Four more weeks until the end of the semester! I hope everyone is hanging in there! Since Dr.Cody mentioned that it was okay for us to write about our progress on our projects so far, this is what this week’s blog is all about.

The whole online process has been stressful, but I was finally able to work on my Creative Project last weekend. My idea was to use the Ren’Py visual novel maker to create a dating simulator. It wasn’t hard to understand the basics of how to use Ren’Py because they had a clear tutorial of how things worked, but the web page it linked to was out of date and hard to follow. I ended up following a lot of YouTube videos to see how the program itself worked together. A great thing about this program is that it uses Python to create the basis of a visual novel game, but the user themselves do not need to learn how to code.

Now, I already had a plot and an idea of what my characters would look like, but one problem that bothered me was the art consistency. It’s not hard to find someone to commission, but I’m a broke college student trying to get by. So I spent the first day of the working process trying to find free characters and scenes that would fit my story. After a very very long time I decided to look around for programs that would allow me to create my own visual novel characters. The closest I came to doing that was using mobile apps where you can create your own avatar.

Then I worked on the dialogue. I realized it was kind of impossible to have a complete story, so I opted to have at least three chapters with the last chapter being a cliff hanger. I wanted to recreate the notion that if you wanted to see the rest, you would have to pay for the next part of the game (I know that’s really shitty but that’s what a lot of otome games do). I’m not a creative person either, but I didn’t want my story to follow otome games completely with their cringe and weak main character. As I wrote and edited everything out multiple times, I found the story going a bit differently than what I planned (guess I’ll have to wait for the next progress presentation to get some opinions).

So far I’ve only completed Chapter One, which is the introduction to everything. I’m going to be working on Chapter Two and hopefully finish Chapter Three next week so I can start on the Research Project. I decided to split both so that I can at least finish one project (I have 3 other coding projects and 1 writing project due for other classes so I have to distribute all the work stress fully). I really wanted to start on the Research Project, which talks about how game mechanics affect the way a player thinks. I’m going to be focusing on League of Legends since all my friends talk about it and I’m interested how this game could amass such worldwide attention.

No, I’m not talking about pink tops, dresses, or accessories. Well, to some degree, yes, but I’m not focusing only on the aspect of female clothing. You might have heard of the general term “Pink Tax” before, and if you haven’t, it’s essentially an extra amount that women pay for their daily products. Whether it be shampoo, clothes, or cosmetics, the prices for these commodities exceed that of those marketed for men.

And no, women don’t have a say in this matter because gender-based discrimination is rooted so deeply into society that most women accept these political impositions as it is. History and literature have long been dedicated to these stereotypical perceptions, and gaming culture has grown to endorse this idea as well.

The first video games were established as early as the 1970’s when Atari introduced Pong as an arcade game. It was a novel idea aimed to satisfy the interests of men and women at all ages. However, with the collapse of the video game market in 1983, things started to change. Lina Eklund writes in her excerpt Who are the causal gamers? Gender tropes and tokenism in game culture that, “this shift towards young men changed ideas about who the consumers of digital games were… During the 1980’s to 1990’s, digital games were seen as boy’s toys… leading to a marginalization of female users.” (pg 17).

This began the division of game genres marketed to the public. Men were subconsciously geared towards sports, fighting, and first person shooter games. Simply speaking, it was a “boy’s only” exclusive entourage of past times. Of course, this thought was not only subtly pushed by corporate gaming companies. “In the mid-1990’s the first ‘pink games’ wave hit the industry in the wake of a very successful Barbie Fashion Designer.” (pg 17). Gaming companies seemed to capitalize on the idea that the best way to include the female population was to provide them the ability to virtually play dress-up (because that’s what ALL women are interested and like right?).

This concept paved the road to the later modernized games that now consist of higher-quality graphics and applications. “Dividing gamers into hardcore and casual is now one of the bases for understanding different types of games/ers both in academia and industry classification…” (pg 18). Casual games, especially mobile games, tend to be looked down upon because it’s not a “real” game. Well, is it not a “real” game because casual games don’t involve violence? Because it’s a game that requires no previous knowledge or interactive history? Because it doesn’t require complete dedication of money? Or could it possibly be that “casual gamers are often portrayed as female, especially in reports from the game industry” that there is reluctance to accept this categorization(pg 18)?

