Argumentative Writing Assignment - Gender and Gaming Industry

Isn’t it now obvious that women play a huge role in the gaming industry? There is no longer a ‘stereotype game player’ because now people of all ages, male and female, play video games and a gamer could be your parents, your professor, your boss or even your grandparents. Although, the gaming industry has a reputation of sexism as there has been a lot of cases of were female gamers, game reporters and developers have spoken out about the harassment they experienced in the field. So why the discrimination? It may be because male gamers are angry now that some game developers are altering their games to cater towards females as well, but there are also many other reasons. In a recent study conducted by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), studies shows that 48% of gamers are females and 52% of them are males. The industry has been in this new era for quite some time observing the research that has been release within the years. Although, this has been a huge increase to what it was back in 2006 where studies showed that 38% of gamers are females and 62% of them were males. Looking at how evenly males and females play games, there is no reason why the video game developers would want their games to fit the demographic. It would simply increase their revenue because now more females are playing games. The gaming industry is at its point where it should start aiming it’s games to target both male and females not only because more females are playing but because they should be the ones to stop the stereotype that some people still have on who plays games. From the same 2014 ESA research, the percentage of females and male game purchasers are equally the same at 50%. Nowadays it’s the norm to see female play games so I believe that the discrimination of female gamers should stop. There will always be issues of harassment when playing a more male dominant game like Call of Duty but I believe that as the years pass with these type of statistics, less harassment and discrimination will occur because consistent presence of female gamers. Having Call of Duty as an example they too wanted to fit the demographic as Sledgehammer Games now includes female characters in which one plays a major role in the new Call of Duty game. A lot of other games involve a lot of female characters like the famous Sims series and also League of Legends. That being said many people still have issues that are aren’t enough female roles in game. Having to play a lot of video games myself, I’ve come across many female gamers that I happily played with, whether if it was rpgs or console games. Games have come a long way since pong and will continue to develop. The big question is, will the gaming industry reputation of sexism forever remain? It’s up to the industry itself to answer that through their productions.

Citations 
- Entertainment Software Association. "2006 Essential Facts About The Computer and Video Game Industry." Theesa. n.d., Nov 2014.
-  Entertainment Software Association. "2013 Essential Facts About The Computer and Video Game Industry." Theesa. n.d., Nov 2014.
- Entertainment Software Association. "2014 Essential Facts About The Computer and Video Game Industry." Theesa. n.d., Nov 2014.