Starry Nights: Random Book

Toxic Masculininty In Gaming

My quarantine has consisted of a lot of gaming. Like, a lot. I basically got into video games in quarantine and by now I'd consider myself a pretty skilled individual with a lot of games under her belt.

Aside from games I love another thing: analysis. So I've been reading about gender representation in video games -it is VERY interesting, but something I haven't seen discussed is that women tend to be open to play as either gender, while men tend to avoid playing as a woman.

This is particularly prominent in fighting games, like Mortal Kombat but also applies to the avoidance of games where the only protagonist is female like in the Castlevania spinoff Bloodstained -Even though Miriam has a video game typical exaggerated chest, butt and thighs it's still seen as more feminine a game than the earlier Castlevania games.

Amongst Mortal Kombat players, many female gamers play as males because they like their design, powers, weapons, backstory, anything. But we also play as female characters who we like for the same reasons.

I have no gender preference in Mortal Kombat, I often play as
1. Cassie (Female)
2. Scorpion (Male)
3. Kitana (Female)
4. Erron (Male)
5. Takeda (Male)
6. D'vorah (Female)
I play all these characters because they're easy to use, strong, and effective, I'm also more likely to play as them if I like their banter (Cassie, Erron, Takeda).

But I noticed when I play with dudes they ONLY play as male characters, even if I kick their butt as Cassie 10 times they never say "I should try playing as her", I don't know if they think this, but if they do it's dismissed.

In a game played with close friends where everyone is aiming to win it feels so wrong that someone would put their "image" before winning -towards a friend no less.

I think it's internalized, men might not even notice they never play as women.

So why do companies keep making female characters even in cases where no fans female or otherwise play as them?
I suspect men think women think women think the same as them even though we absolutely don't. Male game developers think women -like them- NEED to play as their own gender, but we don't.

There's two explanations, and neither are "good".
1. Men feel their masculinity is in danger if they identify with a female character in any way at all
2. Women are so used to the 1:7 video game character gender ratio that we don't even expect the option to play as a female, and are used to choosing the male out of lack of options or females who are weaker or skimpier than their counterparts.