firstly i'll start talking about the sexism in games. i believe it all started with the up roar of Lara croft: Tomb Raider. she was the first main character in gaming which was a woman. yes she had short shorts and a low cut top, and yes although they were pointy at the start, she did have big breasts. She was obviously designed by a man for men, but when i was a young girl i didn't think about that, i was more involved in the fact that the main character was a strong interdependent woman, fighting crime and discovering ancient tombs and objects. i felt it showed women as strong people and that they can do just as much as men, or even better. i look back now and see why people believe Lara croft to be a sex symbol and why the main players of the game were men. In the most recent game in the Tomb Raider franchise there was a change in director. the game was taken over by a woman. the game she took over is a prequel to all the games. where Lara croft became the strong woman we know about, she gets shipwrecked on an island and has to survive by herself. the director said she wanted people to feel differently towards Lara and try and get rid of the sexy pin up image of her. She has made a more innocent image and her clothes are more covering. i would have said that sexism of women in games has gone down considerably through out the years. As now we have women fighters and main characters. But i remind myself after playing the most recent grand theft auto 5 of how you can easily just wander into the local strip club and enjoy a half naked dance. but grand theft auto won't be grand theft auto without prostitutes and strippers.
Now i'll talk about the violence in games and how they effect people who play them and if there is a correlation between them and crimes happening in real life. There was a game released in which the point of the game was to break into someones house and steal from and kill the people inside. It was a live action game where real people acted out what you wanted to do. This game was then taken into court along with the first grand theft auto for being far too violent. Although they wanted the games to be banned, the result of the court case ended with games starting to have age certificates to allow parents to see what age range of kids should be playing the games. This hasn't stopped games from getting more violent. the first street fighter had been criticized for being too violent from the start, where people would have their heads ripped off with the spine still attached, although this sounds pretty bad, it didn't look as gory as it sounds, as the graphics weren't too realistic. but now the most recent street fighter has people being thrown to the ground and pulled legs first through a chainsaw. Ouch. And the graphics are a lot more realistic and "cover your eyes" horrific.
As for the idea of game influencing crimes in real life i both agree and disagree with the statement. i feel that you have to be in an unstable state to begin with in order to be influenced by the violence in the games you play. I agree with the age rating and that kids under that age should not play as children are more influential then some adults. i do believe that some game are over the top horrendous with some of the violent acts, but could only influence how someone does the crime not influence the crime happening. I often played Tekken with my friends as a child but never dreamed of breaking their necks and throwing them over my should onto the floor. But maybe that's just me...
i believe that there is both violence and sexism in games, but i think that there is more uproar then there should be about the topic. i don't believe that the sexism is serious enough for there to be petitions to stop it and cancel it from games completely. but i do believe that violence can be a bad influence on a few and can be quite serious. In conclusion to this post I've realized the main culprit of both sexism and violence is grand theft auto.
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