It’s not hard to see what’s odd about all these “controversial” debates. The truth is that all the money-grubbing ideas have inadvertently created a steeper association with stereotypical views. Games can be and should be enjoyed by everybody regardless of gender; they are as real as you and me.

Works Cited:

Eklund, Lina. “Who are the casual gamers? Gender tropes and tokenism in game culture.” Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The changing gaming landscape. Ed. Tama Leaver and Michele Willson. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. 15–30. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 24 Feb. 2020. .

A part of living is finding out who we are. Our personality, interests, and goals eventually come to define us — but how much of ‘us’ results from social perceptions? Bound within the constructs of our society, it seems that the freedom to choose then becomes questionable and full of constraints.

The game Dys4ia displays this idea built from the author’s experience with gender dysphoria and hormone replacement therapy. She wanted to relay her personal journey moving forward as a trans person and, most importantly, how societal perceptions influenced her. Through a series of symbolic mini-games, she reveals her struggles in transforming to a person she came to be.

At first glance, the use of retro bright colors and pixelated art is apparent; it seems to illustrate a period of time the author felt was difficult and overwhelmed with emotions. She confides this with four simple levels of game play. The first describing embarrassment with her appearance: (1) Using a Brick Breaker layout, she shows that she has to constantly defend herself from feminists rejecting the author’s gender (2) Correct others addressing her with the masculine pronoun (3) Get cut by razors while shaving her mustache and (4) Secretly make her way through the Women’s bathroom stalls like a spy. Everything was dark and cloudy to her, until she realized she should go on hormones.

This brings us to the next level, where some amount of frustration is shown. The first mini-game encountered is the search for a ‘good’ clinic. Using a magnifying class, the player will move it around the circle of clinics until a flashing purple on one clinic indicates that it is the correct one. This is followed by the next mini-game, in which she demonstrates the difference between the clinic she chose and the others. She does this so that the player understands what it is like to go for a medical review and not feel insulted by having her gender questioned all the time.

However, this doesn’t mean that everything will go as smoothly. Now she must battle between the prescriptions she has to take and the toll it takes on her body. The sensitivity, mood swings, and physical changes all made her feel strange and alien-like. But she had a girlfriend and family to support her, and after awhile things seemed to be getting better. She felt like she could be addressed as a female and her confidence out shined the negativity of her haters. She could finally be ‘pink’ as symbolized in the last level.

By choosing a game as an outlet rather than a book, the author is able to converse her thoughts in a way that can be easily visualized and understood. She did not need an avatar with a face or clothes, because we often have stereotypes of what a trans person would look like and we don’t want to focus on the person them self but their experiences. As a result, her mannerism in which she expresses her feelings empathizes with the player no matter which gender they identify with.

Ah, high school. A gathering place of unique personalities, backgrounds, and abilities. Like a miniature world of its own, there exists a special system in which this very creation follows: a hierarchical structure dominated by academic wealth.

It is the core of every educational belief that a correlation exists between a student’s grades and their personalities. More specifically, a student with exceptional grades must have a wonderful personality and a student with lesser grades must be inferior or be on some level of delinquent status. In sharing this thought, adults of the system often neglect the character and stories that make the student.

Various simulation game plays like Life is Strange demonstrates this. Besides the game’s well known mechanics for character development and use of time control, several delicate issues were brought to question. For one, as the player watched the cut scene of the game, he/she senses the symbolism of the storm taking hold in Max’s dream. Followed by a quick demonstration of Max’s sudden ability to rewind time one normal day, the player is able to empathize with the nostalgia of high school life. He/she can discern the characteristics and feelings of represented characters, giving the game a sense of realism.

This is especially true when the idea of a school shooting may occur. Back to the game, Max witnesses honor student Nathan pull a gun out from his bag, she quickly rewinds time to pull the fire alarm off in time. She proceeds to exit the bathroom and leave the building but is faced with the security guard who questions her presence with a demeaning tone. She attempts to pass off that she wasn’t feeling well and her excuse was instantly dismissed by the guard who had already judged her to be guilty of a crime. His response was (I found to be) dismissively rude, as he seemingly assumed that “all high school females liked to use the ‘period’ excuse” and that he knows “what’s really going on” (yes a**hole, do tell).

