Analysing Gender Roles (5/2/2013)

As out lecturer was ill we were given the task of analysing two video games in terms of the gender roles for next week. Are they portrayed fairly or not? If so why? And how could it have been improved upon or made better?

Well with the above in mind I decided that I wanted to pick one example that everyone would likely know and agree with. And another game that wouldn't be so obvious so as to stand out. I will use both to look into how their gender roles are portrayed and if there is any justification for them.

I recognise that the following isn't written in the usual formal academic style, but I deliberately chose to write it more casually as I felt this style of writing suited this task. Therefore I wrote it as one might read in a gaming magazine, and as this isn't necessarily an assessed assignment I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a different style of writing.

Analysing Gender Roles:

For my first game analysis I choose to look at an unusual example... 'Lego Indiana Jones'. No that isn't a typo, I am indeed using a Lego game as an example of gender roles which are not treated fairly. Now you may be asking yourself "How can a Lego game be bad"? Well, for those who haven't played a Lego game, you relive the moments of the franchise it is based on by playing as your favourite characters from them. Each one has their own abilities which the developers have mimicked from the franchise they came from. Therefore in this example, of course Indiana Jones has his signature whip that he can use to swing across gaps, pull out objects and even tie up enemies with. All very cool things that depict our manly hero.

However, the leading heroines from each of Indiana Jones' movies never had abilities that you could transfer into a game such as Indy's whip. Therefore the developers decided to make every female character in the game have the ability to double jump. Now at first you may not see a problem with this, but let me explain further. This is perhaps the only ability the females have and one that perhaps takes the whole 'women are more agile' thing to the extreme. Therefore when comparing double jump to say the ability to use a whip, fix things, blow stuff up or solve puzzles which many of the male characters can do, you may end up raising an eyebrow considering the female characters don't have any life skills, just reflexes. The only other ability displayed by the female character Willie (yes that is her name) is screaming so loudly that it breaks glass. Sure it's creative as it's taken her character's annoying trope from the second movie and made it useful, but it could also be seen as a sexist thing when all you can say is that her screaming is all she is good at. It also doesn't help that screaming is a role most women were given in past movies as their only role e.g. the feminent who needs a man to save her.

Now, am I calling 'Lego Indiana Jones' a sexist game? Of course not! Saying a Lego game is would be ridiculous. There are games meant for all ages and are not meant to be taken seriously. Overall considering the franchise the developers were given to recreate, which is nothing short than male dominated I feel that they did a good job in creating the abilities they did and making sure that each character had some use, whether male or female. It's just an example I thought I would use as even though it's a small flaw it is one worth looking at in the great scheme of video game gender roles. 

Now, for my second game analysis I choose 'Resident Evil 4' as while I know it is more of an obvious choice I feel that it is still interesting to talk about. For those who haven't played this awesome game, 'Resident Evil 4' is a game in which the player plays as government agent Leon whose mission it is to save the kidnapped president's daughter Ashley. Leon, being an agent is well equipped with numerous weapons and knows how to use them. He is also a good fighter and incredibly agile, thus he is able to get out of sticky situations without any hassle. Sadly the same cannot be said for Ashley who cannot defend herself and always ends up getting captured. When she does get captured she then goes on to screaming annoyingly until you save her, otherwise you have to start from your last save point. Therefore the player has to tell her to hide in places, otherwise she will end up getting in the way of combat.

Now, shouldn't the daughter of the president have been taught to defend herself if she was ever put into a situation like this? Sadly Ashley wasn't taught to defend herself as even when the player on the very rare occasions is able to play as her, she is still unable to attack and must always sneak around and hide from enemies.

It's interesting in a way as a female character named Ada also exists in the game and whereas you have to complete the game in order to play her side of the story, she is similar to Leon as she can take care of herself and doesn't require rescuing like Ashley.  

Therefore while the game does have at least one fairly portrayed female character, Ashley is still a character who is with the player for nearly the whole game and never learns to defend herself. Thus she doesn't rise to the occasion as it were which would have made for a realistic approach to her character with her overcoming the fears of being kidnapped and thus develop further as a character. Therefore the difference in the two gender roles really shows in both the game and even the image I found below of the characters stances. For example, the strong brave male who has to take care of the defenceless scared female.

