Gamers and Girlbosses Episode 1

In this podcast, Paige Spencer and I (Sarah Hoppe) worked on a podcast to inform our peers and others about how women have been harassed and oppressed in the video game workplace and how historically marginalized people have been misrepresented and underrepresented in gaming culture.

To listen to our podcast, it can be found under the portfolio tab, at the bottom of the page or follow this link here : https://sarahdanhops.wixsite.com/homepage/portfolio

Follow along with the podcast below. :)

1 minute to 2 minutes -- Intro:

S: “Hello everybody and welcome to “Gamers and Girlbosses”! A WSU DTC 356 Podcast Project. Thank you for joining us today. I’m Sarah Hoppe.”

P: “And I’m Paige Spencer. Today we’re talking about The Gaming Industry’s Relationship with Women and Historically Marginalized Communities. We’ll talk about how women, people of color, those with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are affected by the culture that exists surrounding video games.”

S: “As members of some of these communities ourselves, we thought it would be important to bring light to these experiences, and explore perspectives on the gaming industry that we might not be familiar with.”

P: “We’ll also examine the history of video game culture, how it has changed from the time video games were first becoming popular, and the progress that still needs to be made to bring more inclusivity to the gaming industry.”

S: “We feel that as individuals involved in the industry to some degree, we have a bit of a responsibility to spread awareness to others about important issues and relevant topics that others may not recognize as problems.”

P: “In our discussion, we will focus on some specific cases of misrepresentation, sexualization, and recent controversies through personal accounts, interviews, and other research. We’re happy to have you here today, and we hope you enjoy this episode of Gamers and Girlbosses.”

1 minute to 1 min 30 sec — Multi-modal/Sound components:

For our introductory sound component, we are planning to use ‘Showtime’ by Toby Fox (from the game Undertale, and the song is not copyrighted).The tune has no dialogue and is played in conjunction with a sort of talk show in the video game, so we thought it was fitting for our podcast.

3-4 minutes -- Introduction:

S: “Welcome again to all of our wonderful listeners and contributors, we appreciate you being here with us and listening to our conversation today. When we get into things, we’ll provide a brief history of gaming companies, their expansion and hiring patterns, as well as how they’ve approached instances of workplace discrimination and harassment. We’ll dive into the nature of video game culture from decades past, and acknowledge how it sustained a derogatory view of women in the scope of gaming.”

P: “One example we will look into today is the recent controversy surrounding Blizzard Entertainment and their toxic workplace culture. We are going to explore how this culture perpetuated discrimination and harassment in the Blizzard workplace, and how it impacted the employees that experienced it. In order to view the controversy from an accurate perspective, we will be referencing articles, personal accounts, and legal proceedings relevant to the class-action lawsuit.”

S: “In the context of both advertising and character design, it is a historical trend for women to be overly sexualized and misrepresented in order to appeal to the male gaze. Historically marginalized groups of people have experienced underrepresentation in video games in a similar fashion, despite making up a large portion of video game enthusiasts.”

P: “We’ll address some personal experiences pertaining to this issue, and discuss the importance of accurate representation of women and historically marginalized people in video game media. Since video game culture is malleable and ever-changing, it is crucial to highlight its shortcomings in order to promote positive change.”

S: “Paige and I will be talking about our experiences in STEM lectures and labs with a high concentration of male students, and how the culture in those settings could be quite toxic. Even though we are focusing on the gaming industry specifically in this episode, it helps to include examples of other male dominated environments, where working as a woman can be just as difficult. From being ignored, made to feel inferior, talked to in a condescending manner, and treated like we’re invisible, women and historically marginalized people have experienced it all.”

P: “As former Computer Science majors, we have been in situations where presenting our ideas is shrugged off and ignored. This creates a frustrating and deflective atmosphere for women when it feels like no one is listening to what you have to say. The concepts of confidence and knowledgeability are often thrown out the window when you’re a minority in a professional setting.”

S: “In the same regards, even as female streamers, we have to deal with viewers who blatantly make us uncomfortable with what they send in our chats. Despite some messages seeming harmless, they can still cause a fair amount of awkwardness and discomfort. Because streams are open to any and all who’d like to view them, female streamers are often harassed by unwelcome visitors and treated differently than our male counterparts.”

P: “Overall, we plan to draw similarities from our own experiences and study other cases of discrimination and unfair treatment to speak about inequality in the scope of gaming today. We have come a long way since the initial emergence of video games, but as we’ll discuss today, there’s still a ways to go.”

