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

I always found it intriguing that video game creators know how to win over their audiences, to the point where a game becomes addicting and a must play. During the fourth week of this course, we focused on representation. Something that I found interesting in one of the assigned readings for the week dealt with how the developers were able to put together a process that made putting the game aside a tough task. In Shira Chess’ “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood: Feminism”, the game is categorized as a strictly “feminine play style”. The work by Chess went into a lot of details, specifically about the autonomy that players have when it comes to creating a character and the overall game play. Despite the fact that the game has been categorized in this manner, I want to focus more on how the game’s developers were able to get the audience engaged and addicted to the game.

One aspect of the game allows for the players to have a social media account. To me, this is cool because we can see that the developers were very creative with connecting the real world to this game. In other words, the world building for this aspect of the game was carried out well on their behalf. However, this is the place where I think the developers were able to keep their audience on the edge of their seats. Chess states, “Mobility, however, is not only upward; the player can lose followers as well. Neglecting a relationship and being dumped, as well as doing poorly on a gig, can cause followers to drop. Players can also lose followers for not playing the game for a while. In other words, the more you play, the less likely you are to lose fictional fans” (96). This quote demonstrates that the game is built to function just like real life. Just like how a bad breakup or poor performance can lead to a trending topic all over the different social media platforms, this game is embedded to do the same. Also, the idea of not being active in the game makes the chance of losing followers more likely. Once again, in real life, if one were to abandon their social media accounts, chances are, people would most likely unfollow them due to their inactivity. On top of this, this creates the window where the developers were able to win over the audience. This is the aspect that makes the game a “must play”.

Even though this game has been criticized in many different approaches, I still found it interesting that the developers were able to find a way, if not multiple, to have their audience addicted. Putting aside all of the choices and intersectionality that is described throughout this game, the developers were still able to have some fans willing to spend real money towards gameplay. I think this shows the true power that video game creators have over the general audience. Now, satisfying everyone in the world is definitely not an easy task, but I do think that video game creators have made this the least of their worries. What they are more concerned about is making proceeds from a game. This is fair, but not fair to the general world. The sad thing is, despite all of the negativity towards this particular game, there will still be people who do not see the issues of representation as a major setback. Although there is not much that can be done towards this situation, what we can do is educate the public about what is really depicted in a game. When they realize that representation is a major flaw, hopefully they speak up or stop playing.

As expressed, people spend a lot of time and even real money towards games. What makes this so simple is the fact that video game creators are successful at gaining the attention from their audiences. If we educate the public more about the drawbacks of certain games, there is a chance that they might not want to contribute both of these acts any more. Representation is something that is hard to fight for in our world today, but I do not see a reason to put a halt to the fight. People should be spending time and real money towards games that ensure a wide field of representation. Ideally, everyone should be considered in all game states and never used as a form of ridicule.

-Andy Kissoon

This past week, we discussed how different groups of people are portrayed in video games and its effects. The Shaw and Friesem article highlighted how LGBTQ people tend to be represented as jokes and villains in games. We, also, took a look at Dream Daddy and The Guild as good and bad examples of representation in gaming culture, respectively.

The primary topic that stood out to me is how precise the execution of representation must be. Just because a group is represented, doesn’t mean it is always good. One of our in-class examples was Leisure Suit Larry, where the player can unintentionally sleep with a trans woman, resulting in negative outcomes. Although one may argue that transgender people are represented in the game, they are belittled as nothing more than a bad end in the game. Sure, it is just a fictional game which was meant to appeal towards straight men but gives a poor impression. It positively reinforces heterosexuality and punishes the player for going against what is considered normal. This may create a negative image in the minds of ignorant and susceptible people. This reminded me of a recent video I watched called, “What Teaching English in Japan was REALLY Like” by Abroad in Japan. Mid-way through the video, he mentions when he first met his Japanese girlfriend’s mother, she was incredibly scared of him because she had never seen a white person before. I think its possible that she had a potentially negative image of what white people are like due to media. I expect games to have a similar effect where a few inexperienced and ignorant people inadvertently create biases on these groups of people being misrepresented.

Another important aspect of representation is portraying people through stereotypes. There comes a grey area where a group of people may be represented as stereotypical but it may actually accurately represent some. The example used in class is that lesbian women are commonly portrayed as the tough, butch type and gay men are flamboyant and effeminate. Though a stereotype, we can’t completely dispel these portrayals since there are lesbian women and gay men who may identify as such. If we denounce it as homophobic and bigoted to represent queer people as stereotypes, then it may alienate the people who they accurately represent. The issue is when is it okay to represent people as stereotypical? Where do we draw the boundaries of too much or too little? For example, is it acceptable to have an African American who enjoys fried chicken and watermelon in a game? Personally, I would say that would be a rather offensive portrayal; however, if we use the previous argument in this case, there may be a person out there that identifies with such a character. Overall, it can be rather difficult to properly represent a person especially when attempting to represent stereotyped personalities. I believe that all forms of media suffer from representation issues, not just in video games.