Overall:

Even though the above two examples were not the most well represented in gaming, I feel that the representation of both males and females in video games are improving over time. Sure the concept of rescuing a 'damsel in distress' will most likely be repeated in future game story lines, and we will probably  continue to see both genders inappropriately represented as some developers do particularly in trailers just to get advertising of any sort. For example, in one of the first trailers for 'Hitman: Absolution' where the main male protagonist is shown killing scantily clad assassin who look like nuns (see below). Speaking of whom, these characters ended up only making one brief out of place appearance in the whole game.

However, I feel that as developers recognise what players want from stories and characters in games we can expect to see fewer stereotypes and more fairly presented roles. Although some gamers will always want to play 'over the top' and nonsensical titles which isn't necessarily always a bad thing as sometimes you need some silliness in games in order to balance the more serious thought provoking ones.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Pierre, C. (2012) Assassin nuns [Online image]. Available at: http://playstationgang.com/new-hitman-absolution-cinema-trailer/ (Accessed: 5/2/2013).

• Romero, J. (2009) Lego Indiana Jones Screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://86bb71d19d3bcb79effc-d9e6924a0395cb1b5b9f03b7640d26eb.r91.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lego-indiana-jones-women-screenshot-small.jpg (Accessed: 5/2/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) Leon and Ashyley [Online image]. Available at: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100218024547/residentevil/images/thumb/5/58/3420Leon_and_Ashley_copy.jpg/287px-3420Leon_and_Ashley_copy.jpg (Accessed: 5/2/2013).

'Lara as Drag Queen' Review (1/2/2013)

Looking over the paragraphs entitled ‘Lara as Drag Queen’ within the article by Anne-Marie Schleiner (2001) I have to say that while I agree with it on certain points her lack of knowledge of the industry (e.g. hasn’t played a single game) and the fact that her evidence comes from only thirty individuals makes it a hard article to completely agree with. Especially since it’s unclear on how many of her respondents were male or female, their age and whether or not they told the whole truth or just what they thought she wanted to read.   

I believe a player will invest in an avatar/character of the opposite sex to a certain degree and maybe even copy some of their traits in order to ‘play the role’ (much in the same way that actors do so in a play when they empathise with the character they are portraying) however, putting yourself into ‘the shoes’ of someone else does not necessarily mean you wish to be them, or be the same gender if it differs from your own.

Playing as the opposite sex isn’t always just to fulfil sexual desires in video games either. After all, many gamers nowadays play as the opposite sex in order to play certain games multiple times from other perspectives, or to merely play through the game with the gender role that has the better voice actor as was noted by a friend of mine when they played 'Dragon Age II'.

The idea, that those unsure of their sexuality or either their gender might change their identity online through chat rooms or games interests me for as long as it isn’t for perverted reasons then I agree with the article when it says that it can help those needing to decide on their gender preferences. I think this is especially true when it comes to those of a younger age who in today’s pressurising environment might have difficulty deciding who they want to be. Plus it also gives them the chance to reflect back on their experiences and decide what they are happy with.

However, the idea of the player playing as Lara Croft much in the same way “a drag queen navigates her ultra-feminine form along a runway” (Schleiner 2001, p223) I think is complete rubbish. Games can be realistic in motion, but when playing a game you never think like that. Never have I or anyone I know or seen ever picked up a Lara Croft game and thought, “Good! A game in which you can finally play in drag as you would on the catwalk… perfect!”. No. Thus this is where this part of the article starts to fall apart as she clearly doesn’t have any first-hand knowledge of the game; she probably hasn’t even watched players interact with it either.           

The other thing about her quoting Carol Clover’s work about males watching the strong female character in horror movies as ‘a “stand in” vehicle for the male viewer’s repressed (never acknowledged) homoeroticism’ (Clover 1992, p223) I think is rubbish as well. The female character Ripley in the ‘Aliens’ movies is nothing short of ‘bad ass’ to many men, but I have never when watching her character or even the actress ever thought about homosexual desires. All I’ve ever thought was “I hope she survives” and “Man she’s awesome!”.

Harvard Referencing:

• Cooke, D (2012) Lara Croft [Online image]. Available at: http://dazcooke.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale-who-should-be-on-the-roster/(Accessed: 1/2/2013).
• Laura (2011) Ripley from 'Aliens' [Online image]. Available at: http://girlsonfilmblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011_02_01_archive.html (Accessed: 1/2/2013).
• Unknown (2011) Male and female Hawke from 'Dragon Age 2' [Online image]. Available at: http://milanj.tumblr.com/post/1085247592/dragon-age-2-female-hawke-is-badass (Accessed: 1/2/2013).

