Gender in Video Games

Growing up in our culture, video game was always a ‘boy thing’. It may not be in accordance with our culture but more like a family ideal. We girls were brought up with Barbie dolls and the boys; they would play hours and hours of video games. It is rare that we get to join and if we do, of course we cannot compete and it’s always impossible to win. In my experience when i play, which is on rare occasion, I tend to select a character that I can identify with, a girl, but within video games, that could be a problem for most girls. An example is the character of Lara Croft in The Tomb Raider, I certainly cannot identify with her, and obviously she was designed for the male gaze. In one sense, the character of Lara Croft is considered a good thing but it can also have a negative effect on the gamers. A good reason is the ability of her character to make known that women are also strong and can be equal to men or even greater than men in physical strength. But this character creates an unrealistic type of person for women. She’s too beautiful which we all know is the result of technological intervention, her physical strength’s unrealistic and it can be said that she’s made as a sexual symbol to appeal to boys and men that are gamers. Therefore, video game characters can be unrealistic but I think it should be vital to note the ability of the player to be able to identify between what’s real and a fantasy world.