Gender – Interactive Digital Narratives

Final Game Log

We spent a lot of time talking about gender and feminism in class, because of this I had a feeling that it would be a common topic to blog about. I was curious what my classmates would come up with in terms of games that addressed or failed to address this topic. In my mind I had already picked games such as GTA and Gone Home, which fit both sides of the spectrum for how they approach these two major subjects. I was reading through people’s blog posts, and found that Samantha, Emi, and Luke all wrote about misrepresentation of women in videogames. Sam Wrote about Grand Theft Auto, a game the, unsurprisingly, was a common topic in class and in our blogs. I agreed with most of what Sam wrote as GTA is well known for its objectification and misrepresentation of women. Emi chose to write about Bioshock which surprised me. I had never thought of Bioshock as a game that sells masculinity. Her post made me think more about Bioshock Infinite more than the original, which she wrote about. The “little sisters” are just little girls, yet in Bioshock Infinite you have a female follower that is very powerful and eventually changes the outcome of the game. Lastly in Luke’s post he wrote about a game I had never heard of called Broken Age. His analysis was investing especially his statement about how girl’s common role in most science fiction games. All of these were strong points that I hadn’t necessarily considered when playing through games. I typically, subconsciously, turn a blind a blind eye to this topic as I do not look forward while I play a game.

What surprised me the most about reading through people’s posts was the level of detail and range of discussion. People were writing about things ranging from Chris’ article on perspective within Skyrim to Jasmine’s post on Rhythm Heaven. I learned a lot and enjoyed scrolling through people’s blogs. Chris wrote about my favorite game of all time and yet he still noticed things that I had overlooked about the impact of changing perspective. Jasmine wrote about a game I had never even heard of, yet I still was interested in reading what patterns and ideas she had noticed in her play-throughs. Overall these blogs helped me learn more about the the gaming industry. I was able to see patterns across games and platforms. It helped me connect much of what we discussed throughout the year into the real world.

“Breaking the Industry” Response

Although it’s true that the gaming world is still less than perfect when it comes to equal representation, there have been some notable strides in the past decade. It’s unfair to assume that no progress has been made and to dismiss the games that do portray women in a positive light. There are some badasses … Continue reading ““Breaking the Industry” Response”

There are some badasses out there such as Sheik from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Laura Croft from Tomb Raider.

Not everything has to be about power play. Not every woman’s role has to be sexualised or submissive.

For example, Hildegard von Krone from Soul Caliber IV is a female warrior who is very much not sexualised in the game. The armor she wears is actually practical, and even her alternate outfit is elegant. Interestingly, director Katsutoshi Sasaki described Hilde as the “most alluring” female character in the game!

Additionally, Alyx from Half Life 2 is fiercely independent. She is immensely skilled at hacking and engineering and easily able to hold her own in a fight. Cheerful, witty and even practically attired, few people wouldn’t want Alyx on their side.

Sex and GTA: What Has Changed Since 2004

I discovered a book, Porn & Pong : How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture, in the library that sparked my interest in sex in GTA, so I read what it had to say and explored the sexual opportunities within GTA 5. Prostitutes have been available for players to consult in…

I discovered a book, Porn & Pong : How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture, in the library that sparked my interest in sex in GTA, so I read what it had to say and explored the sexual opportunities within GTA 5.

Prostitutes have been available for players to consult in GTA since the 2001 release of Grand Theft Auto III. In this version, some controller vibration, car movement, and squeaking sounds were the only indicators of sexual intercourse between the player and prostitute. This changed with the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004. While the encounters with prostitutes remained the same, a modifier called Hot Coffee became available for PC where the player character’s girlfriend invites him in for coffee, strips naked, performs oral sex on his invisible phallus, and has sex with CJ (playable character) on her bed. The girlfriend does not have any nipples, and CJ remains clothed the entire time, even while pumping during intercourse. The rhythm of intercourse could be controlled via joystick, and the CJ’s energy bar increased with steady rhythm. This mini game was also available in PS2 and Xbox game versions, though Rockstar Games originally tried to claim it was the work of hackers and mods (Brown 135).

Female sex workers remain a part of GTA today, and make up a large portion (perhaps most) of the female characters the player comes into contact with. The sexual encounters are more explicit than regular in game sex in the 2001 version, and combine some elements from the Hot Coffee mini game but is not quite as explicit.

In GTA 5 players can visit a strip club and receive a lap dance from a female stripper. During the lap dance the female is topless and has animated nipples. The player can touch the stripper as she dances. The player can also take the stripper to her home and have sex with her after receiving a lap dance. None of the intercourse is portrayed, players enter the home of the stripper as the camera stays at street view. Some sound effects play as the night turns to day and then the player exits the home.

Another opportunity for sexual encounter comes from picking up a prostitute on the street. After driving to a private location the player can select three sexual favors (unlabeled but presumably oral, vaginal, and anal sex) each a different cost. While these are performed the prostitute and player remain clothed. No breasts, genitals, or skin not already shown by the clothing the characters wear are shown. The prostate moves on top of the player character in a suggestive way, but that’s it.

So, why add this mechanic in the first place? It clearly caters to a male audience, and I suppose adds to the immersion of the game. I find it interesting that Rockstar in 2001 covered up the sex mini game rather than just deleting it entirely. Their argument seems to be that burying it under code is easier than deleting entirely when you’re dealing with all the code it requires to write a video game. However, it seems suspicious and something as vulgar as the Hot Coffee mini game should be treated with care. To me it sounds more like an easter egg that was poorly received (not by all, though, but mostly by game distributors.)