'Part 2: The Gaze' (29/1/2013)

This week we looked at the second part of the presentation on gender in which I took the following notes.

• At the end of this subject we will have a greater understanding of gender representation in games. 
• 'The Gaze' means 'The Look'.
• Referenced an interesting and hugely discussed book 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger (1972). A man who spoke of the power of relationships. 
• Always balance my own ideas with others. Do they scale or do they conflict? 
• The paintings 'Nell Gwyne by Lely' and 'The Venus of Urbino by Titan' both have women in them in passive positions. These paintings were clearly meant for male buyers in order to show off to males guests in their homes. Not as pornography, but to show they had power and could afford to buy such art. 
• Some older paintings show naked women looking at themselves in mirrors which as a result made them objects of desire.
• Edouard Manet's 'Olympia' caused an uproar as the naked women in the painting is looking directly at the viewer, thus suggesting dominance and lack of coyness, and not looking to the side as was usual (see above). She is also a prostitute and therefore it was frowned upon for a lady of her occupation to be in a picture meant to portray beauty. The public also found it difficult to accept a change and debate about power since she is looking at the audience and therefore becomes a subject and not an object as she is engaging with the audience.
• Berger says "men act and women appear". This is something we still sadly see today. 
• A lot of debate occurred when our lecturer said that many people remember the male characters in past movies for being active, whilst the women were often forgotten as they were just passively viewed.
• Is there sexual imbalance in our world as Laura Mulvey said in her article? I would like to say no, but I think that sadly I would be lying. 
• Could be argued that both women and men are portrayed badly in video games as men can be overly masculine in contrast to the girls who are overly sexualised.  
• Some Hollywood movie actresses were sadly only in older movies to play 'the object' e.g. to be looked at by both actor and audience.
• Scopophilia (literally the desire to see) linked to sexual attraction. 
• Alfred Hitchcock's movies were used as constant examples in this presentation. For example, 'Rear Window' was a recommended watch as the lady who looks after the wheelchair bound photographer is still objectified by looking beautiful.
• In the original 'King Kong' the woman was depicted as weak and completely submissive.
• Whilst some Bond girls are empowered many still end up being weaker than the main hero as he generally over powers them in some way. 
• One interesting example brought up by someone in the group was that even though the class difference between Mario and Peach is very different as one is a plumber and the other a princess Mario still somehow ends up 'on top'.
• 80's action movies were perhaps the most male oriented ones around. However, the female character Ripley in the 'Aliens' franchise is not only depicted as bad ass, but also as a mother figure to Newt the child, her cat and even the male crew. Ripley drives the plot forward regardless of the males who end up needing rescuing. Therefore you could easily say that Ripley is masculine and that the second movie is a great example of gender reversal e.g. tough girl, weak men.
• Sarah Connors from the 'Terminator' franchise and Princess Leia from 'Star Wars' also have masculine moments.
• However, going back to 'Aliens'. The female character Vasquez is almost comically masculine by being overly masculine.

The 'Male Gaze' has three different looks:

• The camera which records the event. 
• The spectator as they watch the final product. 
• The male characters within the screen.

One thing I wanted to touch upon more was the following as I found it very interesting:

The camera removes us from the person e.g. who they truly are, rather than just an object of desire. This is especially so for the prime example he used of Marilyn Monroe as people would always represent her as a sex symbol. She even said once “People have a habit of looking at me as if I’m some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me , they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.” Even though she knew that she was being subjected she decided to stick with it anyway as she felt that they were worse things to be remembered as. 

Overall its a shame that I didn't know about Marilyn Monroe before this lecture, I only knew her as the girl holding down her skirt from an air vent. Therefore I wish to look further into her background as she sounds like a very interesting person. Especially since (and I shared this with my lecturer) her statement drew great similarities to the character Rise Kujikawa from 'Persona 4' as both are idols who are sadly only looked at as images of desire and never for who they are, yet both know this and continue with their careers. Rise even stated in the anime adaptation of the game "The girl everyone makes a big fuss over isn't the real me. Risette the Idol... shes just another packaged product they created to sell. Nobody actually sees the real me...ever.". 

This was an interesting similarity I noticed and therefore wonder if the developers of 'Persona 4' used Marilyn Monroe's life story and quote for research in order to create such a well developed character.  
You can see images of the two characters below.

