Human beings are, at our core, individuals. No person requires another person to live their life. Sure, it may be a lonely life, but one that is liveable none the less. We live in a time that affords a higher level of individualism than any other period in human history, there are literally people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. But at that core, there are two inescapable groups that human beings can be grouped into: male and female. Each group has a vast variety of flavors within it's respected sex, but men and women themselves are so inherently different that they will live their entire lives never truly undertsanding how the other side thinks and feels.
Kiki Wolfkill - 343 Industries
Sexism in games has been quite the hot topic in the gaming world lately and 1UP's own
week long cover story was proof that this is a topic that many people have passionate opinions about. So the question for me is,
"why is this topic important to people?" Well, at least for the 1UP staff, the answer is simple: they feel that women are treated or portrayed unfairly in video games. But are they? Well, let's take a look.
Lorraine McLees - Bungie
The easy answer is
"yes, women are portrayed in a sexist way in most games and women themselves are subject to harrassment by men when playing games online". The problem is that things are never black and white. To say that
"women are....", or,
"men are...", is an insult to the individual. Nobody likes to be put into a box. Why? Because we are individuals. We don't like it when another person attempts to
"classify" us.
Amy Henning - Naughty Dog
Which leads to my problem with the 1UP cover story; it's the opinion of
men. Sure there was an article on the subject by a woman, but the rest were by men. Men are the most unqualified people to represent the feelings of women. Men can never and will never understand what it's like to be a woman. Only a woman knows what it's like to be a woman. But even then, we're talking about individuals. Two women may understand what it means to be a woman and how things like "being more in touch with your emotions" feel, but that doesn't mean that they will have the same opinions. On the contrary, they're just as likely to disagree as they are to agree.
Jade Raymond - UbiSoft
This is not a subject that I had put a lot of thought into in the past, to be perfectly honest. But after reading the articles in 1UP's cover story I began to think that maybe I needed to think about it more. But, as a man who accepted many years ago that I will never fully understand the opposite sex, I decided it would make more sense to ask women what they think about sexism in games. They are, after all, the center of the topic. But what I found was that, by attempting to find a blanket answer to my questions, I was insulting them as individuals, which is, in my opinion, worse.
Meagan Marie - Crystal Dynamics
Today we have more women than ever in the video games industry, but more importantly, we have more individuals than ever. This means that the amount of unique experiences available to us will continue to grow. The games that we experience are not the result of a man's mind or a woman's mind, but an individual's mind. What if the Dead or Alive games had been designed by teams of women, yet turned out exactly the same? I've talked to women whose views fall on all sides of the spectrum. Some love the way women are portrayed, some hate it. Some think that it could be better, while others don't care at all. But what I found the most is that women, just like men, don't like to be grouped together. They just want to be accepted as the individuals that they are instead of having other individuals constantly point them out, regardless of the reason.
Winifred phillips - Award Winning Video Game Composer
The conclusion? Woman, just like men, are individuals. To assume that all women feel oppressed or portrayed in an unfair light is to rob them of their individuality. And to say that today's gaming industry is sexist is to rob all of the hard working ladies in the gaming industry of the time and energy they spent to get to their respected positions. Men, at the moment, game more than women. This is not something that is up for debate, it is fact. But that doesn't mean it will always be so, and because of this women will, over time, take up more and more lead roles in the gaming industry. This will, most likely, bring more women into gaming. It's really a natural process. But more importantly, it's one that should be allowed to happen naturally and not be forced, because history shows that forcing these kinds of things never works as well as when it is allowed to happen naturally.
Rieko Kodama - Sega
The solution? Individuals are responsible for any wrong doing on another individual, therefore these situations should be handled by individuals. If you see someone being treated in a cruel of unfair way, and you feel the need to intervene, then do so. I certainly do. As an individual you have the right to make that choice. What we shouldn't do, however, is assume that our opinions represent that of a whole group of people or attempt to rescue a group of people who, by all intents and purposes, do not need rescuing. All the evidence you need of this is to look at the response from women on this subject.
Tina Sanchez - Infinity Ward
I almost didn't write this because I honestly feel like this very blog can be viewed as doing the exact thing that I am talking about: taking away a woman's individuality by writing about where
they fit in the video games industry. From my experience many women that game don't want to be thought of as
"girl gamers", there are obviously those that do, but I've talked to many that want to be just
"gamers". Many people don't like to be singled out, no matter the intention. But by constantly beating this drum we are categorizing these women as victims and "women/girl gamers". And by doing this we are taking away their individuality and cramming them into a box.
