Why can't you grow up and be more like the rest of the world?
The United States of America is a nation of three hundred and fifteen million in a world of seven billion. Granted, it manages to hoard 39% of the world's wealth despite the fact that they are only four percent of the population. They may be like some kind of overweight McDonald scarfing dragon, but it's girth and how it gorges does not stop it from being an insignificant minority. Despite this, if you take a look at any television in The United States of America what do you see?
A lot of white Americans. Some black and brown Americans. You will rarely see a television show or movie come up with a Middle Eastern or Asian American, but I theorize they do exist. Do you notice a theme here? Despite the fact that the world is 96% non-American, and that TV is watched around the world, you almost never see any white people, or brown people, or Asian people on American TV. You never see shows about what it is like to live in a world where one out of twenty people demands two out of five of every dollar spent.
You pretty much only see Americans. When they do manage to put one of the 96% into their movies or their adolescent television shows about recycling eagles to create foreigner killing machine guns it is usually an exploitative stereotype. I think all those greasy burgers have made them too fat to even notice that there is anyone else in the world but them. The notoriously self centered and immature Americans
If you are still reading this, you are either only doing so because you fancy yourself a troll slayer, are stunned because your brain is eating it's self in an effort to escape, or you recognize satire, but wonder where I am going. Other possibilities as well, but they are not convenient, so in fine editorial tradition, I will ignore them.
I was going to do romance novels instead of American TV, but I like romance novels. Creating a bunch of stereotypes about the romance industry pissed me off to no end, so I deleted it. Book stereotypes tick me off as much as video game stereotypes. My efforts however did show me a curious dichotomy I would like to show you before I get back to my silliness.
Goggle image search Romance Novel covers. Go on I will wait here and hum the jeopardy theme. Did you find exactly what you expected? I hope you enjoyed the sea of sculpted white men. Wow was that a lot of men presenting their waxed and well oiled chests for your inspection. How many times in your life are you lucky enough to say that? Yes, of course you are welcome.
Remember the eye candy? Yeah I know you do. Now, take a look at this: http://www.goodreads.com/genres/romance
That is how the content is actually sold to people in the real world, instead of the communal stereotype belonging to those that are largely uninterested. Don't worry, you still get shaved, sculpted, and well oiled white men showing off their slippery bald pecks just for you, they are just suddenly lost in a see (typo pun!) of everything else. The same thing happens when you try to juxtapose those 'proof sexism exists in gaming" montages with my steam library. No... What? No I am not claiming there are a wealth of fully realized female agents in my steam library! Are you freaking high?
First off, characters are objects that exist to be objectified by both sides of the creation/consumption table. How on earth do you expect someone to make a female like object that does not objectify females? Why do you even consider the act of projecting these objects onto real life people? Do you realize how horrific that is? The idea that by beating, or killing, or anythinging some tiny dots of light you can diminish an actual thinking/feeling/doing agent, much less everyone that 'looks like' the character in question is repugnant. Do you realize how many people get beaten and murdered in games every year? I killed something like six hundred trillion last week when I turned into a black hole and ate existence.
This is what happens when you let people use buzzwords. Bad internet, bad! Very very bad. Now go to you room and consider your how you can properly articulate your feelings. No, swear words and extreme capitalization does not count.
Second off: I like Sim games. I like to manage cities and trade routs. I like government. I really like designing space ships, and adore getting to see how they function. My favorite video game character of all time is The Minced Minotaur. I like it because it was not only bravely pacifist but incredibly effective at murdering my most dangerous enemies. It was the prototype that changed the freaking tide man, and the only way to beat it was for my biggest threat to avoid engaging it.
My all time favorite game? Anno 2070. I love Anno and it's sandbox combat free island utopia goals. Anno was the first game that made me think I might not be as odd as I think I am. You see it isn't about making a big and shiny city. Oh no. That is just the silly excuse they offer so you won't think about things too hard. Anno is all about letting go and floating down into a sea of natural resources and micromanaging the trade network needed to exploit them as efficiently as possible while maintaining compliance with ecological regulations. Sure, is possible to enable warships if you like really shallow and generic combat, and they have to present those ecological regulations in a form of giant tornado that sets your poor defenseless mines, factories, and farms ablaze but they can't fool us. We both know it is all about the organization.
Silly coy data. It wants so badly to be organized all night long, but it still charges me for the privilege. It desperately needs to be streamlined and optimized and rightsized until it peeks and then... exist in that state of perfection forever and ever and ever, free from the horrors of entropy. I mean come on, it is a simulation game with a pause button. It is about as sexual as lego games, pet games, puzzle games, flying games, tycoon games, time management games, and game in which the main protagonist is a solar system.
You have to create a pretty darn vague definition of 'Male focused." to apply it to video games, given the incredible number of games that completely exist apart from violence, sex, and gender. Not all of them are designed for the obsessive pseudo-intellectual either. For every action blockbuster that needs to sell however many millions of copies to turn a profit, there are many ridiculously silly games in which you play something not human, not designed to look attractive or cool, and not particularly interested in violence. Not to mention, you know, sports games?
Maybe your Steam Library focuses upon jiggle physics and chain guns. Maybe every movie in your library is directed by Michael Bay. Steam's library is however a lot more comprehensive.
So, remember when I contrasted Google image searches of the words romance novel covers with the covers of the books actually being sold to people? Now go download Steam, and take a look at it's four thousand three hundred and ninety eight single player gamer and expansions. Too lazy? Here is the list of games supported by steam with in game achievements.
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/
Don't worry, you will still see boobs, but the only way one could look at such a list and conclude that gaming exclusively caters to adolescent male power and sex fantasies is if they focus only upon the games that target the teenage male demographic by catering to their power and sex fantasies while ignoring others. You know, like the ones that target that demographic with poop jokes.
Which is a bit like getting ticked off that TV focuses upon Americans, assuming you only consider American TV that is created for American consumption, while ignoring everything that doesn't support your argument. Like the rest of the world.
In short, don't like games made by guys for younger guys? You realize general audience is the largest market, and has the most games, right?
Right? We are all going to stop showing how progressive we are by pretending Duke Nukem is the only game in existence? There are flipping legions of happy gamers that rarely if ever pick up AAA action dudebro to the max games. Heck, there is even this one type of seriously creepy gamer, that plays this 'sports ball." thing almost exclusively. They all run around doing confusing things, and then get really excited for no reason. Then for some reason, a very flaming individual sings about how he is going to rock you, and how they are champions. I am pretty sure it is a cult, but I think both men and women join this 'sports ball" cult.
I mean seriously, I am building space ships over hear, and I need to fully test it before I save this game and load up the one where I build rocket ships to fly to the moon. I won't have time to if you people don't stop getting your sexism debate all over my video games.
Oh, wait. Content you object to doesn't jump from games you don't like onto beloved games you have already purchased? Holy crap folks, I thought it said does. I missed the n't. Sorry for the wall of text. Total false alarm, I am a total bag of fish.