Still a Man's Game: Gender Representation in Online Reviews of Video Games

Publication Type  Journal Article
Year of Publication  2006
Authors  Ivory, James D
Journal Title  Mass Communication and Society
Volume  9
Pagination  103-114
ISBN Number  1520-5436
Key Words  Gender; Sex Differences; Sexual Content; Content Analysis
Abstract  

Despite the rising popularity of video games, the majority of the medium's audience continues to be male. One reason may be that character representations in video games are geared toward male players. This content analysis used video game reviews from a heavily trafficked Internet site to investigate the prevalence and portrayal of male and female video game characters. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, female characters were found to be underrepresented and proportionally more often sexualized in comparison to their male counterparts. In addition to these findings, the study's innovative method-the use of online video game reviews as an indirect measure of video game content-shows promise as a tool for future content analyses of video games.

URL  http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327825mcs0901_6
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