Race and Sexuality

As games often are designed implicit for the main targeting group - "the white heterosexual male" - esthetics of character design and options within the game often evolve solely around this key users preferences, leaving development of broader gameplay choices behind. This off course boils down to the fact that creating and developing games are multi billion dollar business - and in the race to constantly create new games within budget and timeline for contemporary technology and design, development teams prioritize solutions that are are more likely make the game gross as expected.

This makes the mirroring of self harder for minorities within the gaming community; such as females, african americans and homosexuals. Earlier in class, during the discussion of Gender and Games, the example of the female gamer that felt both disconnected to and distracted by the over sexualized design of her female character that was, as she herself put it "the game was designed for teen boys". Same goes when choosing to play a black character, where the overall game design is not financially prioritized and therefore executed poorly lowering the overall game experience and connection to character. There are examples of how lighting design (or lack there off) make black characters disappear completely into shadows - and only few cases of how storytelling support or interact with the characters ethnicity.

Discussion is to wether game studios should work towards creating a brought variety of well executed games - as oppose to force the option of poorly executed broad variety into one game.

When playing japanese "Shit Games" like Cho Aniki gamers are offered to experience virtual worlds designed primarily on male homosexual esthetics. To especially western gamers these games portray homosexuality in a way not found elsewhere, and offer an opportunity to connect to a stereotyped male gay sexuality. However japanese pop culture tend to cultivate extreme cartoonish characters - and therefore sexualized stereotypes like "the kawaii lolita-ish schoolgirl" and "the hysterical gay man" are found as a natural extension of this youth culture in games and other genres of entertainment. However the japanese market contain a widely diverse spectra of games - these may be considered narrow in story/ game play/ design - as they often are loyal to the style japanese pop culture - and obviously do not have the same financial backing for game development as major studios. The notion that players will have to compromise in choosing between the design + gameplay of MMOs and the daring personality niche games, is to me a bit odd considering computer game entertainment is an industry seemingly big enough for broader diversity and greater "risk taking" in computer game development.

Japanese TV phenomenon "Hard Gay" is an example of the stereotypical asian pop culture gay superstar

Readings:

Hall, "The Whites of Their Eyes"

Leonard, "Virtual Gangstars Coming to a Suburban House Near You"

Shaw, "Putting the Gay in Games"