Max panics further but is saved by a counselor who assures that it is not the guard’s duty to question her at this time. However, the counselor shows concern for your behavior and asks if anything was wrong. Now the player has two options, either to report Nathan or to keep quiet. Both choices yields an unsatisfying result; if you reported you are not believed, if you lie you are also not believed (on top of being judged and told off in a dismissive tone).

The irony here is apparent. Despite the school’s promotion for acceptance and safety, in no sense does the player nor the character feel protected. Mental health of the student is incessantly disregarded as a result of these same adults who “understand the thoughts of teenage youth”. They maintain the illusion that everything is fine, and any abnormalities are brushed off, never actually solving problems. Only students themselves know, which is increasingly frustrating for those who have no power or academic standing.

Now consider if Max were the one to pull out a gun, and she was reported by Nathan, would the counselor not have immediately called the police on her? And is the developers’ intention to represent the male and female characteristics with the way they are? This is certainly a worthy game to play and find out.

From the time of ancient civilizations to the centuries of modern advancements, we have grown far in expanding both literary works and scientific achievements. Yet one aspect remains the same, whether neglected or simply ignored, the persistence of misogynist attitudes in our culture continue to hinder ongoing possibilities of the future.

Now you might ask, why do such thoughts continue to occur? Are we not settled into an era of historically remarkable changes? Movements that we would have never regarded to come true before? Well, to begin with, the issue of misogyny has been deeply rooted in the history of our culture. Early stories and depictions widely regarded women as nothing more than objects of affection or, crudely speaking, “trophies” of a culture determined to highlight masculinity. Being the “fragile creatures” that they were, the only expectations of them were to master the duties of housekeeping and child rearing.

It was deemed as the “natural balance” of a “harmonious society” and, as such, women interested in working and competing along with their male counterparts endured much ridicule and mockery. But times have changed and intellectuals have extended to include both genders. Women are able to work and are allowed the same rights as men, so then what’s wrong? The problem with this disposition is that “gender equality” is only a term written on paper; a means to pacify the growing population who wanted change.

In fact, upon closer inspection we continue to see offensive treatment towards women in not only a profession working environment but in the online networking world as well. Robert Yang, author of the piece “On ‘FeministWhorePurna’ and the Ludo-material Politics of Gendered Damage Power-ups in Open-World RPG Video Games”, shares “Deep Silver’s 2011 open-world zombie game Dead Island…in light of its ‘Feminist Whore’ scandal…outlets reported in a data file…containing the text string ‘FeministWhorePurna’…referring to a player skill power-up for a woman named Purna (pg 97)”.

In response to this news coverage, developers of the game excused themselves by explaining that “The line in question was something a programmer considered as a private joke. The skill naturally has a completely different in-game name… (pg 98)”. Rather than take immediate action to properly renounce this very same programmer (whose ‘jokes’ and morality should be taken into deep consideration when hired), the company merely made a apologetic statement. Their sales did not go down; it promoted the game to a greater degree which onlookers bought out of curiosity and entertainment through the scandal.

The absurdity does not stop there. In the article “Code is Political” written by Julianne Tveten, states “a number of ‘esoteric’ languages…surfaced, infusing blithe humor into computer code to create subcultural jokes,” with one founder being 4chan, who “created an anti-feminist language called C+= (C Plus Equality); its code include functions like “CheckPrivilege()” and “yell(‘RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE!!!!!’)””. How anyone finds this to be simply a joke is beyond baffling. How no one thought this to be a serious issue is even more perplexing. Then is the nature of “men” just savages, or the communal impact that makes them so?

Following last week’s lectures into a more in depth analyses of game design, we come across a standing point in which we question the “us” we see represented within a game.

