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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."

2 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Article Makes Some Good Points by bubblewrapgrl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  2. 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.