{"id":371,"date":"2019-04-29T00:29:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T16:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/?p=371"},"modified":"2019-04-29T00:52:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T16:52:40","slug":"fight-like-a-girl-marginalising-women-in-first-person-shooter-video-game-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/2019\/04\/29\/fight-like-a-girl-marginalising-women-in-first-person-shooter-video-game-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight like a Girl \u2013 Marginalising Women in First Person Shooter Video Game Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-person shooters (FPS) are seen as the domain of male hard-core gaming enthusiasts but as half the population of gamers are women, more and more are starting to take up this genre of gaming. However, being dominated by male players, women have a difficult time shaking stereotypical roles and facing up to the more controlling masculine team mates. This paper investigates, gender roles, gendered communication and skill levels to show that women are finding it a tough battle to find their place as a gamer in the FPS community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fight like a Girl \u2013 Marginalising Women in First Person Shooter Video Game Communities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women who play first person shooter (FPS) games are\nconsidered the atypical rather than the norm. They are not normally welcomed\ninto a squad or considered a valuable player. For this reason, they find it\ndifficult to fit in and find their identity within FPS communities which are\ntraditionally dominated by men. According to (Brand, Todhunter, & Jervis, 2017)around 46% of gamers in Australia are\nwomen, this figure is also very similar to America (ESA, 2018)\nand other western cultures where video game and online access is available. Women\nmake up nearly half the population of the gaming community. While the games\nthey play vary, with a majority playing casual games online, around 20-25% play\nfirst-person shooter video games or hard-core video games (Paa\u00dfen, Morgenroth, & Stratemeyer, 2017).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the purposes of this paper we\nwill be mainly looking at games that involve player vs environment and are\nfirst-person shooters. Games which fit with these characteristics are Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege,\nCounterstrike <\/em>and Overwatch<\/em>.\nThese games can be played on a variety of devices and are all available to play\nin player vs environment mode and have online multiplayer modes which allow\nplayers to work in teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women are subjected to marginalization in these communities\nfor a variety of reasons. Forward we will look at three reasons that women find\nit hard to fit into these communities and what factors contribute to this. Those\nreasons include gender roles they are expected to maintain from the offline\nworld, gendered communication issues and being viewed as less valuable team\nmembers due to perceived lower skill level and ability. To get a better idea of\nwhy gender matters we should first examine what an FPS game is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First person shooter (FPS) games are categorized as\nbeing games where the action is viewed from the point of view of the player\u2019s\navatar\/character whereas third person shooters are categorized by the action\nbeing viewed from behind the player\u2019s avatar\/character. While these are two\nstyles of gameplay are distinctly different in terms of where the player views\ntheir avatar\/character, some gameplay does cross over, and multiplayer modes\nare available for both styles. FPS games are typically violent in nature. They\nhave an array of weapons and arsenal at the disposal of the player in order to\nmeet their goals. The types of themes and gameplay of a FPS can be\nstereotypically attributed to boys play and are generally aimed at fulfilling\nyoung men\u2019s fantasies (Hayes, 2005).\n It is interesting to point out here that\nmost game developers are male, with only 21% of the worlds game developers\nbeing female (Statistica, 2019).\nMuch of the gaming world is dominated by men developing games for men so this\nassumption could be why women who play FPS games are an abnormality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Games of this nature can and do have different levels\nof participation. Players can play solo\/story or multiplayer\/squad modes as well\nas player vs player or player versus environment.  Player vs environment is more likely to\ninvolve collaborative game play where players work to defeat their environment to\nachieve the common goal. Player vs player is less collaborative as players are\npitted against one another in order to be the last player standing or the first\nto complete the prescribed goal. Typically, FPS have a military, apocalyptic or\nscience fiction themes which involve meeting a target or completing a mission.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the concepts of FPS games are against the stereotypical\nideals we hold about women, especially societal views that women themselves observe\nand comply with in order to conform to in the offline world. There is a gender\nbias whereby male playable characters are more often suited to the game having\nbetter weaponry and armour as well as having bigger roles in the storylines.