Sure we play games for the fun of entertainment and action, but what keeps us motivated apart from the prestige of titles and rankings? A common classification would be the concept of idealistic representation. Goals and achievements can not be boasted on their own; what better way to show your status off than through character customization? Companies benefit on this desire to be different; a craving to be unique even among others of the same class and gender, therefore often prompting players to pay by creating “limited skins and features”. Adrienne Shaw shares “In Fundamentals of Game Design, a widely referenced textbook for game designers, Ernest Adam states that the goal of character design ‘is to create characters that people find appealing…that people can believe in…and that the player can identify with(particularly in the case of avatar characters)”(pg 97).

In answering the question of identification, we now ask ourselves if the socially interactive aspects of a game attempts the same objective. “Many authors assert that identification is stronger in games than in other media because interactivity lessens the distance between players and their on-screen representatives” (pg 99). The assumption that players connect themselves to their role in a game through the freedom to make decisions for their actions is held in strong regard.

However, Shaw disagrees with this assessment in which he later discusses how “…socially interactive aspects result in players identifying as themselves rather than with…” (pg 99). Although Shaw agrees that a character may be a proxy of the player, it does not necessarily contribute to the immersive role of the player him or herself. Shaw writes, “Even if I decide to choose a seemingly random selection of options from a character-customization screen, I must momentarily reflect on how much I care about how I am represented in the game space…”(pg 102). It is less of a focus on immersion and more concentration towards an ongoing identification process in which Shaw explains by continuing to define the distinction between a “character” and a “avatar”.

This interpretation was demonstrated in class when we were given the assignment to download World of Warcraft. One of our tasks was then to build a character of our own where several options for classes were presented to us. After careful selection, we are provided options to recreate the same character with various features available. It was simple, and yet after 20 minutes into class many of us continued to be on the character selection screen. The time spent customizing our characters ultimately reveal that our desire to be portrayed ‘correctly’ is a more accurate argumentation when identifying ourselves in a game. (Though, in my opinion, the art style of World of Warcraft is kinda crummy; I couldn’t customize without feeling bored and distasteful. I understand the main point are battles, but games like Dragon Nest is more enjoyable).

Works Cited:
Shaw, Adrienne. Gaming at the Edge : Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture, University of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Close your eyes and let your mind wander for a moment. Now what do you see when you envision the idea of a ‘Gamer’? If your description consists along the lines of the male gender isolated in an unkempt corner of the room, then you are not the only one.

Amanda C. Cote and Cody Mejeur explains in their article that “Over the course of video game studies’ history, numerous researchers have pointed out how games have been constructed as a masculine space (pg2).” There is a preconceived notion that typifies the use of technology without much connection to femininity, resulting in a long build up of gender-bias in the gaming industry.

Despite the growing attempts to rectify this misconception, new disputes arise and the situation creates more complications. The Guild, for example, began as a budget-tight television series designed by actress Felicia Day. She aimed to convey her experiences as a female gamer as well as a sense of realism in respect to the daily life of a gamer.

Combined with humor and drama, The Guild presents itself as a successful and popular production showcasing the ‘world of gaming’. While there appears to be both gender and race diversity, it is also these same elements of the show that Cote and Mejeur believes consequently instigates stereotypes. They express a point in which “gamer identity manifests as cruel optimism, presenting itself as a ideal everyone relates to…promising a consistent subculture and a sense of belonging, but ultimately trapping them in narrow roles and identity constructs (pg2).”

This belief is introduced in the very first episode where various ‘types’ of gamers are implicitly defined. The first being Felicia herself, who plays the role of an individual receiving therapy for her immense addiction to gaming and unwilling connection to the ‘outside world’. Then there is April (who presents a crude and youthful vibe), Simon (who casually makes sexual jokes towards his female guild members), Clara (who puts The Game before the well being of her children), Herman (who performs as a dull accountant), and Sujan (who stalks Felicia with his technical skills).

What then becomes a common theme, Cote and Mejeur continues, is that “each character demonstrates an inability to navigate ‘real life’, and a reliance on games as an escape mechanism that allows them to avoid dealing with their problems… (pg 9).” The attempts to redress the perception of a male-dominated gaming culture has now unintentionally provided a basis in which gamers are conceived as hermits of their own. The forgotten interpretation that there are others who socialize and work steady jobs are forgotten and simply lumped with the rest of the addicted circle.

