Gendered Characters
As the game became more and more popular with players of all ages, it wasn't long before Markus "Notch" Persson was challenged about the one default character he had created. It was suggested that he was being sexist by having this one looking the way it did - a stereotypical male with 5 o'clock shadow (Harwell, 2015).
As the game became more and more popular with players of all ages, it wasn't long before Markus "Notch" Persson was challenged about the one default character he had created. It was suggested that he was being sexist by having this one looking the way it did - a stereotypical male with 5 o'clock shadow (Harwell, 2015).
Image from here
Persson had been contacted by numerous fans to add a female
character or to include a skin (a downloadable 'covering' that fits the dimensions
of the character and changes its appearance).
His reply on his Tumblr account:
"If
it wasn’t for the fact that the default Minecraft character is referred to as
“Minecraft Guy” and that I once jokingly answered “Steve?” when asked what his*
name was, Minecraft would be a game where gender isn’t a gameplay element. The
human model is intended to represent a Human Being. Not a male Human Being or a
female Human Being, but simply a Human Being. The blocky shape gives it a bit
of a traditional masculine look, but adding a separate female mesh would just
make it worse by having one specific model for female Human Beings and male
ones. That would force players to make a decisions about gender in a game where
gender doesn’t even exist." (Persson, 2012)
Many
fans and critics alike took umbrage at this statement:
The issue is that Steve is not gender neutral. He's
explicitly masculine. I mean, am I the only one who can see his five o'clock
shadow? I think a lot of people see male as default. For them, it is adding
female options that inserts gender into an otherwise genderless game. Bullshit.
This game ceased being genderless the moment Notch designed a stereotypical
male character as its only default. (LibbyAnne, 2015)
"... while the proliferation of customized skins have made Steve fairly irrelevant in game (except for pocket edition), the merchandise is still centered around Steve. While Alex (below) does exist, she (assuming she is a she—as several readers have noted, Alex is much more gender neutral than Steve) is nowhere near as central in the marketing. And yes, marketing decisions like this tend to be conscious and thought out. In other words, Notch could have created Alex earlier and made her as central as Steve, but chose not to. "
(Anonymous reader's response on Libby Anne's blog post)
Newspapers, such as The Washington Post, quoted a disappointed
player:
"Only
having boys is telling everybody this is a boy game only," said Isabell (11 years old),
who knew girls in her class who had quit playing the game. "It just
doesn't seem fair." (Harwell,
2015, para. 3)
The fact that it took five years before Mojang AB added a
default female figure in 2015 did not sit well with many and adding insult to
injury, the female version could not be selected but was randomly assigned (Harwell,
2015; LibbyAnne, 2015).
Gendertrolling
It is necessary to ask if multiplayer spaces are safe, in particular, for our younger female players. It all depends. One has to know, or be willing to find out what the community is like on any given multi-player server as for most of Minecraft's history, they "have been hosted privately and unofficially...rules and community standards can vary wildly, as does the level of moderator involvement" (Au, 2014, para. 5).
Salter and Blodgett (as cited in Graso, 2016, p. 7) point out that the "exclusion of women is rooted in all gaming aspects, including the lack of female avatar heroes". Christopher Long (2014, para. 8) described
his daughter's experience as she entered one such server [with him nearby] and opened the chat feature.
Because she had represented herself with a particular avatar (skin) - " she was taunted for chatting — "Oh look, the female speaks."
The ongoing comments caused concern and Long's daughter to "flee for her safety"(Long, 2014, p. 9).
The report commissioned by the United Nations, Cyber Violence against Women and Girls, showed that the verbal abuse also perpetrated on "female" usernames was significantly higher than that on "male" usernames" (Graso, 2016, p.8). Mantilla (as cited in Graso, 2016, p. 6) collected samples of the "gendertrolling"
experiences of female gamers on Minecraft, particularly noting the verbal sexual
violence. One 11 year-old described her "feelings
of helplessness at the fact that the maltreatment she encountered was indirect
and thus impossible to reprimand by authorities"(p. 6).
This issue becomes more concerning when the reports about the
recent movement #Gamergate, which surfaced across certain social media platforms
such as Twitter and gaming sites, highlighted the harassment, rape and death threats
and intimidating misogyny, directed mostly against women gamers (Gamergate,
2016; Graso, 2016). Unfortunately this is not a new situation for women in the
gaming industry, especially if they speak out about what they witness or share
their opinions (deGallier, 2014; Pew Research, 2016).
There has been little research to date on the factors that lead to the aggressive behaviours towards women in the virtual worlds, such as those of Minecraft other than to look at the levels of competitiveness exhibited when female gamers choose a male avatar over identifying as female (Graso, 2016, p. 23).
There has been little research to date on the factors that lead to the aggressive behaviours towards women in the virtual worlds, such as those of Minecraft other than to look at the levels of competitiveness exhibited when female gamers choose a male avatar over identifying as female (Graso, 2016, p. 23).
The impact of such situations sends up red flags to caring
adults -parents and educators - who wish their female children/students full
participation and agency in these online spaces. Setting up a private Minecraft server addresses the particular
situation but not the general experience for too many.
Conversations about the reality, the safety or lack of, of online spaces, particularly for our girls, is a necessity. Certainly expectations, direct teaching and learning, about respectful online conduct for all our young players has to be embedded in any experience in a school setting. It is addressed in the required media literacy education but needs to be connected in their out-of-school realities of digital gaming, where there is much less supervision.
Conversations about the reality, the safety or lack of, of online spaces, particularly for our girls, is a necessity. Certainly expectations, direct teaching and learning, about respectful online conduct for all our young players has to be embedded in any experience in a school setting. It is addressed in the required media literacy education but needs to be connected in their out-of-school realities of digital gaming, where there is much less supervision.
However, the purchase of Minecraft by Microsoft may well be
a step in the right direction. By providing access to countless realms created
and moderated by educators on servers established by the company, young girls
and female teens are less likely to be tormented by trolls who will harass
based on gender.
Additionally, the ability to participate, create and distribute will be readily available to girls who are interested in computer programming without fear of retaliation by males spewing inappropriate and hateful comments.
Ultimately, it is the teacher's responsibility to bring forward issues about how the structures of society benefit and restrain the members living in it. Then there is hope for informed decisions, and change.
Additionally, the ability to participate, create and distribute will be readily available to girls who are interested in computer programming without fear of retaliation by males spewing inappropriate and hateful comments.
Ultimately, it is the teacher's responsibility to bring forward issues about how the structures of society benefit and restrain the members living in it. Then there is hope for informed decisions, and change.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.