Referencing:

• Shaw, S (1954) Marilyn Monroe posing during the famous subway grate scene from The Seven Year Itch [Online image]. Available at: http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/files/2012/06/Gratescene_SamShaw_6-031.jpg (Accessed: 29/1/2013).
   
• Soejima, S (Unknown) Rise Kujikawa [Online image]. Available at: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-08/art/p4-rise-kujikawa1.jpg (Accessed: 29/1/2013).

Gender & The Gaze: -Who's looking at Who?- (22/1/2013)

During this session we looked at genders and how they are treated in different mediums e.g. how they are written and presented.
You can read my notes on what I understood about the presentation below:

• Gender is cultural as it is what people choose to be, and Sex is biological as it can't be helped. However, gender is viewed differently depending on the region and nation.
• One reason to why I personally think some genders are represented less fairly than others is because of the region that game is released in. For example, in the West the female roles would fulfill the role of sex appeal, whereas the male roles would fulfill male players' desires. My lecturer was interested by this idea and even said that it was one we should hopefully cover next week, thus making it a good example.
• Gender stereotypes include the above mentioned and even the 'Damsel in Distress' as demonstrated most noticeably by Princess Peach in the Mario games as she is always getting captured. These stereotypes are based on Nature/Culture Binary instead of Nurture as Nurture is cultural and women in the past weren't treated fairly for many years or portrayed well in the medium e.g. the silent movie image of a women tied to a rail track or the view that women should stay passively at home during a war.   
• Ancient mythological gods were portrayed as active whereas goddesses were portrayed as beautiful and the subject of attention from others.    
• The term parenting is now being used to refer to fathers as well as mothers as in the past. Therefore more men are staying at home to look after children and doing more 'motherly' things like feeding their child with a bottle. An act that only women in the past could do as most babies were breast feed. 
• Mentioned Suffragettes (Women who formed a group in the early 20th century to gain votes for women and championed women's rights in general).    
• Feminism questions Binary Thought and Patriarchal Binary Thought.
• "Your just being hysterical" is an insult thrown at women in the past as they were meant to be seen as sweet. However, they were also considered to be related to the moon (by men) as it is also odd and mysterious.
• Feminism challenges ingrained perceptions of women.
• Sterotypes have also appeared in fairytales e.g. shouldn't the prince in Snow White have helped with the cleaning?
• Art is the least censored medium out there.  Is it?
• Women in the 70's and 80's used their own naked bodies as an art form in order to portray their art and point towards audiences. Image and text were also used by them as they would take an add and chnage it e.g. 'Your body is a battleground'.
• Magazines also follow stereotypes as women magazines tend to be fashion, health and gossip based, whereas magazines for men as quoted by a member of my group are "cars and boobs".
• My lecturer used Eddie Izzard as an example of a man who dressed in women's clothing and was beaten up for it. He was known to say in court in his defence that he didn't just dress as a woman in parks to antagonise people.
• Ryan said that in the last forty years art has tackled more sensitive themes and subjects. Therefore I am glad to be brought up in a time that is more accepting than other previous times, and as a result can include the mentioned themes in numerous mediums today.  
• A women's body may get in the way of the male view of her as a person. 
• Some artists didn't include a body from a piece of art and asked their audiences to understand it to be a representation of their gender. One such example included Tracy Emmen's bed with all the objects relating to a women except for the occupant.
• "Do women posing nude become empowered or lose power?". This is a difficult question that the class had many different views on, some of which even argued for their opinion. I don't have a clear answer as I can see it being a mix of both. 
• The term 'camp' is anything that takes a gender quality to an extreme e.g. being too feminine or even too masculine.  

After the presentation we were then asked to read a paper entitled 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' by Laura Mulvey. People agreed, including myself that it was very black and white in its thinking. It was also rather dated as it was written in 1975 and didn't even include the opinions of female audiences.
I must also say that I don't agree with what Mulvey stated as she wrote that the female character was pointless to the story. You could argue that this was due to the time of the article, but had she never seen 'Casablanca' made in 1942? That's a masterpiece of film in which the female love interest (see below) is just as important to the story as the rest of the male cast. And judging the article in 2013 I have to completely disagree with it as many films and other mediums have had leading female characters or supporting ones that were vital to the narrative and equally as relevant as male ones.
This said, I know that many movies in the past used to have female characters for simply 'eye candy' and as a means of selling tickets. Also, some films simply reflect the period they represent and therefore women's roles in the past have been repressed by men who were seen as the providers whereas the women could be seen as the house wife (lower class) or the decorative wife (upper class). This even relates to today with certain countries repression of women.   

