Fair Play

This article looks at violence, race, and gender in video games. There is more serious and significant violence in video games than any other kind of violence, as opposed to comedic violence such as jumping on a character’s head. Weapons such as guns are the weapon of choice but there is also a high amount of violence used without any weapons. Violence is a major theme for most videogames and it’s considered ‘not fun’ if there isn’t any kind of violence in a game.

The gender issue is unequal just as it is in anything else. Males dominate the videogame characters, even nonhumans outnumber women. Females are mostly used as props and/or are scantily clad showing off their assets. It is very sexist and stereotypical; while a male would use aggression a female is more likely to use her words. Either if they are male or female their body parts are accentuated to make them more appealing.

Race also poses its own problems with the majority being white and little or none at all Native Americans or Latins. There is almost always a white protagonist, Latinos showed up more in sports like baseball. White are most likely to use weapons while African Americans use their aggressiveness. Every other race besides white was somehow related more towards a sport.