Moreover, The Guild can be said to have inadvertently dismissed a representation of LGBTQ in the society of gamers. We repeatedly identify the constructs of ‘male’ and ‘female’ but what about queer representation? Noticeably every character of the show is represented in the Game as their biological gender, an act in which implicates a form of ‘normality’ society deems to be.

Works Cited:
Amanda C. Cote & Cody Mejeur (2017): Gamers, gender, and cruel
optimism: the limits of social identity constructs in The Guild, Feminist Media Studies, DOI:
10.1080/14680777.2017.1376699

Blasts of snow and icy wind hits your face as you quickly make your way home. Despite the raging cold of late December frost, a feeling of warmth runs through as excitement envelopes your body. You repeatedly tell yourself ‘today is the day’, and quicken your pace to the front door.

You fumble for your keys that are lodged in your winter coat, not knowing where it laid in the multitude of pockets. You grow frustrated and cursed under your breath until the endless searching came to fruition. You make out the shape of a small metal substance hidden deep in the corners of your chest pocket and whipped it in the door.

A step into the doorway you realized a bright ray of light. Presumably you had forgotten to turn the lights off this morning and, once again a short profanity of words are muttered as you estimate your ever rising electricity bill. Well, no matter. ‘Today is the day.’

Then the corners of your mouth perks up as you reach your bedroom. You undress in the comfort of your pajamas, drag the stash of tasty morsels under your bed, and sit in your plush chair. You look around, ascertain that everything is in place, and put your headsets on.

The long awaited weekend of rest has finally arrived. You can finally play the game you’ve been waiting for but what’s this? A blog you’ve been keeping track of seems to have updated you on a new post. You check it out and read “Video Games Are Better Without Stories” by Ian Bogost.

It seems the gist of the article is a critique on narratives in the game play of video games. According to Bogost “Game’s obsession with story obscures more ambitious goals” and that game narratives gives up simulated characters and plots, “embracing scripted action instead.” This somewhat infuriates you and you decide to share your opinion as well.

You write a lengthy response starting with the point that narratives are indeed not essential in all games. With ones like Tetris, instructions are enough. However, games without narratives are simply a repeat of constant actions with no actual ‘game play’ or substance. Narratives not only provide a creative and unique backstory, paired with world building, players can fully understand the game and the subtle hints around them as they progress in the game. Bioshock, for example, opens with a 15 minute story line that introduces the character in a first person point of view. By doing so, players are able to focus on the artwork which displays a dominant contrast of ‘the world below a utopia’. You add: narrative creates empathy. It is the reason why most favored games are so memorable; strong feelings of fight-or-flight maneuver simply from the cut scene of the isolated lighthouse certainly has you engrossed.

You then bring up another point from one of the other responses you see. Bianca Batti and Alisha Karabinus writes in their piece “A Dream of Embodied Experience: On Ian Bogost, Epistemological Gatekeeping, and the Holodeck” that ‘Bogost’s judgements regarding so-called ‘good’ and ‘bad’ storytelling are based on the ‘insidious idea of ‘worthiness”. You agree and feel as if this ‘worthiness’ is more so an entitlement and norm within the society of patriarchal gamers who have the say in what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. You ask : what are the so called ambitious goals that might obscure the game? Why is storytelling not considered ambitious as well? Games are all stories to some degree, they can be literal like Twine games (or this blog :)) , and by denying these stories ultimately denies the game’s efforts and abilities.

On that note, you realize you have spent some time away from your game and decide to end off your reply. You take a big stretch in your chair and start the relaxing dream of your weekend.

It’s not news that we often find ourselves bored of the lives we live. As creatures of intellect and curiosity, we simply can not allow ourselves to maintain a monotonous existence. It is the very reason why inventions were built and sports were contrived; a whole world of games were created for our entertainment.

Video games, in particular, seem to be the most popular among the masses. Whether it be a first person shooter or role-playing game, all types and genres give us the freedom of creative pursuit and individual expressionism. And yet, despite the idea that any one can play these video games, there persists a remarkable amount of stereotypes within the gaming community and industry.

