[URL="http://motto.time.com/4293004/sexist-video-games-boys-brains/?xid=tcoshare"]SOURCE[/URL]
[URL="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152121"]Link to Study & Abstract[/URL]
[QUOTE]The new study, published in the journal [I]PLOS ONE,[/I] randomly assigned 154 male and female high schoolers to play one of three types of games: video games that the researchers say contained both violence and sexism (two [I]Grand Theft Auto[/I] games), games with violence but without sexism ([I]Half Life 1[/I] or [I]Half Life 2[/I]), and games without violence or sexism ([I]Dream Pinball 3D[/I] or [I]Q.U.B.E 2[/I]).[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]They found that boys who played the games containing sexism and violence were more likely to identify with the character they were playing. They also reported less empathy toward the images of female victims. That did not hold true for girls who played those games, suggesting that the games may impact boys and girls differently.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The study is not without limitations. The sample is still considered relatively small and more research is needed to fully understand how video games might impact a person’s view or even behavior. Michael Ward, a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Arlington has studied the link between violent video games and behavior, says that playing violent games doesn’t necessarily mean a person will engage in a violent act in real life, in part, perhaps, because they spend so much time playing them. “Kids and young adults who are playing violent video games are spending so many hours doing this,” he says. “Every hour you spend in your den playing video games is an hour you’re not getting drunk and getting into trouble. The time-use effect will dominate any behavioral change.”[/QUOTE]
[quote] Michael Ward, a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Arlington has studied the link between violent video games and behavior, says that playing violent games doesn’t necessarily mean a person will engage in a violent act in real life, in part, perhaps, because they spend so much time playing them[/quote]
So, all in all, the same results we've had over the past 2 decades?
okay, now hold on one minute
you're telling me that people identify more strongly with their character in Grand Theft Auto, an open world sandbox game, than they do with Gordon Freeman, a mute physicist fighting aliens
and that's evidence of sexism
[quote][B]154 male and female high schoolers [/B][/quote]
Sort of a bad group if you ask me. They've already had 15+ years of society layered on top so their interaction with videogames has already been defined. The boys may have been told videogames are fine as a kid while the girls may have been pushed towards more "girly" things by their parents and friends. (of course I recognize that girls play videogames, but there is more of a cultural stigma against girls doing "nerdy" things)
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50162373]okay, now hold on one minute
you're telling me that people identify more strongly with their character in Grand Theft Auto, an open world sandbox game, than they do with Gordon Freeman, a mute physicist fighting aliens
and that's evidence of sexism[/QUOTE]
It's even more troubling that people don't identify with pinball machines.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50162373]okay, now hold on one minute
you're telling me that people identify more strongly with their character in Grand Theft Auto, an open world sandbox game, than they do with Gordon Freeman, a mute physicist fighting aliens
and that's evidence of sexism[/QUOTE]
This is a downright miserable study that takes absolutely nothing into consideration, not to mention the sheer number of variables you get from high-school students.
What would it be from private schools? Boarding schools? Inner city? Rural? The list for just the school's location goes on and on.
It's appalling that people can just totally forget what the scientific method is for
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;50162390]This is a downright miserable study that takes absolutely nothing into consideration, not to mention the sheer number of variables you get from high-school students.
What would it be from private schools? Boarding schools? Inner city? Rural? The list for just the school's location goes on and on.
It's appalling that people can just totally forget what the scientific method is for[/QUOTE]
It seems p<0.05 is the only factor they went with to say conclude it was scientific enough.
[quote] First, we used a self-report measure of empathy.[/quote]
This is one of the most glaring issues imo.
As someone who actually believes there's sexism in video games, this study makes no sense. Part of the problem with issues regarding gender representation is that it's hard to prove in a lab because of how incredibly difficult it is to control for all sorts of variables. It's even hard to do with [I]babies[/I], where it's hard to tell if gender roles are even effective at that stage.
[video=youtube;p5LRdW8xw70]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LRdW8xw70[/video]
[quote]Although there is a female co-protagonist (Alyx), she is portrayed in a non-sexual manner. In contrast, all female characters in GTA are portrayed in a sexual manner.[/quote]
hahahahaha
alright, nice one axelord, you got me
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;50162390]This is a downright miserable study that takes absolutely nothing into consideration, not to mention the sheer number of variables you get from high-school students.
What would it be from private schools? Boarding schools? Inner city? Rural? The list for just the school's location goes on and on.
