The gaming industry has been one of the fastest growing areas of technology. The gaming industry has come a long way from the days of simple black and white interfaces to the complex 3D technology today. The unprecedented prolific growth can be attributed to many factors, one of which is the diversification of the industry. The availability of any type of game class, from strategy, action, fantasy games to even adult games the industry has seen this diversity grow. The traditional concept of games being a child affair has been heavily challenged with some games having 18 year old ratings and the development of adult content games. This is tribute to the acceptance of the gaming culture. With this culture came the academic assessments of the contributions and faults of the new culture to the society. One of the key areas of interest is the issue of the role of gender in the gaming world. This is a global issue that is of particular interest to the feminist movement worldwide. The factors affecting the female as a result of new technology the gaming culture in this case have been the issue of much speculative debate due to the relative newness of the subject. The issue of the relationship between technology and gender, however, is not new. The old jokes concerning the gender of the computer with scientists of both genders using this to jest at the opposite gender are not new (Wolf and Peron, 2003, vii-xix).

So what is the significance of the discussion? The feminist movement is keen on measuring and discovering the inequalities and advantages this field offers. The fight for equality in all fields has also been taken to the game consol.

Let us start by observing the effects form the perspectives of the producers. There is a large gender disparity in the participation of producing the games. This is partially shown by the story of Brenda Laurel in her bid to have a company whose products targeted the girl. She struggled to have her dream realized only to have it come to naught due to various market factors including demand. Surely it is plausible to suspect that since there are few women and girls who buy products that are targeted for their group the women involved are also very few . The other reason is that there is a high discouraging, by the society, of participation of girls in the computer and computer related industry. A research targeting school students discovered that the society, parents in particular, give unequal encouragement to the students based on gender. The parents of the girl child were less enthusiastic as opposed to the parents of the boys in encouraging the child to participate in technology. The exposure to the technology was also unequal, tilting in the boys’ favor. If this is true then what do you expect to be the ratio of the two in higher levels of education pursuing computer technology? The result is that fewer girls pursue computer and computer related courses at higher educational levels. With this in mind, the logical conclusion is that the number of women in this sector is low, compared with the men (Miller, Chaiker and Groppe, 1996).

Finally, there is also the issue of who the product targets. The game industry is traditionally seen as a boy’s world. Women are playing but they only contribute a small percentage of the total market. The products, therefore, target boys and so does the advertising and marketing strategies. This can be seen by the predominant themes in the game world: violence, sex and sports. These are all very masculine themes. The simple deduction is that you need people who understand the way the consumer thinks and reasons in order to successfully appeal to their tastes and preferences. This means that in a male themed world, men will be needed to condition the games to the preferences of the male. This in effect means that the woman in many ways will experience employment discrimination due to the market preferences around.  You need to set a thief to catch a thief (Schmundt, 2006).

In any corporate affair, funding is an important factor (Newman, 2004, 57). It is also more important in the game world due to the rapid technology dynamics in the game industry. The capital intensive structure influences which games will survive due to their technical appeal. Heather Kelly, a renown female programmer stated that the reason that the games were not going far was that there is little funding for them. Since they form a small market niche and they do not rake in as much profit as the boy games, the firms funding would allocate smaller budgets for the girl games. This influences the quality of the games and therefore the marketability. The games are usually less quality than their boy counterparts. This influences the rate of interest, which is low (Schmundt, 2006).

Let us consider also the participation in the playing of the games. The game world, as shown, is predominantly male dominated in terms of both producing and playing. This predominance also extends to the themes and content of the games. The themes and the content of the most available games in the market do not appeal to the women. Themes include competition and violence, both of which are generally not the women’s first choice themes (Newman, 2004, 54-55). The theme of sports, for example, will have games such as FIFA and NBA games keep in tandem with the current game situation. This is indeed a problem as in real life the most akin to follow these games would be boys. Therefore the ones most likely to take interest in the games would also be boys. An argument concerning the gender balance in role playing games cited that evolution might be responsible for the lower interest in the games produced. Whether this is true is highly debatable, due to the existence of other factors, including socialization and community of upbringing. However, the themes are highly male interest fields. One interesting episode, however, that shows how locked out the women is the Harvest Moon: Back to Nature game. In this game about farming, the gamer is supposed to marry and flirt with girls. This is a typical male role which is surprising in a game that has the theme of farming, an all inclusive theme (Wolf and Peron, 2003, 171).

