Women in gaming communities have found discrimination and hate in a variety of ways. One of the main ways is trolling. Although it is not just a gender problem, the issue is that the comments utilized are targeted specifically against the minorities’ characteristics. Women are flamed for their gender, which is a strong reminder of their oppression. I personally do not feel the harmful effects of the comments as others do. So at times, I believed that the method of an eye for an eye would work in treating these flaming situations, but in the end, it can always simply worsen the issue. The stigma of women not being real gamers or unable to play certain roles derives within flaming and can be noted in other environments besides just the game lobbies. One issue, due to the rise of streaming platforms, is the label known as cam girl. In the article, “Nothing but a ‘titty streamer’”, the notion that women abuse their looks for views is a complicated problem. Many people who find these females as a difficulty believe that the streamers do not play enough video games. They cover their screen with the majority of their camera or wear “scandalous” clothing. There are some cases that accurately describe this, but in other cases, women are judged just for their appearance alone. This unnecessary discrimination against females only justifies the existence of a power struggle to uphold gaming masculinity. 

The combination of masculinity and the spectacle of women’s breasts/physiques is seen throughout gaming. It is not only notable through the harrassing from twitch viewers, but it is a part of many games’ designs. An example is the troll character model within World of Warcraft. The alpha models have females and males looking strictly similar with only minor changes. This contrasts greatly with the new models that have women looking quite generic as if they were ready to head onto a fashion runway, while the males look like they were hit with an ugly stick. The forced addition of large breasts and wide hips leave nothing to the imagination. Creativity is stunted in order to appease the target male audience. The sexualization of women is profitable. Maybe if personality was considered sexy in the market, characters could be profitable and have a wide range of body types and designs that attract a larger audience. The belief that male sexual desires have to be catered for in order to attract and keep people playing is just a stereotype on men that hurts them as well as women.

Overall, if designers chose to produce more abstract female characters, there would be a change in attitude towards women in some ways. Maybe the change from objectification to humanization of females might adjust the gaming community in a direction where people no longer find women with skin showing as pandering and sexual. However, there are still other forms of media that present women as a spectacle and treating this problem at the source may be much more complex than realized.

Works Cited

Bonnie Ruberg, Amanda L. L. Cullen & Kathryn Brewster (2019) Nothing but a “titty streamer”: legitimacy, labor, and the debate over women’s breasts in video game live streaming, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 36:5, 466-481, DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2019.1658886