As a lifelong gamer, I was excited about the recent release of “Metroid: Other M”, a video game featuring one of the industry’s few female protagonists – Samus Aran. Samus is an independent-minded space bounty hunter whose appeal lies in her tactical talents rather than the way she looks beneath her power suit. I’ve enjoyed playing behind the eyes of Samus on action-packed missions that explore her back story. I can’t imagine taking on a legion of alien baddies with anyone other than this nostalgic and fearless female protagonist at the helm.
There are very few video games that feature women and even fewer that cast women in lead roles. Looking around the gaming shelves of any video game store in America will reveal a plethora of testosterone-driven games with male protagonists boasted on their covers. The gaming industry has marketed to a male audience since the rise of the original Atari gaming system in the 70s. Ms. Pac-Man was one of the original female protagonists-an exact replica of Mr. Pac-Man adorned with a bow. Since the debut of Ms. Pac-Man in 1981, female video game characters have been a stereotypical backdrop to the male gaming franchise. The “damsel-in-distress” Princess in the original Super Mario Brothers put out by Nintendo is an evident trend.
With the ratio of female to male protagonists in video games being glaringly out of proportion, there are very few video game commercials that are aimed at women. Take for instance the latest commercial for the gaming rental company, GameFly. In GameFly’s current advert, the visuals and dialogue are blatantly geared toward male consumers:
Fast Tube by Casper
The commercial proposes that true masculinity is determined on the field of gaming and that those males who aren’t adept at video games are emasculated. Another common theme in video game commercials is that of the gamer’s girlfriend, who is often whiny and upset that her boyfriend would rather play video games than focus on her.
Given this lack of inclusion, one would believe that there isn’t a viable market for female gamers, which is far from the truth. According to 2008 survey results, 40% of gamers are women and found that women aged 18 and older made up more gamers than boys 17 and younger. These stats show that there are female gamers out there, even though the video game market continues to target male consumers. Video game companies are missing out on a highly profitable market by assuming that all video gamers are mainly men.
One cause for the underrepresentation could be that a large majority, nearly 80%, of video game developers are men. This shows that women not only need to be visible as consumers, but on the development end of the industry. Video games continue to be a thriving industry enjoyed on a global scale – do you feel that women and minorities should be more recognized and included in the genre?
If you’re a girl gamer or want more information about the topic, here are some great resources:
Women in Gaming: Special Interest Group
Top 15 video games for women (includes somewhat stereotypical games such as Bejeweled, Farmville, Flower, and Nancy Drew)
I liked this blog. It was something I had never considered before, excellent point!
Thanks, Jessica! As a male video gamer, I can see that the lack of many female protagonists and female-centered storylines is a trend that is is severely out of correlation with the true gaming demographic out there. When women account for a large market share of the gaming industry–ideally it makes sense for game developers to adapt to this diverse, growing market. Providing engaging and challenging video games that accurately represent their true consumer base is a win-win situation for gamers and developers alike!
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