Patch 1.2: Sexist Games and its Psychological Impact

So I'm a dedicated Dungeons and Dragons player. ( I know, not video game related.) I've been GM-ing (Gamemastering) a session that I have put over two yeas of my life into. Today marks the day that I prepped the last session of that campaign.



I'm rather emotional right now.
*tear*


Lets take to take a look at a study.
(Boring I know, but bear with me.)

When we play video games, many of them portray the main protagonist to be male,
Very masculine.
Aggressive.
And dominant.

Often times we see the women in these games to be submissive,
Some times nothing but sexual objects.
Very little to say.

Take Grand Theft Auto for example. Majority of the protagonists in those games are male, aggressive, masculine figures. On the other hand, the women in the game are submissive, sexualized and sometimes victims of violence.

A study was conducted by the University of Milano Bicocca examined the psychological impact of violent video games and games that show female violence. Through this study, they researched to what extent identification of masculine beliefs had on the players. They also wanted to examine whether empathy for female violence victims were impacted as well.

*sigh*

via GIPHY

I'll be honest. 

The study was frustrating for me to read, but lets tackle it from a critical feministic perspective. 

A group of men and women were chosen to do the study. What the researcher concluded were few things that are worth discussing. 
The researchers concluded those who identified more with the violent male characters were more likely to express less empathy for females who were victims of violence. 

The research showed those people also had an increase in masculine beliefs. This is related to negatively impacted empathy to female violence victims. What's "shocking" was the research show the shifts occurred especially among male participants instead of female participants.

Of course this is not saying that none of female participants shows these results, it was more common however in male participants. It is worth noting that these changes in empathy were short-term. One could argue the claim, however, that prolonged exposure to video games that shows aggression against women could shift those short term effects to long-term ones.

I often believe there is good in people and the same applies to multi-billion dollar industries. I believe the video game industry has the ability to change its inaccurate representation of women in video games as well as defend those who are targets of harassment.

What the the video game industry fails to do at times is hold companies accountable to what they place in their games. Today's media is very powerful. Mainstream media has an incredible influence on the masses. While this can bring forth good discussions, (like the increasing talks of inequality across the country)it can also be used to portray the wrong message.

It's like if you were given a superpower. Would you use it to clean up the crime on the streets? Or would you use it to rob a bank? 

Maybe that was  bit of stretch, but I hope you get the point.

The video game industry has the power to shift the message from undermining women to truly being inclusive.




via GIPHY

Okay, that was a lot, but we are on the home stretch. This conversation gets better.

5 down, 95 to go.