After conducting a content analysis of previews and reviews in the eight publications selected, the qualitative analysis revealed five key themes within the content while the quantitative analysis measured how prevalent these themes were. These themes were; Male characters were the dominate focus, in terms of both imagery and text, while females were minimally represented; Men were primarily portrayed in terms of traditional masculinity, while females were principally depicted in relation to emphasised femininity; Men were consistently prioritised over women; Men were the primary producers of content; Male journalists consistently performed hegemonic masculinity by displaying technological prowess. Each of these themes is presented and discussed
…show more content…
Overall, videogame characters were discussed 701 times within the sample with 80% focusing on male characters while 20% concentrated on females. This result reveals a male domination and overrepresentation, which is entirely disproportionate with 48% of the gaming audience established as female (ESA, 2014). Furthermore, this numerical picture of gender representation can indicate that journalists prioritise male characters, positioning females as secondary to, and much less visible, than their male counterparts, which is reflective of policing the barriers to female inclusion by defining the audience as male.
Moreover, in terms of choosing which games to review, journalists were far more likely to review a game with a male protagonist than a female. Reviews of games featuring a sole male lead accounted for 62% of the sample while 7% reviewed games with a sole female protagonist. The remainder of the sample focused on reviewing games with a combination of male and female protagonists (where the player cannot choose a preference), and ones featuring both male or female protagonist (where the player can select a preference), totalling 13% and 18% …show more content…
There were a total of 184 images that accompanied the reviews with 69% of these featuring male characters while images of females accounted for 8%. Scenic shots, that did not feature any characters, totalled 18% while images of male and female characters in the same frame accounted for 5%. As with the previous result, such an underrepresentation of female characters in the imagery accompanying the reviews does not reflect reality, and can demonstrate that journalists are choosing to highlight male characters. Furthermore, having a higher concentration of scenic shots than of female characters, effectively positions them as irrelevant rather than secondary to male
Overall, videogame characters were discussed 701 times within the sample with 80% focusing on male characters while 20% concentrated on females. This result reveals a male domination and overrepresentation, which is entirely disproportionate with 48% of the gaming audience established as female (ESA, 2014). Furthermore, this numerical picture of gender representation can indicate that journalists prioritise male characters, positioning females as secondary to, and much less visible, than their male counterparts, which is reflective of policing the barriers to female inclusion by defining the audience as male.
Moreover, in terms of choosing which games to review, journalists were far more likely to review a game with a male protagonist than a female. Reviews of games featuring a sole male lead accounted for 62% of the sample while 7% reviewed games with a sole female protagonist. The remainder of the sample focused on reviewing games with a combination of male and female protagonists (where the player cannot choose a preference), and ones featuring both male or female protagonist (where the player can select a preference), totalling 13% and 18% …show more content…
There were a total of 184 images that accompanied the reviews with 69% of these featuring male characters while images of females accounted for 8%. Scenic shots, that did not feature any characters, totalled 18% while images of male and female characters in the same frame accounted for 5%. As with the previous result, such an underrepresentation of female characters in the imagery accompanying the reviews does not reflect reality, and can demonstrate that journalists are choosing to highlight male characters. Furthermore, having a higher concentration of scenic shots than of female characters, effectively positions them as irrelevant rather than secondary to male