Closely tied to this is the fact that since the production is male dominant, it often ends up males are involved in the making of the girl games. As cited earlier, the makers need to be in touch with their market in order to create a product that truly reflects the tastes of their clientele. The use of male programmers to create the female targeted games beats this logic. The result is that the games produced are of lower quality as the men display disinterest in the creation of these games. The games will also not appeal to the patterns of though displayed by girls. The disparity in the pattern of thought between the genders will be seen here. An experiment carried out discovered that the way a female programmer will write a program will differ with the way her male colleague will, even if the programs aim to achieve the same results (Miller, Chaiker and Groppe, 1996). The differences in thought will therefore affect the taste of the girl consumer who will not effectively relate to the games being offered by male writers. This will have direct bearing on the marketing of these games. Not only will they be of lower quality than their boy games counterparts, they will have a harder marketing experience. They will end up being unappealing to their target market, thus resulting in lower sales. This results in less girl participation in the gaming industry (Schmundt, 2006).

The participation also goes beyond the interest level into the encouragement level. The society views gaming as a “boy thing”. The society sees that the boys have more reason to play the games due to the nature of their content and the socialization of the community. It is with this in mind that therefore the girl is often not as encouraged as the boy in pursuing a career in the computer industry. This is despite the fact that it has been displayed that both the genders do equally well in the field of computers. This previous discrepancy of the involvement brings to focus another trait. The view that the boy has about the computer and the views the girl holds about the same differ. The girl sees the computer as a tool while the boy sees it as a toy. This is attributed to the experiences that the two genders have of the computer as they develop. The girl child has access to the computer when trying to get a job done: writing a report, sending e-mails and other tasks. The boy has access to the computer as a source of entertainment, chief among which is the playing of games. This has caused the disparity in the view of the computer’s role. This influences how the girl in later stages of life will use the computer and participate in gaming. Due to her upbringing, she will most likely continue to socialize other girls on their gender bias towards computers. She will also not be likely to participate in the gaming world. This eventually will contribute to the reduced number of women participating in games both on the computer and video games (Miller, Chaiker and Groppe, 1996).

Gender issues can also be read in the games themselves. The content and the play method of the games is one aspect to consider. The first thing to put into consideration about the video games is the themes of the games. The themes, as shown, are predominantly male interest themes. There have been huge arguments about the themes and whether they are gender biased. For example, on live journal a posting argument ensued about whether the role playing games are male oriented in nature. The site reported much flurry about the debate on the truth of this premise. The feminists stated profoundly that the game was as playable by them as it was by men, and that the theme was not a problem (Jhkimrpg, 2008). However, studies show that women prefer games that are experience oriented rather than goal oriented. Girls would prefer games that involve playing out fantasy real life e.g. shopping, dating and fashion shows. This is in contrast with boys who prefer more aggressive and goal oriented games. This is purely out of culture, which determines the leanings and preferences toward technology (Mitchell, 2003, 70). This preference, however, is not reflected in the dominant themes that characterize the game world. The phenomenon of the highly male dominated field of programming spills over into the product. This neglect of the girls’ interest is only a reflection of the dominance of the party involved. There are very few games that take into consideration the girl’s interest. One of the biggest of such games is Barbie Doll games. The doll that has evolved from 1959 to today’s online game is an example of the feminine preference that exists. The huge monetary success of the games and merchandise are testimony to the market power of the girl games. However, this is mot exploited much. The gender bias in the predominant themes is proof of this.

