Role-Playing Gender, and How the Game Industry Has Sustained and Defied Sexism
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RPG: Role-Playing Gender, and How the Game Industry Has Sustained and Defied Sexism ReBecca Elizabeth Compton BA (Ball State University), MA (Kingston University) A Thesis Submitted in Candidature for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis Summary Despite the wider cultural progress of gender equality, game content which perpetuates sexist beliefs about gender is uncomfortably common. Games have historically used narrative and programmed mechanics to advocate that women are valuable only when performing exaggerated femininity – they must look and behave biologically female, even when playing as non-human races. Game content suggests that women desire play such as fighting from a distance, healing, and otherwise supporting the masculine, combative role while being denied equal agency. From this viewpoint, women are at their most feminine – their ‘ideal’ state – when they are objectified, and as cultural artefacts games reveal society’s adherence of the same values: sexist content articulates the dichotomy of man=capable, woman=incapable that structures Western culture. Yet there are signs of change in both games and the industry, and the thesis explores the power of sexist representations and the progress toward inclusive game content. The industry is increasingly representing women and marginalised groups in ways which highlight intellectual solutions over the use of force, explore non-heterosexual sexuality, or feature cooperation that encourages relations of equality beyond gender boundaries, as well as empowered female characters whose stories overcome sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression. ‘RPG: Role-Playing Gender’ looks at games using a mixed-methodological approach which combines ‘close readings’ of games as texts alongside other popular culture and art forms, ethnographic surveys of game communities, and interviews with members of the gaming world. What do sexist representations communicate to players concerning female power and gender roles? What specific gender-based characteristics do players adopt for in-game gender performance? How do game communities facilitate player/player interaction, especially those based on assumptions about gender trends, in ways non-virtual spaces cannot? What stories and mechanics might games adopt to represent women and marginalised groups in ways which normalise and celebrate diversity? i Contents Introduction: Women in an Enduringly Sexist Game Space ......................................... 1 Thesis Contribution and Roadmap .................................................................................... 20 Wider Implications of Data ................................................................................................ 25 Chapter One: Role-Playing Gender .................................................................................. 30 Introduction: A Sampling of Tropes.................................................................................. 30 Evolution of the ‘Damsel in Distress’ ............................................................................... 35 The ‘Dead Beloved as Muse’ ............................................................................................. 40 ‘Woman as Background Decoration’ ................................................................................ 47 ‘Woman as Agent of Horror’ ............................................................................................. 53 ‘Woman as Magical Castrator’ .......................................................................................... 58 Identifying Objectification ................................................................................................. 65 Toxic Masculinity and the Role It Plays in Games ......................................................... 78 Real-World Dangers of Objectification in Video Games ............................................... 82 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 86 Chapter Two: MMOs: Explaining Gendered Motivations .......................................... 88 Introduction: The Foundations of Misunderstood Gender Motivations ........................ 88 Complicating the Sexism of the Socialisation and Challenge Motivations .................. 92 Embedded Sexism in MMOs ............................................................................................. 99 Constructing the Feminine with Gender Bending.......................................................... 114 The Truth about Gender Preference ................................................................................ 121 Conclusion: ‘Games for Women’ Is a Red Herring ...................................................... 124 Chapter Three: Interactions in Game Communities ................................................... 130 Introduction: Online Behaviour toward Friends and Enemies ..................................... 130 Gendered Tendencies in Computer-Mediated Communication ................................... 133 Dichotomous Attitudes Tested on Gameplay ................................................................. 138 Virtual Interactions, Their Consequences, and Their Adoption of Gendered Behaviour ................................................................................................. 150 Virtual Harassment and the Sexism It Enforces ............................................................ 158 Masculine Motivations and Feminine Responses to Harassment ................................ 166 Conclusion: Navigating Beyond Harassment ................................................................. 179 Chapter Four: Continuing Diverse Trends in Game Culture ................................... 182 Introduction: An Optimistic Approach (despite Sexist Game Communities) ............ 182 Children’s Stereotypical Preferences and How They Ghettoize Girls ........................ 186 ii I-Methodology: Designing Inclusive Content ................................................................ 195 Lara Croft’s Feminist Evolution ...................................................................................... 203 The Significance of Stereotypes and How Game Design Should Apply Them (or Not) ............................................................................................... 212 Progressive Attitudes Replacing Sexist Ones................................................................. 219 Conclusion: Games to ‘Fix Reality’ according to Gender and Beyond ...................... 226 Coda: The State of Game Content, Communities, and Looking Forward .................. 232 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 240 Primary Texts ..................................................................................................................... 240 Gameography ..................................................................................................................... 244 Secondary Criticism .......................................................................................................... 248 Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 265 Appendix One: Online Harassment Survey .................................................................... 266 Appendix Two: Interview with [REDACTED TO PROTECT INTERVIEWEE IDENTITY], Gamer ...................................................................................... 269 Appendix Three: Life Is Strange Survey......................................................................... 272 Appendix Four: Interview with ‘Rhys’ and ‘Evangeline’............................................. 285 Appendix Five: Interview with [REDACTED TO PROTECT INTERVIEWEE IDENTITY], Game Designer .............................................................................. 287 iii List of Figures and Tables Figure I.1. 2006 Nintendo DS Advert Campaign ............................................................... 4 Figure I.2. Cover, The Sensational She-Hulk ................................................................... 10 Figure I.3. Advertisement, BMW (2008).......................................................................... 11 Figure I.4. Opening Scene, Game of War: 2015 Super Bowl Commercial ‘Who I Am’ ft. Kate Upton (2015) ............................................................................ 13 Figure 1.1. Screencap from the Male Plotline of Echo Tokyo: Intro ............................. 31 Figure 1.2. Screencap from the Female Plotline of Echo Tokyo: Intro ......................... 32 Figure 1.3. Screencap from Shadows of the Damned (2011) ......................................... 39 Figure 1.4. Screencap from The Darkness II (2007) ....................................................... 39 Figure 1.5. Jean-André Rixens’ The Death of Cleopatra (c. 1874) ............................... 41 Figure 1.6. Johann Heinrich Fuseli’s The Nightmare (c. 1781) ..................................... 42 Figure 1.7 and 1.8. Marketing Image for Hitman: Blood Money (2006) ...................... 45 Figure 1.9 and 1.10. Marketing Image for Hitman: Blood Money (2006) .................... 46 Figures 1.11 and 1.12. Wizened Mage, Roper Klax, from Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey (2014-16) and Post-Adolescent Scholar Dorian Pavus, from Dragon Age: Inquisition ............................................................................