3-4 minutes -- First Major Point: Brief History of Topic:

SEXISM IN VIDEO GAMES / “MADE FOR BOYS”

S: “Since the launch of online video games, women have been harassed after showing any signs of being a woman online, surrounded by a majority of male players.”

S: “Although the demographic has changed dramatically since the 80s and 90s, where video game culture was dominated by young males, there are still multiple instances of females being harassed simply for being a woman.”

S: “As mentioned in TechCrunch, an article we found, “63% of women had been called cunt, bitch, slut or whore while gaming,” which was stated in a 2012 study even after it was known about half the gaming community was made up of women.”

P: “Early advertising for many video and arcade games was rife with sexism and exploited women for male attention and consequently, business.”

P: “One Gameboy print ad from the 90’s depicts a woman in lingerie tied to a bed, looking distressed, while who is presumed to be her boyfriend is engrossed in his Gameboy. The ad touts the handheld console as ‘Seriously Distracting.’

The nature of this particular advertisement is definitely not unique. This blatant objectification of women and depiction of them as no more than sex objects was echoed throughout video game advertisements for decades, across hundreds and thousands of magazines, posters, and commercials.”

P: “An advertisement for ‘Battlecruiser 3000AD’ showcases a woman sitting on a stool, dressed in nothing but thigh-high boots and a bra, biting her finger and holding a physical copy of the video game in front of her crotch. The ad says ‘she really wants it’ in bold lettering at the top.”

P: “What this scantily-clad woman has to do with video games, and what this ad tells me about the game, which is a space trading and combat simulator, I have no idea. What I do know is that this ad has everything to do with objectifying this woman and using her attractiveness to appeal to a male audience. This sexualization is blatantly unnecessary and has nothing to do with the game itself. And this was the advertising norm for games at the time!!”

S: “Obviously, this goes to show that sexism and straight up misogyny have been deep-rooted in video game culture since they were first becoming popular. I mean, since this created a norm of objectifying women, male players around the world feel like it’s ok to sexualize women however they want. Now, a lot of progress has been made since then, but as we have and will talk about, there’s still a lot of issues at play. It’s going to take constant and vigilant effort on everyone’s part to continue promoting positive change, given how long-standing these issues have been present within this culture.”

P: “While video games and advertisements have mostly evolved past this point, the sexism attached to the industry has manifested itself in the depiction and representation of female characters.”

P: “For example, in World of Warcraft, where the male characters would be decked out in full suits of armor with helmets, shields, chainmail, and the like, the female costumes mainly consist of skimpy clothing that leaves nothing to the imagination.”

P: “In gaming culture, the basis of sexism and sexual harassment comes from video games depicting women as sex objects with large boobs, skinny waists, and large butt. This has been a continuous model for game developers throughout the years and even now, we see the majority of female characters who are given little to no clothing to appeal to the male gaze. This definitely affects how males treat their female counterparts in gaming.”

CHARACTER REPRESENTATION

S: “Women are not the only misrepresented people in video games. In light of the recent protests against police brutality and systemic racism that have spiked across the country, multiple gaming and console companies have spoken out in support of Black Americans.”

S: “Although, even though the companies speak up and donate to just causes, they can do more to decrease, if not remove, the racial bias seen throughout video games.”

P: “For the amount of gamers around the world who identify as Black and Latinx youth, there are very few to no games that focus on characters like them. The TechCrunch article we referenced earlier asserts that “...a recurring pattern of Black and Latinx characters being stereotyped or completely absent in games…” (TechCrunch) is present in mainstream video games.”

S: “Some people may argue that there is adequate black character representation in games and it’s not all white characters, but Dr. Kishonna Gray explains how thinking this way misses the point of representation. “...there have historically been three roles you see Black characters in: Black as violent, Black as the sidekick, Black as the help.” (TechCrunch). This goes for films, TV shows, books, AND video games. Any kind of representation of Black people in video games has been consistently tied to negative instances and scenarios compared to the representation of white people.”

P: “Along the same lines, there are very few LGBTQ+ individuals or people with disabilities showcased as main characters, or even side characters for that matter, in mainstream video games. A criticism of gaming companies that do include characters that represent communities such as these is that these characters more often than not come across as ‘tokenized,’ or there just for the sake of appearing more inclusive as an organization.”

S: “Along with the underrepresentation and misrepresentation in video games, this kind of lack of diversity extends to the employees of gaming companies. “...the lack of diversity among employees at leading gaming companies results in leadership remaining largely oblivious to this.” (TechCrunch) Meaning, there’s not going to be much change if it doesn’t affect the higher-ups directly.”

