Game Over

In class we watched a documentary called Game Over: Gender, Race and Violence in Video Games (2000). The popularity of video games has grown exponentially since the introduction of the first video game. In 2000, 90% of households with kids had rented or bought videogames (Jhally, 2000). That’s a lot of video games! As I mentioned in a previous post, 8% of media messages are getting processed by the conscious brain, and the other 92% is getting processed by the subconscious, and this includes playing video games. And according to Game Over, “all media-manufactured images blur together with reality”, which makes it more difficult to differentiate between reality & fiction (Jhally, 2000). So if so many families are playing video games, along with the consumption of other media images, isn’t it important for us to look at the messages being put forth through them? Sure is!

Video games produce a heightened sense of realism. Sports games will use live motion capture of the real athlete to create the character. The graphics of video games have also become more realistic, with 3D worlds and life-like imagery. We interact with games psychologically and physically, essentially allowing ourselves to be absorbed into the game. Essentially, video game companies want us to believe that we are a part of the game, which keeps us wanting to come back for more. If we feel like we are a part of the game, the blur between reality and fantasy begins as soon as we start playing, even without needing the time to process the messages.

Video games often times reflect what is going on culturally, so we can see a lot of gender inequalities happening in video games. Since the games are primarily made by men and for men, we see men’s ideology in games. For example, we see the hyper-masculine, strong, and aggressive male characters as were mentioned in my blog about masculinity. Women are typically depicted as damsels in distress who need to be rescued, or if they are the heroine in the story, they are very sexualized with disproportionate body types. Sexualized women are often put on game covers or in advertisements, even if there aren’t any female characters in the game. These sexual images are meant to attract male audiences to the video game.

Race is also plays a big role in video games. When Game Over was produced, 8 out of 10 of the most popular video games had white characters (Jhally, 2000). Native Americans are portrayed with feathers, a bow & arrow, and tribal clothing and markings. They are also often seen as savages. Black people are often depicted as living in inner city environments who commit acts of violence and crime. In the game” King Pin”, the player is a white person while everyone else is black. The goal is to become the “king pin” or the gang leader. The message here is that it is the goal of a white person, particularly a white male, to dominate the races, and anyone who is not white is either savage, dangerous, or from some exotic location.
One other common theme in video games is violence. In many video games, the more violent your character is, the higher your rewards are. Watching violence and playing violent video games makes people believe that the world is violent and it becomes normalized, that it is normal for someone to kill another person. There is no punishment or consequences for violence, yet if you commit violence in the real world, you will be punished for it (either legally or emotionally). The military actually started using shooting games to train soldiers before going into action. In Game Over, they made some pretty clear distinctions between military training and video games, and how those effects can come into play in everyday life (Jhally, 2000). For starters, the military started simulating war scenarios after World War II. They found that soldiers did not fire their gun as easily as they should have, even though they were in danger, because they had not been conditioned to shoot. After introducing target practices and even using video game simulations, the number increased to 95% likelihood of a person firing during combat. This goes to show that violence is a conditioned response. In military training, soldiers are disciplined to carry their weapons without ever firing it so that they understand not to shoot unless they are ordered to do so. They also get reprimanded for shooting the wrong person during simulations. In video games, there is nothing telling you to stop shooting, and you could shoot the wrong person and nothing happens to your scores (though sometimes if you don’t have a “friendly fire” setting turned on, you could accidentally kill a teammate, which could lead you to losing the game). Video games also make shooting people pleasurable and exciting (Jhally, 2000).

Media and video games encourage violence as an appropriate response to conflict. While many people would argue that video games themselves lead to violence in people, it is the messages within them that are the true culprits. Some questions to think about: If we know that violence in media can lead to more aggressive tendencies, why do we continue to let them into our homes? How can we let people enjoy video games, but also teach them the true meaning behind them? How can we open people up to the idea that violence is not a normal/helpful act?

For more information on the controversy over violent video games, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy
http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.aspx

For more information on video games in the military, visit:
http://www.livescience.com/10022-military-video-games.html

Source: Jhally, S. (Director). (2000). Game Over: Gender, Race, & Violence in Video Games [Documentary]. USA: Media Education Foundation.