Citations:

Abroad in Japan’s video: youtube.com/watch?v=5VDnj8IEWNc

This week pertained mostly to the representation of the LGBTQ community in the video game industry, and what is good and bad representation in video games. On top of this, we also discussed gender roles and representation as a whole in the video game world. These discussions led us to the Netflix series “The Guild”, which is a show lampooning the gaming community, with many “colorful” characters on the show. All of the characters on this show fill a certain stereotype of people in the gaming community, such as recluses who hate confrontation, men who are womanizers, young men in high school or college, middle aged men who live their lives off of others, people who are addicted to gaming, people who neglect aspects of their real lives in order to play, the list goes on and on. While this show is more of a comedic take on the world outside of gaming, it shows the controversies and negative attitudes it can bring into the gaming world itself. This then led us into looking at the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, which catalogues games, series of games, and instances in games that pertain to the LGBTQ community. While I have looked at this website before, it seems that the archive has become much more expansive, whether that be due to user submissions or more findings by the founders of the website itself. It was interesting to look into games that were not previously on the archive, and how some games represent the community. For example, I’ve been playing a lot of “League of Legends” in the past semester after my friends got me into the game. When I saw the game listed in the archive, I was somewhat confused at first. In my 6 months of playing the game, I have never seen any explicit LGBTQ content while playing the game. However, content made outside of the game, such as with comics and animations, reveals more about the backgrounds and lore of the game’s “champions”. For example, while it is never explicitly stated that the champion “Neeko” is a part of the LGBTQ community, some hidden voice lines vaguely hint at this, while developers announced outside of the game that Neeko is in fact the first openly lesbian character. In addition, on the LGBTQ archive, the champion Varus was listed as being a LGBTQ reference. I was quite confused, as there is no mention of Varus’ backstory in game, nor is there any alluding to his identity. However, his backstory which was built up by the comics and outside media confirm this champion’s inclusion in the LGBTQ community. When it comes to representation in video games, I believe that a character should feel like a real person, rather than a canvas which developers can find a story for later. A good example of what I find to be bad representation in video games comes from Overwatch. In 2019, three years after the game’s release, Blizzard announced through a comic that Soldier 76 was gay. This felt very ingenuous to players, as it felt like “they made the character gay just because they could”. The LGBTQ community shouldn’t be treated as a stereotyped minority which developers can slap onto a character “just because they feel like it”. Writing a character should be like creating a human, these traits and characteristics are a part of them, not a status symbol.

There has always been a stigma with one’s sexual orientation within gaming culture, from game development, within games communities, and down to the journalism connected to games. We went over the problems with games and their representation of anyone who isn’t straight. When we went over the queer archive, I looked into the Danganronpa series. Just so no one is confused about the Danganronpa series, to sum up the plot, it’s about sixteen high school kids getting stuck in a school and being put through a death game, where the only way to escape is to commit murder and get away with it. Each student has an “ultimate ” talent and its unique for everyone, from the ultimate detective to the ultimate lucky student (yes in this universe luck is a talent). I was really caught off guard by the subtle and explicit tones of queerness from looking back on my playthroughs of the games. There was one relationship that I noticed after looking in the queer archive, that were obvious by the the context clues now ,but I didn’t think of it at the time. So there was the ultimate biker gang leader, Mondo Owada, and the ultimate moral compass, Kiyotaka Ishimaru (nickname: Taka). Within the story there was this “bro” relationship forming between the two, and most people (me included) just thought they were just got really close, but after looking through the queer archive, it changed how I viewed all their interactions and my view of their relationship. A specific event that feels different now, after reading the queer archive is after Mondo was executed for committing a murder and getting caught in the class trial (place where the students debate how the murder went down and who is the blackened student), Taka was emotionally unstable at that point, since they were so close, and to the very end Taka didn’t want to believe Mondo would commit a murder. Now knowing how they could have been closer than just friends it just further explains Taka’s actions after Mondos’ death. Another instance where the character’s preference were disclosed in a very sneaky manner was in regards to Hifumi Yamada, the ultimate fanfic creator.  When he was on the brink of death the main character came up to him and some of his last words were talking about his joy for yaoi (A genre of manga/anime where the main focus is gay relationships). Other than this one moment, none of his other lines would imply that he is gay. I don’t know that much about overwatch, but I feel as though Blizzard just randomly announcing if a character is gay, lesbian, etc is more of a public relations move then their care for representation in overwatch. So there can be games that represent a certain group of people right or wrong, but you also have to consider the intention of the shining light of these characteristics. All in all games are moving in the right direction , it’s just going to take a bit. Social changes, especially in the gaming industry, need time to take its course.

