Video games and gender socialization

[StaceyPowers]

When I was a little kid decades ago, video games, computers and the internet were not nearly as prominent among children as they are today, so we all grew up with highly genderized toys (i.e. dollhouses and kitchen play sets for girls, action figures for boys). Now, I think kids grow up with much more neutral activities, since they all grow up playing the same video games, etc. (i.e. the Sims is kind of like a virtual dollhouse, but boys and girls alike enjoy it). Do you think this has led to differences in gender socialization, expression and/or identity among people growing up today?

[Shole]

No gaming was always open for all genders, we just see more and more people being proud of what they like. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad, it really depends on the liking and it depends if you are an open person or not. If I dislike something and you accept it, you are awesome, but if I dislike it, and you force me to like it I won't talk to you again.  I am not surprised things change, but it is always and will always be open for everyone, I mean the gaming world.

[Reality vs Adventure]

Even though many games may not be gender specific, parents usually are and so they will buy little Timmy Call of Duty for Christmas and get little Dorothy Sims. They could always share the game as siblings because kids just want to have fun and are usually open to any game. But the lone child will suffer the whelm of their gender specific parents. Peers that have those biased parents will also influence children.

We are still living in a generational divide that starts with baby boomers, who had kids (generation X), and now have millennium grandkids that can really do without the older generation biases. We really need a purge like in Children of the Corn and just eliminate older generational poison. I'd be happy to go and live on an island; no need to pitch fork me. But those millennials are the best bet to raise kids in a less gender specific environment since they are further away from the baby boomers. And the toxic male society today, we all see how destructive and incompetent males are. Is a male sexist against males a real thing? It is now. All the males are letting the world down with their complete stupidity and irresponsibilities. I'm sick of it. The more females in positions of power the better. I can't even stand playing a male in most video games; some are an exception. The more games have characterization, we will see children make up their own minds who they would rather play. And to shop in digital stores and save games they want in a cart for their parents to see around the holiday, they will be surprised at how many non gender specific games they want. But I would say it is hard to tell if gaming has helped gender socialization because you have to eliminate outside influences first to see if any real progress took place, which was ultimately countered by their parents. 

[m76]

When I was young there were literally no girls into videogames that I knew of, this was before the time of sims and other casual games.

I always secretly wished as a child to be able to play with dolls, but I was too ashamed to ask for anything like that.  Well some would still laugh at me for admitting that as a grown man. Just as they do when I say I like to spend time in character creators. I've heard it uncountable times: That's just barbie dress up. Well maybe there is a connection there.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by m76

[The Blackangel]

7 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Even though many games may not be gender specific, parents usually are and so they will buy little Timmy Call of Duty for Christmas and get little Dorothy Sims. They could always share the game as siblings because kids just want to have fun and are usually open to any game. But the lone child will suffer the whelm of their gender specific parents. Peers that have those biased parents will also influence children.

We are still living in a generational divide that starts with baby boomers, who had kids (generation X), and now have millennium grandkids that can really do without the older generation biases. We really need a purge like in Children of the Corn and just eliminate older generational poison. I'd be happy to go and live on an island; no need to pitch fork me. But those millennials are the best bet to raise kids in a less gender specific environment since they are further away from the baby boomers. And the toxic male society today, we all see how destructive and incompetent males are. Is a male sexist against males a real thing? It is now. All the males are letting the world down with their complete stupidity and irresponsibilities. I'm sick of it. The more females in positions of power the better. I can't even stand playing a male in most video games; some are an exception. The more games have characterization, we will see children make up their own minds who they would rather play. And to shop in digital stores and save games they want in a cart for their parents to see around the holiday, they will be surprised at how many non gender specific games they want. But I would say it is hard to tell if gaming has helped gender socialization because you have to eliminate outside influences first to see if any real progress took place, which was ultimately countered by their parents. 

I know a guy my age that has hated men his entire life. He always went inside to gossip with the women while the guys were outside with the hood up on a car drinking beer. As such he was often labeled some derogatory term for gay, even though he was 110% heterosexual. He never wanted anything to do with anything that had a dick. Even with pets, he almost always wanted females. He and I always got along really well when we saw each other, as we saw things almost identically. Me being a woman, we couldn't see everything 100% identical, but it was close. I haven't seen him in years, but I heard from his cousin that he still hates men.

