Video games are sexist. Agree or disagree?

[Toad-1]

This label has been tossed at video games quite heavily. do you agree with it or no?

Yes, video games are mainly sexist

No, video games are not sexist

Updates

+1 y

What do you think @LovesTVDx :)

[dartmaul15]

Yes videogames are sexist, bloody, dangerous, and in some cases women are even raped!
But that's because it's the world they're portraying! They're sometimes displaying a black world, and you can't do that if everyone's running arround with gleefull smiles, fancy clothes, and a clear sky!
Take fallout 3 for example. The world has been nuked to hell, there's little food, even less clean water, and no law. And you get to explore it as you wish, being it as a good or bad charracter.
How stupid wouldn't it be if you found the slaver setlement and got a message "sorry you can't coopperate with these guys because that would not be politically correct", then they go hostile so you have to kill them. Or what if you fight some bandits and suddenly get the message "you surrender to them and are killed, because it's not politically correct to kill females".
It doesn't make fucking sense in that world! Videogames as a consept is not sexist (or whatever fucking label you want to put on them), but some worlds are. Because said worlds are not the utopias we are pretending to live in!

And videogames are sexist both ways. Men are ALWAYS the knuckle draggers, the messed up characters, the dude that dies, the crackhead... the everything. Because it's accepted too do that to men, but not to women. If you had done that to a woman, even if she was the herioine, you'd get shouted deaf by SJW's and radfems claiming it is sexist!

Okay, rant over now...

[YourFutureEx]

I knew that you'll be here :)

[dartmaul15]

@YourFutureEx and you were right.

I frigin hate how we LOOK for reasons to label stuff as sexist/racist or god knows what the fuck. It's CREATING seixms and racism!

[YourFutureEx]

Of course. Most people here are saying that they didn't even think about this.

Gooddognigel's pic is amazing.

[dartmaul15]

god, i love how girls are thumbing me down.

it's like they want a fallout 4 filled with roses and ghoul hugs...

[RedThread]

It is and it isn't. There's sexism in the sense that female characters usually have sexy versions of armor that are highly revealing but incredibly impractical while the men have normal gear. There are strong female leads that are getting popular in video games though so I do see it getting better. It is getting discussed more in the industry now that there are more female gamers. There was a good article about diversity and gender in my GameInformer issue a few months ago.

images.gameskinny.com/.../...71201615ba18ba49d.jpg

www.derailedgames.com/.../...versus-Male-armor.jpg

flygirlgamers.files.wordpress.com/.../...20-13.jpg

forums.unrealtournament.com/attachment.php

[RedThread]

Thanks for MH.

[sheabutter]

It's case by case really. Some games are and some aren't. The ones that are can be sexist towards both genders though. I think some of the outfits that female characters wear are completely unnessary and even out-of-character assuming they have any sort of character development at all. Both male and female characters can be sexualized (or at least idealized) in games or any other media. They can be gender limiting on both ends. I don't get that vibe from all games though. I think it depends on the context of the game and what you make of it as a gamer to some degree.

[sheabutter]

I think the market is beginning to cater to a wider range of consumers, which I think is helpful on many fronts.

[Hidden_P]

I voted yes, but really video games CAN BE sexist.

Personally I think most games are aimed at men. Shoot me ups, zombies, etc. Although some women play and enjoy them, likewise some women prefer something like tomb raider. Arguably, tomb raider was designed (the character) to get men interested in the game.

That being said games like Minecraft are not aimed at a gender. So no, not all games are, but that doesn't mean games can't.

Isn't that true with most things though?

[vishna]

I think your answer is spot on, and I agree with your logic.

[Hidden_P]

Thank you @vishna and thank you for MH!

[fauchelevent]

The portrayal of women in video games can be sexist, I agree with that. It's the design of them that's the issue - if a woman is dressed in very little clothing when it's impractical and the men aren't dressed in the same way, then we have to realise that that's a design choce made by the creator in order to offer fan service by sexualising women. That can be sexist.

[Mustachekitteh]

In some games the outfits are questionable. Though in most games I play I like my character looking sexy and kicking ass while looking awesome. :D

Though it greatly pisses me off on League of Legends when girls are streaming them playing but mostly showing off their boobs or some other part of their bodies. The men aren't better either giving in to that crap.

[Toad-1]

canadianonlinegamers.com/.../...-girl-vs-slut1.jpg those girls sound like the one on the top in this pic ;P

[Mustachekitteh]

Yep and sadly those chicks get paid thanks to the dudes watching them while faping to their boobs. :(

Oh god i'm so like the 2nd one though I don't think that's a good thing. I remember once I couldn't sleep at all when I started playing Twilight Princess. I would wake up super mega early and spend days to finish it. Now everytime I play the game I get the urge to eat ritz baked sour cream and onion crackers. :D Since that's what I ate only when playing it.

[Toad-1]

lol i did the same with Final Fantasy tactics, xenogears, secret of mana, many of those older square titles. and i ate cheeze-its all day :P

[Mustachekitteh]

It's so damn hard not to stay up all night to play new games that you just start.