Public speaker Anita Sarkeesian addresses these issues and her experience as a victim of online harassment in her TED x Women talk. She begins by introducing her work in producing a series of YouTube videos called ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’. Her objective was simple: to examine the depictions of women across gaming platforms. “It is no secret that the video gaming industry boasts some of the most sexually objectified, stereotyped and downright oppressive portrayals of women in any medium. So with that in mind I decided to launch a fundraising campaign on the crowd funding website Kickstarter…what could possibly go wrong (1:20 – 1:35)”

It didn’t take long for her to find out as her social media accounts became bombarded with “threats of rape, violence, sexual assault, and death. (2:40 – 2:50)” All which had a common theme to target her gender. Which, brings us to more prominent questions we might have asked ourselves. Would the same event unfold if Anita Sarkeesian had happened to be male? And if so, to what extent and why is there so much backlash? Sarkeesian responds that there are two fathomable reasons (1) a gaming society of close minded patriarchal men (2) those who think their abusive behavior is a game.

It’s almost embarrassing to believe that grown men in their 30’s would be so hatefully targeting a sole woman expressing her opinions, much less neglecting reality with the rules of gaming constructs. It is virtually “a culture of sexism—where men who harass are supported by their peers and rewarded…women are silenced…and excluded from full participation.(7:35 – 8:00)” It is why we continue to witness unrelenting misogyny in our culture and the abuse that comes with it.

Zoe Quinn, author of Crash Override, is another unfortunate victim of misogynistic mob mentality. Her game Depression Quest garnered attention in a way she never thought it would; she was accused of having sexual relations to promote her game and it spread nationwide. She wasn’t anyone special, just a common developer, so why the scrutiny? Much was due to a social platform like GamerGate, who allowed such acts to continue under the justification of “preserving gaming journalism and ethics”. A more genuine answer as we know it, is to keep the gaming community as an exclusive and privileged badge of honor to the male population.

However, all is not lost. There is time to change and improve the way things are seen and done. We just have to remember why everything started: for a fair share of innovation and happiness from the constricting workload in our lives.

If we had to define life, what would it be? What is our purpose? Why do we move forward and proceed, despite going into the unknown? In answering these questions, we are constantly in a state of fear to validate our existence.

“Racism, the belief of the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance. Sexism, the belief in the inherent superiority of one sex over the other and thereby the right to dominance. Ageism. Heterosexism. Elitism. Classism. (Lorde 115)” We begin to see a pattern in which Audre Lorde, author of the selection “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Diference”, discusses the inherent need for human beings to separate and distinguish from one another. “As members of such an economy,” she writes, “we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways (Lorde 115).”

First, would be feigning ignorance. This applies in many ways as we often ignore problems that are not our own, disputes that would only inconvenience us, or simply the fear of backlash and ostracizing that incur as a result of attempted justice. Next, we have association. Our need to feel connected to society ultimately outweighs common sense and integrity; we tend to follow the most dominant opinions and popular trends despite the conflicting feelings and outrageous prices that come with it. Lastly, the use of degradation.

There are days when we feel as if nothing we do is ever good enough. Some brood over the question for days on end, not seemingly able to derive a conclusive answer. Others feel life will play out on its own, and gives the thought less importance. Then we have the very few, who begin to spiral down a path of depression and hate. Any sense of happiness reflected from others is now used as a weapon. Lies and rumors run through others ears and continues to spread like wildfire. Onlookers become unknowing culprits, ultimately ruining the lives of others to otherwise uphold and establish their own sense of being.

This does not apply to simply social constructs but the very foundation of our culture as established in our careers and entertainment industry. Particularly for women advancing into STEM careers, many male counterparts deem them to be impertinent to the field. As with the entertainment world, receiving approval is much harder; the notion that ‘women just aren’t as good as men’ is deeply rooted into the small-minded patriarchal society within the industry. Lorde continues to say, “It is our refusal to recognize those differences, and to examine those distortions which result from … their effects upon human behavior and expectation (115).”

Of course, with this definition, we might think that we are not this kind of person. But in truth, all of us are guilty of committing one of the three acts to some degree, we just like to think of ourselves as a better person.