Introduction
The following research was conducted to study the similarities and differences between male and female perception of violent video games. We observed and interviewed male and female gamers between the ages of 21 and 30[1]. Each participant was chosen because of their interest and experience in playing violent video games. Our research focused on first person shoot games in which individuals are rewarded for violent behavior within the game. Individuals were observed separately in their respective houses to prevent any outside distractions from influencing their playing habits.
Videogame research is incredibly important in our society because of the sudden expansion of games and gamers within the last 15 years. Over half the population play video games, that is approximately 170 million people. With the rise in violent video games, the question of how they affect gamers, specifically dealing with aggression, is being studied more and more. For our research, we chose to take this dilemma and relate it to gender in order to get a different perspective on the topic.
Prior to our research, we assumed that the playing habits amongst opposing genders would differ considering stereotypical gender roles. Specifically, we thought that not as many women played these types of violent shooter games. Also, we assumed that the women who did play these games would not demonstrate aggressive behavior while playing. However, after concluding our research, we found our initial assumptions to be inaccurate. Class discussions, text readings, and observing and interviewing the participants allowed us a better insight of the video game world and how it affects players positively and negatively, specifically regarding gender.
With the information gathered, we were able to relate our findings to two class readings, “Video Games and Machine Dreams of Domination” by John Sansonmatsu and “You Play Like a Girl- Cross Gender Competition and Uneven Playing Fields” by Elena Bertozzi as well as the documentary, Game Over: Gender Race & Violence. This allowed us to dive deeper into our topic and prepared us to answer some of our own questions as to why there are similarities and differences between male and female gamers’ perception and reception of first person shooter games.
Male Gamers’ Responses to Violent Videogames
Three male gamers were observed playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 individually for one hour. After the observation, they were asked to respond to 20 questions regarding violent video games, the gamers’ views, and the behaviors they demonstrate while playing. Interestingly, the three gamers agreed on the majority of their answers. As a whole, the male gamers play first person shooter games an estimated 30 hours a week, specifically the game series COD in the online multiplayer mode. All of them have at least five other friends that play online with them and said that they play because their friend play, making this type of gaming a sort of social network. Two of the gamers said that they enjoy the competition aspect of the game and how they are able to demonstrate their skills and knowledge to other gamers.
The development of realism throughout the history of the series has captivated all of the male gamers, especially regarding the graphics. One gamer stated, “everyone wants to feel as if they are doing the missions and objectives themselves.” Although they agreed on the importance of realism, they also agreed that COD is not a real depiction of war, specifically because once players have died during a battle, they come back to life a few moments later to continue on in their mission. Also, they do not consider COD to be “very” violent because players see minimum blood spillage. In response to this, on gamer said that he does not feel remorse for killing others in the game because “you kill them and they lay there and die, disappear, and start playing again.” Finally, all the gamers said that they do not believe that such games affect them negatively, although they may have that effect on other players. However, all the games stated that they do demonstrate much more verbal aggression when playing, with two of the players affirmed that they demonstrate some sort of physical aggression, such as throwing their controller. These results seem to indicate that such violent video games do have some form of negative effect on players.
Female Gamers’ Responses to Violent Videogames
Three female gamers were also observed while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for an hour each. After each of the females was observed they answered a series of 20 questions relating to violent video games, the way they respond to the violence, and the behavior they obtained while playing. Surprisingly, all three of the female participant answered the questions in similar ways to the male participants. On average, the female participants played COD, an online multiplayer game, about 35 hours per week. While playing the game, they tend to play along with their friends, encouraging each other to do well. When questions were asked about how they react when playing the game, they responded that they all tend to swear and get frustrated if it is not ending how they want it to.
Similar to the male participants, the female participants thought that the evolving graphics in the game made it more realistic in the sense that they felt more a part of the game. However, when asked, “Do you find COD to be a real depiction of war?” one of the female participants, a former US Marine, answered “compared to the wars I have been in, no.” All of them responded that they use a head set while playing the game, which allows them to interact with other player around the world. This made each of the participants feel as though they were more attached to the game, because it allowed them to give off certain missions that they want the others to accomplish. Interestingly, all of the female participants responded that they were not affected by the violence in the video games, but they did say that they tend to swear more when in the zone. They believe that younger teens would be affected by it, because they feel like they don’t know when to differentiate reality from games. Because the females tend to swear a lot more when playing the game, it shows that the games do have some sort of negative affect on each of them.
Interpreting the Results
The question concerning if violent videogames increase aggression in individuals has been heavily researched throughout the years. Sanbonmatsu proposes that “video game culture ‘hails’ or conditions us into an aggressive, socially destructive form of consciousness (p 428). Similarly, Craig A. Anderson, PhD states that although some studies have found no significant effects of such video games, they are still associated with an increase in aggressive behavior and thoughts, an increase in arousal, and a decrease in “helping” behavior. With our specific research, we focused on gender behavior while playing such videogames and how they differentiate.
We decided to have the gamers play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (COD) because of its recent release and large fan base. It is a first person shooter games in which individuals work as teams to destroy the enemy in war. Gamers are rewarded with experience points every time they kill an enemy player. When a player kills anywhere from 2-25 people in a row without dying, they are given greater rewards such as air support and even tactical nukes, which kill everyone on the map, giving the team an automatic win (Modern Warfare). The documentary Game Over: Gender, Race & Violence specifically talks about how individuals are rewarded for their violent behaviors within the game. Such rewards convince the gamer that violent behavior is condoned and pushes them to play more often. It provokes them to continue violent behavior within the game
Our results yield a uniform conclusion that both male and female gamers demonstrate similar behaviors while playing violent video games. Both genders partake in verbal aggression such as swearing, yelling, and slandering the other team. However, only the men responded that they occasionally demonstrate physical aggression, although we did not observe this first hand. Although it is important to keep in mind that other forms of violent media may also be a factor in their behavior, Craig A. Anderson, PhD agrees that because videogames are interactive forms of media, they have a stronger effect on individuals. The gamers must actually identify with the violent characters because they are controlling their every move, from what weapon they carry to who they kill and how they go about it. Such active participation increases the learning process of such behaviors, specifically in young children. Since each battle is only about 15 minutes long, gamers are able to play multiple battles during one play period. This repetition instills the idea of aggressive behaviors in the mind (Anderson).