While I don’t think having female prostitutes available in game is inherently bad, I believe it becomes problematic when in the larger context of a video game that celebrates masculinity in rather grotesque ways and ignores and denies narratives of complex female characters. While GTA5 is undoubtedly better than GTA3 (with characters like Molly Schulz, a female business VP), there’s still a ways to go.

Works Cited

Brown, James. Porn & Pong : How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture. Port Townsend, US: Feral House, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13 December 2016.

Gender Complications in Bioshock

In his article “Ruin, Gender, and Digital Games,” Evan Watts examines how post-apocalyptic games, like Bioshock, treat gender. Watts questions whether the destruction of social structures in Rapture “compliment freedom from the gendered power institutions of the culture in which both the game and the player are situated” (254). I would argue that Bioshock offers…

In his article “Ruin, Gender, and Digital Games,” Evan Watts examines how post-apocalyptic games, like Bioshock, treat gender. Watts questions whether the destruction of social structures in Rapture “compliment freedom from the gendered power institutions of the culture in which both the game and the player are situated” (254). I would argue that Bioshock offers a complicated presentation of gender.

As Watts points out, the “Little Sisters,” the main female presence in the game, exert freedom by roaming the city. They have the power in the collapsed society of Rapture. Additionally, they travel with “Big Daddies,” which Watts describes as “brandishing large phallic drills, [and] seem[ing] almost a parody of traditional masculinity” (255). Whereas female character usually get made into objects or tools in videogames, here the male characters get treated that way. The men stand as objects that must be destroyed by the player to get to the “Little Sisters.” Bioshock then argues that traditional power structures are societally caused, not natural, as the destruction of society leads to a shift in who holds power.

An image of a “Big Daddy,” with his phallic looking drill

Yet, the player must ultimately confront these female sources of power, and take it from them, either by harvesting or rescuing them. The player, who operates a male player-character, gets encouraged to violently murder them for their own personal gain, as killing them gets the player access to more abilities. Even the word “harvest” tries to downplay the act of violence. The player doesn’t have to murder them though, but the other option present equally questionable ideas, for if the player chooses to “rescue” the girls, it implies the need of a male entity to save them. Though Dr. Tenenbaum presents a female who could also save them, removing the issues, she leaves it up to a man, giving him the power to save them rather than using it herself.

The player can choose to harvest or rescue the “Little Sisters,” but either option reinforces negative gender stereotypes

As Watts posits, the “player can occupy the traditional male role of savior and protector of the female or reject this role, murder the child, and reap a greater quantitative benefit” (256). Either option is problematic, as they either end with a powerless female figure grateful to a male one for taking that power from her, or a dead female figure, killed by a powerful male one. Despite offering seemingly positive notions about gender, Bioshock ultimately reinforces negative stereotypes.

Source:
Watts, Evan. “Ruin, Gender, and Digital Games.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 39, no. 3/4 (2011): 247–65.

FPS, Gender, and Portal

As Kline describes in Digital Play, video games originated as “the play of an overwhelmingly masculine world, centered around themes of abstract puzzle solving, exploration, sport, and centrally, war” (107). He lists activities that society generally associates with men, and thus, makes the playing of video games a masculine activity. Portal subverts the notion of…

As Kline describes in Digital Play, video games originated as “the play of an overwhelmingly masculine world, centered around themes of abstract puzzle solving, exploration, sport, and centrally, war” (107). He lists activities that society generally associates with men, and thus, makes the playing of video games a masculine activity. Portal subverts the notion of a gaming community meant for men by manipulating first-person identification.

In film, the viewer identifies with the camera and the perspective it shows, as though the camera itself acts as a character, that character being ourselves. Similarly, in video games that use a first-person perspective, the player identifies with the character they play. Since society takes video games as a male-dominated space, men generally assume companies make games for them, thus, in most first-person games, the player plays as a man. For examples, think Call of Duty and Bioshock. (I literally Googled “first person shooter male protagonist” and got a list of games that have female protagonists, which tells you how much male protagonists dominate the field.) Now, Portal complicates that identification by making the player-character, Chell, a woman. However, the player does not even see Chell throughout the game unless they go looking for her. Since the game lacks mirrors, the player must take advantage of the portals and fire them in such a way that they can look through one and see Chell. Otherwise, one could play through the entire game and not realize her identity, since there is no other indication of her gender. I think it likely came as quite a shock to male and female gamers alike that the character they were playing was, in fact, a woman.

The first-person perspective also prevents player’s from turning Chell, as a female character, into a sexual object. In third-person perspective games, while the player identifies with the player-character, there is a separation between them, as the player watches them, rather than seeing through their eyes. Hence, female characters from those types of games, like Lara Croft, often get objectified and sexualized. Objectifying or sexualizing Chell is incredibly difficult though, because the player is constantly seeing through her eyes. In order to sexualize her, the player must also, in a sense, sexualize themself. Additionally, Chell’s outfit prevents this sexualization because it covers most of her body, and makes her chest flat. It’s through the first-person viewpoint that Portal manages to subvert the first-person shooter genre, by removing the typical male protagonists.