\nHayes (2005) discusses a participant in her research who has trouble finding character\nto play and eventually chooses a healer over a combatant character only to\ndiscover that this was not to her liking and chosen due to her core ideals of\nwomen being nurturing healers. Healers are also traditionally a support role\ncharacter rather than a character who will lead a team to victory such as a commander\nor knight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women in FPS games are generally seen by others as having a support role rather than that of a leadership role becoming a subservient player in the game rather than a teammate who can facilitate ideas and plans in order to take the team to victory. This is explained by Holz Ivory, Fox, Franklin Waddell, and Ivory (2014), \u201cmen are dominant and are concerned with agentic goals, women are submissive and are oriented toward communal goals\u201d. This view then squarely puts women in the role of support character while men are dominant, and more goal focused and taking on lead characters. These ideals make it unlikely that women could be taken seriously or even as a contemporary when formulating a game plan as a team. It could make her ideas seem inconsequential and invaluable and eventually being dismissed. Cotes (2017) describes 5 coping strategies employed by women to not only avoid harassment but also to be included and part of the game. One such strategy is developing skills and experience in order to be taken seriously as a contemporary player. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many of the FPS games the characters themselves are\nundesirable options for women to pick. Many female characters are scantily clad\nwith exaggerated features and often with much less clothing than their male\ncounterpart characters. They can be very sexualized, thereby again having been\ndeveloped for the core base of players, young men. In story lines they are often\nportrayed as victims and are in need of saving. This may in turn force women to\nchoose a male character to represent her over a female character, even though\nshe may not wish to. This can allow for anonymity and a feeling of being just\nlike the other players. However, in multiplayer FPS games there is generally a\nrequirement to talk in order to collaborate and make plans so invariably a\nfemale player will eventually give herself up as being female as soon as she enters\nconversation with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communication is another area which is particularly problematic\nfor female players. Due to gendered communication, it is often mistaken or\ntaken the incorrect way. Holz Ivory et al. (2014),\nexplain that communication through online chat in the FPS will revert to offline\nstereotypical views we hold of men and women. Men being more dominant are more\nprone to aggressive and negative comments in order to get others to comply\nwhere as women are more encouraging and use positive comments in order to comply.\nWhile Cote (2017) observed some women change their communication and play styles\nto aggressive behaviours which was a coping mechanism employed by female gamers.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an investigation by Holz Ivory et al.\n(2014) it was found that women received more friend request and acceptances\nthan their male counterparts. This was attributed to the possibility that \u201cmale\nplayers seeking self-enhancement and flaunting their sexual prowess,\nparticularly in the company of other male players\u201d. Women may feel\nuncomfortable with accepting friend requests because it can open them up to harassment\nand abuse on a personal level rather than in full view of the gaming community.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easpaig (2018),\ndiscusses gender-based harassment of women, during communication, in video game\ncommunities. Flaming of female players included, sexual and derogatory comments\nmade about them, there is even websites dedicated to sharing the abusive\ncomments female gamers receive online. Women often will use strategies such as\nnot communicating through voice chat or pretending their chat equipment is\nfaulty, which can hinder collaboration with other players to reach their teams\ngoals.  This can severely limit their\ninclusion into the game as a team. Due\nto the quick nature of FPS games it is unlikely that players communicate\nthrough text chat so not being able to communicate verbally can be problematic\nto being a valuable player to the team. This is also backed up by Cote (2017)\nwho also discusses that leaving, avoiding and blocking are all coping strategies\nemployed by women gamers in order to combat abusive comments and harassment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many teams are reliant on the skills their players have in their team. Some FPS will organise players randomly while other times you may have the option to choose your friends. Regardless of the set up of your team, in order to succeed in FPS a certain level of skill is required which requires many replays of the game itself in order to practice and women play for less time than men. It has been suggested that women have less time than men to spend on video games due to other practicalities of their lives. In other words they do not choose not to invest their time but rather are forced not to because of circumstance (Paa\u00dfen et al., 2017). In a three-year study conducted by Jenson and Castell (2011) they found that many young girls had little exposure to video game consoles unless they had and father, uncle, brother or other male figure who had exposed them to these. At the beginning of the study many girls were unable to even set up a console to play games and stated that other members of the family such as their brothers dominated the console usage. By the end of the study the girls were much more confident in using the video game consoles and even enjoyed playing games with other players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FPS games are in general a game in which hard-core gamers are associated with and players have a lot of experience playing.  