...Online Harassment and Cyber Mobs Even though sexism has been fortunately eradicated in many areas of society, and not something that we noticed in our daily lives, it is unfortunately something that takes place. Women are often objectified throughout the social medias, such as video games, and it can have fatal consequences for the victims. There is no doubt that cyber bullying is a big problem. One of those who couldn’t tolerate it anymore was Anita Sarkeesian. She launched and online fundraising campaign on the Internet, called “Feminist Frequency”, to create awareness of how we use the women as a sexual stereotype in videogames. This is also the theme or topic of the speech, that she held at the TEDxWomen event in 2012. _______________________________ Anita Sarkeeshian begins her speech by telling the audience a little presentation about herself, who she is, and that she for four years has run a video web series on YouTube, about sexism and women’s representation in the social medias. Sarkesshian is a women feminist, and a really independent woman, who also have been punished for her opinion. She is extremely well spoken and organized, and has some amazing points, that she through the speech shows. Her main focus in the speech is the video gaming industry, as she says: “It is no secret that the video game industry boasts some of the most sexually objectified, stereotyped and downright oppressive portrayals of women in any medium“ (Page 1 lines 13-14). The gaming...
Words: 912 - Pages: 4
...with the video game industry. Initially sparked by feminist criticisms of video gaming, Gamer Gate eventually escalated into a fiasco of hateful tirades, threats, and violence. In this paper, we hope to illuminate the factors which contributed to Gamer Gate evolving into its final form and Gamer Gate’s ultimate impact onto the industry that birthed it. To objectively describe the components of this extremely polarized conflict, we must sift through the bountiful amounts of opinionated material related to the matter, until we can depict Gamer Gate’s progression in an unbiased manner. What is Gamer Gate? The phrase Gamer Gate can refer to multiple things. The overall controversy known as Gamer Gate, in essence, is a polarized debate that began with criticisms of the videogame industry's misogynistic culture. In response to these claims, individuals amassed under a Twitter campaign of the same name to slander critics of the videogame industry and those that spread those claims. Eventually, slander became threats and these threats metamorphosed into a fiasco of indistinguishable muckraking that shook the video gaming industry to its core. Advocates of Gamer Gate and its crusading supporters rally against a supposed unethical reporters. They engage in a variety of extreme actions against anyone or anything they deem to be their opposition. The Role of Feminism and Sexism For many years, gaming was considered to be a “boy” activity. Many young boys would spend hours playing...
Words: 5257 - Pages: 22
...My research question is what effects does online gaming have on the components of socialization and gender. I am investigating topics such as online socialization, impact on social life, gender roles, macrostructures, microstructures... From my experience, online gaming tends to destroy or severely damage an individual’s regular social life. Some online gamers prefer to socialize only through the game where the rules are less strict and they are free to act in a way they would not normally be in real society. Online gaming gives gamers a sense of confidence, calm and reassurance because it allows an individual to meet new people without worrying too much about the repercussions of their actions. There is a sense of ambiguity because in the game a person cannot determine who is controlling the other characters whether male or female. Gender roles are not as defined in the online world since you are allowed to choose your character’s gender or sex. This allows people to act out lives that they do not have or be a different person completely separate from the real world. The three journal articles I am using for this literature review are as follows: Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People’s Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions Dill, Karen E., and Kathryn P. Thill. "Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People's Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions." Sex Roles 57.11-12 (2007): 851-64. ProQuest. Web. 9 Oct...
Words: 1236 - Pages: 5
...Major advancements in technology have seamlessly connected people across the globe. Video games for instance, have existed since the 1940s. However, game developers have subsequently introduced Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games or MMORPG, where players interact in real time and across borders for collective game activities. It has become whole new platform that facilities geographically separated gamers to interact and form close bonds. Subsequently, it results in new problems evident worldwide. Most adolescents like to spend at least part of their free time playing video games. But for some, what starts out as innocent recreation can become an addiction. Soon, friends, family, school, and even personal hygiene are neglected as nearly every spare moment is spent playing the game. But what makes a game addictive? Are there certain characteristics that make some games more addictive than others? As with any addiction, video game or "gaming" addiction is usually a multi-faceted issue. For starters, video games are designed to be addictive. Not "addictive" in the clinical sense of the word, but game designers are always looking for ways to make their games more interesting and increase the amount of time people will spend playing them. They want you, once you log in or pick up that controller, to never want to stop playing. Consequently, games are designed to be just difficult enough to be truly challenging, while allowing players to achieve small accomplishments that...
