Representation in Video Games

• A video game genre will have its own identity which can be through a set of beliefs and values (ideologies) or even its appearance or look.

• Genres can be represented through the main character(s) which create certain impressions and ideologies for the core audience.

• How and why has representation been constructed?• What messages are given to the audience?• Who has constructed the representations?• How and why are stereotypes used?• How is gender represented?• What isn’t being represented?• What effect do the representations have on the audience?

Representation – each game is associated with a ‘look’ , a set of behaviours and ideologies, a particular kind of experience shred and expected by a particular fan base. Gamers don’t just buy the game, but the shared cultural experience. The gamer is an active participant and can be represented in the game world themselves.

• “Women in the game are either bit-part players or set dressing: strippers to throw money at, prostitutes to pick up….Truth is I don’t. I couldn’t. But what I do know is how wretched I felt as the game often coerced me into actions that degraded women. I felt dirty driving around that paparazzo; the idea of a mini-game that effectively asks you to grope a stripper repels me, I began to feel suffocated by a testosterone-addled life of deviancy.” – Tom Hoggins, Daily Telegraph, October 2013.

• The issue of gender stereotyping often raises its head, especially in games like Tomb Raider of Grand Theft Auto, which have been criticised for their representation of women, but there’s also the helpless Princess Peach in the early Mario series as helpless and the good-looking males and females in bright clothing in Just Dance. What world/lifestyle are they selling?

Warrior from Divine Souls

• Costume/Hair/Make-up

• Facial Expression/

Body language

• Values/Ideology

• Genre

• Anything else

• John Marston from Red Dead Redemption

• Costume/Hair/Make-up

• Facial Expression/ Body language

• Values/Ideology

• Genre

• Anything else

• Lara Croft • Tomb Raider

• Costume/Hair/Make-up

• Facial Expression/ Body language

• Values/Ideology

• Genre

• Anything else

• Dan Marshall

• Costume/Hair/ Make-up

• Facial Expression/ Body language

• Values/Ideology

• Genre

• Anything else