At the start of the presentation I noticed that the lecturer was showing an image of the character Naoto Shirogane (see below) from my favorite game 'Persona 4'. He didn't speak of her but it was most likely that he included her due to her gender confusion and therefore relevance to the presentation. Intrigued by this I remembered that my group had also spoken of her during our group presentation and thus wondered if he had decided to use her because we mentioned the character, or perhaps it was his own research. When I approached him with the question he told me that he had played the game and that he used her image as she was a good example of a character going through that situation. Pleased to hear that he had played the game I asked if he knew of any other games that included similar content as seen in 'Persona 4' with the same fairness and approach. He couldn't think of any examples but I was happy to hear that he would look out for me and even send me a link to a second year's work looking at the same issues brought up in today's presentation. I look forward to that read as I feel very strongly about these subjects in video games.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Periale, E. (2012) Casablanca screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://xoxoxoe.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/best-movies-ever-casablanca.html#.UZKJg8oqKY0 (Accessed: 22/1/2013).  
• Soejima, S. (Unknown) Naoto Shirogane [Online image]. Available at: http://videogamesheaven.net/movie-persona-4-characters.htm (Accessed: 22/1/2013).

Digital Arabs in Gaming Presentation (15/1/2013)

During this session we looked at the presentation version of the paper by Vit Sisler entitled 'Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games' (October 2006). 

I found this presentation interesting but also quite challenging.   

Since this presentation however I have reread this weeks and last weeks presentations in order to try and get a clearer understanding of them both.

Overall as with any new subject matter presented to someone unfamiliar with it, I feel that I will be able to understand the content more over time, particularly as it has raised my awareness of stereotyping orientals in games. I think I have been aware for some time of stereotyping in relation to women and good and evil characters, but I have not considered specific ethnic groups. Perhaps I have been guilty in the past of this, but now think I will be more aware when playing games and writing narratives of my own.

However, I do look forward to next week's subject on gender and its representation in gaming as not only do I have strong opinions on this subject matter, but I also know multiple good examples from various games. I hope that I will be able to contribute more to next week's presentation because of this.

The Others - a look at Post Colonisation and Orientalism (8/1/2013)

During this session we looked at both Post Colonisation and Orientalism in the form of a presentation called ''The Others' Theories of Post-Colonialism & Video Games Level 1'. We also looked at a hand out written by Vit Sisler on 'Orientalism in the Digital Age'.
It was a very fascinating lecture as not only did it look into the history of the past relating to these themes, but it also considered the relevance of these themes today.

You can read my notes on this session below:

• The term post coloninalism means the interactions between European countries and the areas they once colonised and how these nations have shaped one another. 
• By the end of this module I will know 'what makes a game' e.g. how to create convincing worlds in gaming. 
• Edward Said's writing was refered to throughout the presentation as he has written a lot of books on western and oriental culture and therefore is a very interesting person to look at in this field of study.
• Rudolf Ernst painted a picture titled 'A Sultan With A Tiger' from his own imagination of what he believed the East to be like e.g. very exotic and appropriate for sultans to own tigers as pets. And yet the piece is in fact a mixture of cultures which are depicted by clothing and architecture.  

• To keep tourism some Eastern / post colonial areas end up portraying themselves in a way which they think will be attractive to outsiders and as a result influence our western perceptions, particularly for westerners who have not visited the East. In the same way people from the East may be influenced by images of the west which show only certain aspects of our life and culture.   
• Supposedly twenty four Plymouths exist all over the world as boats from Plymouth traveled to other lands, colonised them and used the same city name for places over and over again. 
• Watch 'Blade Runner: The Final Cut' as not only was I not around around to see it last year like the rest of the class, but it is also a very good example in this field of research. For example, in the movie multiple languages have been mixed together and are spoken by the inhabitants as they live in a world where people constantly travel and therefore need to know multiple languages. This is similar to how languages in general are created as languages consist of words and phases adopted and adapted from other languages over time.
• 'Plundered' is an interesting term. For example, countries may plunder things from other countries and cultures e.g. food, clothing etc. and adapt them into their own culture. Countries also plunder actual artifacts from other countries and keep them for themselves in museums for example. This has happened in the case of the Elgin Marbles although Greece wants them back. Thus making the word still relevant today.

