Not many people can say they bonded with their brother by taking down a political regime, whist at the same hunting a sword swinging psychopath along side a collection of colorful and creative characters that would be dubbed, by my brother, as “The Bad-ass Squad.” The summer of my 6th grade year was nothing but “The Bad-ass Squad,” or, better known by most, as the terrorist group Avalanche from Final Fantasy VII. Even to this day I can see it. My brother and I sitting in his room from 6am to whatever time my mom would bang on the door and tell us to stop. Eating peanut butter sandwiches with goldfish and apple slices, then being so consumed by the story and the characters we would, honest to God, forget to eat until we had to be reminded. It was one of the greatest summers of my life. Final Fantasy VII is, to this day, my favorite game of all time, and these memories with my brother contribute to that. Not only is it the best game ever (Objectively this is true) but it was also the catalyst to what my mother calls a “video game addiction.” I prefer to think of it as “A competitive hobby.”
Ever since FFVII, I have loved video games. FPS’s, RPG’s, Classic sidescrollers, TPS’s, MMO’s, heck I even had a Harvest Moon phase, which can be summed up into to two words; Farming. Simulator. With each year of releases, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with the feeling of playing. It is a versatile experience, one that is dictated completely by me. I’m angry and need a stress reliever? Overwatch. I’m methodical and introspective? Last of Us. I’m curious and tactical? Dragon Age Origins. I’m reminiscing? FFX. I have a game for every emotional state, and each one puts my state of mind to ease by escorting me to a place that is my own, where control is ever present. But out of the virtual world, I had no control. I had no reason to discuss it, or even be seen with it. I was a prisoner to that which I loved so much, shackled by the very developers who made them.
Buying video games can sometimes be a risky purchase. If not researched or looked into, you could be spending 60+ dollars on a game you won’t even like. Some people choose to buy games solely on franchise loyalty, or from the gaming community hyping a certain title for that season. Nevertheless, all it comes down to is advertising. It is through this advertising where I always felt the most ostracized in gaming. It wasn’t the scantly dressed women, or the promotional wrestling games that came with a “Clothes off” option for the women. It was the fact that none of these advertisements showed girls. None had bright colors, or even showed a girls bedroom. Whenever I saw a poster or advertisement on TV for a gaming console, it reminded me of my brothers room. This continued on throughout the years, but, interestingly, it was my brother who stopped playing video games in high school. Even so, I never saw myself represented in advertisements. This had serious negative implications while growing up. I felt like my gaming was, deep down, not meant for me. It was a hobby I picked up from my brother, because they were for boys. It wasn’t right for me to play, simply because I was a girl. As I got older, and I became less embarrassed by it, I began talking about games and articles with my classmates. However, it quickly became clear to me that some of my male classmates thought gaming, for a girl, was an attention seeking hobby. Thus, they would bombard me with questions about the games I liked, questions I didn’t know the answers to. Now not only did I have to fight the stigma of girls and gaming, but I had to prove I liked them. If I played video games, I had to know twice as much about them. I had to know developers, studios, voice actors and animators, for the sole purpose of proving my knowledge to the boys who thought otherwise. So, not only was I being unrepresented by the game developers pushing for advertisements geared towards boys, but said boys would ostracize me further by making me feel guilty, or inferior, for the gaming knowledge I didn’t possess. This raised me to develop a defensive and confronting nature. All my life I had to prove my worth, to defend my personal hobbies with information I didn’t need, or care about. All for the sake of loving that which boys could love at birth.
This is the perfect “Platform” to discuss Sex vs Gender distinction. Sex is a biological difference. Sex is about physique, genes, chromosomes, hormonal outputs, and sexual organs. It is the physical association, or biological concept. Gender, however, is the societal distinction between Feminine and Masculine behavior. It is the “Gender Norms,” the Male (Sex) + Masculine trait = “Man” “Gender Norms,” are extremely prevalent in gaming advertisement. As demonstrated above, classic video game advertisements shifted from “Family” fun, to “Boy’s.” This is because, in the 90’s, video games were now being labeled as toys, rather than an electronic medium. Thus, developers chose to gear their advertisements towards boys, so their product could be stocked in the toy aisle. This resulted in the advertisements consisting of “Boy’s colors,” such as brown, red, and, of course, blue. Boys were also exclusivity in early Nintendo and Atari commercials, and the only roles girls and women played were sisters and sexual conquests. They were either represented as escapes, or temptations. Tracy Lien writes “In wake of the video game crash, the game industry’s pursuit of a safe and reliable market led to it homing in on the young male. And so the advertising campaigns began. Video games were heavily marketed as products for men, and the message was clear: No girls allowed.” These advertisements only strengthened the Gender Norms so prevalent in the 90’s. Lien continues that, even though developers pushed for an inclusive game experience in the mid 2000’s, shooters and open-world games continued to carry the weight of gender favoritism in their advertisements, and game experiences.
The concept of “Girls don’t play video games,” is present even today. However, more and more companies are beginning to include more women in their marketing, and games. From hiring more female developers and programmers, to making more female leads in the games themselves. The only way for gaming industries to truly make a difference is to sell the games they make with all genders in mind. To feature and celebrate women in the gaming community, as well as to work alongside them as equals. Powerful and beautiful women in games? That’s a Bad-ass Squad I can get behind.
sources:
https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/12/2/5143856/no-girls-allowed http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/12/04/female_gamers_and_masculine_marketers_polygon_s_history_of_the_sexist_selling.html http://www.libertyproject.com/culture/why-do-people-think-video-games-are-just-boys/