The importance of portraying different kinds of individual identities in pieces of media—along with proper representation of those identities—is an increasingly discussed topic in today’s world. The topic has been talked about primarily in terms of books, t.v., and movies. In the How to Play Video Games chapter on LGBTQ Representation, Adriane Shaw writes, “Compared to other media, little academic attention has been paid to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in digital games.” (p 110) In time, this has become less true. Particularly, the importance of representation in video games has been given a bigger spotlight as games have been taken more seriously and looked at in further depth. This, however, is not a black and white phenomenon. The “one size fits all” mentality has also been present to unfortunate degrees. Too often, people have immovable/ignorant ideas about what it is to be Black or Asian or trans or otherwise different from the typical norm and therefore do not treat certain characters with the detailed depth they deserve. In talking about portraying different identities, it is important to talk about the diversity which exists both in and between different ethnicities, genders and sexualities. In this way, there isn’t just one way to include “proper” representation of people. Inevitably, people within different groups—despite possibly similar traits—are not mirror images of one another. This is why individuality is especially imperative. It is not only beneficial to include different kinds of people, it is beneficial to portray them as unique and distinct as opposed to identically one-dimensional. It is one thing to include people of color and those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community when building narratives. It is another to give them traits which go beyond these things in order to present them as genuinely three-dimension human beings with their own thoughts and desires.

This isn’t to say that games across the board are bad with their inclusion of representation and identity. There are plenty of titles which do this incredibly well, presenting individual difference as positive and existing in tandem with differences in behavior and ideas as they correlate to the game’s plot. Furthermore, presenting a game’s universe diversely tends to increase player immersion. To be a part of a place in a video game which is at all recognizable in terms of who occupies it transforms that place from just a digital one inside a t.v. to something you can personally imagine or be impacted by. This isn’t the only thing which increases immersion, though. Whether the game is in first or third person can also dictate how you will personally experience it. Then there is the game’s writing, dialogue and pacing to think about. Essentially, all of these things work together to usefully influence how each player will be impacted. Inclusion of different identities is just the first step in creating diverse, interestingly built digital worlds which can truly impact those playing in them—even years down the line when other games have taken their place in the discussion.

Works Cited

Huntmann, Nina B. and Payne, Matthew Thomas. How to Play Video Games. New York, NY, New York University Press, 2019.

I have played many games of varying narratives throughout my life. I have played games with a huge cast of characters and settings with intricate plots as well as games with no traditional stories where they just drop you into the game and allow you to start playing. However, as games become more and more complex over the years, the narratives to these games also becomes more important.

To me, narratives in games are an integral part of a game. The narrative in games consists of the plot, setting, characters, music, and gameplay. It establishes the atmosphere and overall impression of a game and allows players to feel like they are a part of the story. It gives the player context on the situation that the game puts them in and reasons for the player to keep playing the game. It’s what I personally look forward to when playing a new game. Who am I playing as? What are my goals and how can I achieve them? What is the setting like and what can I do in it? Etc. Having this information allows me to understand why my character is in whatever situation the game puts me in and fully immerses me into the story that they are telling. 

Even in games where the “story” isn’t particularly clear, the stories can be made up by the players themselves as they play. An example I can think of would be the online multiplayer PvP survival game Rust. In the game, you spawn into this island literally naked with one goal: to survive. There is a big emphasis on base building and being the strongest entity (having the most resources/weapons/people) in the server before the weekly wipes where it resets the map and everyone starts with nothing again. Playing Rust, you will encounter other players who are most likely going to kill you for no reason, or raid your base when you aren’t around to protect it. This gives players the opportunity to create stories through their gameplay. You log back on into the game only to find your base in shambles with a sign from the culprit taunting you for getting raided. Now instead of just simply surviving, you’re trying to find the player responsible, where their base is located, and build up your resources again slowly in order to take revenge. Even with no real story, games like Rust gives chances for players to make their own which is what makes the game interesting and one of the reasons as to why the player base continues to grow and play the game.

