Stereotypes and new perspectives in video games when targeting female players

Abstract

The video game industry has been dominated by male figures for many years since its beginnings, creating video games for themselves and, as the market was growing, assuming that was the only audience available and focusing all its efforts in creating more experiences following the same rules. As our society has developed and gender norms are changing, women have stepped onto the market. While initially receiving an influx of stereotyped games for young girls, the industry is now moving to a different point of view. Realising that women are a very important section of their market with many questions regarding their interests and how they respond to the stimulus and reward systems that have been put in place by men. This study looks into the history of video games and how we have reached this point, how female characters have been represented in the video game industry and how players have been stereotyped following old gender norms that are seldom accepted nowadays. It also finds the new roads of study and challenges that new developers are taking on to cater to this audience. I then use the data compiled through the knowledge dive about women’s preferences and dislikes in video games to analyse opposite relevant titles of the same genre and find similarities between both genders’ tastes and which elements make women enjoy a video game the most. Proving that the genre of a video game doesn’t automatically fit into a set audience and that the theming and rules around it are just as or even more important to the player.