More Men Playing Women in Computer Games, and Why ? The ...

A great quote here courtesy of The Mary Sue, a thoughtful piece about men playing female characters in games, and what that says about the too-prevalent sexism in gaming culture. More importantly, it says something very important about the unexamined assumptions people make about men, women, and sexism.

I spend a staggering amount of time thinking about video games. I?m constantly chewing on the reasons for the character choices we make and how people are represented within games. I?ve spent a lot brainpower mulling over that stuff from a woman?s perspective, and I confess that for a long while, I hadn?t dedicated many neurons to wondering how our brothers-in-arms felt about those very same things.

I knew that there was a big difference between the groovy gamer guys I hang with and the snarling trolls that lurk elsewhere. I knew that some men do not speak for all men, and that male gamers are every bit as diverse as women gamers. But there was one point that I had made a rather mindless assumption on: that for most straight male gamers, the main reason for playing a female character was to have something nice to look at. I mean, if you?ve spent any time in a multiplayer game, you?ve heard the following phrase: ?If I?m going to look at an ass all day, I don?t want it to be a dude?s.? Even the most egalitarian gentleman can enjoy a bit of eye candy (who doesn?t?), and surely the plethora of cheesecakey box art and booth babes meant that the industry knew it was a view that most dudes shared.

But a few occurrences over the past few months got me thinking there was a lot more depth to the ?target audience? than was being talked about.

Mmmmm, thoughtful reexamination of gendered assumptions? I think that may be my new fetish.

Seriously, I for one love hearing these issues talked about in a sensible, adult fashion, don?t you?

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Image courtesy of?Destiny 2L

Source: http://goodmenproject.com/good-feed-blog/more-men-playing-women-in-computer-games-and-why/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-men-playing-women-in-computer-games-and-why

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