 

4 hours ago, m76 said:

When I was young there were literally no girls into videogames that I knew of, this was before the time of sims and other casual games.

I always secretly wished as a child to be able to play with dolls, but I was too ashamed to ask for anything like that.  Well some would still laugh at me for admitting that as a grown man. Just as they do when I say I like to spend time in character creators. I've heard it uncountable times: That's just barbie dress up. Well maybe there is a connection there.

I don't think female PC's started coming out until the SNES/Sega Genesis era. The first memory I have of a female character was Samus. But the first obviously female characters were in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. We had Chun Li and Sonya Blade. Female characters became more and more prominent in games over the years, but very slowly. Fighting games typically featured white males. Or some kind of mutant or monster. Until I think Soul Calibur, there were always only one female in a fighting game. I could be wrong on that part though. Mario Kart featured Peach as a character to play. But I don't really count that personally. But now, with most games women are just as prominent as men. Especially games where you can completely customize your character.

As for playing female characters, there's nothing wrong with that. Play whatever you want. It's your character. You're not in the game to please other people. For example my girl buys outfits for Arthur in RDR2 that I absolutely hate. She also braids her horses tail. I hate that. But it's her file not mine.

So do what you want in regards to the sex. Whether it's limited to gaming, or if a person want's a sex change IRL. You have to make you happy. Everyone else can piss off.

[Empire]

Don't care really. Makes sense games would feature more guy lead roles but its nice to have girls too. (Horizon was kind of cool to have a female lead) big boobs are overrated if you ask me. I don't care about what gender or race is in what place. What I do hate is putting a different gender or race into a existing character for the sake of equality, people getting angry about races being zombies etc when its set in Africa, people get upset when guys are the main protagonist a lot cause guys are the predominate consumer, or when the media freaks put over things in games they have no idea of what there talking about.

[The Blackangel]

Tits don't make the woman. Sure a D cup will open a door quicker than a B cup. But that isn't what matters. Also just because you can see their size, doesn't mean you get to see them. And has anyone ever heard of a Wonderbra? Or a pushup bra? Those tits may be a lot smaller than they appear.

[Reality vs Adventure]

52 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

I know a guy my age that has hated men his entire life. He always went inside to gossip with the women while the guys were outside with the hood up on a car drinking beer. As such he was often labeled some derogatory term for gay, even though he was 110% heterosexual. He never wanted anything to do with anything that had a dick. Even with pets, he almost always wanted females. He and I always got along really well when we saw each other, as we saw things almost identically. Me being a woman, we couldn't see everything 100% identical, but it was close. I haven't seen him in years, but I heard from his cousin that he still hates men.

I actually get along better with males and females from other countries. The friendship is always instantaneous. And ironically their social hierarchy is just as sexist, but the people themselves aren't bent on having to prove anything. And they are usually fairly innocent in their mannerisms. So I compare that to people in the USA, and I just feel I don't belong in this country personality wise. But if I had the choice to hang out with a male vs female, it would be a female 100% of the time. America is a toxic male wasteland. And game developers see that as a large part of their market. I do think it's changing though to be less gender specific as more and more people break away from the Toxic Male Syndrome. Ironically, I'm probably the most toxic here on VGR, and that is a reflection of my society in the USA; reaching out in a desperate plea. 

[m76]

3 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

I don't think female PC's started coming out until the SNES/Sega Genesis era. The first memory I have of a female character was Samus. But the first obviously female characters were in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. We had Chun Li and Sonya Blade. Female characters became more and more prominent in games over the years, but very slowly. Fighting games typically featured white males.

One of the first games I Ever played already had female player characters. It was Giana Sisters. But for most games I preferred to play male characters. I don't actually remember why if it was peer pressure or not, but I felt uneasy with female PCs. I only started playing primarily female characters since about 2010. I even seek out games with female protagonists now. So if a game has one, they already halfway there in winning me over.

