Stereotypes in Videogames

Although this is a topic we talked about a long long time ago in class, it is a topic that I had intended to write a blog about, and now that I am running out of time I am forcing myself to write on this topic. I will admit that when we first went over this topic in class I felt like it was a bit of a stretch. I felt that the people writing these articles were just looking for something else to complain about. But after seeing such evidence and then paying more attention to what I was seeing in video games I really could see that they were on to something.

There is no doubt in my mind now that video games delibrately use stereotyping, and since I was pretty much the last person to realize this, then it should be apparent to everyone. So the question is why? Why do they feel the need to use such exaggerated stereotyping in video games? I will admit that there may be times to follow a stereotype. For example lets take Halloween, if you want to be a plumber you would dress as the stereotype....trucker hat, pants below your crack, beer gut etc. That would be the quickest way to get people to realize what you are suppose to be. But then again that is only because the stereotype exists to begin with. So that may just be causing more of a problem.

The serious problem I see with using stereotypes in video games is that these games are played by young kids. These kids are imperssionable and they are actually learning how to view the world by what they see in the games. So while we stay politically correct in schools and at home (hopefully) and then the kids go and see minorities with guns and women being portrayed as sexual objects then it is not hard to see the conflicting views they are getting.

A study called Fair Play? Violence, Gender and race in video games, done in 2001 showed the following results. 86% of the heroes in video games were white males. Eight out of ten African American males were athletes in sporting games. Latinos only appeared in baseball games and most Asians were fighters. Also 86% of African American females were victims of violence in the games, which was almost twice what white females were. The results of this study truly shocked me, this is how are teaching kids to view the world. What effects will this have on the future world if kids continue to be exposed to these kind of stereotypes in video games as they grow up?