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Should Gaming Media Work to Fight Stereotypes?

Posted by Zonk on from the laudible-goal dept.

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."

1 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Bah. by The-Bus · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A number of issues, which I will list but not enumerate.

    • What does a regular player of The Sims consider herself? Surely not a "Gamer" -- but that gaming title can be a nice "gateway drug" to other types of gaming in a similar genre. Just because you like Simming does not mean you want to play Halo 2.
    • Advertising. I don't think I've seen games being advertised in "mainstream" magazines. Of course the advertisements that do run in Maxim and FHM and GamePro and GameBizMonthlyTech or whatever they are called are well, male-oriented. I've seen a lot of TV advertisement but you could very easily buy print ads for that same amount of money.
    • Retail outlets. Where can you buy video games? In Best Buy, EBX, GameStop... Not extremely "female-friendly" places, or "mom-friendly" places. Even the games section at Wal-Mart always seems really cramped. Where's a video game Apple Store?
    • A bit more PR? We need some more positive news or less negative news in media. A million bucks will go a long way with a good PR agency, one that doesn't send "Press Releases" to GameSpot.
    • Mainstream audiences already exist, but they are not all tied together. Where's the focus on non-Gamers?
    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.