“Gamer”: The Very Embodiment of the Negative Video Game Player Stereotype

(Originally posted at The Voice of Heard on September 15, 2011)

Suppose one day you are watching a TV show, reading a book, a newspaper, or a magazine; skimming through the Internet, or strolling in a public place one day when you hear a story that features, discusses, or outright brands stereotypes on a group of people based on a simple yet specific list of traits. You realize that you have a few of those traits but you also know that you are not part of the stereotype described. How do you respond to it? Do you just criticize it in your mind or openly in the presence of your family, your friends, and peers? Would you take action against the portrayal of the stereotype as a means of debunking and dissolving it? Those are the questions you should take into consideration as I once again discuss the problem of the stereotyping of video game players.

The Televised Video-Gamer Stereotype: The Inaccurate Portrayal It Really Is

(Originally posted at The Voice of Heard on July 16, 2011)

Are you familiar with the video game player stereotype? The one portrayed on TV as a lazy, couch potato who spends most of his/her life in a dark basement playing video games for many hours at a time and who is uninterested in other people? As a gamer myself, I find such portrayals as inaccurate in terms of what they do and offensive in terms of who they are as human beings who just happen to play video games as a hobby and a past time. In my old blog, I have covered this issue on a number of occasions, including the ones below:

My Review of Grand Theft Childhood

Perverseness, Obesity, and Depression: Just A Few More Forms of Negative Stereotyping of Video Gamers

I have decided to write this because I just came across a 1up feature called Why Television Hates Video Games, which covers the whole issue of stereotyping video game players on television shows, as well as portraying the video games themselves, console and otherwise, in technically inaccurate ways. News stories regarding the “risk” children face when they play their PlayStation Portables (PSPs) and Nintendo DSs (Duel Screens) are also discussed. The feature can be found here. On another note, I have also covered other issues regarding video games as featured in some news stories, which I will discuss as part of my next feature.

What Does it Mean For Video Games To Grow Up?

To those who have read my post on the escapist aspect of video games, I feel that I have not been specific enough in addressing a crucial gaming-related issue I have presented in that post. I raise the issue again here with these questions: what does it mean for video games to 'grow up?' Should 'growing up' entail upping the ante in violence, blood, gore, cursing, and sex? Does it require an exponentially increased number of cinematic cutscenes and quick-time events (QTEs) as well as greatly extended the length to a point that interactivity on part of the player is limited to a few button presses? Is it merely a justification for spending millions upon billions of dollars on making the game world and its inhabitants appear and feel as realistic as possible, as if realism is the one and only art style? The short answer to the last three counts would have to be no. Although there is no simple answer the original question, my own answer would be to have developers and producers of video games to do three things: to have more mature forms of storytelling, to discard all of the outdated storytelling tropes that offend and alienate people of different genders, races, religions, ethnics, and sexual orientation; and to hire new programmers, designers, artists, from these aforementioned demographics that would open new avenues of game development including design and storytelling. In order to understand how this relates to video games growing up, I will be summarizing the overall narratives of two video games, each from different generations in terms of content that justifies the M-rating and the sort of maturity that lies beneath the digital surface: Duke Nukem 3D and Bioshock Infinite.

A Greater Need for Diversity in the Video Game Industry and Culture

Since time immemorial, men have often viewed women as innocent, frail, and desirable objects. Throughout history, stories and art done by men tend to be a reflection those beliefs. Cases in point include the ancient Greek myth Andromeda, the medieval fairy tale Snow White, Jacques-louis David's The Oath of the Horatii, and Adolphe William Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr. Enter the 21st century and video games. By now, views of women have changed. Yet the way in which women are depicted and represented in mass media and popular culture have continued to cling to the ancient and by-now outdated views of women in spite of the social reforms instigated in the United States, Japan, and other progressive nations. This is also the unfortunate case with video games.