Race Representation, Toxic Masculinity, and Sexism in Video/Digital Games

Race Representation, Toxic Masculinity, and Sexism in Video/Digital Games
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Race Representation, Toxic Masculinity, and Sexism in Video/Digital Games
Introduction
Since their introduction, video or digital games have received much attention and have become increasingly famous in entertainment media. The gaming (mainly video games) community is highly perceived as incorporating toxic masculinity features like homophobia, misogyny, and violent behaviour. Also, it is widely known that male players have hugely dominated the video gaming space. The extensive qualitative and quantitative disparities involving color and female characters compared to White men characters have resulted in a toxic gaming society that, in turn, prioritizes White men's voices and physiques above those from other races and cultures. Moreover, there is a tendency to dehumanize marginalized groups and women and disengage them from gaming. The paper will analyze racial representation, toxic masculinity, and sexism in three selected video games: Overwatch, League of Legends, and God of War.
Analysis of Racial Representation, Toxic Masculinity, and Sexism in the "Overwatch" Game
The 2016 Overwatch video game is a shooter digital multiplayer playable on Personal Computers and consoles. The game comprises players playing in teams made up of six players, whereby they compete to acquire and safeguard control areas located on a specific map. They can also escort cargo within the map over a specified time. Every player can choose a hero from a list of more than 30 heroes, all with distinctive playing methods. The game enables players to involve in competition-based play or casual play. In the former type of play, players' skill level is estimated, and each lands at different skill levels. As players play, they can easily chat via text or voice chats. Anonymity is activated whereby only usernames show (and not their actual identity) when players are strangers (Ericsson & Bergström, 2020).
The video game is among the scarce digital plays having a balanced inclusivity of ethnicities and races, with more being added as this game continues to develop further. Since the video game's inception in previous years, Overwatch has, most importantly, changed to embrace diversity and inclusivity, ensuring that all races and societal groups are present. However, the developers still excuse themselves regarding cultural appropriation and representation issues. Specifically, the game features 8 Whites as characters. These are Zarya, Mercy, Soldier 76, Roadhog, Torbjorn, Junkrat, McCree, and Reinhardt. Despite being Whites, these characters emerge from different nations. For instance, McCree and Soldier 76 are from the United States (US), while Junkrat and Roadhog are from Australia. Widowmaker used to be a White character but was considered French due to a shade of Blue. Regarding the other parts of characterization, Overwatch incorporates multiple ethnicities, demonstrating the diversity of the video game. For example, Sombra and Reaper are Hispanic, Ana and Pharah and Ana are Egyptians, Orisa is an African, Mei originates from China, Symmetra is an Indian, Zenyatta is from Nepali, Lucio is South American, while G...