In their paper Hopp and Fisher (2017) found that as FPS games require substantial skill in order to win, men are more likely to not let lack of skill deter them from the game. On the other hand, women are much more likely to see this as a problem to their advancement and enjoyment of the game. This could be possibly because, according to Holz Ivory et al. (2014) women are more likely to be seen as weaker players regardless of their skill level by other players in the game. This is partly due to the assumption that men spend more time playing video games and are more likely to be hard core gamers. Obviously, more time playing video games equates to more skill. So, women who are playing for less time and being associated as \u201ccasual gamers\u201d are seen as having limited skill regardless if this is untrue or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implications of this perceived lack of skill and less frequent playing time can mean that women are again perceived as not being valuable to the team and are avoided or even abused or harassed. Or worse still the team could completely ostracise her and complete the game without her involvement at all. Bad experiences with teams could lead to women slipping out of playing this genre entirely which Cote (2017) also discusses as a coping strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, we have identified three issues which make women feel marginalised in the FPS environment and community. Firstly, women are less likely to be seen as dominant players capable of leading their teams to victory. This is due in part to the stereotypical gender roles that are prevailing from the offline world and being observed to in the online world. They are seen as having more support roles rather than being valuable equal members of the team, as well as being portrayed that way in the form of avatars and characters. Secondly, women find it difficult to communicate due to communication gender differences and being the victims of harassment, such as flaming which are also stereotypical norms from the offline world. Lastly, because women are seen as having less skill due to being associated with casual gaming rather than hard core gaming they are often considered as not an asset to their team. Women are marginalised in this type of gaming community due to factors mainly relating to stereotypical views of what a gamer of this genre should look and act like. By not conforming women are more often than not harassed and pushed out of this gaming environment or it forces them to incorporate elaborate strategies to try to conform to what society perceives as the norm just to try and fit in. This makes for a very uncomfortable experience within this gaming genre but until stereotypical norms change, and more women are perceived as hard-core gamers with definite skill it is unlikely that women will identify as part of this genre\u2019s gamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Brand, J. E., Todhunter, S., & Jervis, J. (2017).\nDigital Australia 2018. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.igea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Digital-Australia-2018-DA18-Final-1.pdf<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cote, A. C. (2017). \u201cI can defend myself\u201d: women\u2019s strategies\nfor coping with harassment while gaming online. Games and Culture<\/em>, 12(2), 136\u2013155. doi:10.1177\/1555412015587603<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easpaig, B. N. G. (2018). An exploratory study of\nsexism in online gaming communities: Mapping contested digital terrain. Community Psychology in Global Perspective<\/em>,\n4(2), 119-135. doi:10.1285\/i24212113v4i2p119 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESA. (2018). Essential facts about the computer and\nvideo game industry. Retrieved from\nhttp:\/\/www.theesa.com\/about-esa\/essential-facts-computer-video-game-industry\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hayes, E. (2005). Women, video gaming and learning:\nbeyond stereotypes. TechTrends<\/em>,\n49(5), 23-28. doi:10.1007\/BF02763686<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holz Ivory, A., Fox, J., Waddell, T. F., & Ivory,\nJ. (2014). Sex role stereotyping is hard to kill: A field experiment measuring\nsocial responses to user characteristics and behavior in an online multiplayer\nfirst-person shooter game. Computers in\nHuman Behavior<\/em>, 35, 148-156. doi:10.1016\/j.chb.2014.02.026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopp, T., & Fisher, J. (2017). Examination of the\nrelationship between gender, performance, and enjoyment of a first-person\nshooter game. Simulation & Gaming<\/em>,\n48(3), 338-362. doi:10.1177\/1046878117693397<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenson, J., & Castell, S. (2011) Girls@Play, Feminist Media Studies<\/em>, 11(2), 167-179,\nDOI: 10.1080\/14680777.2010.521625<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paa\u00dfen, B., Morgenroth, T., & Stratemeyer, M.\n(2017). What is a true gamer? The male gamer stereotype and the marginalization\nof women in video game culture. Sex Roles<\/em>,\n76(7-8), 421-435. doi:10.1007\/s11199-016-0678-y<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistica. (2019). Global game developer gender 2017.\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/453634\/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide\/222w22aw23<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n

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Abstract First-person shooters (FPS) are seen as the domain of male hard-core gaming enthusiasts but as half the population of gamers are women, more and more are starting to take up this genre of gaming. However, being dominated by male players, women have a difficult time shaking stereotypical roles and facing up to the more… Continue reading Fight like a Girl \u2013 Marginalising Women in First Person Shooter Video Game Communities<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[178,180,179,182,181],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming","tag-first-person-shooter","tag-hardcore-gaming","tag-online-gaming","tag-video-games","tag-women-gamers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}