Gray, K. L. (2014). Race, gender, and deviance in Xbox live: Theoretical perspectives from the virtual margins. Waltham, MA: Anderson Publishing.

Nardi, B. A. (2010). My life as a night elf priest: An anthropological account of World of warcraft. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Quandt, T. (2014). Multiplayer: The social aspects of digital gaming. New York, NY: Routledge.

Shaw, A. (2014). Gaming at the edge: Sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Sundén, J., & Sveningsson, M. (2011). Gender and sexuality in online game cultures: Passionate play. New York: Routledge.

Thornham, H. (2011). Ethnographies of the videogame: Gender, narrative and praxis. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.

Winn, J., & Heeter, C. (2009). Gaming, gender, and time: Who makes time to play?. Sex Roles, 61(1/2), 1-13. Retrieved January 3, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=41885831&site=ehost-live

Gender in Gaming Culture

On this Page

Subject Terms

Gender in Gaming Culture

Abstract

Overview

Further Insights

Viewpoints

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

Suggested Reading