I've decided to do a little bit of free writing for the first blog question. I narrowed my interests down first and settled on video games. After a few minutes of wracking my brain, looking for some interesting opinion I had on video game culture (this was difficult), I eventually recalled a conversation from earlier in the week.
I'd voiced my opinions on a popular video game franchise that I enjoyed, when my friend chimed in stating that she also enjoyed the franchise. However, she also asked that I not tell anyone about her interest.
This struck me as odd.
I pressed her as to why she would like to keep it a secret, and she proceeded to relate tales from her past detailing the discrimination and harassment she received from male gamers for simply playing the games she enjoyed.
My friend wanted me to keep her interests secret because of the negative attitudes which existed in video game culture. I hate what happened to her, and the negative psychological effect that the sexism has had on her.
I want to get to the bottom of why this happens. Maybe figure out if being female is actually the chief motivating factor for harassment and discrimination against female gamers, and if is triggered in conjunction with something else. (poor play? losing? winning?)
Maybe this type of research could help weed out that ugly behaviour in the future.
What factors are responsible for harassment and discrimination against women in video game culture?
Or
What is the motivation for harassment and discrimination against women in video game culture?
Or
Does video game culture cultivate harassment and discrimination against women?
Considerations: possible narrowing this study down to a specific game or game genre
I'd voiced my opinions on a popular video game franchise that I enjoyed, when my friend chimed in stating that she also enjoyed the franchise. However, she also asked that I not tell anyone about her interest.
This struck me as odd.
I pressed her as to why she would like to keep it a secret, and she proceeded to relate tales from her past detailing the discrimination and harassment she received from male gamers for simply playing the games she enjoyed.
My friend wanted me to keep her interests secret because of the negative attitudes which existed in video game culture. I hate what happened to her, and the negative psychological effect that the sexism has had on her.
I want to get to the bottom of why this happens. Maybe figure out if being female is actually the chief motivating factor for harassment and discrimination against female gamers, and if is triggered in conjunction with something else. (poor play? losing? winning?)
Maybe this type of research could help weed out that ugly behaviour in the future.
What factors are responsible for harassment and discrimination against women in video game culture?
Or
What is the motivation for harassment and discrimination against women in video game culture?
Or
Does video game culture cultivate harassment and discrimination against women?
Considerations: possible narrowing this study down to a specific game or game genre
These are very interesting questions, Karl, and I think they are very important to explore especially as gaming and the “online world” become more and more accessible to people of different ages around the world. I personally think that harassment and discrimination against women in video game culture stem from the lack of women within these online social networks. I have had experiences where, playing League of Legends, in a game a 30 people there are only two girls participating (myself and one other woman). I don’t see myself represented in many online video games to the same extent men do. I think it’s safe to say women are not the only ones seeing this uneven ratio. In video game culture, women are often the odd one out. It is easy to target the odd-ball in a competitive culture such a video gaming.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, women are underrepresented in the actual game characters themselves. When we are present, we are hardly ever the main characters, but rather the damsels in distress needed to be rescued by the bearded, bulging-muscled men. I think that having conversations about bullying, harassment, and gender discrimination in the everyday lives of video-gamers (which could be part of a program done in a public library) along with video game companies positively representing women in leading roles in their games can help destroy this negative aspect of video game culture.
I would be really interested to know what it is that motivates that kind of harassment. In particular I would like to know how it differs from interactions online that take place outside of games (youtube comments for example). Does the competitive nature of most games make a difference?
ReplyDelete