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Should Gaming Media Work to Fight Stereotypes?
An Anonymous Reader writes "Gaming Horizon has a nice editorial taking a look at how gamers are poorly stereotyped and pandered to. (SpikeTV awards, anyone?) The writer proposes that gaming media unionize to help fight the stereotypes perpetuated by outsider media and interest groups, perhaps a more "Oscar-style" awards show, and further establishing the ESRB rating system among parents."
Should Gaming Media Work to Fight Stereotypes?
I believe the correct answer is: Who gives a fsck?
Let me just say that giving anything an "Oscar style award show" is not the route to legitimacy!
Whining a whole lot about your "videogamer image" doesn't exactly do much to help tear down videogamer stereotypes.
Get a pair of balls. Quit crying. Play your games or don't play them. Either way, stop worrying so much about what the hell everyone things of you. You're not the team captain of the football team and you're never going to be treated with that reverance. So grow up.
Aside from Tetris and Jardinains I really never bothered with games. Too little time, too little interest. I was more concerned with creating real content that playing on my PC.
This week though I downloaded the now free for asking GTA 2 and started playing with it.
Hey - it's fun to crash cars, run over pedestrians,and generally blast the daylights out of everyone on the screen. I haven't even figured out half of how the game works, and have no clue what the end goal is, but I am enjoying myself.
The GTA series is incredibly popular, as are the various shooter games. Socially redeeming? Hardly. Artistic merit? Yah, right.
And these guys are asking why gamers are stereotyped???
Three Squirrels
I call BS on the Mountain Dew and Victoria's Secret catalog. They may not be the same brands -- but something along those lines is practiced by pretty much all gamers.
badness 10000
I think that there is a pretty negative stigma attached to being a gamer. It's very difficult to overcome. I don't think a games award show (be it Spike's horrible monstrosity or otherwise) is going to help the situation. There are a lot of gamers who are good people. The first big example that comes to mind is the guys over at Penny Arcade who set up the Child's Play Charity - http://childsplaycharity.org/ - in response to the negative image of gamers in the media. I'm sure there are others, but that was the first that came to mind.
I think the biggest problem is not that there are violent videogames. The games are rated for a reason. If you don't want your child to play GTA, Hitman, Halo, etc., don't buy them. I used to work at Target as a cashier. As a cashier, you're supposed to check IDs for games rated M (must be 17 or older). I'd ask people for them and they would have no clue that the game was rated or what the game was even about. The problem is that people like scapegoats for the way our society is. Violent videogames and movies are easy targets. They are easier to make go away and "fix" things than actual fixes are.
It was pretty obvious that both the SpikeTV gamers show and AutoRox (the recent car show) was a quick move to capitalize on young male gamers and auto enthusiasts without focusing on the rest of the market. The problem is that these markets would not get the time of day on any large network or cable channel.
The ideal first step would be to have something like G4Tech host a gaming awards show, classy and all, and be sure to make this the pedastal that developers and companies want to get to. Perhaps have five-ten major gaming publications vote on each area for a "Game of the Year" as opposed to have 200 GOTY awards. That sort of thing.
The fact that companies are willing to put SpikeTV Gaming Awards winner makes me shake my head.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
I have never met a gamer who actually talks or acts like the stereotypical gamer does. Certanly not like the imbecils on G4/TechTV. If anything the stereotype is a geeky person whom is a bit obsessed with gaming. Talks about games all the time, and plays games obsessively. Not some, purple haired buzzword spewing jackass.
An Oscar style awards show for video games sounds like a good idea, but it really isnt. First, im not sure if any television station would hold such an event due to worries of poor ratings. They would have to spice it up somehow. We all remember that shows like Spike TV game awards are not only terrible, but distract from the point of the awards show. Second, How will the games be rated? It would be nice to have a panel of judges made up of gamers and their creators, but thats asking a whole lot.
"Okay, Mr. Akira, the awards show is in two weeks and you will be voting. You need to finish Metal Gear Solid 3, GTA San Andres, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy 12, and Halo 2.
Games arent like movies - you need more than 2 hours with them. A panel of actual game creators would be nice but I dont think it will happen. An awards show that actually showcases the thought and effort put into video games would be nice and I hope it happens someday, but as long as Spike TV can add rap and product placement to the show and take away its meaning - Im afraid thats all we will get for a long time.
Unfortunately many stereotypes originate from truths. What's wrong about stereotypes is when it's assumed they apply to a whole group of people.
There ARE alot of game playing uber-virgin geeks out there. But I don't want to be treated as one of "them". But it really doesn't help when game content itself contains so many stereotypes.
The other problem I see is the words "game" and "play". Especially "play". Feels very childish. Must seem even more so to other adults who are not into games.
How about "no". Why? Because it's pointless. Stereotypes are simply the normal process of categorization that goes on in the human brain applied to people. As long as humans are not completely and utterly uniform in all perceivable aspects there will be stereotypes and attempting to fight stereotypes will only add (or emphasize) "whiney" to the long list of stereotypical characteristics a gamer has.
The other reason it's pointless is that it is only the most prominent figures in any particular group that create the stereotypes for it. When you think of a motor-sport driver you think of the calm and collected drivers of F1, not the whisky swilling red-necks who blast around Mississippi on their custom lawn mowers. When you think of gaming, you think of the people that make, test and write about games, that is gamers.
Now, it's possible to argue that the gaming media should make different kinds of people more prominent, but then again, who but gamers read gaming magazines? Visit gaming websites? Talk loudly and at length about their Ogre-Slaying knife with the +9 against ogres? Not only would attempting to change the image of gamers simply be an excercise in preaching to the choir, but the general characteristics of gamers would shine through in any case.
