Due to my background and continued interest in game development, I want to focus my critical report on games rather than film.
The potential topics I am interested in revolve around identity and representation in video games, and whether games differ from other forms of media in terms of representation, particularly regarding race, disability and gender. However, I may need to choose between these facets if discussing all three is out of my scope. I found a photography project from artist Robbie Cooper, who explored the individual in contrast to their in-game avatars.
I am interested in several topics within this concept:
- Looking at who plays games, in contrast to playable characters in games and whether that is representative of its audience
- Looking at games with character creators, and how individuals choose to represent themselves, or are limited in how they can represent themselves
- Comparing representation of minority groups in games vs film – or how this has changed in recent years in games specifically
- Do individuals of minority groups choose to be themselves in games, or do they embrace being someone else?
- Is creating representation in games more viable than in other forms of media?
Sources I’m considering using within my critical report:
- Authorship and identity in games
- Transgender youth in video games:
- What features are important to the character creation process?
- Determining player values from avatars:
- Representing marginalised groups in video games:
- Do video games reinforce negative gender and race stereotypes:
- “Video game census”
- Do games allow people to present as other than white?:
- How people choose their in-game avatars and whether they are like them:
- Do LGBTQ people suffer to create representation in games:
- Can games with character creation improve social distance across groups?
- Analysis of MMOG’s and who plays:
- Do people fall into stereotypical roles in games? (First study) (Second study)
- Representation through Minecraft:
- Analysis of the availability of race and gender presentations across games:
- Does it matter that much if we relate to our avatar?
- Game satisfaction and character creation:
- Are we more antisocial when we make characters dissimilar from ourselves?
I obviously will need to clarify exactly what my question is before deciding which sources will be most important, so my focus for the coming week is to decide on my essay question.