My interest in the sociological study of video games has resulted in a two-big-binder set of video game research. In their entirety, these binders hold hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds pages of articles copied form journals. The unfortunate majority of these articles deal only with gender and video games while a few deal with race and racism in video games. None of these speak about heteronormativity or LGBTQ issues aside from a couple of very brief articles from The Advocate. What surprises me most, however, is the lack of research dealing with the full spectrum of marginalization in video games.
Race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc all figure into the equation of one's experience of life. And all of these figure in simultaneously. The experience of being a white woman is different from the experience of being a black woman is different from the experience of being a black gay man is different from....well, you get the idea. To study race or gender as two separate factors in video games is to ignore the intersectional nature of marginalization/oppression/privilege/etc. Though I understand that conducting research on the whole gambit is a much more difficult task than focusing on the issues individually, I also feel that more focus should be placed on this than has been. Few articles exist in the academic world which deal with this at all. So, I was, rightfully, excited when I came across an article by David Leonard, "Not a Hater, Just Keepin' it Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies".
In this article, he discusses, well, the importance of race and gender based game studies. He states that, "As of yet, the conspicuous study of video games regarding race and gender has not moved beyond simple discussions of stereotypes: there has been limited analysis of issues of power, privilege, or racial common sense." (86). Another, slightly older, article Leonard has authored, "'Live in your world, play in ours': Race, video games, and consuming the other" contains a similar sentiment, that, "the examination of race, power, and ideology within these games has not been a central concern". In my research, these two articles are, to me, central in identifying what the future of the study of video games should be. Because of this, I asked Professor Leonard if I could do a short interview with him. Truly, I was excited that he agreed to let me pick his brain on the future directions of video game study and the importance of continuing this line of study:
In your work, you speak about the importance of studies on race and gender in video games. Do you feel that exploration on issues of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community is of equal importance. In my research I have yet to find any studies which address the near absence of LGBT representation in video games. Do you feel that a near total lack of representation is just as disturbing and harmful as highly stereotyped representations, both of the LGBT community and of women and minorities?
I think you raise a good point, although there are examples of games where LGBT issues are present, whether in the form of expressed homophobia or the sexualization exoticizing of Lesbians. Yet, as you note, there is very limited representation of the LGBT community within video game culture. I don’t necessarily think it is useful to compare invisibility to distorted visibility as if one is better or more desirable than the other. I mean both the hyper visibility of say African Americans as athletes or gangstas within video games or Asians in kung fu games and the invisibility and erasure of Gays and Lesbians or Native Americans within virtual reality embody the racist, sexist, and homophobia logic of dominant discourse. That being said the lack of visibility for the LGBT community, as with the lack of visibility for characters of color in certain game contexts, reflects the hegemony of whiteness and more specifically white heteromasculinity within video game culture
In "'Live in Your World, Play in Ours': Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other", you list several games (e.g., Def Jam Vendetta, Vice City, Ready to Rumble, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, Street Hoops to name a few) in which racial stereotypes are prevalent. Do you know of any games which handle race (or gender, or sexuality) in positive ways? What would a game like that look like to you? That is, in a video game utopia, how would these issues be dealt with or handled?
First off, it isn’t necessarily about positivity because that is an illusive and difficulty idea to even conceptualize – positive to whom? Moreover, the construction of a positive representation presumes and thereby legitimizes a negative – less desirable – representation. Likewise, a positive stereotype is still a stereotype. In terms of games out there, I think ICED (although I have not yet played this game) or the game that tries to expose the atrocities happening in Darfur attempts to use video game technology as a means to transform racial discourse all while impacting policy debates. This not only transforms the available representations afforded to people of color in this case, but also potentially has a transformative impact beyond virtual reality. So, in video game utopia, there certainly would be several elements but I guess I won’t necessarily confine it to a single game because one of the key elements within video games and all popular culture is broadening the types of representations available to people of color, to women, to LGBT communities, so that the hegemonic stereotypes, the accepted common sense of dominant culture is disrupted through a range of representations, narratives, and situations. Moving beyond the accepted narratives and representations, the commonly seen stereotypes, is key through diversifying these images. As mentioned above, a game the doesn’t perpetuate or legitimize social injustice but rather challenges it would certainly be a defining element of my ideal game
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