[mrf284212]

Most forms of media/entertainment are in some sense sexist. But let's look at the amount of variability in types of women and men in the media. Personality type, physical appearance types, and the actions performed by each gender.

Of all the media I witnessed in my life, I've seen a much greater variability in male types than female types. Most women have fairly similar physical features, fairly similar personalities, and do a limited amount of things (especially when influencing the plot or game elements). I see men always doing a variety of different things and we cheer for a variety of different body types; personalities may not be very varied, but they are still more varied than females.

I don't really see sexism as seeing a woman or man being stereotyped, or whatever, in the media. It only becomes sexist if it's the same stereotype every time, or the same few on rotation.

So it's not really about what a person does or how they are portrayed; it's about how varied their actions and portrayals are.

Hopefully that made sense and was clearly presented.

[nalaa]

Well I couldn't say I've played that many but I hear and see, yes they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA2kHVMak0E

Even just looking at the way the characters are designed, they way the look

And I know a few girls who actively game online and they've all said they've faced some kind harassment or rude comments on their gender there. Maybe not the games fault I don't know, but the scene around it is sexist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQnIJ-ljctkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KECbmNnT7cs

[dartmaul15]

the problem with the "harassment" thing is that it takes litterally 10 minutes in an average call of duty lobby to be harassed, no matter if you're a man or a woman.
And trust me, most gamers HATE those kinds of people with a pashion.

But yes, i'm aware some self-proclaimed hardcore gamers are giving women a hard time, just because they're women. If i'm to offer any advice, then it's to suck it up and ignore those few haters. Because most gamers i know would love to have a more gender equal fanbase.

Game on :)

[Octavius]

Yeah I've played Call of Duty online before. It doesn't matter who you are you're going to get bad mouthed by about 15 different 13 year olds if you play for like 2 hours...

[nalaa]

@dartmaul15 and asker, well getting bad mouthed isn't necessarily the same as being sexist. And you asked about it being sexist. My point was that girls get lot of comments specific to their gender, literally like in the two videos
I don't know what kind of comments guys get but I doubt many people will tell you to get them a sandwich or show your pecs

[dartmaul15]

no, but they do use stuff like calling you a faggot, and such. And that's afaik also covered by sexism XD

But the point is; you can either be pissed at the whole comnunity, or be pissed at the single persons. But know that the comunity hates those people equally much as you do. And know that the comminuty as a whole won't care if you shame them; gamergate showed that the comminuty stands together. Yeah, both men and women.

So better to just accept that there are some shitheads, and understand said shitheads are hated by everyone else too.
And at least on PC, said people would have their sorry asses banned for it. Just saying

[CrayolaCupcake]

I agree with @fauchelevent, that and many women are reduced to tropes, such as always having to be saved or having to look beautiful whereas men get complex backstories and are complete characters.

[fauchelevent]

This is a good point as well :)

[Floyd790]

Women are the physically biologically weaker sex get over it.

[dartmaul15]

what about the fact men are always the punching bag?
Men are the ones who get killed, men are the drug addicts, the one getting used and abused, the knuckle draggers sent on suidice missions because the queen "said so".

The truth is the thropes kick both ways. Women are the "victim to be saved" and men always has to be the character who fell outside of society, always has to be the missfit. But they're complete characters at least.
And you know why? Because whenever the creators try to put women in that position, they're being attacked by women screaming sexism and god knows what.

The truth is women are the "princess" because whenever they try to make them something else, the devs get attacked for it and dubbed sexists.

Hell, they fucking complain about SAMUS ARAN being sexist because she's hot and fit, and claims she was made to be ye candy for male players! What the fuck do they want before they're happy?

[dartmaul15]

They did the same with lara croft too!

[CrayolaCupcake]

The thing is, those men got complex backstories. Women don't complain about that. We didn't complain about Samus, because she's amazing. We did complain about Samus and her zero suit, and her ridiculous high heels (that are passed off as "jet boots") because those are stupid and not useful at all, except to objectify her for the sake of the male gaze. We also got mad about lara croft because in her second game she was reduced to a crying pair of double ds.

[Toad-1]

But would you say that tv and movies are also just as sexist as video games are?

[CrayolaCupcake]

Absolutely, but I think it's a lot harder to tell. I think in video games you can point out, oh, here's a ton of girls with idealized proportions (e. g. huge butt and boobs) in a bunny outfit or armor that barely stays on. Whereas in the tv and movie industry it's harder to pinpoint, like animated girls all have to look pretty (they all have the same face shape and are infantilized, super big eyes, super small nose and mouth) and female led movies, even though they make a lot of money in the box office, are less common. And when you look on the shelves for Gamora merchandise you can't find any, and when you look for Black Widow's movie franchise you can't find it, even though she has a huge comic book following, as opposed to iron man who was virtually unknown before his movies. I can guarantee you almost anyone would want a Black Widow movie more than an Ant Man movie. So I think in the movie/tv industry it's a little more subtle.

