Video games are
becoming widely integrated into our society.
Whether you enjoy playing the Wii at a party, are a Farmville addict, or
have achieved glory in World of Warcraft, nearly every household has a form of
a video game in one way or another. The
question that arises would be what drives people to play the games? Jenkins argues that we are “not so much
addicted to video games as they are unwilling to quit before they have met
their goals.” This can range from
beating your uncle in Wii Sports, or killing the final boss, but every game has
a goal in one way or another. Male and
female goals differ when it comes to games.
While males tend to be interested in fighting and blood, females look
for social networks and exploration (Fullerton). The game industry is being forced to appeal
to both genders as women are becoming more avid gamers. Bioware, under EA’s tag, recently released
“Dragon Age”, a role playing game set in a medieval scene. The different objectives and aspects of the
game allow it to appeal to a larger demographic of players. I
argue that while the game implements a war based story, it appeals to a female
demographic through other interactions.
The largest choice
made in Dragon Age, is the class choice you make at the beginning of the
game. You can choose between mage,
rogue, and warrior with male and female options for both. There are multiple options to edit the
appearance of the character before even starting the game. Where the game could fit the typical “Kombat
Lingerie” style, it surprisingly keeps quite gender neutral, allowing the male
mages to be in robes, along with the female warriors wear full armor. The physical features of the characters
aren’t sexualized, which in my opinion is an impressive positive aspect of the
game.
Your
choice of character sets your starting zone and how everything is set up in
terms of story background. While all the
stories reach the same point, the starting stories allow for different
experiences and replay value. No matter
your beginning path, you quickly learn of an invasion of demons in your world,
along with different betrayals of the human provinces. You are tasked to become a “Grey Warden” to
not only unite the people of the world, but also defeat the demons. This fits in with the typical male universe
Fullerton describes as revolving “around
narratives of warfare… invading aliens…often the bruised and embattled remains
of an urban environment … typically constructed of hard materials… reinforced
by the sound effects.” The game presents
you with a world falling apart and you’re the only one who can save it. The combat system allows pausing to control a
party of members you acquire along the way.
This is a little less male-centric than the first person shooter’s real
time blood and gore, but war is war. The environments in which the storyline
takes place are laid out for the player to a certain extent, but the maps are
large enough to where exploration is an option, which is often rewarded with
chests, finding side quests, or more battles.
This sort of side exploration can be very rewarding for the player, and
appeals to females.
Interaction
within Dragon Age is actually directed more at a female audience. Throughout the game there are hundreds of
people to talk to, do things for, and even choose their destiny. Each quest in Dragon Age presents you with
“good” or “bad” alternatives which determine how the storyline goes. In addition, your choices affect an approval
rating for each person in your party, and in turn effects whether they will
continue to fight along your side, or in some cases fight against you. You can also give different gifts that spur
different interactions between you and your party members. Despite being a human to computer
interaction, the responses are done quite well and create sort of a social
network between you and your party members.
Also, as you go through the game the party members talk to each other,
sharing different things about their pasts.
This sort of interaction between the players gives the player a sense of
connection with the members of your party, which is often a selling point in
whether a girl will enjoy a game.
So after
looking at the faults and strengths of this newly released game, the question
would be where the game industry is going to go from here as they try to adjust
the market to the growing female demographic. Fron et al argues that we are in
a “deadly cycles that is unwilling to change and risks losses in profit” as
game developers continue to develop games for their “core target group”. I feel like this is true to a certain
extent. Choosing one demographic or
group of gamers will eventually lead to the financial failures just like the
games made during the girls’ game movements.
The gaming industry must adjust its targeted demographic, and as Laurel
argues, “a change must be made to allow for males and females to inhabit the
gaming community”. I see certain gaming
companies heading in this direction, shown by games such as the Sims, but
without this being set as a goal by the larger companies ,like Blizzard, true
cross-gender demographics will not be achieved.
Works Cited
Fullerton, T., Morie, J. & Pearce, C. (aka Ludica) (2007). "A Game Of Ones Own: Towards a New Gendered Poetics of Game Space." In Proceedings, Digital Arts & Culture 2007, Perth, Australia, September 2007.
Fron, J., Fullerton, T., Morie, J. & Pearce, C. (aka Ludica) "The Hegemony of Play." In Situated Play: Proceedings of Digital Games Research Association 2007 Conference. Tokyo, Japan, September 2007.
Jenkins, Henry. "Complete Freedom of Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces" The Game Design Reader, ed. Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman.MIT Press:Cambridge, MA, 2006. 330-363.
Laurel, Brenda. (2001). Utopian Entrepreneur. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001
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