(no subject)
So I had to come up with a topic to write for a journal entry in my web design class, and the only topic that really struck me as interesting involved females in the industry, and whether or not they were being discriminated against. This was what I ended up writing, just wanted to know what any of you people thought about it, like agree, disagree, etc... I just really like this topic and I want to hear more opinions.
Issues on gender in cyber space vary far and wide, but in particular I am interested
in concept of females in the gaming world. Personally I think that there are stereotypes
because there is usually a hint of truth in them. I think that, in general, games are meant
to be competetive, and that, in general, women tend to shy away from competetive
activities such as sports. Personally, as a male, I don't really like football, beer, cars OR
hot wings, and there will always be such exceptions to stereotypes, but I believe that the
option to partake in whatever interests a person chooses should be open to everyone
(barring a few exceptions, such as wanting to be the president). I think that females
should be able to go into gaming, or even the gaming industry, if they so desired. The
problem is that most of the girls that I've talked to just aren't interested in games.
Biologists might blame this on the 'temperaments of males vs. females' and sociologists
might blame gender discrimination, but as it stands now there just aren't as many
females as males in the game industry. What further complicates the problem is that,
seeing that the industry is male dominated, you will rarely see game advertisers go out
of their way to appeal to women, just because the concept of advertising is to make
more money, and appealing to a less popular demographic would be economically
unwise. Of course this is a very sticky spiral to get out of, but I think that the more
popular and culturally accepted video games become, the more females who are
interested in the industry will gravitate towards it. In the past playing video games used
to be thought as 'childish' yet today it is widely accepted for adults to show interest in
gaming. I think that the same thing will eventually happen to women.
Adam Chandler
Issues on gender in cyber space vary far and wide, but in particular I am interested
in concept of females in the gaming world. Personally I think that there are stereotypes
because there is usually a hint of truth in them. I think that, in general, games are meant
to be competetive, and that, in general, women tend to shy away from competetive
activities such as sports. Personally, as a male, I don't really like football, beer, cars OR
hot wings, and there will always be such exceptions to stereotypes, but I believe that the
option to partake in whatever interests a person chooses should be open to everyone
(barring a few exceptions, such as wanting to be the president). I think that females
should be able to go into gaming, or even the gaming industry, if they so desired. The
problem is that most of the girls that I've talked to just aren't interested in games.
Biologists might blame this on the 'temperaments of males vs. females' and sociologists
might blame gender discrimination, but as it stands now there just aren't as many
females as males in the game industry. What further complicates the problem is that,
seeing that the industry is male dominated, you will rarely see game advertisers go out
of their way to appeal to women, just because the concept of advertising is to make
more money, and appealing to a less popular demographic would be economically
unwise. Of course this is a very sticky spiral to get out of, but I think that the more
popular and culturally accepted video games become, the more females who are
interested in the industry will gravitate towards it. In the past playing video games used
to be thought as 'childish' yet today it is widely accepted for adults to show interest in
gaming. I think that the same thing will eventually happen to women.
Adam Chandler