Some researchers have argued that it is important for males to demonstrate aggressive masculinity when playing video games because their physical bodies are not seen by other gamers. Terms such as “pussy” and “fag” are acceptable among men and less acceptable among women. Males strive to emphasis their masculinity by displaying such behaviors that separate themselves from females (Bertozzi). However, as we have concluded, female gamers use similar words and actions to display aggression. Is this such a display a way for them to be on the same playing field as men, so male gamers know that the female gamers are just as serious about the game as they are? Or rather, is it something deeper, perhaps a sincere way for them to display their competitiveness and release their anger? Whatever the reason is, the similarities among male and female gamers’ behaviors while playing violent video games proves that video games do help shatter gender stereotypes in some way.
Each gamer replied that the more realistic the game is, they more they want to play. As a first person shooter game, COD allows the individuals to only see the gun that their character is holding, not the actual character himself. This gives the players the perception that they are actually holding the gun and that they are actually the character inside of the game. All the interviewees responded that although they may play third person shooter games, they prefer the first person affect. Such realism captivates the player by placing them a fantasy situation that is depicted as real life, making them feel like they are actually in the game. However, in COD players are brought back to life right after they are killed, the most unrealistic aspect of the game. Also, interestingly enough, when shooting, the bullet doesn’t have to actually hit the target to count, it only has to hit the area directly surrounding the target.
As previously stated, we assumed that female gamers would not be as interested in such violent videogames as male gamers. Also, we assumed that they would not demonstrate similar levels of aggression as male gamers. However, as our research has indicated, this is not the case. Despite the hegemonic male roles displayed in the game (only male characters in a power role are displayed), female gamers are still drawn to the game. In fact, the female gamers averaged a higher amount of game play per week than the male gamers. Despite gender, individuals are drawn to power and control, especially through competition. Therefore, female gamers will want to play first person shooter games just as much as males. Sanbonmatsu describes the visceral power of the medium of such videogames saying that those who play can attest to “the degree to which intense player involvement heightens the psychological connection between human and machine (p 428).”
Elena Bertozzi argues that some studies suggest that “the emphasis on violent/shooting-based conflict keeps females from being interested in this type of play (p 443).” She goes along saying that females are more prone to playing games that involve more social interaction. However, as we have discovered, COD focuses quite heavily on social interaction, especially in the online multiplayer mode. It is also stated that the reason that males and females play with their respective genders is because “single gender playgrounds are arenas in which players feel somewhat freed from having to deal with the complexities of cross-gender interactions which affect every other area of their lives (p 444).” All three of the male gamers affirmed that they have never played first person shooter games with females. However, all the females have played such games with males. The reason for this may be the lack of other female gamers or that the female gamers want more competition and feel that male players are able to provide that for them.
Conclusion
Throughout our research, interviews, and observations, we have concluded that both male and female gamers demonstrate similar aggressive behaviors while playing first person shooter games, despite what we initially hypothesized. As stated in the intro, we thought that the stereotypical views of males and females would affect the way that each group reacted to the violence of video games. However, in reality, the views were almost identical within each group, although the male gamers were more prone to physical aggression while female gamers relied more on verbal aggression. These results demonstrate the metamorphosis of gender stereotypes in the world of video games.
Each participant thought that the updated graphics gave a better insight to the reality of the game. While each of them agreed that COD was not a real depiction of war, they did state that it allowed them to feel as though they were in the shoes of the shooter. Despite this realism, every interviewee responded that they are not affected by videogames, despite their demonstrations of increased aggression while playing. Their unawareness of change in their behaviors has now been brought into the light. Having the interviewees answer questions after playing the games for one hour not only provided us information, but also allowed them to reflect on their own views and behaviors. Several of the interviewees stated that this was the first time they thought about video games in a way regarding violence and that it gave them a better insight of their own game play.
Although there were a few questions brought up about the similarities in gender behaviors that we were unable to completely answer, the information and research gathered from this project allowed us to think about violence in the media in a new way. It provoked us to come up with possible answers to difficult questions that arose and challenged us to step into the playing field with these gamers and experience a hobby that, for most of them, takes up much of their time and energy. We were able to conclude that although there still may be gender stereotypes within video games, they are slowly fading away in regards to the gamers themselves.
Works Cited
Anderson, Craig A. (2000). Violent Video Games Increase Aggression and Violence. Iowa State University of Science & Technology. Retrieved on November 12, 2011. http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/00senate.pdf
Bertozzi, E. (2011). You Play Like a Girl: Cross Gender Competition and Uneven Playing Fields. In G. Dines & J. Humez (Eds.), Gender Race, and Class in Media (pp 443-446). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, INC.
Modern Warfare. (2009).The Modern Warfare 2. Retrieved on November 15, 2011, from themodernwarfare2.com: http://www.themodernwarfare2.com/mw2/multiplayer/killstreaks/
Sanbonmatsu, J. (2011). Video Games and Machine Dreams of Domination. In. G. Dines & J. Humez (Eds.), Gender, Race, and Class in Media (pp 427-429). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, INC.
[1] Interview questions and answers are attached at the end of the paper, separated by gender groups.