Words: 1095 - Pages: 5
...Major advancements in technology have seamlessly connected people across the globe. Video games for instance, have existed since the 1940s. However, game developers have subsequently introduced Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games or MMORPG, where players interact in real time and across borders for collective game activities. It has become whole new platform that facilities geographically separated gamers to interact and form close bonds. Subsequently, it results in new problems evident worldwide. Most adolescents like to spend at least part of their free time playing video games. But for some, what starts out as innocent recreation can become an addiction. Soon, friends, family, school, and even personal hygiene are neglected as nearly every spare moment is spent playing the game. But what makes a game addictive? Are there certain characteristics that make some games more addictive than others? As with any addiction, video game or "gaming" addiction is usually a multi-faceted issue. For starters, video games are designed to be addictive. Not "addictive" in the clinical sense of the word, but game designers are always looking for ways to make their games more interesting and increase the amount of time people will spend playing them. They want you, once you log in or pick up that controller, to never want to stop playing. Consequently, games are designed to be just difficult enough to be truly challenging, while allowing players to achieve small accomplishments that...
Words: 1145 - Pages: 5
..."The Effects of Online Gaming to the Study habits of a College Student". The Real-World Effects of Online Gaming: Socially Inept Colin Andrew, Yahoo! Contributor Network http://voices.yahoo.com/the-real-world-effects-online-gaming-socially-inept-3255207.html With the technology of a civilization becoming more and more advanced, the people demand that their entertainment become more advanced as well. After a long hard day at work or school, people like to come home to relax and just lose their mind in meaningless entertainment, be it television or even a video game. Video games provide an escape into a virtual world, where you can forget about everything that is happening in real life and just enjoy yourself, even play with your friends in a multiplayer game. In the past, for a group of video game players to play multiplayer games, it was necessary for them to all be together and all their computers or Xboxes connected to one another. Not only were they just playing a game, they were interacting on a personal level. Now with online gaming becoming a component of most every video game on the market today, it is possible for gamers to have this same multiplayer action in the privacy of their own home. This anonymity comes with a cost however, and it is becoming increasingly common that both the social aspect of gaming and the gamers' social skills themselves are degrading as online gaming becomes more prevalent. One of the dangers that society faces from video games is...
Words: 2675 - Pages: 11
...Gender Stereotypes in Media How and what is presented to us through media and advertisements affects us greatly. In his documentary “The Empathy Gap: Masculinity and the Courage to Change”, Thomas Keith suggests that we are taught to think that white and male is superior through media and advertisements. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements objectifying women. In magazines, advertisements or online, women are very rarely depicted in leadership positions, and if they are, a lot of emphasis is being placed on what they look like – their clothes, their weight, their family status. Media representation of women plays into the objectification of women. Oftentimes, models dress and take poses in which it is hard to take them seriously. “Advertising agencies continue to inundate us with a stream of sexist ads that...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...Linzy Waltke Professor Andrew Forrester Discernment and Discourse 1313 5 May 2014 Sexism Sells: The Male Dominated Video Game Industry Only 4% of video game titles released in the past 10 years feature a playable female character as the leading role, and there are even fewer female protagonists on the list of the top grossing video games (ESA). This trend of male dominated storylines is evident in other forms of media as well: movies and television shows tend to be centered around men, but video games show the least diversity in protagonists and often have regressive views on women and their position in society. Women make up 20% of console video game players and 46% of computer and mobile game players in this 20 billion dollar a year industry, meaning they are contributing a large amount of profits (ESA). Despite their significant purchasing power, they are not represented equally as characters in games, and continue to be used as a plot device or sexual being to attract the male target audience. Neither are they allowed to be a compelling character with a story arc and personal growth as we see with the male protagonist. Female characters, when included, tend to be one dimensional and only valued for typically how they fit into traditional gender roles by being submissive and innocent. This narrow portrayal of women comes from the fact that the developers of video games are predominantly men. Only 11% of game designers are women and only 3% of programmers, even though...
Words: 4263 - Pages: 18
...Persuasive Speech Ideas These penguins are persuading their friends to take a dip in the cool water... but you can persuade our class on any of the following ideas or come up with one of your own. Remember these are broad topics so make sure you narrow your area and choose your side so that you can properly defend your position. Also I NEVER censor speech topics HOWEVER keep in mind I want the ideas fresh, some topics are very OVER DONE - for example: "smoking is bad for you" - no kidding I think we would all agree with that. "everyone should go to college" - DUH you are preaching to the choir. "std's are bad you should protect yourself" - well there is a new idea. "drinking and driving could kill you or someone you love" - again no one would argue with that logic. So if you are going to pick a topic make sure you approach it in a fresh and exciting way - for example: "Barbie is a good role model" "Smoking Cigarettes are bad for you, so smoke cigars!" 1. same sex marriage 2. adoption 3. heaven and hell (careful to not preach to your audience) 4. abortion (overdone) 5. TV violence 6. gun control (overdone) 7. TV ratings 8. internet 9. profiling 10. Vietnam 11. immigrant laws 12. exercise 13. Ford vehicles 14. cloning 15. breast feeding 16. bilingual education 17. voting 18. red light cameras 19. salary caps for...