In Ian Bogost’s article, Video Games Are Better Without Stories, the author states “I called it [Gone Home] the video-game equivalent of young-adult fiction. Hardly anything to be ashamed of, but maybe much nothing to praise, either. If the ultimate bar for meaning in games is set at teen fare, then perhaps they will remain stuck in a perpetual adolescence even if they escape the stereotypical dude-bro’s basement”. I feel that Bogost is very wrong in this statement on many different levels, such as assuming that young adult fiction is simplistic and does not offer much in the way of artistic value. Young adult fiction may have been formed as a way to transition readers from children’s books into adult literature, many of these novels feature difficult topics that people are meant to relate to. These books are very empathetic/sympathetic in nature, as they are used as tools to give children critical thinking skills, a sort of introduction to real world life and experiences that might not be ones’ own. As a second point, narratives in games should be seen as a positive experience because of that. If young adult fiction is meant to place the consumer into a state of empathy and/or sympathy, isn’t that the main goal of playing as a character in a video game? If a game aims to place you in an alternate world, then wouldn’t the ultimate goal be the empathy displayed in young adult narrative?

One game narrative that I find most compelling is Night in the Woods (Finji,2017). In the game you play as a 20-year-old cat girl named Mae Borowski as she uncovers the dark secrets behind the small town that she lives in. I find it compelling because so much of the narrative is something that I have experienced before myself. Night in the Woods is a very melancholic, depressing, and yet hopeful vision of small town America from the viewpoint of the younger generations. It borders on the edge of a coming of age story, but isn’t quite that, and it’s drenched in the feeling that living in a rural area gives you. Mae comes back to town after dropping out of college, only to find out that some of her favorite places are closed and the town has changed in small ways. Her friends have gotten jobs and moved on in life, and she has to come back to everyone’s disappointment after they find out that she dropped out. The town in general feels very cut off from the rest of the world, being separated by a bridge in and out of town. The town council consisting of the older generation goes around town every day to brainstorm ideas to make the town bigger, and to make the younger generation want to stay. The narrative of Night in the Woods is that of a small community that is slowly falling apart, but no one really wanting to admit it. And to me, as someone who has lived in such a community, I really empathize with this narrative. The experience of playing this game felt more real to me than most games simply because I could identify with the narrative. Night in the Woods is greater than just a simple sidescroller adventure game because of the narrative, and the immersion I achieved from that and the empathy that I had received, embedded in the characters and in the town, is something that deserves praise.

Works Cited

Bogost, Ian. “Video Games Are Better Without Stories.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Apr. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/.

Night in the Woods, Finji, 2017.

It is well known and commonly accepted that gaming is historically a predominantly male pastime. It can be stated with a degree of accuracy that early games mostly fulfilled the male fantasy (not that there is anything inherently wrong with this; to be clear). Super Mario Bros. is a classic tale of saving the girl, while early multiplayer games like Quake and Counter-Strike scratched the itch of totally dominating the opposition.

The case of The Last of Us (as presented in Murray’s chapter in How to Play Video Games, titled “The Last of Us: Masculinity) that is brought up is interesting because it subverts a lot of the masculinity tropes while adhering to some of them itself. For example, Joel is presented not only as a strong, aggressive, dominating figure; but he is also shown to be losing his touch as he is aging, as Ellie starts to fulfill more of a self-sufficient role as the game progresses. There is also an issue of the role that Masculinity fulfills in the overall narrative of The Last of Us. As the game goes on and Ellie becomes more self-dependent (with that storyline reaching its peak during the David section of the game, without giving spoilers), Joel’s role starts to become more and more diminished. However, right at the end of the game, the power balance ends up shifting right back into Joel, as he makes a decision to break Ellie out of the hospital, in a selfish and desperate attempt to hold onto the connection that the two of them have formed. Right as it seems like Ellie is starting to take control, Joel takes the reigns over Ellie’s life again. Also worth noting that in the trailer for The Last of Us, Ellie has grown into a full adult and it seems as if she is going to be the one taking over, with her being shown as the playable protagonist in the sequel.

As mentioned in the article written by our professor, Cody Mejeur, in collaboration with Amanda Cote, Bladezz in the Netflix series The Guild goes through a series of emasculating moments. However, as mentioned in the article, he is able to empower himself through the world of gaming. This goes to show that gaming can serve as a form of strengthening masculinity. The fact that you are completely separate entirely from your real person (a vast majority of gamers don’t even use their real names online; even at the professional level). The power of an identity can be a strong thing, creating two separate people (the in-person you and the online you) who come together to form a single, sharpened identity.

This, to me, is a large part of the power of online gaming (which is my primary emphasis). It allows you to empower yourself in a way that you can’t in the real world. Hopping into a server and showing that you’re the best in that server is a feeling that only gaming can provide, and there is absolutely a certain power in that.

 

 

Works Cited:

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.