I was watching a documentary called The Mask You Live In. The film is about how boys learn to “be a man” and how hyper-masculinity is portrayed in the media. Of course, the film eventually comes upon the subject of video games. It claims that most video games reinforce the hyper-masculine stereotype, that the hero is always large and muscular, with the infamous number two buzz cut.
I think this is overreaching a little. First of all, the only games the film mentions are FPS titles. Second, almost all modern FPS games have character creators, allowing you to choose your gender and how you look. That very premise, I think, undermines their argument. The film also throws stats around like “99% of boys play video games,” while displaying cutscenes from Call of Duty , as if that’s all these boys ever play. I really hate encountering this stereotype. There’s just so much more to video games than that franchise.
Talking about hyper-masculinity in video games and revolving the argument around first person shooters is unfair to the art of the industry and grossly disproportionate. That’s like trying to claim that all music is about sex, using only songs from the top Billboard hits as examples. Most gamers are into a variety of genres and I guarantee, regardless of age, there will at least one Zelda or Pokemon game on their shelves. Both of these are games based on exploration and puzzles; they have absolutely nothing in common with first person shooters. Surely Link can be looked to as a “man” as much as Adam Jensen from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided .
Furthermore, though being able to choose your gender in most first person shooters is somewhat recent, it’s still been a few years. The documentary came out last year and should have had plenty of evidence of this. Even its prime example, Call of Duty , has this feature. Just because the player character looks a certain way, does not mean they perpetuate any kind of stereotype of hyper-masculinity. What should be focused on is what the themes of the games perpetuate. Most first person shooters glorify the use of violence to solve problems with everything from petty crime to terrorist attacks. In my opinion, this concept is not limited to macho men. Women are equally capable of doing this, as are effeminate men.
On one hand, I know what they’re trying to say. On the other hand, I’ve only been in this industry for three years and I can tell you, no gamer takes their player character seriously unless it’s an RPG. Or better yet, if the decisions you make within the game affect your character in some way. As far as I can tell, no one actually cares if their player is manly-looking enough. As long as the game makes it believable that this person, the way they look, could physically and mentally fill this role, it doesn’t matter. Since most first person shooters are military orientated, it’s pretty darn understandable that all the player characters are going to look the way they do. I may have a problem with intersectionality in FPS games, but I would never dare suggest they put someone that looks more like Donald Trump in military role (as much as I think we’d all love to see that).
People, much less documentaries, should not be judging the entire gaming industry by a single genre and use it to point out the perpetuation of hyper-masculinity. They should be reminded that the FPS genre is but one fraction of the video game industry, and that most first person shooters allow the player to choose their character’s gender.