Mohammad Farraj

DMS 448

BLOG POST 6

            Throughout this week we have discussed various topic within the gaming world. These topics range from stereotypes to understanding the controls for games. These topics within the gaming world peak interests due to the reward system that some games have, involving dehumanizing actions towards women. To not only understand this discussion, writers Robert Yang and Miguel Sicart proves have these issues both technical and social are present within the gaming community. Therefore, their pieces will help readers understand the phenomenon present in such community and how they need attention from both consumers and developers.

            Technology within the gaming community provides a foundational issue that needs to be addressed. In the article, “Queering The Controller”, Sicart states how technology ultimately needs to be updated to modern times due the out dated equipment it provides. In addition to this, he also states that those same controllers and equipment needs to have an alternative access. In the article, he states, “While games mature into the future of creative expression, we still control them with technologies developed decades ago” (Sicart, 2017). What this shows is that, if gamers truly desire to reach their top creative levels within video games, the technology they are using are needs to be updated. Sicart believes that, the controllers for video games haven’t been resourceful the last couple decades. Therefore, due to this, gamers have been held back in reaching their ultimate potential within video games. Sicart also goes in depth about the accessibility these controllers bring fourth to gamers. In the article, he states how, “the culture of “alternative controllers” like those showcased at alt.ctrl.gdc …does little to reassure me… We don’t need alternative controllers, we need controllers for the alternative emotions, alternative bodies, and alternative experiences that games now foster” (Sicart 2017). What this shows is that, the presented controllers that gamers receive are not enough for gamers. The technology and design of these controllers are being demanded by the gaming community in which they should accommodate to gamers emotional and  physical state. In doing so, this will support gamers ability to reach their next level of skill and creativity within whatever game they are immersed in. Therefore, Sicart proves why technology within the gaming community needs to be up to date with modern technology, to ultimately improve the gaming experience for gamers.

            Video games are proven to show acts of violence and provide dehumanizing stereotypes towards women. In the article, “Feminist Whore Purna”, Yang provides evidence of disturbing acts towards women within video games and gamers are ultimately rewarded for it. In the article he states how, “The game Red Dead Redemption rewards the player with an achieve-ment trophy called “Dastardly” for placing a “hogtied” NPC woman (and only a woman) on train tracks and watching her get run over by a speeding locomotive… It specifically requires you must place her there, you must watch her die before it will reward the player with five Xbox Gamerscore points (Yang 100). What this shows is that, gamers need to forcefully capture a woman in the game, brutally tie said female up and lay her down on a set of train tracks. Then to ultimately watch that same woman die and players are required to watch this act of violence in order to get rewarded. This shows the dehumanizing act towards woman within the game because emphasizing on the detail where players need to watch this woman being killed and being rewarded for it only proves the negative representation of women in video games. Therefore, this proves how there is a presence of dehumanizing stereotypes and violence of women in video games.

                                                            Work Citated Page

Sicart, Miguel. “Queering the Controller.” Analog Game Studies, 23 Dec. 2019, analoggamestudies.org/2017/07/queering-the-controller/.

Yang, Robert. On “FeministWhorePurna” and the Ludo-Material Politics of Gendered Damage Power-Ups in Open-World RPG Video Games. https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/5e00ea752296c/5412910?response-content-disposition=inline; filename*=UTF-8”Yang%20On%20FeministWhorePurna.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20200308T043317Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAZH6WM4PLTYPZRQMY/20200308/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=8ce45b2210a8970fbe44cd72ab8d5b891ee45067ad36b52d803de63e0fbdb7f8.