Since writing the above I have watched the recommended version of 'Blade Runner'. I regonise the themes in it are very familiar to those discussed by my lecturer and now I also understand the presentation a little more. Although the film was very good it confused me and therefore had the lecturer not brought up the themes we were looking at I may have missed them completely.

After watching the presentation I read the paper by Vit Sisler which proved to be a very interesting read as it changed some of my own opinions on the matters of post colonialism.

You can read my personal thoughts on the subjects discussed in the lecture below:

Originally I didn't have a problem with representing different cultures by using selected images and objects. But, after reading Vit Sisler's work and looking back at the presentation for a second time I have reconsidered my opinion. I understood this even further when I read how war games use Eastern terrorists as a regular foe in gaming and that not only are they represented as primitive, but are also labeled as only the bad guys which is just wrong. Also it is worrying that sales for games involving the killing of such ethnic groups increased after the shocking world events of 9/11. Furthermore, the president at the time George W Bush said how America was 'Good' and the enemy (in this case the East) were 'Evil' and although this was understandable given the circumstances, what he said was clearly stereotypical. 

Personal Research - examples of stereotyping in gaming:

One example of a game I can think of with terrible stereotyping in it is 'Resident Evil 5' in which the game takes place in a country in Africa which is plagued by a zombie virus.

Initially, many gamers seeing its earliest trailer in 2007 were concerned that the player would only be killing black zombies. Even the developers were surprised by this reaction as the producer Jun Takeuchi said when interviewed in 2008 by MTV that the company "certainly didn't anticipate the reaction". Thankfully when the game was released it contained a more mixed ethnic group of zombies despite the game's setting, thus showing that outside opinion can change a game for the better.

However, the biggest mis-interpretation of the country came from certain black zombies which were dressed as primitive tribesmen and used spears and shields against the players arsenal of guns. This ended up stereotyping black people. Whilst I can understand the developers wanting to make the African setting as realistic as possible they did not need to depict the enemies as primitive tribesmen since many African tribesman have now adopted modern day cultures so the way they are depicted in the game seems out of place. Especially since the game was only released six years ago in 2009.  

Adding insult to injury, the player can unlock a costume that dresses one of the main characters (a black African girl) in tribal wear. This insulted a lot of people as not only was it stereotypical of her race, but it was also incorrect both in tribal style and in the way it oversexualised her.  

Perhaps it was a lack of research by the Japanese games' company who made the game? Or, perhaps it was because Japan isn't as concerned about the representation of different cultures as the western world. Regardless, someone in the company should have assessed the risks and ethics of setting their game in Africa and therefore shouldn't have included stereotypes or racist misconceptions within the game. This is surprising as in the previously mentioned interview producer Jun Takeuchi mentioned that "there are black members in the development team...who are aware of the historical background and we are constantly checking these kinds of things with them."   

Overall:

Even though I have mentioned the above examples, I still don't believe that using objects from other cultures is a bad thing in gaming. I understand how using cultural references is a good way of helping an audience, reader or even a player understand or recognise the location and authenticity of an area without need for constant reminders. At the same time this can lead to stereotyping and similar mistakes as seen in the painting 'A Sultan With A Tiger' and in the examples above. Therefore, as long as it is used sensibly, ethically and morally I believe that is is something that is still useful and can continue to work in both the games industry and others. I also recognise the importance of improving some of the areas mentioned above. For example, if you are going to have a game about terrorists then at least make them more human and have a reason for why they do what they do and don't just say they are simply the 'bad guys'.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Goldstein, H. (2009) Editorial: Is Resident Evil 5 Racist? Available at: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2009/02/10/editorial-is-resident-evil-5-racist (Accessed: 8/1/2013). 
• Groenendijk, F. (2009) Tribal Wear [Online image]. Available at: http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2009/03/13/resident-evil-5-cheats-for-unlockables-like-bsaa-emblems-easy-money-playable-sheva-and-new-modes.htm (Accessed: 8/1/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) Zombie Tribesmen [Online image]. Available at: http://residentevil.wikia.com/Ndipaya_Kingdom (Accessed: 8/1/2013).
• Unknown. (Unknown) Shooting gun screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://news.bigdownload.com/photos/2009-console-games-that-should-be-pc-games/ (Accessed: 8/1/2013).