Gender Roles

Gender roles in video games are similar to others that we see almost every day of our lives. Take for example when the article from Wikipedia titled Feminist Theory when it states that roles of females in the film industry is for "women to function as objects of this gaze." Speaking about the "male gaze" that was mentioned earlier in the writing, the females are looked upon as something that is lower than what they should be look upon. This goes along with the essay Playing With Fire written by Gonzalo Frasca. In Frasca's piece, it is brought to our attention that females in video games are seen as less powerful than the males. When it is stated that Princess "Peach's superpowers are not physical. . . instead Peach fights with an unconventional weapon: her emotions." I found this to be interesting because so many males around today are so afraid to show how they really feel, or have any emotions at all besides "oh I'm such a cool and tough guy." The way I see it is that the powers of Princess Peach are much more useful and powerful than what Mario can do with his "shift sizing." Sure it does make female characters seem "emotionally unstable" but it all depends on the ways you look at how each power of hers works. I am not a video game player unlike so many other people around, but I think her ways of using her feelings to change what she does in the game does go along with some things that have to do with real life. The ways people react to things really does change the outcomes of what is going to happen next, and maybe this is what the makers of Super Princess Peach wanted to get across to the players. That it is okay to feel the ways you do, but in the end the ways you deal with them that will make or break the future.
When in chapter two of Got Game by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, the authors point out to us that "men are hulking muscle-bound members of elite tactical units while women are chesty volleyball players" being another stereotype that is seen other video games. In my mind this is not good at all. When video games let the player pick what they look like, or "try on thousands of different outfits, do their hair in different colors and styles, try on shoes" and such they are cause the player to feel like the game is real and make them want to be fake like the characters in the game. How can they Wade and Beck say that video games "are more and more a common ground for the sexes" when they clearly are not. They even point out how women and men have different preferences when it comes to what kind of games they like to play. Males tend to like games that are more focused on "speedy fingers and nerves of steel" while females "were more likely to favor more cerebral arcade, quiz, and puzzle games." I do not understand what they were saying about teenagers going on dates for video games. I am a teenager and I have never even hear of such a thing. What kind of video games would they have on these dates if girls and guys have such a different take on what kind of video games they like to play? Yes I am aware not every female like the "arcade, quiz, and puzzle games" and not all males like the "speedy fingers and nerves of steel " and that every person has different likes and dislikes, but come on now. Video games on a date would be about the worst date ever.
It does not come as a surprise to me that there are not more and more women playing video games. Not only do women have hundreds of magazines telling them that they have to be the perfect size, and perfect hair, and be sexy all at the same time, now video games are started to do that as well.