Edited January 19, 2021 by m76

[m76]

1 hour ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

I actually get along better with males and females from other countries. The friendship is always instantaneous. And ironically their social hierarchy is just as sexist, but the people themselves aren't bent on having to prove anything. And they are usually fairly innocent in their mannerisms. So I compare that to people in the USA, and I just feel I don't belong in this country personality wise. But if I had the choice to hang out with a male vs female, it would be a female 100% of the time. America is a toxic male wasteland. And game developers see that as a large part of their market. I do think it's changing though to be less gender specific as more and more people break away from the Toxic Male Syndrome. Ironically, I'm probably the most toxic here on VGR, and that is a reflection of my society in the USA; reaching out in a desperate plea. 

I think you are very wrong on that. Gender roles are much more ingrained on the old continent. There might be small move away from it, but honestly I think most people are still very sexist here in central europe.  I swear my mother is one of the biggest sexists. Constantly remarking what women should and shouldn't do. It drives me nuts sometimes. But I don't want to argue with her so I just let it go.

But I also don't think that being male is toxic, some men are toxic, but simply being male and having male instintcts is not toxic. I'm sorry but I'm an old fashioned guy and I'm biased towards females. I don't think that makes me toxic. I Show preferential treatment towards women. I know some girls don't like it but they can ask me politely to stop it.

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 1/19/2021 at 12:45 PM, m76 said:

I think you are very wrong on that. Gender roles are much more ingrained on the old continent. There might be small move away from it, but honestly I think most people are still very sexist here in central europe.  I swear my mother is one of the biggest sexists. Constantly remarking what women should and shouldn't do. It drives me nuts sometimes. But I don't want to argue with her so I just let it go.

But I also don't think that being male is toxic, some men are toxic, but simply being male and having male instintcts is not toxic. I'm sorry but I'm an old fashioned guy and I'm biased towards females. I don't think that makes me toxic. I Show preferential treatment towards women. I know some girls don't like it but they can ask me politely to stop it.

Fair enough. The problem has always been there; I get that. But it is currently exasperated to the point of becoming a global mental health issue across the world. I believe toxic masculinity stems directly from the rise of authoritarianism. So toxic masculinity is a systemic problem. I don’t care about my own gender if my kind is doing harm. I don’t care about my own race, if my kind is doing harm. I don’t care about my own religion, if my kind is doing harm.

[m76]

7 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Fair enough. The problem has always been there; I get that. But it is currently exasperated to the point of becoming a global mental health issue across the world. I believe toxic masculinity stems directly from the rise of authoritarianism. So toxic masculinity is a systemic problem. I don’t care about my own gender if my kind is doing harm. I don’t care about my own race, if my kind is doing harm. I don’t care about my own religion, if my kind is doing harm.

You think in terms of groups not individuals. It's a terrible way of thinking and it leads to terrible things. You should not do that. Just because there are males who are bad doesn't mean males = bad, or being male is the problem.  What you are doing is trying to prevent house fires by demolishing all houses.

Edited January 21, 2021 by m76

[Reality vs Adventure]

5 hours ago, m76 said:

You think in terms of groups not individuals. It's a terrible way of thinking and it leads to terrible things. You should not do that. Just because there are males who are bad doesn't mean males = bad, or being male is the problem.  What you are doing is trying to prevent house fires by demolishing all houses.

Systemic problems can't change if you don't tackle the system. Individualism doesn't matter in a toxic system. 

[The Blackangel]

25 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

Systemic problems can't change if you don't tackle the system. Individualism doesn't matter in a toxic system. 

Agreed. Look at what was going on for the last 4 years.

'Nuff said.

[Heatman]

On 1/19/2021 at 4:30 PM, The Blackangel said:

Tits don't make the woman. Sure a D cup will open a door quicker than a B cup. But that isn't what matters. Also just because you can see their size, doesn't mean you get to see them. And has anyone ever heard of a Wonderbra? Or a pushup bra? Those tits may be a lot smaller than they appear.

I can't stop laughing after reading all that tits talk and all sorts.