Digital Effects

July 8, 2009 - Think of a video game. Now think of a video game designed to appeal to male players. For most people, there would be little difference between the two.

Ten years ago, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat, edited by Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins, drew attention to this kind of gender issue, highlighting the expectations and assumptions that marginalized women in the world of digital games. At the time, games made with girls in mind tended to be "pink games" that reinforced conventional ideals of femininity by giving gamers tasks like selecting clothing for a character to wear.

This situation was troubling in the 1990s, but as games have been growing into an increasingly influential industry that often sparks gamers' interest in the expanding fields of computer science and information technology, concerns about gender barriers have become more pressing.

Beyond Barbie & Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming, a new volume co-edited by Penn GSE's Yasmin B. Kafai along with Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner, and Jennifer Y. Sun, revisits and expands on the issues raised by Cassell and Jenkins' book. The contributors — educators, media theorists, psychologists, and industry professionals — explore several facets of gaming, reflecting on the changes that have occurred over the past ten years and examining the hurdles that remain, as well as some potentially positive developments.

For instance, while recent studies have shown that women make up 38% of all gamers, 42% of online gamers, and a significant majority of casual gamers, the ways games are designed, marketed, and played still display worrying gender inequalities.

Given that people will likely make games for those who share their interests, the fact that women account for only about 10% of game programmers and designers is alarming. The volume illustrates reasons for this low number, such as family-unfriendly development schedules and the traditional view of computer programming as a male pursuit, and traces the ramifications on the games produced. Several contributors demonstrate that young girls are attracted to game design when it is presented to them as a means of storytelling and problem-solving, suggesting one method of remedying the gender disparity.

Men and women want different things from games as well, according to research in this collection. For example, female players have shown a preference for real-life scenarios and game worlds that can be modified, but such preferences rarely seem to factor into mainstream game design. Most games are explicitly targeted at extreme demographic groups (Barbie or Mortal Kombat), despite the success of games like The Sims that appeal to wider audiences.

The collection also considers how games are played, noting that the tendency of males to play games with other males in a competitive environment (either online or in real-life spaces like internet cafes or even classrooms) can create a social setting that excludes female players. If women are to take part in gaming, they must feel free to take part in gaming communities.

As games play an ever-larger role in global culture, industry, and education, Kafai and her collaborators argue, new worlds are opened up, but often they recreate and reinforce gender inequalities found in the "real world." We need to consider the social aspects encoded in these worlds to ensure that no one is left out of the game.