Another issue of gender concern in the games in the display of women in the games. The perverse display of women on these games is scanty and sexual objects. This issue an issue of grave concern as it will finally affect the player’s worldview on the role of women and the issue of sexuality. There have been several cases for concern on the web. One of the games is the huge reality role playing site World of War craft. It has been noted that even with the characters that are not human, a resemblance between the character and the human race has been maintained. Additionally, the image creation retains a distinction between the sexes. This distinction is highly related to the modern view of the “ideal” figure and look for the sexes. The females have slim waists, large busts and the hour glass figure. The males are bigger than the females and have large muscular physic (Rubeinstein, 2007). This is the traditional sexual model that is what is used here. This viewing of both men and women from a sexual perspective even in the game world is worrying. This is because the age group that is cultured with these view points is the younger generation. This is further propelled by the fact that these young are mainly male. If this trend is successfully passed on, then a generation of young men who view women wrongly is born. This will lead to the abuse of women. Of even greater concern is the outright display of the women as sexual objects to be used. The most horrifying of these games is Grand Theft Auto 3. This game goes all out as it allows the player to exercise physical and sexual abuse on the females in the game. The women are reduced to pleasure objects that you can take out your rage and unfulfilled passion on. In another game Duke Nukem, the players use naked and bound prostitutes to practice their firing skills. This is totally in disregard to the gender Implications. This portrayal of women may influence the real day to day behavior of the male players causing some of them to become abusers. This disregard for gender respect is worrying (Media Awareness Network, 2008)

In regard to the views held, the other chauvinistic approach is the showing of the super heroes as men. The movie theme of man saves beautiful girl is echoed here (King, 2002, 181-192). This portrays the women as incapable of helping themselves. The theme of socially independent and self reliant women should be portrayed but the opposite is usually true. Barbie is a good example of how games should be used to promote the image of a self-reliant and strong willed woman should be like. The creators have turned her into a career woman with her own property. She enjoys her life with her friends and does not rely on men for her ego. She is the perfect ambassador for the feminist cause. Unfortunately, games such as James Bond in which he saves the girl who is helpless, are more prominent in the game world. They only serve to further the chauvinistic views of men superiority (Wolf and Perron, 2003, 172).

In conclusion, the question about whether technology is gendered is legitimate. The gender issues raised in the arena of the game industry are many and worrying. The gender bias runs right from the top of the chain- the producers. The producers are unwilling to invest in games that target the girl. This is due to the claim that they are not as financially lucrative as their boy game counterparts. Technology is also gendered in the aspect of the producers themselves. The field of programming is dominated by the men. This is in spite of the fact that the men and the women are both equally endowed in the skill when trained. The domination by the men results in the creation of games that reflect the men’s pattern of thinking. The games are also not as funded therefore not as good as their boy counterparts. The end product is that the games have predominant male theme. The women’s tastes are ignored and thus this results in a drop of the interest of women in the games. The other bias occurs in the use of the technology. Technology has come to be viewed as a man’s world and therefore is to be pursued by men. This has the effect of the society encouraging men at the expense of the women to pursue professions in this field. At the end of the day, we end up with few female programmers who then end up not being able to adequately service the girl market industry. The themes and predominant sexual objecting of women makes the games unsuitable in terms of gender and unappealing to the women (Newman, 2004, 54-55). The gender issues affecting the industry need to be addressed with speed. The influence this sector has on the minds of the upcoming generation necessitates the rethinking of the ideas being passed on by the games (Media Awareness Network, 2008). This is crucial in order to raise a generation that views the female in the proper light.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hilmar Schmundt Finding the Computer’s Feminie Side (24th August, 2006). Sourced from http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,433347,00.html on 11th December, 2008.

Jhkimrpg On Gender Disparity in RPGs. Sourced from http://jhkimrpg.livejournal.com/68900.html on 11th December, 2008.

King, Geoff and Krzywinska, Tanya (ed) (2002) Screenplay: cinema/Videogames/Interfaces: (London: Wallflower Press,

Media Awareness Network Gender Stereotyping (2008). Sourced from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/gender_videogames.cfm on 11th December, 2008.

Miller Leslie, Chaika Melissa, and Groppe Laura  Girls’ Preferences In Software Design: Insights From A Focus Group (1996) Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century Vol 4 Number 2 Pg 27-36 University of Maryland
Newman James Videogames (2004), Routledge, London.

Mitchell William J.,  The cyborg Self and the networked city.  Cambridge Mass: MIT Press, 2003

Rubeinstein Andrea Idealizing Fantasy Bodies (26th may, 2007). Sourced from http://www.theirisnetwork.org/archives/12 on 11th December, 2008.

Wolf, Mark J.P. and Perron, Bernand  (ed) (2003) The video game theory reader. London: Routledge, 2003

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