Game characters Write two game character names on

Game characters Write two game character names on the index cards ¢ Pass to front ¢

Culture / Gender Robin Burke GAM 224

Outline Admin ¢ Culture / Gender ¢

Admin ¢ Play papers Not finished grading (sorry) l Overall better l • more As l Biggest problem • bottom-up description ¢ Design Final Milestone

Culture paper Strongly recommended reading ¢ Escapist Issue 17 ¢ entirely about women and games l link on "Documents" page of site l

Final Milestone ¢ ¢ ¢ 5 -7 pages (1200 -1800 words) Concept document l sell your game! l make the reader want to play (Actually considerably shorter than a full concept) Due 11/21 l may not be late for any reason Value l most of the 20% value It must be clear from the design l that you really understand the original game's core mechanic l not just in its general outline, but in its details

Outline ¢ Introduction l ¢ Genre l l ¢ Overall aesthetic and thematic elements of the game. Mechanics l l ¢ Background in terms of its genre, and relation to other games. Narrative aspects Aesthetics l ¢ A vivid description of the experience of the player. How your (borrowed) mechanic works. Any other important mechanics Key Elements (optional) l A few key elements. • Levels, environments, objects, characters or avatar abilities.

Notes ¢ Proposal l ¢ I may ask you to modify your proposal Not a formal academic paper no footnotes, citations, etc. l creative license (within reason) l

Peer Evaluation ¢ I will email evaluation form l ¢ Do so after your team is done l ¢ Fill out and return by email so you can report on everyone's contribution If you don't turn it in l you get no vote on the efforts of your team

Characters and categories

Gender ¢ ¢ Sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture. Usage note l [The distinction between usage for "sex" and gender"] is supported by the practice of many anthropologists, who reserve sex for reference to biological categories, while using gender to refer to social or cultural categories.

Gender ¢ The question of how l ¢ And how l ¢ biological categories are given cultural meaning the cultural categories that relate to gender affect our perception of biology Some facts l l biological categories are (mostly) clear-cut cultural meanings vary widely between cultures and times

Gender in games ¢ Games have no biology l ¢ Games are cultural products l l ¢ there are no biological facts to discover about game characters rich ground for looking at gender not just appearance but also activity Some games encourage expression of identity l gender identity necessarily included

Questions ¢ Culture l ¢ What cultural stereotypes about gender show up in games? Play l What gendered play activities appear in games?

Worst case scenario?

Game features ¢ ¢ Characters l Texas cowgirl l female ninja l disciplinarian school teacher l naughty school girl l deviant nurse l latex-sporting S&M slave Features l locker-room cam Oops l forgot to make it fun to play Result l total flop

Compare to male version

What are the differences?

Gender stereotypes ¢ Action/adventure video games (typically) draw gender stereotypes from myths / fairy tales l fantasy fiction l superhero comics l pulp science fiction / horror l action movies l

Case study ¢ Female Action Hero

Example 1 http: //www. us. playstation. com/Content/OGS/SCUS-97316/Site/

Example 1, cont'd

Example 1, cont'd

Example 2

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Example 9

Characteristics ¢ Male vs Female

Play activities ¢ Simulation l ¢ Are the simulated activities strongly gendered ones? Narrative l How does gender figure in the story?

Simulation ¢ What player roles do games simulate?

Constructing the player ¢ How does the game envision the player?

Narrative ¢ Example

Does this matter? ¢ Monotony l ¢ Appeal l ¢ limiting the space of design possibilities 50% of possible consumers Harm l promulgation of stereotypes

Market opportunity? ¢ Girl games l l l ¢ Not perceived as an important market l l l ¢ Barbie Mary-Kate & Ashley etc. fewer buyers / lower profit low investment low production values This is not progress

But ¢ MMORPGs l ¢ some titles more than 60% female players Interestingly Male players skew younger l Female players skew older (avg. > 30) l

Meanwhile ¢ What about Korea?

Wednesday The Game Industry ¢ "Death to the Game Industry" ¢