Sexualization in Video Game Characters

For many years now there has been a constant controversy with the sexualization of characters, and those characters that get caught in the fire are typically female characters. So how much sex is too much in a video game? There are many people that believe it fits in right with the story and gameplay, and then there are many people that find it to be completely pointless and degrading. Some of the earliest video games have introduced sexuality into gaming such as Duke Nukem and Tomb Raider. As time went on more games were developed that took it to a whole new level such as beach volleyball.

In 2008, Fox News did a report on how the popular video game, Mass Effect, depicted pornography. Talk show host, Cooper Lawrence said that it gave young boys the wrong idea about women and that it was, and that the video game showed full on nudity. Spike TV’s Geoff Keighly rebutted saying that it was nothing like that. Lawrence admitted that she had never played the game, but rather based her information off what someone told her just minutes before the show. Mass Effect in fact is not full of nudity and sex. There is barely any nudity at all and sex is just a small 30 second deal out of the whole game, and you can choose to not have your character engage in it.

Let’s look at a character that is widely criticized for her appearance: Lara Croft.

She has always wore the same style of outfit throughout her whole career; small shorts, a tank top, hiking boots, and her hair in a long, neat braid or ponytail. A lot of people feel that her outfit is a bit too revealing and that she is a disgrace to women. Because women don’t really climb mountains with no rope looking for treasure, and wield guns all while wearing comfortable clothing for such an occasion. The thing about Lara Croft is that she was never made to be over sexualized. She was created and portrayed to be a strong woman. How is it wrong for a woman to be able to defend herself while searching for the next big archeological find? She has always been one of my favorite female characters to play because she is so strong and smart. She doesn’t use her sexuality to get what she wants.

In 2007, a game came out with a female character that gave some women a small glimmer of hope for the portrayal of women in games. That game was Mirror’s Edge and the character was Faith Connors.

She wears a simple black tanktop with white pants that go to her ankles and red sneakers. People have described her as not being very attractive, but that was a positive. Then they compare her with Lara Croft and say that she is a much stronger character because she doesn’t dress like Lara. But look at these two characters; both are strong women fighting for what is right. Neither of them use sex in any way to advance in the game.

And then there are the bad game characters that do portray women incorrectly.

Personally I don’t judge these characters for looking this way. Mileena is my favorite fighter in the Mortal Kombat series. In Hollywood sex sells and gaming is no exception. Creators feel that they must create busty attractive characters in order to gain a profit by appealing the public masses. Since 60% of gamers are males then attractive female characters are going to be a high selling feature. It’s not wrong to give characters a strong role and if they are wearing a tank top and shorts what is the big deal? It’s probably hard to climb a mountain in jeans. But it is wrong to make them appear as submissive and not having minds of their own like most video games (Mileena is an exception of this since she is one of the top fighters).

So which side are you on?

How young is too young?

That is a popular question made by many parents of child gamers. Even though there are plenty of games out there marketed toward children such as the numerous Lego video games and Nicktoons Unite!, many children want to play the more mature video games like Mortal Kombat, or Mass Effect. Many parents are not okay with their children playing M-rated video games. And some of them are.

When I was 10 years old my mother came home from a day of work. As she entered the door she seemed to be carrying a small, square case in much excitement. That small case contained something that forever changed my view of video games. It was Silent Hill.

My mother said that she had borrowed this video game from a friend, and that it was supposed to be very scary. There were not very many survival horror games before 1999. There were a few, but Silent Hill seemed to help that genre of gaming take off. So when my mother told me about this game being scary I was excited because I had never played anything like it before. So there I was at the tender age of 10 playing survival horror.

As you can tell in the image this game is rated M for Mature. The ESRB gave Silent Hill its rating for Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence. There are a ton of parents out there that would have a fit if they knew their child was playing such a game. And because of that, many parents will try to have video games banned in hopes that their child will not get their hands on it. It all comes down to parenting skills in reality. Parents say they want to get involved in knowing what their child is playing. It is as simple as picking up the box, turning it over, and reading the ESRB rating in the bottom corner or every video game box. Standing in line at a video game store one day, a mother was going to purchase an M rated game for her 12 year old son. The clerk asked the mother, “You do know this is rated M for Mature, yes?” The mother looked shocked and said that she wasn’t aware and then asked what it was rated for. The clerk then told her it was for violence, sexual content, nudity, use of alcohol and drugs. The mother then got very angry with her son and left the store.

It is mothers like that, and fathers as well, that try to take the fun away from everyone. Because they don’t want to ask a simple question or do some small research for themselves they would much rather have as many video games banned as possible to avoid their child from playing it. My mother was more lenient with me, than my younger brother. I was more mature at the age of 10 and she knew that I would not act out on what I played in the game so she let me have it. My brother on the other hand got in trouble at school for imitating something from a violent video game he had played. Parents want to get more involved, then they should monitor their own child and decide for themselves whether it is okay for their child to play a stricter rated game. Those of us who are responsible gamers should not suffer the same punishment as those who are irresponsible or too young.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying I would give my 10 year old child (if I had one) a game with ratings for sex, nudity, and extreme violence. But I would not forbid them from playing anything. I would inspect the game before letting them have it. I tend to remain open-minded about gaming since it was been apart of my life for near 15 years. If they’re too young to see the sex scene in Mass Effect then I would take it away from them until they were older. But if they want to play as a man with a cheetah for a face and compete to be the King of the Iron Fist, then my all means, go on ahead. So how young is too young? I guess that is for mom and dad to decide.