3-4 minutes — Second Major Point: Explore examples, interesting anecdotes, conduct an analysis, etc.:

ACTIVISION BLIZZARD SCANDAL

P: “Only a few months ago in the summer of 2021, popular video game company Activision Blizzard was sued by the state of California for discrimination against female employees, sexual harassment and failing to take steps to prevent discrimination, and retaliation. Blizzard, which is best known for making successful games including but not limited to Overwatch, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft, allegedly violated California’s “civil rights and equal pay laws” according to a recent article by The Guardian (Paul, 2021).”

S: “A ‘frat boy’ workplace culture was repeatedly cited in the lawsuit, which alleges that female employees, who received sexual comments from male coworkers, were subjected to ‘cube crawls’ in which male employees would ‘drink copious amounts of alcohol’ while navigating between office cubicles and harassing their female counterparts and were also the target of crude and offensive jokes, and the list goes on.”

S: “Allegedly, at a holiday party, male employees non-consensually passed around nude photos of a female colleague. Many women at the company who were vocal about their mistreatment were the target of retaliation, and were “deprived of work on projects, unwillingly transferred to different units, and selected for layoffs,” according to the lawsuit.”

P: “The company fostered a workplace culture that encouraged harassment and an environment that basically welcomed discrimination. Many incidents cited in this controversy led to no more than a slap on the wrist for their perpetrators, and little to no support was provided for their victims. While this lawsuit and what led to its existence has negatively impacted so many peoples’ lives, it is bringing light to the fact that these issues are “systemic and repeated rather than episodic.” (Paul, 2021). As we mentioned earlier, sexism and discrimination are not new concepts within the video game industry. A controversy of this magnitude has greatly helped raise awareness of the ongoing culture issues in the field.”

COSPLAY AND CONSENT

S: “Now, not all women and historically marginalized people are involved in the gaming industry at a professional level. Experience with the industry’s culture problem extends well beyond the executive world. The sexualization of women and discrimination against marginalized groups of people bleeds into more casual scopes of gaming, for example, Comic-Con.”

S: “Ally McLean, an Australian professional cosplayer, dresses as video game characters and brings them to life through her employment by gaming companies. While working, McLean has said that she “was often treated like [she] wasn’t even a real person” and recalls being “groped, hit on, and harassed” (Rodie, 2018). As a woman cosplaying even a vaguely sexualized character, McLean experienced the worst of the worst, the normalized misogyny present in the gaming industry.”

P: “Paige can speak to this point personally - being an avid attendee of comic-cons for about 7 years, I’ve become passionate about the media and video games I adore to the point where I’ve planned and brought to life multiple cosplays for conventions. The time, effort, and love I put into the few amateur costumes I put together made me really excited to share my cosplay with other video game enthusiasts.”

P: “At 17 years old, I cosplayed as Chell from the game Portal 2. Her trademark outfit is simple, mainly consisting of an orange jumpsuit, tank top, and a cool-ass portal gun (which I had an accurate replica of). It’s pretty common at comic conventions to take pictures of/with cosplayers, given that you ask permission first. Most of the people that took pictures of or with me were kind and respectful. However, there were a few interactions that were creepy, uncomfortable, and bordered on harassment. One grown man stood much too close to me and put his hand around my waist, another attendee was blatantly staring at my chest during most of our interaction, and another was sneaking pictures of me without even trying to ask me if it was okay or not.”

P: “Almost every comic-con I’ve been to has signs plastered throughout the entire venue that read ‘COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT,’ meaning exactly that. Like I said, the majority of people understand and respect that, but there’s a select few that still engage in not-okay behaviors.”

S: “I’ve experienced similar instances as Paige has mentioned but while streaming. There have been countless times where random users come into my chat and start to message pick-up lines, continuous compliments, and creepy messages. As a small streamer, I do enjoy when new people join my stream, but it’s difficult to decide whether or not to respond to the user in chat. Especially if they make me uncomfortable.”

S: “For example, someone came into my chat and asked if I liked popcorn, I responded yes, because I do, and they followed up with something along the lines of, “I’ve never seen a snack eat a snack before”. This made me very uncomfortable and I honestly didn’t know how to respond. All I want to do is play games for other people who can’t, or would rather watch, and I can’t even do that without being made uncomfortable in my own bedroom.”

P: “Overall, reading and hearing about the instances of harassment, discrimination, and even assault adjacent to the gaming industry is one thing, but actually experiencing it firsthand is another. It’s important for everyone to remember that these things happen to real people who have thoughts and feelings.”

