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Blog Banter: Where’s the Harm?
By Corvus | March 27, 2008
I’ve asked to join in BS Angel’s monthly topic-oriented blogging affair, Blog Banter. Like the Round Table, she suggests a monthly topic for bloggers to post on. Unlike the Round Table, all the posts go live on the same day and around the same time. If you’d like to join in, or have any questions, be sure to contact her. For this month’s topic, we’ve been asked to blog about common gamer stereotypes and whether we fit them or not. A list of fellow participants will appear at the bottom of this post later today. Be sure to swing by and give them a read!
The most prevalent, inaccurate, and harmful stereotype about gamers is that they are heterosexual white males between the ages of 16 and 24, not only that, but that they are heterosexual white males between the ages of 16 and 24 with a high libido and an appreciation for little else besides violent media and cool special effects. What makes this such a destructive stereotype is that it is one perpetuated by nearly every aspect of the industry itself. This bias is evident in the design of videogames, the marketing of videogames, the discussion of videogames within the gaming media and the so-called critical dialog occurring about videogames within the media and popular culture.
There are elements, found among both developers and audience, who have drawn the battle lines and established a “last bastion” mentality around their right to include/experience gratuitous violence and shallow depictions of human sexuality and relationships within their games. They alternate between defending their position with arguments about their right to freedom of speech, their claim that what they’re creating is art, and shouting down all challengers with a cries of, “It’s only a game!” Because the first two claims have merit, we defend them and their right to produce any sort of game they like (in part, because it’s sometimes fun to escape into a little gratuitous behavior), and all the while they undermine our support with their claims of the latter.
Meanwhile, the DS continues to dominate the console landscape with charming games containing no violence at all. Business women and men alike, in their 30s, 40s and 50s, take their DS on business trips. These same people have a Wii at home, or even at their workplace for those pick-up games of Wii Sports tennis over the lunch break. Developers like Peter Molyneux, Jonathan Blow, Warren Specter, Will Wright and a great many others too numerous to mention here, ranging from designers at AAA studios to garage auteurs, are working to bring deeper emotional content to our games. Numerous voices, from Brenda Braithwaite and Henry Jenkins, to smaller, but equally clear, voices like Michael Abbott and Chris Bateman, are raising the bar on intellectual discussion of videogames as a legitimate form of expression.
Slowly, but inexorably, the industry is changing in response to the reality of the larger market for videogames. But I suspect it will be a while before we fully manage to shake the stereotype and people stop being surprised when a non-teen male says, “Oh yeah, I’m a gamer.”
More Banterereresssezzz : The Average Gamer, Silvercublogger, shinybento, Unfettered Blather, Boom Stick Brigade, Gamer Unit, Zath!, Game Couch, Video Game Sandwich, Delayed Responsibility, thoughts and rants, Hawty McBloggy
Tagged:blog banter, gaming stereotypes. |
March 27th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
How interesting that we joined at the same time. I had actually sent in my e-mail to bs angel that she should check out the Round Table and sent her a link to the page.
I always have this perverse mental image of videogame detractors working themselves into an orgasmic fervor that climaxes with the cry of “To protect the children!” much like someone might invoke their diety or awkwardly call out the name of a former lover at an inopportune moment.
The scenario you describe is the very fodder of the people I am talking about here. While I personally think we have too much gratuitious behavior in gaming, I am more worried about the impact it has on demographics. With many gamers, especially according to Average Gamer’s post, actually of adult age, the advertising seems to be targetted to a smaller if more vocal part of the audience. Those who see videogames as evil share my concerns but for different reasons, mostly because they really want a justification for their ongoing villification of interactive entertainment.
As societal problems go, I think videogames are the least of our concerns. I am far more concerned about the ongoing efforts of parents to appease the every whim of their children or the utter lack of quality public education in the US despite being the current economic powerhouse of the world. If videogames are having a negative impact, they are a mere symptom of a much larger problem. Then again, we are so good at attacking symptoms without the least thought towards root problems, so it’s probably just par for the course.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I’ve never thought of myself as smaller than Brenda Braithwaite. We’re about the same size, at least physically.
“…and an appreciation for little else besides violent media and cool special effects.”
…And Oversized Novelty Breasts, of course.
But of course, I agree with your thrust here - the audience has changed faster than the industry has. We should be playing catch up, not trying to defend the “old ways”.
Then again, the flipside to this whole issue is that - even though there is a larger audience in the mass market (at least 3:1 larger, possibly larger even that that!) the gamer hobbyists are still the ones buying the most games, so they put as much money (or more money) into the industry as the mass market.
The truly dreadful problems occur when publishers believe they are targeting the “casual players” but make games in the “old ways”. I see this all too often in my job, and it’s exceptionally frustrating.
Best wishes!
March 27th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Great post!
It blows my mind how much insight so many of you all have into this topic.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I think (or perhaps hope would be a more accurate term) that companies are slowly picking up on the fact that the average gamer is not the demographic you clearly defined. There is so much more variety these days in the gaming world than there used to be, everything from the DS games you mentioned to the new exciting Wii platform. Gaming for one person is a completely different experience from the next person. Slowly we are seeing more emotionally gripping story lines, more deeply developed characters, more elements that give us a satisfying experience.
“If videogames are having a negative impact, they are a mere symptom of a much larger problem.” Such an excellent way to phrase that Jason. If parents are parking their young children in front of the latest GTA release, there are certainly important things that need to be addressed that are not related to that particular title. The responsibilities of parents is a tremendous one, and that is a topic just in itself, isn’t it?
March 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
You have an interesting take on the ’stereotyping’.
Very profound
March 28th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Stereotypes about gamers abound, and it doesn’t even matter if you exhibit any of those qualities. True story:
A (non-gamer) friend asked if I was reading anything currently. I told her I’ve been reading “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. She was impressed, and asked why. I said I had played a game called “BioShock” that explored, to an extent, the objectivist themes presented in that book. My friend’s attitude quickly slid from respectful to vaguely condescending, all because the impetus for my reading choice was a video game.
*sigh*
March 28th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Oooohhh, my favourite topic in the gaming media
It’s a little bit funny to see the changes from this generation. Developers suddenly brought upside down when faced to the reality of the “Nintendo demographic” is certainly entertaining. However, seeing them churning out craptastic software that is supposed to be casual, is not.
Videogames are still viewed as a nerd hobby. Which is a real shame, a medium that is inherently defined by just interaction doesn’t inherently have an intended audience.
I mean, movies have a specific audience? how about books?
What saddens me is that from this generation on we will see videogames also laveled as “casual”. Mindless fun meant for girls and the elderly *shudder*.
I really hope that we are seeing a trend here with games like Bioshock, Portal, Braid and surely a lot more games that I can’t remember right now.