I saw this cartoon on my Facebook feed this week, and at first I applauded. But, then I realized that I could totally relate to both sides. When I first came to Purdue and met Sam, I realized she was trying to “lure me down the rabbit hole” (as she puts it in her bio) into game studies. I was resistant for the very sentiment expressed in the above cartoon: I just wanted to play games; I didn’t want to think about the social justice issues while I was playing them.
But, she obviously succeeded in luring my down the rabbit hole, and along the way, I’ve come to realize a couple of things. First, I realized that once you see the issues, you can’t unsee the issues. They are always right there, staring you in the face. So, after a couple of semesters here, I found the problems to be glaringly obvious, and like the girl in the cartoon suggests, the problems make it hard to enjoy the game. Tomb Raider came out around this time and I stumbled across the first fail state and the first suggested rape seen. (Apparently, I was the only person in the universe to fail at this first scene because I suck, but anyway…) And, it made me uncomfortable. The more notorious rape scene also made me uncomfortable, but the two together set a precedent: my character was going to be raped; that was part of her “coming of age.” This reflects society in disturbing ways, not just in the high-profile cases, but in common everyday interactions. I’ve had recent conversations about rape where I was told that date rape wasn’t “real” rape. Yeah right. And, so second, we have to think about the social issues. The portrayal of gender and minorities in video games reflects the reality of gender and minority issues in the world. I’m not one of the people who think video games cause issues (e.g. video games causes violence), but I do see the very really parallels between how women and minorities are treated in games and how they are treated in society.
The girl in the cartoon wants to play her games without social justice issues just like every other gamer. The problem is she can’t, and telling her that bringing up the issues ruins the game for others leaves out the fact that not bringing them up ruins the game for many. I fear that I have friends that will read this comic and just not get that. They will read it and think “exactly, I just want to have fun.” So do we. Talking about the issues or “harping” on them is intended to help people see the issues represented in video games from a new perspective; it’s not intended to “ruin” anyone’s good time.
Unfortunately, as we have discussed extensively in this blog and in our podcast, almost every game displays negative or problematic (I hate that word) attitudes toward women and minorities. Even my favorite game, Rayman Legends, which I wrote about here, displays gender stereotypes that I find aggravating at best. Mostly, I’m glad I went down the rabbit hole, and most of the times I find playing games with a critical eye much more fun than just zoning out. Of course, sometimes I do want to just zone out, but I think my inability to do so has more to do with then entire PhD experience rather than just game studies. (I also can no longer watch movies or read a novel without thinking, “what is happening here??”) I just want to be able to have the conversation about problems in video games without the accusation that I’m ruining someone’s fun.