It's appalling that people can just totally forget what the scientific method is for[/QUOTE]
Exactly. This stuff also differs from country to country too. I really recommend everyone watch the documentary I posted when you get the chance. I promise it doesn't make any stances and instead describes the paradox itself. I was recommended the documentary by someone on the opposite side of the coin.
[QUOTE=Erfly;50162397]
This is one of the most glaring issues imo.[/QUOTE]
In what way? I can't really read your siding on it, but I'm curious as to what it is
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50162421]hahahahaha
alright, nice one axelord, you got me[/QUOTE]
Yeah! That too. How do you make a fair distinction of what is sexualized and what isn't? At the time, a bunch of older nerds I knew that played the game said she was a "babe". A lot of women in video games can be considered a "vixen" (remember that terrible [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Game_Vixens]G4 show[/url] about them?) and it's very dependent on how you view women. Anything from as little as a normal woman walking outside can be considered sexualized.
[QUOTE=wauterboi;50162442]Yeah! That too. How do you make a fair distinction of what is sexualized and what isn't? At the time, a bunch of older nerds I knew that played the game said she was a "babe". A lot of women in video games can be considered a "vixen" (remember that terrible G4 show about them?) and it's very dependent on how you view women. Anything from as little as a normal woman walking outside can be considered sexualized.[/QUOTE]
Like, people ignore the Mortal Kombat characters and their overt sexuality but will enter arguments about how "hot" Alyx is.
I believe it would depend on the genre of the game too.
[QUOTE=wauterboi;50162442]Yeah! That too. How do you make a fair distinction of what is sexualized and what isn't? At the time, a bunch of older nerds I knew that played the game said she was a "babe". A lot of women in video games can be considered a "vixen" (remember that terrible G4 show about them?) and it's very dependent on how you view women. Anything from as little as a normal woman walking outside can be considered sexualized.[/QUOTE]
this study is a joke
[quote]For all the three games, participants were asked to pursue a specific goal or mission. We attempted to keep the mission as similar as possible for the violent-sexist and the violent-only games. For violent-sexist games (both GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City), the mission was to destroy a rival criminal gang. Both missions started in a private-club, and then move through the streets of the city. During the gameplay, players were frequently exposed to female prostitutes and lap dancers; indeed, those are common elements in all the episodes of the GTA saga. For the violent-only games (both Half Life 1 and Half Life 2), players were asked to complete a mission whose goal was to destroy a group of enemies. The game’s action in both Half life 1 and Half life 2, takes place in a suburban area of the city, and then moves to a few abandoned buildings. For the neutral control games (both Dream Pinball 3D and Q.U.B.E. 2), the mission was simply to accumulate as many points as possible.[/quote]
so for HL1&2 they just drop the participants into the middle of the game and have them fight a random group of enemies
but for GTA they have them play through a mission
like, no fucking shit they're going to identify more with the character in GTA, these kids probably don't even know who Gordon Freeman is
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;50162373]okay, now hold on one minute
you're telling me that people identify more strongly with their character in Grand Theft Auto, an open world sandbox game, than they do with Gordon Freeman, a mute physicist fighting aliens
and that's evidence of sexism[/QUOTE]
and theres no characters in that pinball game and qube 2 isn't even released yet lmao
They should also have conversely used games that had strong female leads, like Beyond Good and Evil and seen how each gender connected with the Character. When I was a kid, I wouldn't want to play games that had girls as the main character (cause I was a little shithead) but today I think Beyond Good and Evil is in the top 5 of greatest games ever
Seems like a great example of "[i]We have the conclusion, now all we need is the study.[/i]"
How in the fuck is GTA sexist
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;50162441]In what way? I can't really read your siding on it, but I'm curious as to what it is[/QUOTE]
Self-reporting often suffers from the problem of people lying, trying to give the answer that's expected than what they truly think. It never truly explains the persons actual feeling towards something.
This was mentioned in the study
[quote]Future research should consider other measures of empathy that are less subject to demand characteristics, such as physiological measures (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance).[/quote]
Also in the study they gave their responses on a scale of 1-7. This suffers as some people may give the same answer, but mean completely different things, it once again also suffers from people over or undercompensating their actual response.
While it is the easiest method, it suffers from severe inaccuracy.
[editline]gah[/editline]
Forgive me for not being the most articulate, I've never been good at arguing my point.