[LovesTVDx]

I think they are. I mean women are definitely under-represented in video games. In 2013 only 4% of the main characters in the top 25 selling video games were female. When there are female characters they are either the 'damsel in distress' or are hyper-sexualised. Video games alienate women despite 48% of gamers being female. Doesn't make much sense to me

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Who the fuck thinks video games are sexist?

Goddammit, everything is sexist today...

[cipher42]

They're not inherently sexist, but there sure as fuck is a deeply sexist culture among video game players and developers, and there's a whole damn lot of sexism in video games. To deny that would be utterly ridiculous.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Maybe...

But I mean, just play the goddamn video game, stop complaining about what is in there... don't like it? Play pacman or mario lol

[cipher42]

No. Not how it works. If a company is doing something bad, the answer is not just "don't buy things from them". If someone is saying a blatantly offensive thing, the answer is not just "don't listen." If an entire society has huge human rights violations issues, the answer is not just "don't live there." That gets us nowhere. The only way to actually make change is to call people on their shit and to actively and vocally oppose it.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Yeah, you're giving a valid point, but as long as you know the difference between good and bad, everything is gonna be okay.

[Applefan1]

I know how you feel. I have got fed up with people and their "that is sexist" "this is sexist". For fuck shakes harden the fuck up.

[Applefan1]

That is how I feel about some of those people that think everyone is sexist.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

@Applefan1 ikr!

[Applefan1]

Yeah, some people just need to chill a lot LOL.

[Johnson123]

ohh this is a tough one, i mean for some games yes and for some no. Usually some just follow the ramntic love story line where like a guy is a hunter and the girl stays at homes and cooks, and so on. Some have the girl as main character and some have a girl as a deciding factor. I think yes and no, depends on the game really.

[Tomsta]

Certain types of games can be sexist, mainly fighting and fantasy RPGs giving women massive boobs (which i'm not gonna lie i like) but they are a bit sexist in the fact they are giving guys wrong impressions of women's figures

Also games have a tendency to but the girl in distress. Not so much with RPG games (Mass Effect anyone) but more old arcade games like Mario

[GoodDogNigel]

weknowmemes.com/.../...aracters-in-video-games.jpg

I mean, those who say that video games are sexist or that there's no good female characters just don't play video games.

[PiuBelloAmante]

i love it!!!
i love how girls have huge boobs and can fight!

33.media.tumblr.com/.../...04JnyZ1rluzljo1_500.gif

[KiaTate]

I was expecting a mortal kombat gif

[PiuBelloAmante]

@KiaTate , those girls are hot, but Tekken is a better fighting game!
so i choose these Tekken girls, Anna and Nina

[93stepsawayfromhome]

Not all of them but generally, yes. Their portrayal is often very sexist and from a man's perspective, and usually the man gets the main role while the woman just gets to stand there and look good — on the offchance that a woman gets the main role, it's often also portrayed in a very sexist way (I mean, look at Lara Croft).

[crs23]

No they're not sexist.
In general, males make more interesting characters, more personality, more strength and physical ability, more aggression and competitiveness. This all makes for a more enjoyable and more entertaining video game.

That's not to say that there aren't interesting female characters, just more often than not the really "cool" ones are male. Aka Kratos, Solid Snake, Gordon Freeman, Geralt, etc etc.

[creepycreeper]

Yes they are so sexist that females should just avoid them and us guys who play them. Video games are also racist and homophobic so black people, Mexicans, and gays can stay away from them too.

[KiaTate]

I'm not avoiding video games... or guys who play them.

[creepycreeper]

@KiaTate I was mostly being sarcastic but yeah overly offended people can stay the Hell away from my video games.

[RationalMale]

who cares if they are or not?

do men care if romance novels feature trashy bikers or other sexualized cliches?

[John_Doesnt]

Yes they are, but I like it that way. I prefer a game where I get hookers and strippers like currency. I don't buy a video game so I can live in some boring PC world where "Women can do anything men can do". I'd rather have some bitches and hos.

[OpenWine]

You know what girls do when they play skyrim? Install a whole bunch of mods to make female charakters look better and more revealing armor mods huh girls r sexist.
New game coming Boobs and Soul, males can look like gym bulks and females have torpedo boobs, who cares. As a gamer you ain't give a shit if sexist or offendid you get or huh so feniniminist game. Don't play it! Actually I don't feel so damn pissed but I should

[JamesCL]

I don't really see a lady in a video game being dressed in revealing clothes as sexism or men being made to be extremely handsome as sexist. If I have the choice to look at a lady I found average look or a lady I found attractive, I'd pic attractive every time. As long as it doesn't take away from the game, then I don't see a problem. There's certainly sexism in the community, like there is hate in any, but I don't think games themselves are sexist

[Maverickj]

No, of course not. Especially this whole stink about how GTA V allows you to murder women (you can also murder men, but apparently that doesn't matter?).

[mrsdani7]

I don't think sooooo. I don't play video games so maybe some are

[vishna]

The way women are dressed in video games in a disgrace.
If I'm a warrior, and my male counterpart needs heavy armor, why are my size DD breasts hanging out and my huge hips showing in my tiny outfit?

[AnnVdB]

i dont notice it. They feature hot girls often but also hot guys