Further Research

Gender Portrayals in video games

Call of Duty

One of the favoured topics for modern storytelling whether it is movies, television or video games is World War II. The time period is very recent and the events still echo into our present. One of the main genres of video games that concern itself with this time is the first person shooter. While many games in the genre place the player as the one person who can save the day, while playing Call of Duty the player is just one more guy in a squad. The highest rank the player can achieve is Sergeant and that is only because of specialised training.

Obviously with a game set in World War II, Call of Duty features male characters exclusively. While it is interesting to discuss the implications of excluding female characters, it is indicative of the time period and the conflict itself. As such, only the portrayal of males will be examined.

Call of Duty falls into common stereotypes of masculinity, particularly in World War II cultural media. That is, brotherhood, loyalty and a grim determination to see it to the end. The player is surrounded by average men in an extraordinary situation. And they all, including the player, need to adapt to that. The one thing that shines through the brightest is the fact key NPCs will do anything to ensure the safety of the player and other NPCs. In an interesting turn of events, the player is almost bestowed with this same mentality. By seeing the NPCs doing such things, the player is positioned to also perform the same sort of acts to protect the men around them. This brotherhood is a key aspect of most masculine based cultural media. While the mentality and personality of the characters in Call of Duty conforms to male stereotypes, the physical representations aren’t.

The characters that the player comes into contact with, both allies and enemies are average guys. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are skinny. Others are muscly. The men in Call of Duty cover a large range of masculine body-types once again cementing in the mind of the player that these men are ‘just like them.’ With the main demographic of first person shooters being men this is not surprising. To assist with immersion, Call of Duty ensures that the characters the player comes into contact with are average day guys they could see everyday in their real world lives.

While first person shooters tend to be exclusively the domain of men, Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) are a more balanced player base in terms of gender.

Possible COD 7 Viral Campaign