[quote]The dependent variable was how much empathy participants felt toward female violence victims. When people become desensitized to violence, they become numb to the pain and suffering of violence victims [28]. Participants were shown one of two photos (randomly determined) of an adolescent girl who had been physically beaten by an adolescent boy (see Figure A and Figure B in S1 Appendix). Participants rated whether they felt sympathetic, moved, compassionate, tender, warm, softhearted, disregarded (reverse-coded) and indifferent (reverse-coded) (see [29]) for her (1 = not at all to 7 = very much; Cronbach α = .83).[/quote]
so they only show the participants a photo of a woman
and conclude that videogames desensitize people to violence against women specifically
l o l
am I being trolled right now?
Can we just play video games that people find fun
Out of those three games I find GTA the most enjoyable, does that make me sexist and racist? Stupid fucking study.
I never even have time to think of GTA as sexist because it's too busy ripping on everything else under the sun at the same time.
Is Micheal being an out of touch dad with anger issues anti-male?
The study might have had some vague merit if they actually made small games for it, or if the control group weren't playing Alien Blaster 2.
is it really even fair to use the games they did? GTA takes place in modern times, while half life 2 takes place where humanity is oppressed, and you cant even reproduce
[QUOTE=Erfly;50162475]
Forgive me for not being the most articulate, I've never been good at arguing my point.[/QUOTE]
No, I see your point and totally agree with it. Getting someone to express their opinions on something that sensitive is really difficult.
[QUOTE=Furnost;50162524]is it really even fair to use the games they did? GTA takes place in modern times, while half life 2 takes place where humanity is oppressed, and you cant even reproduce[/QUOTE]
The best way of controlling the variables would ideally have been to create their own game, and then form it around the two variables of masculinity and sexism.
[QUOTE=Viper_;50162523]I never even have time to think of GTA as sexist because it's too busy ripping on everything else under the sun at the same time.
Is Micheal being an out of touch dad with anger issues anti-male?
The study might have had some vague merit if they actually made small games for it, or if the control group weren't playing Alien Blaster 2.[/QUOTE]
They used San Andreas and Vice City.
Also I'd like to know which levels of Half Life 1 they played because Half Life 1 is a game where the only female characters are enemies that you have to kill.
I mean story focused modern day third person game, vs sci fi mute protagonist game, vs literally pinball. I wonder what people are going to identify with.
Do people just ignore how parenting and school influences in youth can shape the personality of a person?
You'd think that would make more sense to study on.
My god, this study is horrible. Now people are going to cite this every time video games come up in the media, and none of the actual problems with the industry will be solved.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;50162452]Like, people ignore the Mortal Kombat characters and their overt sexuality but will enter arguments about how "hot" Alyx is.
I believe it would depend on the genre of the game too.[/QUOTE]
I've already made my case many times on the forums before, but my personal view on sex is that it's a normal character quality that should be explored when it's fitting. A lot of times it gets used in place of interesting character design or story, and it's a cop-out. That's where my main issue is.
The thing that kind of bothers me about the subject is that it's not a one-dimensional issue. The issues of over-sexualization doesn't really start with the game itself. That doesn't make sense. I think that female depictions are the effect and not the cause. Social views and, most importantly, [B]safeness[/B] is the cause to depictions of females in video games. I mean, look at films. There isn't a lack of roles that people of different races can't take on, it's just that it's far safer to give it to a white person. Similarly, when we approach games, it's easier to make important characters male, and when female, make the characters super sexualized.
For that reason, I feel like this study is super late in all sorts of ways. It's late because these people have already grown with gender roles, but also late because the game is the very basic end of the chain. The games might reaffirm some bad views like objectification of women as trophies and sex in place of character design, but it's far more difficult to say that the games themselves cause people to value women less. The value was lesser from the start, and the games are and result of an already existent societal neglect for women. I think the quickest way backwards from the game to the most immediate influence on sexism in video games is the business aspect which restricts artistic freedom and pushes safeness, just as the business constricts artistic freedom in films. And then above that is all of society.
This also goes without saying that the study is trying to create an objective answer to what sexualization means. Alyx is probably a very negative depiction of women to a lot of people, but not for me. I've already explained my gripes with how characters like Neith are depicted in Smite, but that doesn't bother everyone.
Look I love flattening things with a tank and building hulking pollution spewing, earth destroying factories in factorio, that doesn't mean I want to run around in a tank flattening people IRL
The thing everybody glosses over is there's no morals at play in almost all videogames, so you can fuck around and not get in trouble, while the few RPGs that do have morals people tend to roleplay their character a lot better
Terrible selection of games too, which is the heart of the matter. You can't compair hl1 to San Andreas to pinball. That would be like comparing Michelangelo to Picaso to Dali, sure they share the same medium but they're all vastly different
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