The only sure way to change the gamer stereotype is to get different people into gaming and you're not going to convince people to take up a hobby they don't like any more than you can re-wire their brains to avoid stereotyping gamers.
That conversation between the execs probably went something more like this:
Businessman A: "You'll see here on chart C that the largest group of our regular programming that could be considered 'gamers' occurs in this particular demographic shown here."
Businessman B: "I think the show could possibly draw a larger audience and generate more interest if we included some musical stars preferred by that demographic."
Businessman A: "Excellent idea. I'll look into that. Now, for endorsements, on chart D you will see that heavily caffinated beverages are a favorite among this demographic. This sort of thing fits in perfectly with Mountain Dew's current marketing campaign and I think we should talk to them abuot it."
Businessman B: "Excellent. Now I'm sorry, but I have to cut this meeting a bit short. My son has a baseball game tonight"
Please mod this post redundant since we have this discussion once a week.
I would much rather Gaming Media work on accurately portraying the games in their reviews rather than the slick non-informational hypefest's that they are.
If anything, it is their portrayal of the industry that has made the stereotype. Not the gamers themselves.
(Except for those of us who played D&D wearing our cloaks to school. We brought that upon ourselves!)
I'm all for doing whatever I can to prevent the SpikeTV game awards from ever happening again - but uniting the game media for a common goal? It's not difficult to see how "joining forces" could easily turn into a single, unchallenged view of video games in the media's reviews, furthering tunnel-vision in hit titles and encouraging the sequel syndrome that much more.
A better solution is probably to just not watch shitty television.
Glog!
So people have a view of what a person who plays a lot of video games is. They also form preconceived notions when they hear someone likes hip-hop, metal or boy bands. Or action movies. Or Apple computers. Or bungee jumps, or practices martial arts. So what? That's human nature. You aren't going to be denied housing or employment because you prefer one form of entertainment (though you may be limiting your options in the dating pool...)
Launching a campaign to say "gamers are people too" is going to make us look like dorks at best, crybabies at worst. It's a friggin' hobby.
take a look at the games
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
...it's the gaming company's/store's response to the stereotypes that the media create that needs to change.
I don't care if the media ignores me. Big deal, I don't buy many gaming magazines anyway. I don't feel the need to read every article online either. And advertisements? Well if they aren't aimed at me, then that's one less thing for me to pay attention to.
What annoys me, is the idea that because I'm a girl, I don't know anything or have any worth as a consumer. I couldn't possibly want to talk about Linux distros, I couldn't possibly want to buy a console, I couldn't possibly want to discuss the pro's and con's of the latest release. And every time I walk into a specific gaming/computing store, I immediately have a store assistant shoved up my backside, because I must need help. Stop it! If I need help, I'll ask for it! Likewise, with the gaming companies. Is it so hard to make realistic strong female characters who don't need saving, and are at least on an equal level to the male characters? Who exactly would that scare away if you did that?So sorry, I don't really care what people think of me...as long as someone thinks of me.
I object to being stereotyped at all. Why not just do some actual market research and get some facts, then use those? The ESA seems to get it. The fact is that just like guitarists, who come from all walks of life (except those which involve not having any hands) gamers come from just about every group around. I mean hell, even the little old lady in the office is probably addicted to sol.exe.
On the other hand, if I see a games award show, nothing is going to get me to actually watch it except boobs and bombs. This, however, is true of any award show, because they are all so fucking insipid. I really don't give a shit what your panel thinks of games. If the consumers of a type of media are invited to participate they almost always have to pay to call in, so the only people who actually matter (my fellow consumers) whose input is counted are a bunch of morons who are willing to spend two bucks on a phone call in order to have their irrelevant vote counted. Possibly.
If you want to fight these stereotypes, it's the mainstream media you have to convince. When they attempt to draw a link between video games and violence, send them a letter (on paper, not email, I hate it too but they are more likely to observe your paper letter than an email) explaining rationally why they are wrong. Avoid leet speek. Use your spell checker.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Let us blow them up into teeny weeny little pieces with our huge gonads (gun of nasty destroying spray) and stomp them into little pieces so that we can save the supporting character with huge, errr, tracts of land and listen to the rousing musical score.
Ah, stereotypes, schmereotypes. They have their uses, who doesn't stereotype people at least a little. Let's not get excited and not over do these things and keep to the really important stuff - finding new and exciting ways to blow stuff up.
To be blunt, who cares? I don't want celebrities, I want video games. Getting a spot in the tabloid section won't make me feel like video games are suddenly legitimate.
The simple fact of the matter is that video games bring in more money the movies. Period. They are going to keep making more and more money. The people that matter are taking it seriously and pumping millions of dollars into the industry.
The rest of this crap is just ego stroking and people being insecure with themselves. I don't care if video game makers get their ego stroked as much as the guy who makes my computer (which is to say not at all outside of engineering circles). I also don't care if some people feel insecure because video games don't have the same pop acceptance of MTV and fill in shitty boy band of the month here.
and make me a GOOD Final Fantasy movie. With lots of chocobos, dammit. :-)
and further establishing the ESRB rating system among parents
lol "End stereotypes! Anyone who is under eighteen must be restricted from video games we don't like, at all costs!"
Replace 'is under eighteen' with 'has dark skin' or 'is female' and it becomes a hate crime.
I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
Nice sig. ;)
That's me in the corner.
Illinois will never ban video games for the same reason it will never ban cigarettes. Money talks, baby. And EA is money. Huge carnivorous companies control legislation. God bless special interest groups!
Gamer stereotyping makes me so angry, I just want to throw on a black duster, steal a car, and take a shotgun into a high school cafeteria and start mowing down people.