Words: 729 - Pages: 3
...Are Video Games Educational? (based on 27 ratings) By Jayel Gibson Video games. While they may seem like the bane of every parent's existence, they don't have to be—many of them offer unique learning features. And with increased requirements in schools placing unprecedented demands on children and parents, it may be time to start thinking about video games as teaching tools. The learning component of gaming can be optimized with parent involvement. That means understanding what makes a game both fun and educational. What makes a game fun? * Challenge and strategy – this is the core of the game. It includes the objective, the play and the scoring. The game should provide a challenge for its players and allow them to use different strategies to gain a level or win. This is what determines the age group or skill level. * Element of surprise – this is the variation of the game. The element of surprise must be built into the game to provide laughter, excitement, regret or risk. * Replay ability – this is the ability to play the game over and over with different outcomes each time. This is measured by the ‘boring’ factor. If the child gets bored fast, the game lacks replay ability. What makes a game educational? * New information – this is the educational information provided. It may be text or graphics, and is normally unknown by the age group or skill level for which the game is made. * Memorization – this is the part of the game that rewards good memory...
Words: 6233 - Pages: 25
...demand for a card, its price will increase, because supply is diminishing. This provides an excellent return on investment for Magic players because they not only got enjoyable experiences and memories out of the cards, but they increased in value. Nevertheless, oftentimes the monetary value is irrelevant, because the memories people attach to certain Magic cards are irreplaceable, and even the most avid collector won’t be able to part a player from those precious memories. By far the biggest criticisms of the game involve its male-dominated culture. While the majority of players are still male, female involvement is rising. While historically the “bad apple spoiled the bunch” for Magic players, now with silver knights crusading against sexism in the game, such as Cedric Phillips, an avid player and commentator for magic. When part of the community started backlashing at successful female players, Phillips responded by saying “That kind of behavior, it’s just not healthy for the game.” (Kaplan). However, Phillips and other prominent Magic community figures are noticing a decrease in these toxic attitudes, and the environment has become what it should always have been, a place to welcome anyone, so long as they can play Magic. Don’t let the few bad apples spoil the bunch though, the overwhelming majority of Magic players align with Phillips and the women, welcoming them rather than condemning them. Aside from these criticisms, Magic does a great job of teaching valuable life skills...
Words: 1888 - Pages: 8
...EFFECTS OF COMPUTER GAMING ON NEUST STUDENTS’ IN CABANATUAN CITY 1. FOREWORD ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1. THE REPORT ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 3. RESEARCH DIRECTIONS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1. ACTIVE USER PERSPECTIVES ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1.1. Important studies ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.2. Problems with the Active User perspective ............................................
Words: 13956 - Pages: 56
...industry was first put forward by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno (1944), the philosophers of Frankfurt School. In the book Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944: 94-95), Horkheimer and Adorno argued that the mass culture in capitalist society can be treated as an ideology factory which producing the standardized cultural products, such as magazines, radios, films and so on. Under this assumption, Horkheimer and Adorno supposed that the mass society can be manipulated by these homogenous cultural goods and services, and became more docile and passive (1944: 94-95). About 20 years later, since the 1960s, the business activities and employments in cultural industries – art, music, fashion, graphic design, film, radio, television, advertising, gaming, software production and leisure – have been showing a strong trend of expansion. According to Hesmondhalgh, ‘the cultural industries have moved closer to the centre of the economic action’ (2007:1). Western governments expect that the cultural industries can become a solution of deindustrialization, in order to deal with the systemic crises (Smith, 1998; Seltzer and Bentley, 1999; DCMS 2001; DCITA, 2005). As a consequence, cultural industries arouse concerns from the academic world. However, the definition of cultural industries was still fuzzy until 2007, Mark Banks defined it as: ‘those involved in the production of ‘aesthetic’ or ‘symbolic’ goods and services; that is, commodities whose core value is derived from their function as carriers...
Words: 5224 - Pages: 21
...part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited...
Words: 72645 - Pages: 291
...Nintendo Co., Ltd. (???????, Nintendo Kabushiki gaisha?) is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889[2] by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards.[6] By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.[7]}} Nintendo developed into a video game company, becoming what is arguably the most influential in the industry, and Japan's third most valuable listed company, with a market value of over US$85 billion.[8] Also, Nintendo of America is the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.[9] The name Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven".[10] As of October 18, 2010, Nintendo has sold over 565 million hardware units and 3.4 billion software units.[11] Contents * 1 History o 1.1 As a card company (1889–1956) o 1.2 New ventures (1956–1974) o 1.3 Electronic era (since 1974) + 1.3.1 Handheld console history * 2 Infrastructure o 2.1 Key Executives o 2.2 Offices and locations * 3 Software development studios o 3.1 First-party studios o 3.2 Second-party studios o 3.3 Former affiliates * 4 Policy o 4.1 Emulation o 4.2 Content guidelines o 4.3 License guidelines o 4.4 Seal of Quality + 4.4.1 NTSC regions + 4...
Words: 7314 - Pages: 30
