Video Games - Creating a response

Creating a response

Read the following response from a student. It is an extract of a longer response that attempts to answer the question 'Video games reinforce gender stereotypes'. Using critical perspectives, explore the representation of gender in the two video games you have studied. Discuss the response within your group. Can you offer advice to this student as to how to develop her response?

'Video games reinforce gender stereotypes'. Using critical perspectives, explore the representation of gender in the two video games you have studied.
Write your own introduction to the question in the space below

In Final Fantasy there are lots of different ways that women are represented. Although the game focuses mainly on male characters, there are some female characters too. However, often these characters seem modified for the male gaze. The ludic qualities of the game are focused on quest narratives, and often reinforces the stereotype of male heroes and female ‘princesses’. However, in games such as The Sims, how the characters in the game behave is largely dependent on the player, as The Sims is a strategic life simulation game. This has led to the game having a strong female fan base. According to a developer of the game, 60% of the people who play The Sims are female. Fashion retailer H&M worked in partnership with The Sims to create a line of clothes that were worn by avatars in the game and then sold in real life. However, does this sort of synergy in itself serve to reinforce the stereotype of women as simply interested in clothes and how they look?

Considerations

You may wish to consider how far the candidate has:

Used subject specific terminology
Developed her points with examples
Used actual detail from the games to support her points
Contextualised the games by specifying their publishers and year of release
Applied relevant critical perspectives to develop her responses.

Considerations