3-4 minutes — Third Major Point: Relevance:

P: “Video games reach an incomprehensibly large audience, around the globe and across several unique platforms. Streaming is becoming increasingly popular, and in this digital age, more people have access to advanced technology than ever.”

P: “Bottom line, the gaming industry as a whole influences a huge group of people, and if they promote inequality and perpetuate discrimination, there are incredibly harmful consequences. It is crucial to address the flaws and limitations of video game culture and toxic work environments in order to implement positive developments.”

S: “This issue, at its core, is relevant to basically everyone in one way or another. It is especially relevant to those who are adversely affected by toxic workplaces, active harassment, or underrepresentation. In adjacent fields like STEM majors and jobs, similar toxic environments are all too common. Bringing awareness to the overarching concept of unjust discrimination and mistreatment of certain people will help address the issues in multiple career fields and industries.

P: “Video games have evolved over time to use more electronic means to store data and present media. With the changes that video games have gone through over time, the social norms and culture surrounding the industry have changed as well. Even the production of this podcast episode used electronic sources to store recordings, and organize our information.”

2-3 minutes — Outro:

S: “We saw how at the beginning of the video game industry, the culture surrounding it encouraged blatant sexism, racism, and underrepresentation of various demographics. This constructed a strong foundation that has persisted into modern video game culture. The amount of work that still needs to be done to increase the inclusivity of the industry is tremendous. With women being harassed in the workplace and people not seeing adequate representation of their culture, gaming companies and gamers alike need to be more open and accepting of these communities.”

P: “This toxicity affects those involved in the industry at a professional and casual level, from working in successful companies to streaming in your bedroom to cosplaying a character at a convention. The issues we’ve discussed are relevant to any and all areas of straight white male-dominated careers where similar environments and patterns of behaviour are present. Seeing how comfortable a lot of people are with saying sexist remarks and touching others inappropriately proves our point that the industry needs work and improvement.”

P: “Information and the manner in which it is organized, presented, and utilized is ever-changing, and with it, the gaming industry is too. As a field that is heavily based on data, it is inherently reliant on trustworthy information structures.”

1 minute to 2 minutes — Closing Remarks:

S: “Thank you for listening to this episode of “Gamers and Girlbosses,” and thank you for being a part of this podcast. I’d like to shout-out my co-host for being here with me,”

P: “And I’d also like to shout-out my co-host for being here with me. As we part ways today, we’d like to remind you to do what makes you happy, no matter what anyone else says. Don’t let anyone stop you from pursuing your passions!”

S: “Couldn’t have put it better myself. If you’d like to see and hear more from us, you can check out my Twitch stream at twitch.tv/nuclearhopss,”

P: “And you can check out mine at twitch.tv/paigeykeen.”

S: “Again, we appreciate you being here for this conversation, and we hope that you’ve gotten some important takeaways here today.”

P: “Remember to stay hydrated, be kind to yourself, and tune in next time.”

S: “Take care, and we’ll see you soon in the next episode.”

1 minute — Closing Sound/Song Elements:

For our outro sound element, we are planning to again use ‘Showtime’ from the game Undertale by Toby Fox. The song contains a sort of outro section that shares the same general tune and melody that we used earlier, but seems more fitting for playing during the closing of our podcast.

Works Cited

Allyn, Bobby. “Popular Game Company Activision Blizzard Sued For Sexual Inequality and Harassment.” NPR, NPR, 31 July 2021, www.npr.org/2021/07/31/1023146051/popular-game-company-activision-blizzard-sued-for-sexual-inequality-and-harassme.

Fox, Toby. “It's Showtime!” UNDERTALE Soundtrack, Toby Fox, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqNzj0f5_VQ.

Gray, Kishonna. “DTC 475 - Talks With Video Game Scholars: Dr. Kishonna Gray.” 8 Mar. 2018, Pullman, WA, Washington State University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MVpihgjYiY

Jay. “40+ Sexist 80s & 90s Video Games Adverts.” Joyenergizer, 27 Mar. 2019, https://joyenergizer.com/40-sexist-80s-90s-video-games-adverts/.

Paul, Kari. “Activision Blizzard Scandal a 'Watershed Moment' for Women in the Gaming Industry.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Aug. 2021, www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/08/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-women-sexual-harassment.

Peckham, Eric. “Confronting Racial Bias in Video Games.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 21 June 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/21/confronting-racial-bias-in-video-games/.

Rodie, Cat. “Sexism Within The World of Video Games.” Marie Claire, 20 Nov. 2018, www.marieclaire.com.au/sexism-and-video-games.