Fair Play

After reading this article, I was kinda surprised at what the pie graphs revealed and all the percentile facts about violence, gender and race to video games. The author points out the male characters were most likley to be portrayed as competitors (47%), while female characters were most likely to be portrayed as props or bystanders (50%). However, given the nature of today's video games, I have to object to this fact. I'm not saying it is not true because 5-10 yrs ago that was the case, but gender, race and its relation to violence in video games is drastically changing now. Take for example the game Infamous. The main character, Cole, is a male and the supporting female is his girlfriend. While Cole is trying to adapt to his newfound powers and making critical choices to either save or destroy New York City, his girlfriend appears to make her own contribution to save what is left of the city. Ontop of that, Cole is forced to make a deal and work under a mysterious woman working for the government. The game developers have integrated the roles of these woman to the plot of the story. What is more interesting about this game is how your act of violence can either help or destroy New York City. Society will either praise your character, looking up to him as a hero or villain.

Another example is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Aside from being a masterpiece, throughout its campaign, the story makes it clear that the women in the game can do just about anything the main character can. Yes, the main character, Drake, is a white male, but the women show they can hold their own during a gun fight. One thing the article mentioned that caught my attention is that females in rated "E" games show more skin than what is considered appropriate for kids to play. Further revealing that its violent content is significant to the plot. But in regards to race, it is true that the only genre that shows a variety of race is sports genre whereas action/adventure games always have a white male as the competitor.